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[zevele10]

Can hate JRiver or love JRiver,because they open new horizons........

I would like to buy a digital camera[i mean to take pictures,no making movie]

I would like some tips.Here my rules.

For once ,money matters.I do not want to spend big on it.Camera and software.If i like it ,i will buy better  stuff latter.

I want a mister average stuff with the most 'automatic settings'.For both:take pictures and upload to computer.

Not sure but you need a software to do it?In this case again a mister average one.

I thinking about Sony because they are big here and have a very good custumers service.But other brands can do as well

Concerning money,let say the bottom of the second half of prices[is this zevele's english?]

If yes ,i mean if prices from 500 up to 5000,in the 2500 range

[TimB]

Concerning money,let say the bottom of the second half of prices[is this zevele's english?]

If yes ,i mean if prices from 500 up to 5000,in the 2500 range

Jeez Louise!  For the camera you're describing I think you're talking about $500.  The entire range is large but if you want simple, consumer level, mom and pop, apple pie then that should be sufficient IMHO.

-=Tim=-

[zevele10]

I used this numbers because 500 and 5000 sound nice,i really do not know how much cost this kind of stuff.

You are right ,kind of apple pie.But more kind of buildings, trees,flowers,gardens and rock concerts but as simple to take than an apple-pie

[Bill Ko]

I have an Olympus C-2100 that cost me $400.  It has 10x optical zoom, image stabilized.  True SLR viewfinder (well, actually, it's a little LCD screen inside the viewfinder, but it picks up the image in true SLR fashion, so WYSIWYG).

It takes excellent point and shoot pictures, or when (if) you get the photographer bug, you can have complete control over the exposure from the aperture setting to shutter speed to virtual film speed (only up to 400 ASA, but what do you want for $400?).

There are presets, also, so you can fine tune your point and shoot.  Kind of a nice halfway point between totally point and shoot and totally manual.  For instance, portrait setting sets the camera up so that the camera isolates the subject, leaving anything way in the background blurry.  Great for nature shots.  Or you can set it up for scenic pictures, so everything is nice and clear.  Or select a low-light pre-set for taking pictures at sunset without a flash.

There's lots more features, but those are the ones I like best.

Bill

[JaredH]

Ive owned a Kodak DX3900 since January and i havent had any compaints yet. It takes compact flash cards up to the higest capacity available. this particular model is 3.1 megapixel and for what i use it for takes crystal clear pictures. The other DX models either go up or down in megapixel and you lose or gain a couple options here ot there. In my opinion, for the price, i would go with the DX3900 or DX4900. Price range now is something im uncertain of as im sure they have dropped in price since January. The DX3900 is just right for someone who wants ease of transfer and user friendly interface along with the options to tweak settings for more advanced photographers such as light level, shutter speed, color/black&white/amber, and focus. Its very convenient and is resonably priced. It also has 3x optical zoom and 2x digital zoom. Just my two cents

[JimH]

Zev,
I've had several of the Sony's.  My last one was a DSC P5 and all the pictures on this page were taken with it:

http://www.jriver.com/~jriver/paris_2002/architecture/Index.htm

I have a DSC P9 now.  I love the Sony cameras.

The DSC P7 or P71 on this page would be good mid-level choices, I think:

http://www.sonystyle.com/home/scat.jsp?hierc=9682x9128x9045&scatid=9045

Don't take the camera to the beach and lie down on the sand with it in your pocket though.

[BonoboProbiscis]

Digicams are one of my favorite subjects, and I could go on quite a bit...

Sounds like you want a digicam to fill the role of a 'snapshot' camera, if you have a 35mm SLR then this makes a lot of sense.

I'd say this: Get a 2 or 3mpixel camera: 2mp will print up to 5x7 and 3mp 8x10 without much artifacts, if the image is saved in a lossless format.

Get a camera that can save uncompressed pictures.  Many low end ones will only save .jpg's, but .jpg is a lossy format, think of it as the .mp3 of the visual world.  Some mid-range cameras will have a lossless compressed format, and that is what you will want.

Small and light.  The advantage of a digicam is that you can take great gobs of pictures.  The more you carry it the more you will take, the better results you will have.  I traded more features for more size (Cannon Powershot S30) and wish I had not.  Not that the Powershot is big, but it needs a belt pack, and I wish it was more shirt pocket sized.  You really want something that you can pop in your pocket and snap away like crazy.

Zoom.  Must be a 3x zoom, you want to get to the 35mm equivalent of a 110 focal length.  I forget who said it, but some famous, unfortunate, combat photographer said something like:  "If your shots are not good GET CLOSER."

Brand.  Cannon and Nikon have great software and community support, and that really is worth something because the OEM software tends to be crappy.  Sony, Olympus, Pentax and Fuji less so, but some.  

Speed.  Many cameras suffer from lotsa lag in shutter release, focus, shot-to-shot cycle times.

Memory: At least two 128mb cards.

Battery: AA is nice because you can buy them in a pinch, but might have to go with a propriatary format to get a small camera.

Software.  You need at least two applications: One to view, sort and archive, and one to edit.  On the view sort, sort, archive front the lead contenders are Thumbs Plus and ASDsee.  I chose Thumbs Plus for its better, less buggy support of Cannon's compressed, lossless format.  Check them out.

Editing.  There are a bunch of options, but after trying them all I'd say your best bet is to go with Adobe Photoshop Elements.  Because: Anything you read about how to work with your pictures will be geared to Photoshop, and with any other program the help just won't be there, or you will be trying to translate the instructions into the other software.  It just is not worth it.  Plus there are tons of plugins for it that may or may not work with "photoshop compatible" offerings.

Sites: Here are some great digital photography and camera review sites:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/

http://www.dcresource.com/

http://www.dpreview.com/

http://www.imaging-resource.com/

http://www.megapixel.net/html/issueindex.html

[zevele10]

Thank you for the answers.i start to see"a picture' about this subject.
Here the funny thing:i wanted to print you answers to take with me to the 'electronic and internet' fair tomorrow.
But the printer is dead.Do not want to try to find out,i just will buy a new one.In this case i know wich one.
Will print your posts in a cyber cafee on my way to the fair.
I do not plan to buy the camera tomorow,but i will understand much much better after my question here.
Thank you

[Galley]

As far as software goes, there is only one you should ever consider, Photoshop Elements 2.
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopel/main.html

Be sure to read the reviews.  MaximumPC gave it a perfect 10, "Kick Ass" award in the Oct. 2002 issue.

[Cmagic]

Hi Jonatan,

Bonobo gave you a lot of helpful advices and web links (I sepcialy like dpreview.com and its very active forum). I don't think I can add much.
I switched from standard 35mm cam to digital quite recently when I bought a Canon S40 camera. I'm fully pleased with it so far, it has a fully automatic mode that's very easy to use and some advanced manual settings when you feel like diving into the more specialized stuff. I bought it here on the internet for about 700 Eur (roughly the same figure in $). this is also true for the other equiv Canon cams (S30, G2, G3) and you should also find equivalent offers from Nikon, Minolta or Pentax. I agree with Bonobo that you should first check Nikon and Canon as they have a wide base of users worldwide and you can find a lot of infos on the net. For the memory, I would say that it's better to go for a CompactFlash camera. Avoid Smartmedia cams (Olympus) as this memory card format will be discontinued. CF cards tends to be cheaper right now but that might change in the near future with the advent of the new XD flashcard format.

Anyway Zev, have some fun selecting, buying and shooting with your soon to own camera !

A la tienne !

Christian

[zevele10]

Merci!

After all this answers i start to understand the most important things to check when you want to buy.
I am even not sure that i would use it more than few times.I do not have a regular camera.I did not  take a picture since 20 years.
So,i may buy on the cheap soon and have a try.If i see i like it,in this case i buy the' real stuff'.

But ,again ,all this answers are of great help.And this post will be send to 'my Yahoo bookmarks' to have easy access to it.
I had a look to many of the links.
But i need to read more,and check the brands who have offices here,not only just imported by someone.
This is a thing you really have to care here when you buy .

Again thanks to all.

PS: classic pictures[on paper] can be upload to a weeb site? I want you to see me with my gaz mask......

[JimH]

One more little thing.  Someone above said to get at least two 128MB memory cards.  I use just one and it's find for most uses.  The only time it gets tough is on a long trip, but if you're really careful to edit out the weaker pictures, even then it can work.  One 128MB memory stick will hold about 80 pictures with 4.0 Megapixel camera.