[thelist] digital camera shopping

[isaac]

> I'm awanting a digital camera...

I'm going to jump onto the back of this thread, but I'm after something a
touch above Scott's request.

I've been reading the reviews at these sites:

http://www.dcresource.com/
http://www.steves-digicams.com/

but thought that some of you guys might have some tips on what to look out
for.

My budget is probably AUD$750-1000 (which at current dismal exchange rates
is around US$500).

I'm hoping to find something with good optical zoom and resolution. Also,
with a movie mode of some sort (preferably with audio, but I can live
without it.)

It'd be good to have something that takes Compact Flash Type II that
supports the IBM Microdrives - that'd be handy to have when travelling so I
wouldn't have to buy a notebook to go with it.

USB support would be good, but serial is bearable if I can get hold of a USB
card reader later on. An uncompressed (ie, TIFF, RAW) mode would be very,
very handy.

The favourite of the above two sites appears to be the Olympus D-490Z:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/olympus/d490z-review/index.html

It does silent movie mode, Uncompressed TIFFs, but has no USB, and comes
with a shitty storage card (8MB). It's about US$500.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be available in Australia. A local
camera place recommended the more-expensive Olympus C-990, but I can't find
reviews of it at either of the sites I've linked to above.

Anyone outside the US got any experience with buying cameras from there? I
imagine that likely problems are warranties/guarantees, AC power adapters
having the wrong plug, etc.


tia,

isaac