amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

isistarah · 07-24-2002, 06:39 PM

I would love some input about what is a good digital camara to buy or what should I be looking for when I purchase one. Also, any input on the photo printers - are they worth buying?
Thanks for the help!

renata · 07-24-2002, 07:04 PM

Dye sub printers are the best for printing photos - but can run a bit expensive. If your budget for the printer is below $200 or so, my second recommendation is Epson C80 - uses archival inks so images do not fade longer, and does quite terrific job printing photos, that look great even on plain paper. I haven't tried it myself, but saw it's output, and read a gazillion of this printer reviews. C80 text quality is not the best, but enough for "regular" printing.

07-25-2002, 09:21 AM

Depending on your budget, I'd recommend
the Olympus Camedia D-380

I'm a BIG Olympus fan because our camera is awesome. You can check out PCWorld also - they are a pretty reliable source for product ratings:

http://pcworld.com/reviews/article/0...76,pg,2,00.asp

Some features you want to check for are:

1. Expandable memory - Usually SmartMedia or CompactFlash memory cards and this simply means that you can take more numbers of pictures by adding more memory.

2. OPTICAL zoom is significantly better than DIGITAL zoom. Optical means that the lens is moving to zoom you in and it retains a good image quality - Digital means that the pixel of the object are manipulated to give you the illusion of zoom and it degrades image quality. If a product reads "SEAMLESS ZOOM" it means that the camera starts out with optical and then at some point (usually 2x or 3x) it switches to digital zoom.

3. You'll probably want a rear-camera LCD or display - you don't NEED it, but .....who wants to stare into a viewfinder to take a picture when you don't have to?!?!

4. You'll need to decide if you NEED to take "movies" with you digicam. I really don't see the need since I have a camcorder for that and the digicams only take a very short movie at a very low resolution.
BUT A Lot of cameras have this feature now-a-days so WHY NOT (just make sure it can capture video AND sound)?

6. Built in flash is a must.

7. I recommend getting some rechargable Ni-MH batteries and a charger. Digicam are notorious for sucking up batteries!!! Especially if you're using flash and rear-screen display. This can add a good cost to your purchase, but IT'S WORTH IT!!

8. MEGAPIXELS
If you're planning to take photos at the maximum megapixel / resolution / quality for the purpose of printing them out on a HIGEST QUALITY printer with ONLY the FINEST photo quality paper, then you want AS MANY MEGAPIXELS AS YOU CAN AFFORD.
If you're going to be taking pictures to upload to a website or send via email, then a 1.3 to 2.0 megapixel camera is PLENTY.

High megapixel photos end up being VERY LARGE in size (Megabytes vs. Kilobytes) and too bulky to easily e-mail to dial-up internet friends and family - websites should have "significantly smaller in size" photos also!

Megapixels can be a cost saving feature by which you can shop. If your budget has no boundaries, I'd go ahead and get the most megapixels I can afford (then I'd get a full accessories pack, extra batteries, a tripod, etc.) because you can always use software to decrease the size of any photo you take to make it easy for e-mailing and websites.

Finally, I LIKE OLYMPUS. Good Luck,