Digital cameras

[Stu Olson]

I picked up a new digital camera last week, a Canon A70, 3.2 megapixels.

Wow...I am impressed. My Sony digital is 4ish years old and the amount of change the tech sector has pushed into these little cameras is nothing short of amazing. It uses a compact flash card. I picked up a 256MB card for it (like the 16MB card was actually going to hold more than a dozen pics?)

After I had the A70 for a couple of days, I discovered that it could be programmed and controled from my laptop. Who would have ever thought?

Anyway, I am looking forward to taking some better trail pics in the near future. Many thanks to Brad and Joey for always sending me higher res pics from their cameras.....it finally worked and I broke down and got a new one. ;)

Anybody else have one that is reasonably priced and works great for you?

One last thing, I found a great on-line site for reviews, called http://www.dpreview.com

[Brad]

:) Sure! It's not often that someone thanks me for contributing to them spending more money. I think you're going to like it. And I'd be willing to bet that you find some excuse to be controlling it with the laptop in your Jeep.

My camera (Nikon CoolPix 990) will be four years old this June and is also 3.2 megapixels. It works great for me but was definatly not reasonably priced by today's standards.

Brad

[k7mto]

My wife got me (us) an Olympus C-50 5 megapixel camera for Christmas. I haven't had a chance to use it on a trail run yet (forgot it last week when we ran Bulldog Canyon), but it's a great camera. It came with a 32 meg card and in hi-res mode (2560x1920) mode it'll hold 26 pics. In 640x480 it'll hold 198 pics. Not bad. It also takes 16 second mpegs but no sound. I think t cost just under $300. I plan to get a 128 meg card soon and can't imagine ever filling that thing up.

[Stu Olson]

Hi Matt....your camera sounds nice. Next time, take it with you on the trail!!!

Just for grins, check the owners manual again for the number you can store on your media. If you can also change the amount of compression (I would think you can) your picture undergoes, you may find that you can't store as many as you thought. Given that you have me by about 2 megapixels, I can only put 28 pics on a 32MB card when shooting at the largest size (2048x1536) and the lowest file compression ratio.

I've not gotten around to testing the different compression ratios yet (still too many things to try out).

[k7mto]

Thanks, Stu. I also haven't figured out how to use the thing to it's fullest potential. I imagine there are compression options I'm unaware of. The manual it comes with leaves alot to be desired. I'll check their website for more info. And I'll certainly bring it with me next time I wheel.

[John DeRuiter]

I have been using my Digital SLR on the trails. It has a lot of pixels (6 MP) and uses all my Nikon lenses, but it is a bit cumbersom on the trails. I recently got an Canon A80 that I plan on using on the trails. Also could not believe the price. Only $289.

[Steve Campbell]

Stu, I got the A70 several months ago and I love it. Unfortunately the A80 is looking might good now. Oh well, that will have to wait a while! :)

[Stu Olson]

Yeah....there is always a model or two nicer, hanging on the horizon. I got 4+ years of good use out of my Sony and it still works just fine....and I'll probably continue to use it for taking install pics for the web site. I use 640x480 for the web pages and the old Mavica does a good job on those....besides, I don't have to worry so much about greasy fingers on the new Canon! :D

[TimFryeAZ]

I got the Canon D-30 4mp about 4 years ago. I used it in a portrait studio and for wedding photogrraphy. Not reasonably priced then (around 1200$ for the body) but it used all my Canon Lenses. I still have it and it takes great pics especially with the 17mm wide angle lens. A bit bulky, but I have it in a Tamrac #5 bag that holds it and all the accessories (batteries for flash and GPS, and CF cards) as well as another lens etc all in a padded case. This is bungee'd to the back box ready for quick action. Works well but now I want the Canon D-60 that is 10mp Oh well I also want .......

[sschwar4]

I have the Olympus C-700. Only 2.1 mp, but it has a 10x optical zoom. I have taken it on a few runs, but only one (outings that is) of them they actually stopped for pictures of obstacles and such. So, all I have is scenery and lunch photos. It does do an excellent job though.

Stuart