digital camera ??? for un-experienced

[Mogs30]

Need expert advice on these--I have seen people use them, know you can take LOTS of pictures and if you take a picture and don't like it you can delete it. That is as far as my knowledge goes with these. We are looking at possibly getting one for our trip, figure it will cost us couple hundred to just develop film anyway.

PROS: and Cons to these cameras and everyone that owns one, are you happy with them???

Questions Do you need a special printer for this camera??

Do we get carry pictures like reg. films to take places and show people?? or to stick in photo album or have to print them off on printer???

How much do pc cards??? whatever they are cost??

I know I could get info from a camera store, but we just talked about this last night and would like to get some info quicker to see if hubby and myself are even interested. I have film already bought for our camera, but can take the film back. Any and all help would be great!!. Thanks

 

[Dan Murphy]

Mogs, here is a link that our DIS'er, Zurg, wrote up for Deb's site. It is very good and should answer all your questions I think.

http://www.wdwig.com/digital.htm

For me, I am ecstatic about digital. Best thing for photography since flash.

Read that over and see if it covers most of your questions.

 

[Mogs30]

OMG --thanks Dan, I haven't read all the way through but looks liek this will help tons--can't thank you enough. And leave it to "zurg" to write about it He cracks me up!!!

 

[DisMNagain]

Something to keep in mind...

several friends and family members have picked up digital cams for themselves, and NONE of them like or use them. The reason is that all these folks are NOT into techie things...and they can't figure out how to DO the stuff, nor do they understand the terminology...my cousin is so angry for spending 300$ and NOT being able to figure it out. ( she has no patience and just wants something easy easy easy)


SO...knowing that, I would suggest going with the very simple, easy to use, Sony Mavica cameras. The film is a simply floppy disc and the photos are wonderful!

I hesitated buying one for our family because the size is a bit bigger than we were hoping for...but the ease of use and the features available on the camera far outweigh any problems I had with the size.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

I love my digital, but it hasn't replaced my regular camera. I've taken about 500 digital pics, and haven't even tried to print a single one of them. Don't know why...laziness perhaps. I do love the ability to share pictures with family (much of my family lives elsewhere).

 

[Mogs30]

I am not a technical smarti, lucky I got this computer figured out, but have scanner and dont know how to use it either. So maybe I wil just stick to my normal camera, especially going to the world. Sounds like Digital cameras can be great if you know what your doing. Zurgs web-site was awesome, convinsed me NOT to get one!!! Photo development places have the option to get pictures on Cd's so might choose that option for now. Thanks again.

 

[hercamore]

Hi Mogs,

Well, I certainly fit in the category of "unexperienced digital camera user".
Having said that, I have learned a a LOT about digital cameras the last two weeks by researching many website such as the ones listed above.
DH and I finallly settledon the new Cannon S330 Elph, a good point and shoot camera loaded with a lot of features and good Cannon lense. We just ordered two online and got a good price. ONe is for dd. We will learn together.

My advice is do your research online and then go to a big store like Best Buy and look and feel the cameras.

We are leaving for Disney Jan 2 and I am so excited to be taking my camera along.

Herc

 

[FergieTCat]

I just bought a Fuji Finepix 2800, and even though it's only a 2 MP, I am very impressed with my pictures!! I just downloaded my ones from DisCon yesterday and I was amazed at the results.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

We too knew nothing about them. But I wanted one for Christmas so I started reading what I could on this site and elsewhere. Then DH and I went and talked to the guys at Best Buy. They were SO knowledgeable and explained it all to us, feature by feature. I like that you can delete the pics you don't want and upload them or take memory to a store and let THEM print them. I do have a good printer should I want to do that(we do have a "toy" digital that I have played with doing this). I picked out 2 Canon's and told DH to surprise me ! I will probably use my film camera some too, but I do think digital is the wave of the future.

 

[Mogs30]

Bottom line to this----I'm affraid!! affraid of spending lots of money and not every using it to it's full potential, or using it at ALL-- Bibbidi--we can actally hand deliver the memory to a film developer?? I thought we had to e-mail them. That is cool. Herc, I have not invistaged cameras yet but elph just happens to be one I heard about. And do you need a special anything to watch pictures on tv while at Disney??? I thought that would be sooo coool. Hubby just brought the digital camera up lastnight when he saw how many boxs's of film I have packed to go Lots of money to develop them--better budget for that too. Thanks everyone. I just want an expert on these things to come with us and take the pictures for us. ---Fergi thanks for reply too. Everyone have a magical day I am heading to Rochester tomorrow, will probably check out best buy just to see??? wish me luck!!

 

[helenabear]

To answer one of your questions, yes you can just take the card to most local photo developers and tell them to develop them all. I would call them first just to double check, but I know mine do that so I don't bother with printing them out. I must admit, the nicest thing about my digital camera was being able to take 1700 pictures and not worry about spending the money on the film or developing all of those (and have half of them come out bad )

The other nice thing is I have become more familiar with the settings on cameras and what they can all do to make pictures come out better. I have unsteady hands at times and the pictures I took of the fireworks, light parades & other low light/night settings wouldn't have come out as good as they do now (and I didn't need a very fancy camera to help me with that).

If you think you can handle a digital, I really do think they are great and it has completely replaced my other cameras I have.

 

[Ricola]

Our recent 2 week trip to WDW was our first with out new 4MP Sony "CYBERSHOT" digital camera. We love it, but it will not replace shooting on film for us.

I would say, if you are not a "techie", vacation is the wrong place to learn to use a digital camera. We brought a laptop with us, and if we had not, we would have been out of space on our memory cards on the second day. Without looking at the photos on a larger monitor (like the laptop), we would not have figured out how to best use the autofocus features.

The other issue is the cost of prints. We like to have prints to pass out to the grandparents, etc. The time and money spent to order prints from our digital camera are no small thing. The prints end up costing about the same as "deluxe" developing services (25-50 cents per print). Some places will print right from the cards, others have you send them electronically and mail the prints to you.

Now if you want someone to come along and photograph your trip for you, I am sure you will have no shortage of volunteers here.

 

[Mogs30]

I think you hit it right on the head. I do like pictures to hand out, and even though digitals are good with you knowing what your shooting and what not, I really do like hand-me out pictures, so that is where my normal camera would come in handy anyway. I'm not a techi and never will be, think I'll stick to my Pentax. I already bought my film, extra battery for flash and a WDW photo album, guess I'll stick in the old age at least for now, or until my 11 year old daughter teaches me how to use it--she is a Techi Have great day!!!

 

[MerryPoppins]

I think you might feel better if you took pictures with a buddy and then watched how you get them out of the camera, etc. It really isn't hard and if you have a good quality camera the prints look great. Why don't you ask around and see if any local friends have a digital?

I find that I save a lot by only printing the ones that I really like. We have a CD burner and I burn the originals to a CD in case I ever want more prints. I also take more pictures knowing that I can delete some of them.

 

[TheLionKing]

What can I say.....

Digital cameras have reawakened my photgraphic love.

The control I have over post processing the pictures, the ability to know I have the shot right there and then, the ease of storing 2000 pictures on 7 CDs versus boxes of slides, the fact that the pictures do not degrade over time on a CD-R and not paying for film processing....

I don't think I will ever go back to film.

The freedom I feel to literally take hundreds of photos in a day....

allows me to take multiple shots of one scene and picking the best to show to my friends.

Just like anything technical, it takes time to learn. If you use your camera only once or twice a year, then stick with what you know. But most people agree that the ease of sending pictures over the internet is made much easier shooting digital directly rather than scanning pictures or slides.

 

[raidermatt]

On our last two week trip to WDW, I took somewhere around 500 pictures (that doesn't count the ones I deleted before trasfering). I was able to sort through and develop the ones I liked. We now have 2 1/2 albums of pictures from that trip.

I don't even have a working printer, and instead used Walmart.com to get prints.

So now we can put the pictures on a website (like Walmart, Sony Image Station, or Dotphoto), we can email them, we have prints in albums, and we can order more or get enlargements with just a few clicks.

Its great, and really pretty easy!

 

[EROS]

YEP, I'm a throwback. We love our 35mm. I know.......looooooooooooow tech, but the pics are superb and the cost of developing(especially for the double prints which we favor) is much less. .........