Hi Timothy,
I second the Nikon D70 (which I covet for our museum and one for
personal use too!) - Here's a very positive review by David Pogue -
plus you can visit his website and look at sample photos he took
which are of a very high quality.
Good Luck,
Wendy
Wendy Ennes
Teacher Services & e-Learning Coordinator
Museum Education
Oriental Institute Museum
1155 East 58th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
773-834-7606 voice
773-702-9853 fax
[log in to unmask]
http://www.oi.uchicago.edu
>In the case of one positive review, though, I now believe that I
>didn't go far enough. It's the Nikon D70, a $1,000 digital camera. I
>gave it high marks back in March (See:
>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/25/technology/circuits/25stat.html?ex=1095912000&en=d91dc24111d494db&ei=5087
>) -- and then, because Nikon said I didn't have to return it
>until September, I used it all summer.
>
>When you look at the sample photos at
>http://www.davidpogue.com/nikon.html (shrunken to Web-page size,
>alas), you'll understand why it pains me to send this camera
>back, and why I'm going to pitch my wife on buying one of our own.
>This camera can go three days on a battery charge. It has a startup
>time of zero seconds. And it takes pictures
>you'll remember the rest of your life.
>
>As a result, I've become a much more knowledgeable photographer,
>eagerly devouring tips and tricks about photography, digital cameras
>and the D70 in particular. Today, with apologies to the pros who
>already know all this stuff, I thought I'd jot down a few of my
>favorite
>discoveries for the benefit of other digital shutterbugs.
>
>* The tripod mount on the bottom of most digital cameras has
>exactly the same thread diameter as a typical hotel
>lampshade post. In a pinch, you can unscrew the lampshade
>and use the exposed screw on the lamp itself to steady your
>camera.
>
>* In Auto mode, the camera decides whether or not to use the
>flash. (This is true of most digital cameras.) But a flash
>photo isn't always what you want; it has a certain look, a
>uniform brightness (if not a nuked foreground subject).
>
>So if the photo op gives you enough time, consider switching
>the mode dial to, say, Portrait or Manual, and try the same
>shot without the flash. You'll probably have to work harder
>to steady the camera (use your elbows, your ribcage, a
>doorframe, a tabletop), but you'll often be rewarded by a
>more beautiful, more realistically lit shot that looks
>completely different from the flash version.
>
>* The D70 has a motor drive or burst mode, meaning that it
>can keep firing away several shots per second as long as
>you're pressing the shutter button. If your camera has such
>a feature, you might never think of using it for portraits.
>
>But you should, for two reasons. First, there may be a world
>of difference between a half-smile and a quarter-smile. By
>using the motor drive, you'll catch all of the variations,
>and later, you can pick out the best one.
>
>Second, in low light, the first squeeze of the shutter
>button may jiggle the camera, resulting in a blurry shot
>(because the shutter remains open longer in low light). But
>if you use the motor drive, the second and third shots have
>a better chance of being steady, because your shutter finger
>is no longer in motion.
>
>* Most digital cameras take photos whose width and height
>are in 4:3 proportions. The resulting shots fit neatly on a
>TV screen, standard computer screen or DVD -- but they don't
>fit standard photo-print sizes (4 x 6, 8 x 10, and so on).
>Fans of iPhoto, Photoshop Elements and similar programs are
>used to cropping their photos before printing standard-sized
>prints.
>
>Fancy cams like the D70 and its rival, the Canon Digital
>Rebel, though, take more traditionally proportioned photos,
>with a width-to-height ratio of 3:2. They perfectly fit 4 x
>6 prints, but now you have to crop them for display on TV
>and computer screens. That's important to remember when you
>TAKE the photos, because what's on the outer edges of the
>composition may not survive the cropping. (Some cameras let
>you switch back and forth between the two aspect ratios.)
>
>* I met a professional photographer last month who was in
>love with his own Nikon D70, but he hadn't yet figured out
>how to zoom in on a photo he was playing back. And no
>wonder: This feature isn't Nikon at its best. But here it
>is: First, you press the Enter key to blow up the photo to
>four times original size on the camera's playback screen.
>Then, to zoom in more, simultaneously press the Thumbnail
>(checkerboard) button and turn the adjustment dial. You'll
>see a red rectangle on the screen, shrinking as you turn the
>dial, indicating how much of the photo you'll enlarge when
>you let go.
>
>The heartbreak of digital SLR's like these, of course, is
>that they're so heavy, expensive and ungainly. Forget about
>carrying one in your pocket, as you can with many chic
>silver consumer cams; you have to carry the D70 and Digital
>Rebel around in a camera case.
>
>But if the goal is photography, you don't realize how broad
>the gulf is between consumer and semi-pro equipment until
>you've used both for a few months.
>
--
>Hi Timothy,
>
>Try http://www.dpreview.com/ for very (very) detailed
>reviews of loads of cameras. The F828 does not get a
>good review overall, it's let down by image noise.
>
>http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscf828/
>
>When choosing a camera for this sort of thing I would
>pay particular attention to the size of the sensor
>chip..
>
>Prosumer cameras usually have a very small chip (in
>the case of the F828 it's 8.8 x 6.6 mm) and to get 8
>megapixel resolution onto a chip that size is a real
>squeeze. Pro cameras like the Nikon D70 have a lower
>megapixelage, but on a much larger chip (23.7 x 15.6
>mm for the D70), hence much higher quality (amongst
>other things).
>
>Personally for museum work I'd go for a 6.1 megapixel
>SLR like the D70 or the Canon EOS 300D with a big
>sensor rather than a prosumer camera with a much
>smaller sensor, although they do cost a bit more.
>
>Jeremy.
>
>
>
> --- Timothy McShane <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 'Morning, all;
>>
>> We're looking to acquire some new digital equipment,
>> and before
>> committing to a purchase, I thought I'd solicit what
>> information I can
>> from the list...
>>
>> We're planning to acquire a new digital camera,
>> mostly for producing
>> reference photographs of our artifact collection
>> (which we eventually
>> hope to make available to researchers via the Web),
>> but may also be used
>> for site visits, photographing oversized archival
>> pieces (ones that
>> won't fit on a standard flatbed scanner), and for
>> producing exhibit
>> graphics for temporary shows, and possibly for
>> publication (although
>> depending on the nature of the publication, we may
>> still opt for
>> professional photography). I know this is a lot to
>> ask of one piece of
>> equipment, but we're looking at the Sony Cybershot
>> DSC-F828--has anyone
>> used this for any of the above applications? Any
>> opinions to offer?
>> Specifically, we're wondering how well the camera
>> performs in producing
>> close-ups (its advertising claims a 20mm minimum
>> focus distance--does it
>> really produce usable images at that short range?),
>> and how well it's
>> images enlarge for use on exhibit panels (not
>> necessarily mural size,
>> but say 2' by 3').
>>
>> We're also contemplating acquiring a digital
>> thermohygrometer to
>> supplement our traditional hair thermohygrometers.
>> We want something
>> that can produce multiple readings rapidly over
>> varying environments and
>> give instant readouts, so we've pretty much ruled
>> out evaporative
>> psychrometers and data loggers. Has anyone used a
>> piece of equipment
>> like this, and have any opinions to offer?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>>
>>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>> Tim McShane, Assistant--Cultural History
>> Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery
>> 1302 Bomford Crescent S.W.
>> Medicine Hat, AB T1A 5E6
>> (403) 502-8587
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
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