Camera to take Porsche Pics.

[Saffs]

What would people recommend as a good Digital Camera to take Porsche pictures with? Well, I might use it for other things, but taking car pics is a big one - so I'm not really that OT, am I?
I'm looking at the lower to mid price range - nothing pro like needed, and it's got to hook up well with a Mac. Not owned one before, or even looked into it. I'm guessing they have USB to hook up to the comp. - which is fine.
TIA
Anthony

[Joe Bob]

Can't go wrong with an Olympus. Get the newer models with USB cables....

[89911]

As some can tell by the recent barrage of images I have been uploading, I just got an Olympus Camedia 4.1Pixel with usb ports. It is very small and easy to use. Also got an 160mb smart cart so I can store up to 130 images. Now I can document all my Porsche work. Cost is about $700 online.

[wckrause]

I recently purchased an Olympus 2040 Zoom for a vacation to Alaska. The camera is great, I can't recommend it enough. Don't worry about getting much larger than 2 Megapixels, unless you plan on making larger than 8 x 10s.

I paid about $400 online, but the price might be lower now.

[Saffs]

Thanks for info, Gentlemen. Bill, that seems exactly what I'm looking for: Thanks.

[Natchamp]

In the spirit of alternatives, I recently purchased a Sony DSC-75 and am very happy with it. There are a lot of online resources to compare the different models and what they do good and bad.

[Reg]

I have a kodak dc3400 zoom. It is VERY simple to use, and I have a compact flash card reader so the unit has never had to be hooked up to my computer.

The Card reader is a great purchase. You snap out the memory card in the camera snap it into the card reader..hook it up via USB and its drag and drop, then you format it with one clik and away you go.

Simple, and 2.1 mega pix. is plenty for web. You only need to go higher if you have a fancy printer and are going to be making prints.

2.1 will do a nice 8 x 10 I think.

You could get one of these units now for CHEAP, and its only one year old.

If you look at my web, you can see pictures taken with this point and shoot camera...and these pictures have been altered afterwards to take up less space by lowering their quality. The web is listed in my profile.

[Joe Bob]

Good about card readers....fast down loads....saves camera batteries.

Bad, degrades the card by the constant removal from the camera to the reader and back again, downloads are NOT that slow with the newer USB cord, I use the extra optional external power supply during downloads to save my batteries.....

Most of my downloads of pics are less than five shots. I then process them and erase them, it is very rare that I fill a card.

In my camera case, I carry the USB cord and the simple fast camera program .... I can use anybodies computer and only have to load ONE program to do so....the card reader is just another piece of equipment that YOU REALLY DON'T need......

Your Mileage May Vary....
Just My $.02.....

Mike Z
1983 911 euro cab
1970 914/6

[patalive]

Hey Saffs - the Wall Street Journal recently had an article touting four web sites which provide independent reviews of digital cameras. One is even based in the UK so of course, it used "proper English" One or two even have buying guides. Have a look at:-

http://www.dpreview.com/
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http://www.steves-digicams.com/
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http://www.imaging-resource.com/
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http://www.dcresource.com/
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Cheers
Chuck
83SC

[Kurt B]

Warren asked me who the picturetaker was, and it was the good old timer on my digital camera.

As you can see the quality is excellent for the price, and both pics were resized by 75% and significantly reduced to get below 50k. 2.1 megapixels I believe.
It's a FinePix 2300 by Fuji. Price was a couple hundred beans...not much really.

[Eric Coffey]

Hey Saffs,

You might want to check out the Fuji "FinePix 6800". It has all the features you could possibly want, and is Mac compatible. The best part: It was designed by Porsche's design studios! It is kinda funky looking though.

-Eric

[Wayne 962]

I spent a lot of time researching these recently and decided on this one:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonycd300/

Why? The CD-R allows me to take many, many pictures (like at Porsche events), and also it creates what is known as a digital negative. I don't have to worry about losing images on my hard-drive - they're always pressed on a CD that I can stick in a drawer. This is a great advantage to this camera.

Other than that, it takes great pics. I used a Sony Mavica for the 101 book, and this camera is about 1000x better...

-Wayne

[targa88]

Kodak DC 4800. Problably older technology ( I have had it for nearly a year). 3.1 Megapixels. Easy to operate and provides great quality pictures. Reasonably priced.
Having spent a number years as a professional photographer (in another life) - digital photography is much more user friendly and less costly to operate. More spontaneity taking pictures.
The only thing: I am definitely taking too many pictures of my Pcar!!

[Bill Verburg]

I've been very happy with a Nikon 950, the rotating body allows you to compose shots in the strangest places. For traveling and while i'm out on the water I prefer my Canon S110 . Its so small that you can forget that its in your pocket and yet it takes pics as good as the Nikon. Li batteries and USB connectors are big pluses.

[Early_S_Man]

There are MANY good cameras out there now ...

If you want the best flexibiity, you need better than a 2 or 3:1 zoom, and that means 8:1 or 10:1 zoom in my book. Forget the megapixel wars the hypesters want to con you with! A 4-6 megapixel camera with 3:1 zoom is not terribly flexible or satisfactory in my book!

CD-RWs would be nice, but my Sony MVC-CD1000 can store more than 175 jpg's at 1600 x 1200 resolution ... 'BURNED' into a $0.79 generic CDR, as Wayne described! At around $700, now, not pro, but much better than run-of-the-mill optics! And USB cable and connectivity, too! One more thing ... every press pf the shutter burns an image onto the CDR, which can be deleted if you don't want the evidence around forever on your digital 'negative' ... but you don't recover any space for image storage.

One CAVEAT ... slow autofocus means not a camera for action or racing pics! Using the manual focus mode speeds it up a bit, but still not a rival for an 11-year old Nikon N8008 when shooting cars or even birds!

Works great in low light, too! And, +/- 2 EV adjustments in exposure can be quickly set, and spot/average metering can be switched at the touch of a single button, too! And, finally ... it takes 52 mm lens accessories, which Nikon and Canon 35 mm camera users will appreciate!

[campbellcj]

Another point I don't think anyone's mentioned so far -- threaded lens body. The Nikons and I think the Olympus' have these, but I'm not sure about other makes.

You gain a tremendous amount of flexibility by being able to use "traditional" style screw-in filters and lenses. For example, I have a wide-angle lens and an ~8X "zoom" (technically a monocular "scope") for my Nikon. These let me take Porsche pics anywhere from about 4 ft away up to several hundred feet out.

I have been very pleased with the mid-range Nikon I got about a year and a half ago. I think my next camera will be one of the "pro-sumer" Nikons in another year or so.

Cheers,

[Wayne 962]

This could be debated forever. The bottom-line is that the cameras out there right now are very different. Research those sites, and you will find one that is best for you. You may not need a telephoto, but prefer good macro/close-up capability (like me).

There are many, many varieties out there - you need to make a list of what's important to you...

-Wayne

[spinner]

Just snapped some pictures with a borrowed Olympus Camedia C-3040. USB and all that. Simple to use and to download the pictures. Windows recognize the camera as another storage device. See some pictures at w3.cablespeed.com/~pshahn. I didn't fiddle with the speed/light settings biut still came out pretty good. Costs around $500 online.

[Saffs]

Wow! Thanks for all the help. I think it looks like a Olympus.
Kury B, those are sharp pics you took there too, that would do me. Looks a great time to buy a camera now. I've had enough of scanning photos....
I'm looking online now for specs. but grateful to you all for your real experience opinions, which counts first: Thanks!