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pacifico

Mar 10, 2003, 8:07 AM

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Digital cameras

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Can anyone recommend a good digital camera that can be purchased here in Mexico. I am looking for one that offers a variety of different options for different types of photography. Should I also upgrade my printer?

Estanislao

Mar 10, 2003, 8:56 AM

Post #2 of 7 (1228 views)

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Re: [pacifico] Digital cameras

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I love my Olympus C-Series - some of my Mexico photos are at http://www.pacificsites.com/...acan_2002_index.html

I looked at some cameras in Mexico, and was shocked by the high prices - good luck.

I have a very cheap ($100 - in the US) Canon ink jet printer that does a very good job on high quality gloss photo paper. An alternative is an on-line photo print service such as www.ophoto.com. They will print professionally and send them to you - fairly reasonably. Hopefully, you'll get some responses more specific to your Q's.
--
"It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again."
John Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts - The Log From The Sea Of Cortez
--
Estanislao

esperanza

Mar 10, 2003, 5:52 PM

Post #3 of 7 (1153 views)

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Re: [Estanislao] Digital cameras

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Amen to the Olympus...mine is 6 years old, still works like a charm, and the pictures are fantastic. I've never had a problem with it (knock on wood). I use rechargeable nickle hydride batteries and am on my second set of four after all this time.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

pacifico

Mar 11, 2003, 11:25 AM

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Re: [esperanza] Digital cameras

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I had flooded my Sea & Sea underwater camera and thought I would go with a digital that would take better land pictures and than try to find an underwater housing to fit it. The Olympus satisfied both requirements because it looks like they take great pictures and they make their own underwater housings to fit their cameras.

I will be able to use my strobe, wide angle and macro accessories also because they offer conversion kits.

I priced out the only Olympus camera I could find at Sam´s (the 170) and they wanted $4000.00 pesos. The same camera on the net was were selling for $139.00 dollars so it looks like I will buying it in the States.

Thanks for the information. This is going to be easier to put together than I thought.

Lavanda EnLaCocina

Mar 11, 2003, 4:13 PM

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Digital camera questions

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But isnt there also some different options with memory
for the digitl cameras?

I have been debating whether to get one, and if so, which one, but have seen some discussion somewhere (I thought
here last October), about whether to use memory sticks or something else which needs to be downloaded directly to a computer with the corresponding software.

I didnt do it then, necause I make use of the cyber cafes when I go down, and would not be able to download the soft
ware to a public terminal.

Any clues about what I am talking about? (<g> it would be nice if you do so "I" could know what I am talking about)..... Love, Lavanda

Estanislao

Mar 11, 2003, 7:40 PM

Post #6 of 7 (1039 views)

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Re: [Lavanda EnLaCocina] Digital camera questions

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There are, indeed, different memory options. My Olympus uses SmartMedia cards. Others use Compact Flash cards or memory sticks. I don't think it matters that much. All cameras should come with a cable and software to download pictures to your PC. Not a whole lot of need to download directly from the memory media (SmartMedia, etc.) as long as you can connect your camera thus. If you have no PC, it complicates things. Some manufacturers (Sony for one) make digital cameras that save directly to floppy disk - that may be an option for you. Go for it (digital) - I doubt you will be disappointed.
--
"It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again."
John Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts - The Log From The Sea Of Cortez
--
Estanislao

Mar 11, 2003, 9:32 PM

Post #7 of 7 (1031 views)

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Re: [Estanislao] Digital camera questions

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Quote

The cable/software route can be a major hassle if you're using internet cafes or other shared computers to offload your images, as it means that you have to carry and install your software onto each machine you use, something the more well-managed cafes are sometimes reluctant to allow you to do. Macs are considerably better behaved in this matter, not normally requiring specially installed software, but unfortunately you don't find too many internet cafes usings Macs.

One option worth investigating if you're planning to use internet cafes or public/shared computers for offloading images is to choose a memory card format that has a floppy adapter available. To use such an adapter you remove the memory card from the camera, insert it into the adapter, insert the adapter into the computer's floppy drive (here if you're a Mac user you're SOL) and read the card as if it were a floppy. To my knowledge both SmartMedia and the original Sony Memorysticks (both obsolete, but still readily available card formats) have such adapters available, and some of the other formats may also have such devices.

I don't believe that any manufacturers are making cameras that write to floppy disks anymore, although you can undoubtedly find such cameras used. The problem is that the image size generated by a multi-megapixel camera can fill a floppy with one or two images. Sony's follow-on product, which wrote to 3.5" CDs was, to my knowledge a dismal failure.

One other feature I've found handy on a digital camera used while travelling is a video output port, and an associated cable to allow you to connect the camera to a conventional television set. Using such a setup you can review and delete bad photos, thereby freeing up memory for additional photos, without having to either seek out a computer or look at your photos on the camera's tiny screen.

(This post was edited by ET on Mar 11, 2003, 11:21 PM)