[thelist] Re: Digital Cameras

[isaac]

Just a follow up which might help some people who are also looking for
cameras. Note that I am far from a camera expert so I'm sure some people
will have some corrections. Anyway, I wasted all of yesterday reading
digicam reviews when I should've been working, and started inching out of my
budget.

I ended up doing a comparison of the Fuji Finepix 4700 Zoom and the Canon
Powershot G1. Cheapest I found the Fuji online was USD$595 (at
beachcamera.com), and the Canon elsewhere was around USD$775.

Here's the lowdown:

Fuji: - it looks fucking cool and beats everything (except maybe the ultra
tiny Canon S100 Digital ELPH) in the cuteness stakes. Nice silver look and
cool, usable interface. Has a backlit monochrome second LCD which allows you
to change most options without turning on the battery-loving colour LCD.
Reviews suggest that it is pretty fast to boot and also when flicking
through in playback. In built lens cap, no diopter correction, no
uncompressed TIFF mode. 2.4 MP ccd interpolated to give 2400x1800 at top
size (lots of controversy about the interpolation given that Fuji initially
claimed "4.3 MP". but many user comments suggest that it's still cool for a
2.4 MP camera, just stick with the medium size, and the interpolated version
is still useful when printing). Apparently prints from shots are very
impressive; good colours etc. Uses 2 standard AA batteries, but battery life
is not outstanding so carry spares. On the good side, it comes with 2 sets
of rechargeables, and a 16MB smartmedia card. No remote control, but has
video out, and a good movie mode with sound.

Canon: - diopter correction, RAW mode (better than uncompressed TIFF -
smaller). Good manual controls (can add lenses, hot shoe for flash, etc),
good macro shooting ability, good night shots. Swivelling LCD (very cool and
useful), takes CompactFlashII and is compatible with the IBM microdrive. Has
a remove control, does movie mode, video out, etc. Fast playback. Some
concern with purple fringing in outdoor shots on cloudy days from a few
reviewers.

Both cameras have 3x optical zoom which is good.

For me, the big advantages of the canon were the manual controls (in case I
ever needed them), the swivelling LCD, the remote, and Microdrive support.

I figured that I don't need manual controls, can live without a remote, and
I'm planning on buying a Digital Wallet (description further down) instead
of getting a Microdrive. Despite having imperfect vision, I can also live
without diopter correction since I usually wear contacts.

Right now, I'm leaning towards the Fuji because it looks ultra cool, has
that second LCD, has inbuilt lens cap (a very underrated feature I think),
and is cheaper. It's also apparently very easy to use, and is easy to carry
around (pocket sized). What I don't like about film cameras is that I feel
limited to a certain number of shots and having to wait to process film,
etc - so I'm looking for something that is easy to carry, easy to use, and
just lets me go nuts taking 500 photos of my cat (Pixel) if I want to. :P

I reconsidered the Olympus D-490z (USD$380 cheapest), but it has no USB
support, silent movies, and doesn't come standard with rechargeables
(meaning you have to buy them for extra) and only has an 8MB SmartMedia card
(meaning you have to pay extra to get another decent one). Those extras push
the $380 closer to the price of the Fuji.

Now, the Digital Wallet I mentioned earlier is made by Minds @ Work
(www.mindsgear.net) and sells for USD$500. It's basically a portable 6gig
harddrive which connects by USB. When your
compactflash/microdrive/smartmedia card is full, you just slot it into the
wallet, hit download, and it stores everything on the card. You can then
wipe the card, and keep taking shots. The 6gig drive means that you can
shoot tonnes of stuff without needing to take a laptop on holiday, or
multiple memory cards (laptops are harder to carry around, more expensive,
and a prime target for thieves). Anyway, the wallet connects to your
computer as another drive, and you can interact with it just like any other
harddrive. You can also use it for backup purposes, and copying tonnes of
shit between computers. These extra uses for it really got me interested.

There are about 4 reviews of this product on the Web that I found, and the
only downsides are a few bugs and that it "feels cheap". I can live with
that - everyone will be looking at the camera, right? ;)

It's a bit pricey, but $/MB is far, far better than the other memory storage
options. Hopefully they're working on a new version of the Wallet which is a
bit more solid, comes in smaller sizes, and has some extra features perhaps.


Finally, here are some links:

Imaging Resource review of Fuji 4700
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/F4700/F47A.HTM

DCResource review of Fuji 4700
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix4700-review/

PC Photo Review - review of Fuji 4700
http://www.pcphotoreview.com/imaging-resource/view.cfm?ProductID=209

Steve's Digicams review of Fuji 4700
http://www.steves-digicams.com/fuji4700.html

DCResource review of Canon G1
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershotG1-review/index.html

Imaging Resource review of Canon G1
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/G1/G1A.HTM

Steve's Digicams review of Canon G1
http://www.steves-digicams.com/g1.html

Imaging Resource review of Minds at Work Digital Wallet
http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/DW/DWA.HTM

Steve's Digicams review of Minds at Work Digital Wallet
http://www.steves-digicams.com/digital_wallet.html

DCResource review of Minds at Work Digital Wallet
http://www.dcresource.com/specials/DigitalWallet/index.html