Americans Lured to Look at Digital Cameras

Associated Press via MyWay.com ^ | December 21, 2004 | Ben Dobbin

[RayChuang88]

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - Millions of Americans who waited patiently for the quality and convenience to leap forward and the prices to roll back are now jumping on the digital-shutterbug bandwagon.

A novelty item just four or five years ago, the digital camera is shaping up as the most popular electronics gift in 2004, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. It was runner-up in 2003 to the DVD player, the No. 1 gift since 2000.

At age 75, Marilyn Smith discovered a wealth of reasons this holiday season to switch to a digital camera. Snapping away until she gets the right shot, without worrying about film, sounded enticing. So did packing a palm-size gadget on a baggage-laden trip to Hawaii in February. But she especially liked the idea of an image stabilizer that negates wobbles.

"Why? Because I sway very easily," the retired nurse's aide explained with a hearty laugh.

[RayChuang88]

I have a Canon Power Shot A300. I've actually been disappointed with it. Especially the delay between shots.

You have an old Canon model that has been discontinued for some time. I've played with the current PowerShot SD300 and that camera is ready to take pictures in 1.4 seconds, something I really like. The only thing is that the PowerShot SD300 sells for over US$360 street price.

[Musket]

Not knowing squat about digitals, I got the Nikon Coolpix 3.2 mp. If I could do it over I'd bump that up to 6 mp - or at the very least 5. Here's what the camera can do, but I did have to rotate it about 3/10ths of a degree so it's not an entirely fair representation. But you can see they break up pretty fast.

[whd23]

I do a lot of technical photos, so macro capabillity is a must -- as is the need to couple to instruments like microscopes and telescopes.

Don't know if these would fit your needs, but Olympus offers:

• Macro Extension Lens (MCON-40)
  Screw-on macro lens with 4" focusing capability and brightness level of f2.0.
• Lens Adapter Tube (CLA-4)
  Provides a 55mm diameter mounting thread.

Please note that although I own two Olympus cameras, I'm not affilated with them in any financial way!

[general_re]

Not only that, but you have to win a state lottery to afford a digital SLR that can accept different lenses.

I've seen the EOS Digital Rebel selling for under $700. Not bad if you already have a decent investment in EOS lenses.

[goldstategop]

You can even take night time pictures. Try that with a conventional film camera, unless you use special lenses. Its cool.

[txdoda]

bttt.....good thread

[Charles Martel]

...I've still got my Olympus OM-2 film camera, although I haven't used it in years. But having a DSLR with interchangable lenses would be very nice.

I also have an OM-2 - the old fitted "leather" case is peeling - really sad. I recently had the camera repaired - the foam that provides a lightproof seal around the camera back was disintegrating.

It would be nice to use a classic SLR to take digital photos, and someone even thought of a way to accomplish it:

As far as I know, this drop-in unit never saw actual production. Clever design, though. Projected price and the rapid pace of viewfinder-type digicams' evolution prevented this product from seeing the light of day (no pun intended - well, okay, maybe a small one).

The idea is still being kicked around, though. The newest version of the prototype packs more megapixels and adds a motor drive-like attachment to the bottom of the SLR camera to provide a small LCD screen, more battery power and a Compactflash memory card slot. Have a look at the new version at SiliconFilm.com

At one point, I think I read something about Intel and Kodak owning the patents for this gizmo. Perhaps they're behind siliconfilm or its predecessor.

[midnightson]

MSN provides a free personalized web site you can load your pics to so they can be shared. Check out www.msnusers.com/alaskapicsetc The pics are loaded from your pic program(XP home edtion).

[Bernard Marx]

I do okay with my ancient, obsolete Mavica FD-71 that writes to floppies. Check your manual for special action settings. I'd like better resolution but it works fine for action shots like this one of Air Force One landing on the West Coast for Ronald Reagan's funeral:

[LTCJ]

You can even take night time pictures.

I tried this for the first time last night with a target of opportunity when Santa came through the neighborhood on a firetruck. Handheld quick shot on night setting without a tripod. Didn't turn out due to shutter speed, of course, but I was favorablely impressed with the light sensitivity and color. I'm planning on trying under the right conditions over the Christmas break.

[doug from upland]

Thanks.

[WildTurkey]

Only $0.24 a picture and the prints are as durable as a print from a 35mm negative would be.

$0.14 at Costco.

[Tribune7]

ping

[bmwcyle]

Just picked up the Nikon 8800.

[WildTurkey]

And the software for the PC is worse.

Can the software. Just use it like a drive and copy/paste/delete as needed.

[Centurion2000]

BUMP

[doug from upland]

I will be taking pictures of property and will use it for vacation pictures. What is the best buy with the best features under $300. I'd like zoom and ease of use.

[Poohbah]

Once you have the digital files of your pictures, the only thing that need be done is that they are every so often transfered to the next storeage technological medium.

That can be a nontrivial problem. During the Y2K mess, we had a contractor tell us an amazing tale of woe.

The printouts of the source code were on low-quality paper with a poor-quality printer ribbon (dot-matrix) that had deteriorated over the previous 30 years--unreadable.

Not to worry! They had the source code tapes...

And they discovered that (a) they didn't have the tape drives to read that format, and (b) no one knew who did.

Ironically, they found the very same drives that they'd used: they'd donated them to a computer museum. The museum had taken loving care of the mechanical components, so the drives would be sure to work...

Except that the contractor couldn't figure out how to interface them to their current systems and read the output. (The tape drives used a proprietary serial link interface instead of a commercial standard.)

They contacted the original manufacturer...

Who had no record of ever having made that model of tape drive--or ANY kind of tape drive.

They finally found a set of documentation for the interface at ANOTHER computer museum in another city, and got photocopies of the documentation. But it was an adventure.

[tacticalogic]

Actually, the price of five megapixel cameras have become really cheap lately.

I got my wife a Fuji E510 5MP for around $230 w/shipping from buydig.com. Ordered on a Sunday night, and it arrived Thursday morning.

[t_skoz]

I still love 35mm from the little yellow box. Anything else is treasonous. Digital is OK but there is nothing like a print from film.

Maybe it means something that one of my favorite things to photograp are phone booths?

Both pieces of vanishing Americana.