Questions about Digital Cameras

“Heh. I should be more clear; backpacking was one part of why I bought an S400 -- the rest of it was to have a tiny, light little camera of fairly decent capabilities which would be more likely to be with me "most of the time" than the big DSLR.

Something else to mention, which I think probably got discussed here before -- look for optical zoom not digital zoom. Digital zoom is essentially an in-camera version of cropping the image then resampling the smaller number of pixels back up to the full pixel count. There's no more information in the image than if you just cropped the image and printed at the larger size; and if you do need to do that sometime it's better to do it on the computer after the fact.

Confused yet? Choosing a digital camera is a daunting task because there are so many different features, trade-offs, and options. If your head is swimming and you don't know which way to turn, that's quite normal. :)”

“Yah, I knew to look for optical zoom, not digital. Thanks.

Head swimming is a good approximation. I'm trying to get the least expensive camera that will fulfill our needs. The A70 is beginning to look like it will be the winner, but when you read forums on the A70, they keep saying get the A80, get the A80. Well, that just means more money. Hell, for my needs the A60 might be sufficient.”

“I got the A80 - you should get that one.”

“Well, that just means more money. Hell, for my needs the A60 might be sufficient.

Hmm... Checking "delivered" prices on these at pricegrabber.com shows:

A60 $154 from BeachCamera
A70 $205 from J&R
A80 $333 from BestPriceAudioVideo

I've heard good things about Beach and BPAV, and have had good experience with stuff I've ordered from J&R.

I'm not intimately familiar with the A60/70/80 cameras, but would probably recommend that with as little a price delta as there is between the A60 and A70 that you go with the A70 for the extra megapixel. It can make a difference if you need to crop in a bit -- I have a pic of my son and I at the stone arch at the Amicalola Visitor Center taken by some kind souls... who didn't compose the pic very well. After cropping it to look decent, 5x7 is about as big as I can go with the picture. That was with my S10 (2MP), with my S400 the extra pixels would have given me more to work with.

I'd best let others discuss the relative merits of the A70 vs. A80 as I don't know enough about the differences between them.

Although it is a good idea not to spend a bunch of money on capabilities you don't need, it is also best not to spend too little and end up replacing the camera in a few months if you find the less expensive unit is too limiting. Bugger of it all is you really don't know since this would be your first digital.

Almost like buying a first pack; you do your best to get what will fit your needs, then you start learning more and your needs change.

Good luck!”

“Tell the wife you're looking at the 8MP OLYMPUS C-8080 and she'll quickly agree to let you get any budget camera you want.”

“Good advice, Deeddawg. Those were my thoughts on the A70 as well.


Really good advice, V....”

“Bit, I've got the A70 and I've been happy with it so far. It's a nice size and weight for backpacking and takes nice pics. It does real good at night too for pics around the fire. Has all the manual and auto settings and even does some short videos. If I have time tomorrow, I'll e-mail you a couple pics taken with my A70 on the trail.

PS. The batteries seem to last a lot longer than some other digitals I've used. Takes 4 AA and works great with regular or rechargable.”

“Good plan, I'll send you a couple with the A80 so you can see if there's much difference. The thing that sold me was it's easy to add converter lenses polorizing filters and such. The S50 is also good, you may be able to get a good deal on that.”

“Our local Wal-Mart has one of those Fuji (Alladin) setups you can get a great 8x10 for $2.84 but they only use Matte finish Fuji Crystal Archive paper. Our Longs drug store has the same setup but they offer the Gloss Fuji Crystal Archive paper too but they charge $5.49 for the same 8x10 print.

I'm very happy with the Crystal Archive paper...it's the same stuff my pro-lab uses.( West Coast Imaging) In most cases I prefer Fuji to Kodak hands down...I'll have to check out that Kodak Endura Professional paper. Thanks deeddawg !”

“Thanks for the pics, guys...do remember I'm on dialup and large picture files will take me forever to download.

I took a look at the A70 today at BestBuy, nice little package. I think it's the best balance of frugality and features...

Nothing personal against A80 owners, but my kids look at me with those big sad eyes when they have to go hungry so Daddy can have toys, lol....”

“I just got home from a 10 day and when checking my email found a deal at Costco for a Olympus Camedia® C-4000 (4 MP) Zoom....for $249.99.

Heres the link”

“Bit, you've got e-mail.”

“Got it! Thanks...looking them over now, they look good. Like that I can see some color in what would normally be a pretty dreary-looking picture.”

“IJ, nice pics. I liked that there's plenty of color even in low-light situations. My mind is pretty much made up.

Now if I can talk the wife into it...”

“Glad I could help. Good luck with the wife! My biggest problem was getting the wife to let me take the camera on my backpacking trips.”

“I have a dilemma about that too. Here I am, about to drop some serious coin (for me anyway) on a digital camera, and that makes me afraid to take it backpacking.

I'm thinking about looking for a cheaper camera to take with me backpacking so if it gets lost, stolen, or busted it won't be such a big deal.”

“If you get one with a magnesium body, don't put it in the fire.”

“Yeah, what he said.”

“Consider the amount of money that you spent on SLR film and processing (prints and photo-CDs) over the course of a year or two. If you go on a couple big trips a year (or multiple weekenders) chances are you were spending one or two hundred clams a year.

That was enough justification for me not to get too manic about price. Get what turns you on, because it will be obsolete in three years anyway!”

“Okay, I've got the NiMH batteries, the charger for them, the 256MB SanDisk CF card...now all I need is the camera, and it's on its way.

So frustrating to see the tracking info...all I know is it left Portland, OR, on April 2, and it is still "In Transit".

What the hell is UPS using, an oxcart?


grrrrrrrr.....”

“with the price of gas that's prob. all UPS can afford :)”

“Hey, at least I didn't call it an asscart...”

“Give 'Brown a brake',the ones on their trucks are worn out.”

“bitpusher, can't you find out where it is by clicking on the details button on the UPS tracking site?”

“The only details that gives is that it left Portland 4 days ago, and it's still "on time".

The scheduled delivery is April 8, so I'm just being impatient. Still, it seems like the guy I bought the camera from filled out the form like this:

UPS Next-Day Air [ ]
UPS Second-Day Air [ ]
UPS Five-Day Ground [ ]
UPS Seven-Day Ground By Oxcart [x]”

“they never update that tracking until it's virtually on your doorstep. bastards”

“I think it depends on where you live, ynami...When I order stuff from Campmor, for instance, it makes a couple of stops on the way, and I can get a good idea of when it's going to get here.

Usually on the day they say it will, lol...”

“Oxcart is a very reliable means of shipment.”

“If you ever saw how they load the trucks, you'd be happy to get the oxcart treatment.”

“The infamous red x?”

“They must have blown their bandwidth limit...lol...”

“I can see it just fine.”

“I perused the past posts and I prolly missed it, but who'd you end up ordering your camera from?”

“This is the one I bought on Ebay for hiking...a used Canon A40.

I'm going to get an A70 for our family stuff...3.2MP...Beach Camera seems to have a pretty good price on it, I'll probably get it from there.

BTW, the oxcart has reached Memphis. I'll probably have it by Thursday, lol...”

“Ok. I'm ordering a FujiFine pix A210 tomorrow I think. I'm skeered!!! What if it's not what I want??

If it's in Memphis......you COULD get it tomorrow!”

“Naw, not if they use the same oxcart...

I was looking at the A210. The thing that really sold me on Canon was they have an illuminator that the autofocus uses in low light, at least the newer AX0 series cameras do. I don't think the AX00 series cameras do. And those don't have zoom, anyway, they're pure point and shoot.”

“That illuminator is a good feature. I didn't realize they were putting them on more basic cameras now. Ain't technology grand?”

“Yah, it's real nice...when I finally get the darn thing, I'll wring it out real good and give everybody the scoop.”

“In my experience the illuminator on the Ax0 Canons are only useful a few feet away, it still has a hard time getting a focus lock in dark lighting if you are trying to focuc on an ojbect more then a few feet away.

Still... the A10/A20/A30/A40/A60/A70 is an awsome camera.”

“Then a laser pointer works too.”

“Well, the oxcart has left Memphis, headed here, I suppose.

I'll probably get it tomorrow, just like they said...

<sigh>”

“well bit, I ordered my camera. I hope they don't send mine on the oxcart like yours!!”

“Who'd you order it from? You went with the A210?”

“Yeah, I went w/ the FujiA210. And I ordered it from buydig.com. It had above average ratings, I hope they don't screw me over.”

“You'll probably be okay. If they didn't overcharge for shipping, everything will work out. What's their return policy?”

“I chose the basic shipping--7-10 days, only $6.95--I'm in no tremendous hurry. The return policy is the basic stuff--just have to make sure I keep all the packaging, etc.”

“It'll be okay. Don't worry.

Sheesh, I should probably be more worried than I am, I bought the thing used from an individual on Ebay. But I bought the buyer's protection too, so...”

“It's in Montgomery now...will probably transit to here tonight and go out for delivery tomorrow...”

“Yay!”