Digital Camera question

Not really garden related, but...

Does anyone have a recommendation on a good digital camera to buy? I want a camera that I can use to take pictures of all my plants this year. I want to go digital because I'll be taking thousands of pictures - each plant gets a picture from seed to seedpod. :)

Cost is a consideration, but I really want quality photos. I'd like a camera that can do 1600x1200 resolution.

Does anyone have recommendations? What do you use? Are you happy with your camera?

Dave

sure can

go to www.photoalley.com and buy a Fuji finepix 1300
which is at the lower range in price and can do macro less than 4 inches. it will ost you $229 which is agreat price as here in the UK they are $308.

there are some that will go in as close as 1 inch but they are pricy

Mark
Northern Ireland

Don't have this one, but for what it's worth:
Olympus D490, cost is under $500. DH works in a camera store, and this is what he recommends (or what he just recommended to me when I read him your question). He also said that now Olympus is offering a free USB card reader with purchase (normally $60).

I have a sony mavica, which I like fine (used mainly for my classroom), but the disks only hold 5 or 6 good quality pictures, which is kind of a pain.

Hope this helps! Kathy

I've been looking too Dave. Check out cnet.com for some great comparison info and current pricing. I still can't decide!

Happy New Year!

:)

Since price is an issue, the Fuji camera that Mark recommended is looking pretty good to me.

I'm going to order that unless anyone else has any recommendations. Thanks both for the notes.

Dave

I've been looking for a digital camera myself this year. We managed to borrow a few different ones from friends to play around with. And it really all depends on what you want with the camera. Most camera's we've tried take good quality pictures to use on webpages etc., but once you want to print the quality was quite disapointing (especially when you enlarge the pics slightly to A5 format.).
Also the storage media used in these cameras is very expensive and you will need extra memory if you want to take more then a few pics before running back to your computer. We've decided to wait a bit since the camera's we were looking at started at $ 800 and most of them where over $ 1000 and for that kind of money I really expect excellent quality pics.
So my advice is try to borrow a camera and try it out before you buy!
Agnes

Dave,

I received a Fuji finepix for Xmas, and it sure is easy to use and takes lovely pics. I would advise you to have some new batteries on hand, as the batteries that come in the camera didn't last for very long. They might have been old or less powerful.

Donna

Thanks. I'm going to buy a rechargable battery set so I can keep them recharged all the time. I'll be taking thousands of pictures throughout this year.

I bought one, but returned it to the store. I am just too used to a good 35mm camera and the higher quality prints. I figured how many rolls I could go through before I've spent the amount on the camera, a higher quality printer, and paper for the prints. And then, I still wouldn't have prints like what I was looking for. As was said earlier, they are great for web-pages, but for photo junkies like me, well, I guess I'm too much of a perfectionist (or old-fashioned).

Smiles,
Gabrielle

I started fooling with digital this year, just so I'd have a means of posting pix to my column in Le Bep's Garden (www.lebepsgarden.zipworld.com.au).

Frankly, I'm rather underwhelmed by it all. For posting to the web, it's fine. For any other purpose, it just isn't up to snuff. And I understand this is just as true for the high end cameras.

For archieval stuff you should be shooting slides, anyway, Dave. Nothing else can give you true color matches of the plants, flowers, pods, seeds, etc. And often this makes a big difference in identifying varieties.

Slides can then be used to make any other photo media: color prints, b&w prints, scanned into the computer, etc.

So my suggestion is that you hold off, and get a good 35mm instead. Or if you already have one, invest in a slide scanner, and you'll have all the bases covered.

Got my daughter an Olympus D360L for Christmas (so I could borrow it of course) and it is so true about the batteries. Practically eats them up!! A rechargeable pack is the next purchase. The reviews were great for this little camera - cost $300 but you can find them a bit cheaper surfing - about $250 with S/H. Brenda