Digital Camera

[Guest Simon Bull]

I am thinking of buying a digital camera to supplement my reasonably good SLR camera.

What I really want the digital camera for is to

(1) Take pictures on the battlefields which I can then electronically paste into text that I am writing about the men on my local memorial.

(2) Use at the PRO/NA to copy pages and pages of documents, such as War Diaries and save money and time on photocopying.

With that in mind, as a novice in this area, could I seek advice from experienced digital camera users? I have two particular concerns:

[a] Finding a camera which has sufficient capacity to take lots of photos of a reasonable quality on the battlefield and/or to copy lots of pages at the PRO. I know that there are ways (although I am not exactly sure what ways) to download fairly rapidly on to a portable computer (although this would have to be possible using Windows 98, as my portable will never run XP and I cannot afford a new one). Can one also buy portable memory devices which one can use to download from the camera, in order to increase its storage capacity?

Finding a camera which will photograph adequately in the sort of low light one experiences at the PRO, so that documents remain visible and legible on the photos when one gets them home.

All help and assistance greatly appreciated, particularly from those who have used digital cameras at the PRO. In this area I am a compete novice so please don’t get too technical!

Thanks.

Simon Bull

[MartinWills]

Simon,

You could always ask for advice at your local WFA - several of us users there.

There was a thread about his some months ago - including a long and (strangely) well received run down by myself.

http://www.1914-1918.org/forum/index.php?s...ic=3564&hl=s414

My advice at the time and which I have slightly updated follows

Regards,

Martin

Firstly consider what sort of pictures you take.

If you need colour slides digital is not a solution.

If you need large colour prints digital can still be expensive.

If you generally only have 6x4 or 7x5 colour prints digital is fine and an expensive digital camera will run to larger prints.

Next consider whether you need a zoom or not. Non zoom is cheaper. Ignore digital zoom offerings/figures - all this does is look at a smaller part of the picture you take. Work only with optical zoom figures.

Do you need it to be idiot proof or not. Some cameras will offer idiot proof operation with an option for more advanced settings if you want them.

You will also need to consider running costs.

It's best to use rechargeable batteries - so a camera using AA batteries (cheap and universal) is probably best. Digital cameras use a lot of power so alkaline batteries are expensive to use but are easy to obtain in an emergency. Best are the high capacity NiMH rechargables (1800 - 2300 mAh) are a good source is Maplins - especially if there is a two for one offer on. You also need a battery charger for them.

You also need memory cards. Most cameras come supplied with one - usually of small capacity, eg 16MB. There are a variety of types of card some of which are costly. The mostly widely used at present, especially by high-end camera users is Compact Flash. Quality CF cards can be bought very economically from www.crucial.com/uk (eg 256 Mb for about £42). You need enough cards to keep you going until you can download them onto a computer or a portable gizmo. The number of pictures to a card varies with size and quality. A 16Mb card might hold anything from 1 to over 100 pictures.

The camera wil probably allow you to transfer the pictures to your PC but is typically very slow. A card reader (around £5 at www.ebuyer.com, or up to £30 elsewhere..) is a boon.

You will also probably find you want some picture editing software. Some can be found for free, better packages cost between £35 and £80. This will allow you to edit out things like telegraph wires, birds flying past, mothers-in-law etc. You may already have some, say bundled with a scanner. You may or may not get something useful with your camera.

You do need a computer, but your presence on the forum suggests you have the equipment. Some printers will print direct from a memory card and you can take a memory card into a photo shop (but don't have it developed!).

You also need to consider your printer, its quality (photo quality is a boon but by no means essential) and running costs. For example Lexmark printer ink cartridges can be very expensive. You inevitably use more ink than printing text (100% coverage against about 5%. Compatible cartridges offer massive savings for some printers - if you know where to look to buy. You are also likely to want to use photo quality paper for your prints.

Consider, also, how you will save/archive your pictures - especially if you take a lot. A CD Writer is ideal for this and they are not too pricey at present (£25 to £40 should suffice if you can install your own). The CDs cost as little as 15p each in bulk.

Having said all that the running costs can be very low - no need to buy film over and over again; no need to pay for film processing and no need to print out the pictures if you are happy to look at them on screen. Something to count against the initial expense.

On top of that you can simply delete your failures. Indeed you can simply check the result on the camera screen immediately after taking and delete it and try again. No wastage there.

As regards a camera, general opinion is that camera manufacturers produce better digital cameras than electronics manufacturers (so consider Nikon; Canon; Minolta in the first instance) which is not to say that others are not decent cameras. Quality lies in two things, the lens and the image size (i.e. megapixels and the more the better). Most cameras will allow you to reduce quality and size to get smaller image files (and poorer images). The highest quality you will want to use is probably the key factor and I would suggest to anyone not to settle for less than 2 megapixels and aim for 4 megapixels if you can.

A good starting palce might be the Nikon Coolpix 2100 and 3100; Canon A70 and Minolta Dimage S414 the cheapest (Nikon) can be got for about £160 the most expensive (Canon or Minolta) of these for about £260 by shopping around.

As for buying a camera, internet prices are generally cheaper (Amazon; InternetCamerasDirect etc) - a search on a camera make and model is a good start. Some retailers on the high street will match Internet Prices if they are in stock and UK goods with manufacturers warranty - though sometimes only if you ask. In the UK Jessops amongst others will do this, a facility I have used most effectively. You will almost certainly want to visit several shops to try cameras out, whether you buy there or not.

Two tips.

Don't buy a camera that does not feel comfortable in your hand - you will tend not to use it.

Don't buy a camera purely on size and weight - smaller is not necessarily better.

Mrs W. has just joined the digital fraternity and is delighted - having taken around 150 pictures in the first week and over 4000 since June.

I have been a happy digital user for a couple of years, though I still use 35mm film as well - in particular for quality colour slides.

By all means email off-line if you want to discuss any aspects any further.

[Guest Pete Wood]

I would look for the following in a digital camera:

It must have a macro (close-up) facility.

You want a preview screen (on the back of the camera) that is clear in low light levels.

Be really simple to operate.

Not require four batteries. Two batteries is cheaper and the camera is lighter.

On the battlefields I think you will find it useful to have a camera that can take short bursts of video.

Not be expensive.

Be reliable.

Have a zoom facility.

I found all this in the Kodak DX range.

It's not swish, and it's not as slim as the Sony range. But it is damn easy to use. It has an optional 'docking' facility that you plop the camera into. The dock is fed by the mains and charges the rechargeable batteries. One push of the button, on the dock, and it does everything for you - uploading your photos to your computer.

It works fine with Windows 98 and more modern software, too.

The standard slim wire is all you need though, if you are travelling and don't want to haul the docking bay around with you, to download the pics (using the camera's battery power) to your computer.

It's my back-up digital camera - I also have a fancy Canon Digital SLR camera - and I promise you the difference in quality is negligible. The Canon cost around £900 and the Kodak was about £200. If I was to keep one, the Kodak would be the winner. I only bought the Canon because it accepts all my old EOS lenses from my conventional Canon.

No digital camera comes with a decent memory - the amount of which dictates on how many shots you can take. I recommend a 64Mb memory card which will hold 100 good quality shots (scenery) or 200 average quality shots (at the PRO etc).

Kodak also have a 'new' docking system which is a mini printer that prints off 7 x 5 shots instantly. But that's a bit OTT for me. I much prefer to use the camera's software on my computer to lighten/darken the pics (and remove a lamp post from a person's head etc) and then print them off.

Don't buy a memory device. They're expensive. Another memory card (or a bigger card) will be cheaper. It takes about two minutes to download the pics to your laptop.

Good camera shops, in any small town, now also have the facility to upload the pics in their shop and put the photos onto a CD Rom. It's worth remembering if you get caught short - and want to take another 100 pics without going to the expense of buying another card.

[John_Hartley]

Simon

I was the receipient of Martin's excellent advice. I've found what I needed in a Kodak 6230. Got it as part of my retirement pressie from work. Havnt had much chance to play yet, but seems as though it's going to be OK. Cost =£150.

(Martin: advice about digitals was well received at the time. I'm also grateful for the advice that it is no longer appropriate to think that "the camera never lies )

John

[Dragon]

This topic was in today's Guardian - see the first question.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3...1083384,00.html

I don't know whether it will supplement the comprehensive answers already given .

Gwyn

[Guest Simon Bull]

Thanks to all for the help which I have been given.

Simon Bull.