Digital Camera Question

[1ADAM12]

Does anyone have any expierence with this camera?

Fujifilm FinePix A205 Digital Camera 2.0 MP 3x Opt Zoom

I have an opportunity for a pretty good deal on one and was wondering if anyone out there uses it for their outdoor trips.

Thanks in advance!

ADAM

 

[shadowcat]

camera info

i usually go to places like: bizrate , pricegrabber or dpreview on the web
you should be able to find info on the camera & verify you are getting a great deal also.

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

Since most cameras today are 3MP-5MP, a 2MP camera like the A205 should be selling for not too much over $100. Am I close? I use (well, until I lost it!) a Pentax 33WR 3MP camera.

 

[1ADAM12]

Since most cameras today are 3MP-5MP, a 2MP camera like the A205 should be selling for not too much over $100. Am I close? I use (well, until I lost it!) a Pentax 33WR 3MP camera.

The camera is a used one for 70 bucks. They guy I am buying it from has shown me some outdoor pics and they are pretty good quality. The camera would be mainly used for my outdoor adventures so I do not want to spend mega bucks for something I might lose....hint hint....lol or possibly drop and break on a side of a mountain.

Also, Sahdow thanks for those links they are great!

 

[David Metsky]

It's not a bad camera, certainly a servicable entry level model. There are much better cameras on the market today, but not for $70. If you plan on using it to get into the digital camera market, it's a good place to start. I think if you use it a lot you'll want to upgrade at some point.

Does it come with enough memory cards or will you need to buy more.

-dave-

 

[1ADAM12]

Does it come with enough memory cards or will you need to buy more. -dave-

Dave it comes with a 16mb memory. This guy i am thinking about buying it from says it will hold about 120 pictures. Does this sound right? Anyways your right for the price you cannot go wrong

 

[Warren]

At 2 mp 120 pictures on 16 mb card doesn't sound right, even at whatever the lowest setting the camera may have. On my 2mp camera on the near highest quality setting I estimate about 1mb per picture. The effectiveness of compression will be variable depending upon the amount of color and the sharpness settings. Night sky and snow fields will compress well, a picture of all your gear in front of your tent in the fall won't compress as well.

 

[shadowcat]

re disc size /storage space

"it comes with a 16mb memory. This guy i am thinking about buying it from says it will hold about 120 "

16mb is not much especially for taking quality pics & if you are out all day or for multi days. however that is the standard size that comes with most digital cameras. the good news is you can pick up much larger (space) discs for very reasonable.
i use 128 mb and have never run out of room. you can purchase these for around 23-25$ (brand: sandisk). go to places like:
nextag.com
shopping.com
camera-supplies.com
epinions.com
do a search for compact flash cards (unless it uses memory stix - they run about the same; for example you can get 128 mb memory stix for around 29-35 at a quick glance)
s-cat

 

[twigeater]

I have this one now:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/prod...333&type=19&dept=3944&path=0:3944:3959:103333
but the A205 sounds like the one I dropped in South Branch Pond this summer and fried. It's amazing how quickly the prices go down...

I believe a 16MB card will hold about 40 pictures, not in fine mode. It says on the package how many pics a card should hold in each mode. You could check out a new one just to make sure.

 

[Jay H]

I found this about the storage capacity of the 16MB xD card in the Fuji A205:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/A205/A205DATA.HTM

I typically shoot all my photos with the least amt of compression (but not RAW format).. so I wouldn't expect as much as the table suggests. I'm sure if you do a bigger search, you might find other tables.

BTW, I think my local grocery store, a Shop Rite is selling a brand new 2.0MP digicam, a Sony something or other for $80. Has a 2x optical zoom but isn't that much more than your used $70 2mp Fuji. Maybe you can bargain some more!

Jay

 

[paul ron]

16MB/120 pix?

If you are storing 120 pix on a 16mb stick that averages about 133K each. That translates to e-mail sized pix adn not high resolution pictures. Memory can be upgraded later.

That camera sounds like a nice deal for $70. There are much nicer cameras out there costing $1000 but for shooting trip pix, it's perfect. Besides if you lost it or damaged it on a camping trip, you won't cry as much over it.

Disposables are still the best deal in town.

 

[1ADAM12]

mega pixels

I am new to the digital photography world so someone please explain this. The higher the mega pixel the better quality of picture the camera takes?

So If I buy a 2mp as opposed to a 3mp it will not take as good of pictures?

Thanks,
ADAM

 

[^MtnMike^]

I am new to the digital photography world so someone please explain this. The higher the mega pixel the better quality of picture the camera takes?
So If I buy a 2mp as opposed to a 3mp it will not take as good of pictures?
Thanks,
ADAM

You get a greater resolution, which usually means a beter picture quality.
It works just like your screen resolutions on your computer. The smaller, more numerous the pixels on screen the greater the detail.
The greater the number of megapixels in the camera the more detail you can capture. This is helpful if you plan on getting prints made from your digital photos. For pictures you would like to have printed on larger papers, like 8x10 and above, you will want a camera with a decent number of megapixels (at least 3mp for 8x10)

Overall picture quality depends on a lot of things though, like the lens, image processing software/hardware, etc.
There are 2mp cameras out there that take better "looking" pictures than some cheap 3mp models, even if the 3mp models do contain greater resolution.

^MtnMike^

 

[Jay H]

Absolutely not! The MP size doesn't not indicate better quality, so simply a higher MP digicam doesn't mean it'll be a better camera. It'll just take larger resolution pictures. However, typically the larger MP cameras are newer than less MP cameras so it might imply it's a better camera but it really has not much to do with just the size, it would imply that it has newer software/hardware/CCD that will make it a better camera.

A higher MP camera will allow larger resolution for printing purposes, you'll be able to print or scale digital pictures sized for printing larger pictures. A 2MP digicam taken at the largest resolution and the least amount of compression should be able to print good 4x6s and OK 8x10s depending on how close or how picky you are. The paper you print it on does affect alot how good shots come out too.

For the web, you can see that a 2MP with a size of 1024x768 or so is fine. In fact, with the advent of the super 6MP+ cameras, it's a great market for web folks as you can get cheap 3.2MP cameras for under $200 now.

These are just some comments... The quality of the CCD which converts the light from the lens into a pixel is pretty important and has nothing to do with the number of MPs it has, a 3MP simply has more elements in the CCD than the 2MP (unless we get picky and start talking about interlacing)...

Jay

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

Ummm :
"1 Adam 12: See the man with smoke coming out of his ears"...
Too much information! I think that "Mtn Mike" has the best explanation here. Don't get too involved in the techie stuff. The overall quality of the camera still matters, just as it does in a film camera. Avoid "no-name" brands. A 3MP camera will serve you well, for not too much $. And you'll be able to get good photos up to 8.5x11, as long as you shoot at the highest quality setting.

If you buy the used 2MP Fuji camera, shoot at the highest quality setting, and it will be fine for smaller prints; maybe up to 8.5x11. It depends how critical you are of photo quality. And it's more than you need if you'll only want smaller prints, or to use for e-mailing images to be viewed on a monitor.

Go to a real camera store and ask for an explanation and a demo. Good luck!

 

[1ADAM12]

Thanks!!!!!

Thanks all for the great info. I will let you all know what I decide to do.

ADAM

 

[snowshoe]

BTW, I think my local grocery store, a Shop Rite is selling a brand new 2.0MP digicam, a Sony something or other for $80. Has a 2x optical zoom but isn't that much more than your used $70 2mp Fuji. Maybe you can bargain some more!

Jay

I just bought this one from shoprite. I had an extra 20% off. It cost me 60 bucks. It is a pretty good one. It has the movie camera as well as digital and optical zoom.

 

[David Metsky]

Digital zoom is not really a useful feature except in some very specific situations and with a high end camera. Basically, it's just doing the same thing you'd do with PhotoShop, PhotoDeluxe or any other image processing software, only with worse quality. Always keep digital zoom turned off on your camera.

Cheap cameras are cheap cameras. Just because it's 2 MP (or 3 or 4) doesn't mean it takes good pictures. The optics are just as important on a digital camera as they are in a film camera. The electronics are probably more important on digital, and many of the cheaper cameras out there really don't take pictures that will make you happy in the long run.

Consult DPreview and DCResource for full reviews of all the cameras on the market. Look for features that you will need, such as the optical zoom range, an autofocus assist lamp, self-timer, etc and the specs that you want such as small shutter lag, fast lens, shot-to-shot speed.

You can buy inexpensive cameras, but they can cost you if you are frustrated with the images and/or miss important shots. Very good cameras are in the $200-300 range, I'm not sure it pays to skimp.

-dave-