[Marthig]

Hi I received a prize for 10 years of continued work at my employer's firm. Oddly enough they would not give me the money so I could use it to fix several things I badly need to do at my home. So I am supposed to pick an item or two but they have to be new.

There are only two things that I think will be nice to have though were not on top of my priorities list. I intend to buy a digital camera and a scanner.

I have no experience in photography except having used my office's digital camera two or three times.

I am listing below some models available in my country at the moment hoping some one could give me some advise on which would be more convenient to buy in view of my inexperience. The use I have in mind for the camera is to take some close-ups of flowers, leaves, insects textures etc. to use for manipulations and Photoshop brushes and textures. The scanner to scan many very old family photos.

HP SCANNER -MODEL SJ 2400 - resolucion de 1200 dpi y 48 bits, . Scanning speed 12 seg. Resolution 1200 x 1200 dpi. Compatible w/Windows 98, Me, 2000 profesional, XP; Mac OS x9.1 o posterior. Conectivity USB. Scaling10% a 2000%. 1 año de garantia. (the larger resolution ones are scanner and printer all in one and much too expensive)

DIG.CAM.OLYMPUS D-435
Res. 5.1 megapixels. Lens Olympus 6.1 mm. Zoom digital de 4x. Screen LCD TFT color de 1.5". Flash incorporado con 4 modos. Memoria interna de 14 MB. Compatible con PC y Macintosh.

CANON DIGITAL CAMERA A400 (cod 32691 )
3,2 megapíxeles. Zoom 2.2x. Processor DIGIC. Autofoco AiAF en 9 puntos. Vídeo w/sound. Impresión (print?) PictBridge. Memory SD 16 Mb included. Red eye reduction. Modo de impresión de la fecha en postales. High resolution LCD
MEMORy SD 16 Mb Screen high resolution LCD RESOLUTION 3,2 megapíxeles Origin China Marca CANON

SONY DIGITAL CAMERA : CYBERSHOT DSCP73 Camera 4.1 Megapixels Zoom Optico: 3x RIMP: Nuevo Procesador de Imagen Real Color (New Real color Image Processor) LCD: 1.5" 67K Pixel LCD MPEG: MPEG VX Fine w/Audio (640 x 480 a 30fps) Accesories included: Pilas Recargables x 2 (2 rechargeable batteries), Cargador (charger ? Loader ?), Correa de mano (hand strings), MSA16A 16MB, Memory Stick®, Software CDROM Sls

SONY DIGITAL CAMERA DSC-S40 (cod 32751-garbarino 999)
MEMORIA 32MB internal SCREEN LCD de 1.5" RESOLUCION 4.1 Megapíxeles Origin Japan SONY "
4.1 Megapíxeles Super HAD™ CCD. Zoom: 3X Optical Smart Zoom™ 10x (VGA) Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar Lens. LCD de 1.5". MPEG: MPEG VX Fine w/Audio (640 x 480) 30cps. Modo Burst: 4 shots(4M fine, 0,7seg), 30 shots(VGA Std 0,6seg.) 32MB internal memory. Slot de Memory Stick

I tried to translate most of the technical information. Please excuse the extent of the info just do what you can, any little bit will help as I am completely dizzy trying to figure out what to do

Thank you and regards - Martha

[mistermonday]

Hi Marthig, I can't comment on a specific model but would recommend you visit http://www.dpreview.com where you will find very comprehensive, unbiased, reviews of digital cameras. The scanner should be adequate for scanning your photos (I assume you will not be scanning negatives or slides). regards, Murray

[CJ Swartz]

Martha, Congratulations on your good record at work, and on your prize for the acknowledgment of that good record!

I have not used any of the cameras listed, so I cannot make any personal recommendations, but I know that DPreview (as Murray recommended) is an excellent site for information. It can be an awfully LOT of information for someone just starting out, however. Here's a page from the Imaging Resources website (not as popular as DPreview.com, but a similar resource for camera info) --
http://www.imaging-resource.com/WB/WB.HTM?view=dp_cheap
(excerpt from the page: "the (Canon) A410 is an especially good bargain for an all-around consumer model. Overall, a solid replacement for the previous A400 model, and one of the best cameras on the market in its price range."
I don't know whether the Canon 410 is available in your area (other than online), but the review mentions the A400 as good also.

Steve's Digicam website offers a review of the Canon A400
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_.../a400_pg5.html
excerpt:
"Canon's AFiF autofocus system is accurate and fast even when shooting macros at TWO inches or in total darkness thanks to its focus-assist lamp. The camera was also very effective at "throttling down" its flash output during macro photography. "

Sony reviews
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/SS40/SS40A.HTM

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/P73/P73A.HTM
Sony camera use a Sony-only type of memory -- memory stick instead of the more common compact flash, Secure Digital SD cards and similar cards. Check to see how available these memory sticks are and how expensive they are compared to the other types of memory. It looks like all these cameras used AA (NIMH) batteries which should be readily available anywhere in the world.

Enjoy whatever you choose!

[Mike]

When trying to pick out a camera, the first thing I would do is to try and figure out what you want to do with the camera. Are you going to just photograph people? Or do landscapes? Or do flowers? Or do underwater? Or copy old photos? Or? Or?

If you think you will do some combination of the above, do you need interchangable lenses? Do you need the ability to place filters on the camera? Do you want the ability to trigger an off camera flash? What size prints will you normally make? What kind of flash card does it take and is that card compatiable with the rest of your equipment?

Lots of questions, I would try and write down what I think I need and then try to pick a camera that fits those needs.

Good luck!

Mike

[Marthig]

Thank you Mistermonday, CJ and Mike !

Well finally after pestering almost anyone I know I managed to get to a decision. Will get a Kodak easyshare C300 , quite basic; has only 3.1Mp , digital zoom 5x 16Mb inbuilt memory and am getting a 256Mb SD card.

After reviewing the prices and making adjustments will also get (if they approve my list) a 1200x1200 dpi HP scanner (ScanJet 2400), a 17" CRT flat screen monitor, an 80Gb HD, and a UPS.

And Mike I did make a summary of what I wanted the camera for, but it was such a long posting that I am sure it was not easy to see it whole :

"... more convenient to buy in view of my inexperience. The use I have in mind for the camera is to take some close-ups of flowers, leaves, insects textures etc. to use for manipulations and Photoshop brushes and textures. The scanner to scan many very old family photos. "

Again, many thanks to all who replied and next time I will post a picture
Regards - Martha