Digital Photo Help Needed

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[LonePalm]

I am looking for specific recommendations for scanners and photo quality printers to attach to my home computer and possibly an additional digital camera. My wife is a photophile and I am the computer guru and chef (I know it is an odd compination but it works for me.).

I would like to upgrade the home comuter to allow her to do some of her photo stuff digitally.

I have a 950MHz Pentium 3, w/128Mb RAM, 2 CD ROMs (1 is r/w, the other is CD/DVD), tons of disk space, an Olympus D-320L Digital Camera, and a pitifully slow internet connection at home. We are running Windows ME (Makes Enemies). I already have PhotoDelux 2.0.

I am looking for the most bang for the buck but quality is the first consideration. If necessary, I will buy her her own omputer.

I would also like suggestions/recommendations on where to buy the stuff.

[magglepuss]

Sony Mavica series are a good bet.
HP Photosmart photo printers generate very nice quality prints.
But use HP paper.

[ml/nj]

I'll say a good word for the Casio QV-3000EX. 3.3 Mpix with a 340 Meg IBM MicroDrive so that you have room for 245 max res jpeg pictures.

Do you know where I can get one of these down here at the Shore?

I'm not the photobug but Mrs. Palm is. PhotoShop 7.whatever sounds like a definite for Santa.

I bought mine about a year and a half ago via the net. I bought the "Pro Pack" which included a few extras like the Ni-MH rechargables and charger for about $950. (The Ni-MH's are a must from what I have read. I have two sets, but have never had to switch out a freshly charged set during the day.) Obviously it will be less now. Be careful though. Some ads give a price that does not include the micro-drive. Also the micro-drives now come in a 1 gig capacity, which is obviously better but probably more expensive and I don't know for sure if the camera software handles it, but it should. (I definately would have liked to have had that 1 gig capacity when traveling abroad. Here in the US, I generally travel with a laptop and the 340 meg is perfectly adequate.)

Photoshop is up to 7 ?? (I'm using 6.0.)

ML/NJ

[Registered]

The HP color inkjet printer cp1700 is an excellent printer. I like the ability to print larger sizes and the print on any stock paper comes out great, especially using the photo paper, matte or glossy finish. As far as cameras, for price and performance any Sony camera with the Carl Zeiss lens is great. I used the now discontinued Sony DSC-70 cybershot in Hawaii and I think the pictures came out great. I did not use the highest resolution setting either. You can Click here to see a few samples of them. I would definitely invest in a 128 meg memory card (you can fit over a hundred and fifty shots at high resolutionon it!). The DSC-S75 appears to be the replacement for the 70 and lists at $699. You can compare all of the Sony models by clicking HERE. If you listened to my little FReeper radio show on Radio FreeRepublic [ MP3 17,188 Kb | RealMedia 8,208 Kb | Windows Media Player 7,352 Kb ], you may know that I very rarely use any professional graphics programs. Of course, if your wife already knows Photoshop, I guess you're stuck ;-) Thanks for letting me put my two cents in!

[squirt]

Try Solinas.com either last week or the week before he had a listing for Digital photo help

[mad_as_he$$]

I have HP photo scanner S20 and printers 882(I think) they work like a hose and have never given me a lick of trouble. The scanner is fast and accurate. Comes with some MS software but not great if you like to really edit. But for archiving and such can't beat it. Runs on a P3 600 with 259 and 2- 30 gig drives. Save on CDR.

[ValerieUSA]

This image from an Olympus E-10 which has been manipulated (cropped/enhanced) in Paint Shop Pro 7:

[ValerieUSA]

Look in digital photography magazines for the best price on an Olympus E-10 - they were $1900, but have come down a lot this year - especially when mail-ordered.

[MississippiMan]

As far as your computer goes, just bump the memory up to 512 MB or even 1024 if your motherboard will accept it. Photoshop is the hands-down king of image editing software, but is pricey at $500ish for version 6. If you don't want to shell out that much, its little brother Photoshop Elements is a heck of a program for $100.

For a camera, there are tons to choose from. Go with 3-megapixel or higher, which will enable you to crank out quality prints at 8" x 10" or larger if your printer can handle it. Again, there are lots to choose from.

I'm not up on the latest and greatest scanners.

MM

[ValerieUSA]

Photoshop is still 6 -- paint shop pro is 7.

[LonePalm]

Beautiful.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LoanPalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[DoughtyOne]

Good one. You're having way too much fun...

[Quix]

Not a specialist but enjoying my Epson Perfection 1650 scanner and Epson Stylus Photo 895 printer. . . though it's slower than I'd prefer and sometimes mangles paper knocking some paper rollers out of alignment. . . and I can't get an English LCD faceplate here yet. It has a feature for Roll paper for photo sized prints. Photo quality stuff is great at A4 paper sizes scanned in and blown up from a 4 X 5 photo.