hey out there: any suggestions for a good $100-$300 camera
Well there’s also that Mavica that has a CD-R attached to it. It writes on those smaller CDs that fit into that dent in a normal CD tray. I’m sure you’ve all wondered what they were for at one point or another. Well, smaller CDs of course! Looks like a pretty buly unit tho. Ah well…
Anything under $200 is really not worth your time. The resolution is extremely low, and the quality will frankly suck. They are basically toys at that price, currently.
For a wee bit more money ($200 - 300) you can get some pretty nice cameras. The two that seem to get the best reviews are the Olympus D-360 and one by Fuji, who’s model name I can’t remember.
The Sony small CD writer camera is an interesting idea, but with Compact Flash technology improving so rapidly, I don’t see the need for that complexity. It’s a big size drawback as well.
I have the Sony Mavica 91 and absolutley love it. I know that other digital cameras can take pictures with better resolution but since I use my pictures for the web & email only (I print out very few), it really doesn’t matter.
Another advantage to a floppy based camera is if you’re travelling and fill up your memory card, you either have to buy another one $$$ or bring a laptop with to download your pictures. You can buy cheap floppies almost anywhere.
I think the Sony Infolithium battery is one of the longer lasting batteries out there. I can shoot for approx. 4+ hours, depending on if I’m using the zoom & the LCD.
The Sony cd-1000 is a great camera, but I havn’t seen any for sale under $1000.
The Mavica may not be the perfect camera for everyone, but I am very happy with mine.
Well, I got one. It 's the Toshiba PDR M5. It had all the features I was looking for and I found it at a killer price, $399. I won’t link to a commercial site, but if anyone wants to know, email me.
The Toshiba PDR-M5 Super Megapixel Camera delivers super-sharp, super-vibrant resolutions of up to 1600x1200 pixels, thanks to its amazing 2.14-million square pixel CCD. It’s warmed up and ready to shoot in under two seconds. And, with its 3x optical/2x digital zoom, you’re sure to get great closeup shots of your subjects! The Toshiba PDR-M5 Super Megapixel Camera also comes complete with an 8MB SmartMedia memory card which you can use to store your favorite images. Additional camera features include auto flash, red-eye reduction, PC download, auto record, and much more. *Included accessories: rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, AC power adapter, SmartMedia card, hand strap, Image Expert CD-ROM, serial cables, video cable, and USB cable
CCD Sensor 1/2 inch CCD with 2.14 million square pixels
Resolution(Total) 1600 X 1200 / 800 X 600/ 320 X 240 selectable
Interface USB (12 MBPS) Serial (RS-232c and RS-422, Video (NTSC)
Zoom Lens 3X optical, 2.0x digital zoom, 2.5 playback zoom
Movie Function .AVI, 120 sec (8mb), 960 sec (64mb)
Internal Memory 16MB (9MB for image buffer)
File Format JPEG, exit ver. 2.1, DCF ver. 1.0: 3 compression modes: 1/4; 1/8; 1/16. File size changeable after image capture
Storage Media SmartMedia 8MB included Upgradeable to 128MB by firmware
Lens All glass, 8 piece type. Auto-focus, F3.5-F5.0/F7.6-F11.0 with attachment adapter (52mm) for additional filters and lenses
LCD Monitor 1.8-inch hyper amorphous type (556 x 220 Resolution)
Power Source Rechargeable lithium-ion Battery, AC power adapter included
Dimensions 5.1 (W) x 3.1 (H) x 2.8 (D) inches
Included Accessories Rechargeable lithium-ion battery AC power adapter SmartMedia Card (8 MB) Hand strap CD-ROM Serial cables Video cable (NTSC) USB cable
Please refrain from telling me I fu***d up, if I did, I prefer to suffer in private.
Athena - thanks for the offer, I didn’t read it until it was too late.
TC - Sorry about your cat. Great pictures, though.
How about this beauty? At 500 bucks it is pricey but among its features includes a 120 MB floppy disk that allows sufficient storage capacity for capturing significant amounts of video.
Yoda or Yogurt? A dilemma for the ages.
But you can buy 128 meg SmartCards or Compact Flash cameras for less right now. They are standard not propriatry media and the cost is dropping. You can also get the 340 meg MicroDisk for about $250 (a CF II interface) that fits in several cameras.
I really think that CF and SM are the way to go, with Sony’s MemoryStick a third option if anyone else ever picks it up. Plus, these memory formats work in many other gadgets, so you can get a whole flock of them for many different devices.