On Wednesday 08 September 2004 02:34, Nick W wrote: > Hi gang, > > I'm looking to get some Christmas shopping done early but have 0 clue about > digital cameras. I'm not big on getting ripped off, so I figured I'd ask > here. My first question is about the 42 million different types of flash > cards out there. Which ones have readers that work in Linux and which > don't? From what Google tells me CompactFlash is probably the way to go but > that seems to limit which cameras you can buy. What about Sony memory > sticks? SD? xD Picture Card? etc... > > The OT part of my post is.... > > Which brand names? How many Megapixels for a decent picture?
I like my Sony. It was easily the best for me when I bought it. Many of it's advantages at that time (unlimited video in particular) are standard on other cameras too now, so it won't matter. Having said that, there are a few things I don't like. First. It uses a proprietary battery, which sucks. It lasts a LONG time, and the life remaining estimates are dead on. But I hate that I can't just buy another battery at 7-11 on my way to somewhere. The Memory Stick. It works fine, and I don't have any real complaints, except that they're pretty small. Mine can only use a 128Meg. Which means about 75 Pics at it's top resolution. This is WAY better than a conventional camera, but still, a gig or more would be much better, especially for video. Zoom matters. Digital is stupid. It can be done just as easily after the fact using software. It shouldn't be included on camera, as GENERALLY, it just degrades the image. Optical zoom is great, but with 3x zoom, I can easily see where more would be much better. If you take pictures from any sort of distance, 3x simply isn't enough. This is a good place to spend your money. 10x zoom would likely be adequate. And as I said, 3x Optical + 3x Digital != 9X zoom. 3xOptical + 3XDigital == 3X optical nothing more. Video. I use my camera to record video a suprising amount. I'd say that on a normal day, 50% of my memory goes towards video. Most of those clips are about 2 minuites or so. 30 seconds of Viedo isn't enough. 2 Minuites is. My Sony would allow me to do up to 1and a half hours (at a crappy quality level) but we have a video camera for that. This is just for quick clips. (What does my baseball swing look like), (Archive the contents of the house), My daughter's first bike catwalk (and crash), etc... Lastly, and most importantly, Aperature. Someone more camera savvy than me can clarify this a bit, but almost all digital cameras suck in lower light situations. Basically anything less than a sunny day is low light :). Try to find one that will work across a broader range of light levels. I believe this is directly related to the aperature range, IIRC. My Sony is 3.2 MegaPixels. It's fine. I've blown pictures from our trip to Florida up to 8.5x11 and they look fine. For most people, 3 MP is fine. Anything more just wastes space on your memory chip (whatever it may be). If you were a pro, then you'd probably want more like 10 or more MP, but 3 is fine for general use. My previous camera took 640x480, and it was OK, but you could tell it was starting to get grainy even with just a 5x7 picture. My kids have little kid camera that are about 150x100 or something stupid like that. They're almost useless. Kev. _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca
