J PLEAK on thu 18 feb 99
It looks positive that I have recieved a grant to purchase a digital camera
and scanner for the ceramic department, here at Georgia Southern University.
I would appreciate any input the clay art people could give me on the pros
and cons of the digital world when it comes to selecting a camera and
scanner. My funding is around $1000 for the purchase. Thank you
Jane Pleak
Georgia Southern University
John Hesselberth on fri 19 feb 99
J PLEAK wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>It looks positive that I have recieved a grant to purchase a digital camera
>and scanner for the ceramic department, here at Georgia Southern University.
>I would appreciate any input the clay art people could give me on the pros
>and cons of the digital world when it comes to selecting a camera and
>scanner. My funding is around $1000 for the purchase. Thank you
>Jane Pleak
>Georgia Southern University
Jane,
One very important thing to think about is whether or not you will want
to use it with an external flash. Many (probably even most) digital
cameras can only be used with the internal flash or none at all, i.e.
they do not have an external flash synchronization capability. That
would limit you to using flood lights or natural light when taking
pictures of pots. I wanted to be able to use an electronic flash placed
overhead in a soft box. At the time I purchased, only Kodak offered this
feature in the less than $1000 range. Most sales people in stores that
sell these cameras don't know and can't seem to figure out whether this
feature is offered or not. Actually, they won't have the foggiest clue
what you are even talking about. You will have to dig.
The other thing is pixel count: get as much resolution as you can afford.
You can always adjust your photos for less resolution (for say, faster
loading on a web page) in a program like Photoshop, but you can't add it
beyond the camera's basic capability.
John Hesselberth
Frog Pond Pottery
P.O. Box 88
Pocopson, PA 19366 USA
EMail: john@frogpondpottery.com web site: http://www.frogpondpottery.com
"It is time for potters to claim their proper field. Pottery in its pure
form relies neither on sculptural additions nor on pictorial decorations.
but on the counterpoint of form, design, colour, texture and the quality
of the material, all directed to a function." Michael Cardew in "Pioneer
Pottery"
George M. Koller on fri 19 feb 99
Some quick advice from somebody that spent a week shopping electronically and
did a lot of study.
The Olympus cameras may or may not be the most priceworthy but they are really
up there - good lenses and the right features. Lots depends on use.
Good news is that there are price comparison services on web (forgot name) but
will show up with searches on digital camera and tremendous discounts are
available - I found the Oly 500 at a price abpit 30% below street. But, I
think, find a shop that knows cameras. Best Stop Digital in NY did me really
good at $554 on the Oly 554 = less then wholesale (as of 3 months ago). Maybe
by now you can get the 600 for that? Prices are dropping generally.
The Best Stop folks are at 1-800-339-8357. With proper extras $1000 will go a
long way. Suggest you don't call until you know what you need - they will offer
great advice when you know what you are hearing.
George Koller
J PLEAK wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> It looks positive that I have recieved a grant to purchase a digital camera
> and scanner for the ceramic department, here at Georgia Southern University.
> I would appreciate any input the clay art people could give me on the pros
> and cons of the digital world when it comes to selecting a camera and
> scanner. My funding is around $1000 for the purchase. Thank you
> Jane Pleak
> Georgia Southern University
Dannon Rhudy on fri 19 feb 99
At 07:35 AM 2/18/99 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>It looks positive that I have recieved a grant to purchase a digital camera
>and scanner for the ceramic department, here at Georgia Southern University.
>I would appreciate any input the clay art people could give .......
We may be purchasing one here, also, so I would be very interested in
experiences/opinions regarding digital cameras, especially in terms of
quality of image as compared to slides, etc.
Thanks,
Dannon Rhudy
potter@koyote.com
Chris Leake on fri 19 feb 99
Dear Jane,
I was just reading about digital cameras. The article focused on the
following cameras:
www.kodak.com (Kodak DC210,$499 with 1152x846 in resolution)
www.casio.com/digitalimaging (Casio QV-5000SX $499 with up to 1280x960
res.)
www.hp.com (HPO Photosmart C30, $399 with up to 1152x872 res.)
www.nikonuso.com (Nikon CoolPix 900s $799 with 1280x960 res.)
www.olympus.com/digital (Olympus D-400 with 1280x960 res.)
The article also mentioned others ranging from $399 to $899, but they
didn't list all the websites. Some include zoom and low light
capabilities. Good luck. Here is their list of other brands
Agfa
Canon
Epson
Fuji
Sony
Toshiba
J PLEAK wrote:
> ----------------------------Original
> message----------------------------
> It looks positive that I have recieved a grant to purchase a digital
> camera
> and scanner for the ceramic department, here at Georgia Southern
> University.
> I would appreciate any input the clay art people could give me on the
> pros
> and cons of the digital world when it comes to selecting a camera and
> scanner. My funding is around $1000 for the purchase. Thank you
> Jane Pleak
> Georgia Southern University
Mason Batchelder on fri 19 feb 99
One thing I heard and have had confirmation by the sales people at places like
circuit city is that if you buy something you have 30 days if it does not
satisfy to return it for a full refund.The dpi resolution is real important as
is waterproof quality of the inks to insure an image that a drop of moisture
will not run off.The cost of ink cartridges to print may concern as may the
types of paper and it's cost.The connectibility factor i.e. one unit to any
supporting hardware might concern as would whether that will be orphaned in
next generation equipment.The means of storing the images and the potential to
erase after viewing for editing purposes and the reusability of that capacity
are all issues in different systems to compare.I would first find out what is
the leading technology at state of the art then compare the ones you might be
interested in against that and look towards upgrading or integration
issues.Online searching helps using search engines or spiders...Snap.com and
Yahoo.com , and Lycos.com are good starters.keywords like DIGITAL OR DIGITAL
CAMERAS work good for starters.Few camera or electronic stores have the best
inventory but check out any online source that is not a manufacturer.Good
shopping you lucky one. Margaret Arial
Bill Palmer on sat 20 feb 99
------------------
RE: Digital Cameras and scanners
Jane,
Some things to consider for your Digital camera/scanner setup.
The first thing to consider is what you will be using them for.
If you are going to be posting photos to a web page, or other display
limited to on-screen, than resolution is not a big concern as the screen's
resolutin will be the limiting factor. (usually considered to be 72 dpi)
If you are going to be printing photo's and using them for printed media
(brochures, etc ) you're going to want your resolution to be much higher -
a digital camera with the quality you will want will eat up most of your
=241000. If you want to take pictures to submit to Ceramics Monthly or other
magazines, I don't think there is ANY digital camera that will meed the
resolution requirements to make a good enough looking photo - especially
for under =241000.
A scanner is going to give you a better resolution than any digital camera.
Scanned pictures can be used in both print and on-line media equally as
well, as the resolution of the scan is chosen when you scan. Of course you
need to first have a picture to scan.
So, you must consider what you will be scanning:photos or slides or both.
Not all scanners will accommodate slides, and all that do will require an
attachment to back light them. There are dedicated slide scanners, and
snapshot photo scanners,but they are generally not inexpensive.
A flatbed scanner will probably give you the most versatility for the
money, and be reasonably priced too. A trip to your computer superstore
will reveal a wide array of scanners from =2429 (after rebate) to over =
=24500.
I've been told that the cheapest ones come with virtually no documentation,
and can be very frustrating to get working properly. Major brand names (HP,
Cannon, etc) are said to be a better bet and are still affordable.
Watch out for the interface you choose. We have an HP scanner with a SCSI
connection, which is a fast connection, and may work out OK if you already
have a SCSI device running on your computer (such as a network card) BUT,
It took a while to get running properly because windows 95 uses up so many
of the computer's resources just to run, that adding additional devices can
be a juggling act. We ended up disabling our game port to make an available
interrupt (IRQ).
Scanners are available now with parallel and USB port interfaces. These are
going to be the easiest to install. Make sure you buy the one that will
work on your computer (don't choose a USB interface, unless your computer
has one, If you have Win95, make sure the package says it works with win95
(not just win 98).
Some of the same considerations must be given to the digital camera also,
as there are many ways of getting the picture from the camera to the
computer.
the newer Sony ones (and possibly others) record right on a floppy disk
(pretty darn convenient)
others use a USB plug (make sure your computer has one)
others use a serial cable. (do you have one available or is it in use with
another device such as a mouse.)
consider what it will take to plug the cord in. Will you have to yank the
computer out of the cabinet? If so, can you leave the cable connected
between uses (not practical if you need to interface the camera with
multiple computers). Some newer computers FINALLY put some ports on the
front of the box (I've seen this especially with USB ports).If you have one
of these, the cable shouldn't be a problem.
An additional consideration is what you are going to do with the pictures
once you've got them on your computer. You will most likely want (or need)
some software to edit, crop, color adjust, add captions, whatever. The best
ones, (Adobe photoshop or Corel Photopaint) will set you back some serious
bucks and will require some time to learn to use effectively (better budget
for some books on them too). I believe both manufacturers have an
educational discount program, so check that out before you run off to
CompUSA.
Hope this help some.
Bill Palmer
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
It looks positive that I have recieved a grant to purchase a digital camera
and scanner for the ceramic department, here at Georgia Southern
University.
I would appreciate any input the clay art people could give me on the pros
and cons of the digital world when it comes to selecting a camera and
scanner. My funding is around =241000 for the purchase. Thank you
Jane Pleak
Georgia Southern University
Andy Crimp on sat 20 feb 99
Dannon -
Have you looked at a Sony digital Camera.
They do not use a card....... they put the image on a floppy disc (3 1/2 x
3 1/2") which you can load directly into tyour computer. I am looking at
one here in Nanaimo.
Les Crimp in Nanoose Bay ( one of the tozan bunch)
lcrimp@island.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Dannon Rhudy
To: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU
Date: Friday, February 19, 1999 9:18 AM
Subject: Re: Digital Cameras and scanners
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
At 07:35 AM 2/18/99 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>It looks positive that I have recieved a grant to purchase a digital camera
>and scanner for the ceramic department, here at Georgia Southern
University.
>I would appreciate any input the clay art people could give .......
We may be purchasing one here, also, so I would be very interested in
experiences/opinions regarding digital cameras, especially in terms of
quality of image as compared to slides, etc.
Thanks,
Dannon Rhudy
potter@koyote.com
gail sheffield on sat 20 feb 99
There is a website at www.shortcourses.com/chapter03 which is helpful in
understanding digital cameras and what's out there now. It convinced me to =
wait
awhile.
Gail Sheffield
Covington, LA
arturo m devitalis on sat 20 feb 99
The software that came with my HP6100C (scanner) does all kind of
wonderful things with the photos (film) that get scanned in. With all
the technical magic done by software is it possible to get good results
with less than top-of-the-line digital cameras?
Arturo DeVitalis
devpot@juno.com
___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
Charles Williams on sat 20 feb 99
John,
I recently purchased a Kodak DC260 "megapixel" digital camera for $700. It
has a built-in flash but don't fret over the peripherals. The cameras and
software packaged with them will correct any lighting problems you may
encounter. So, use any lighting available to achieve the desired effect and
post-process correct for any problems. I am well pleased with this camera and
its features but please go on line, search "digital camera" and shop around.
The technology is constantly changing and the prices are coming down.
An excellent color scanner with 600 x 1200 dpi optical resolution can be
purchased for less than $300. Again, shop the NET for the best deal.
Also, if the software that comes with the camera you purchase will not do
everything you desire, search your facility for Adobe Photoshop or other such
software that should do the job (photography dept.).
I hope this is helpful.
Good Potting! C Williams
millie carpenter on sun 21 feb 99
Hi
the owner at my local photography store told me that it is more cost
effective and you get better quality if you use your regular camera and
then have the film saved to disk. He also said that the quality of the
printed photo even using the photo ink and paper is not as good as
saving the altered immage back to a disk(zip drive) and taking back to
the store for a professional printing. but I found that last year,
using a low end camera and photo shop on a mac and an HP printer was
perfectly okay for experimental work with high school kids.
also the immediacy of the camera as opposed to the time that it takes to
haul stuff back and forth was worth the "lesser quality". Also, either a
zip drive or one of the new rewritable cd's is a necessity or your hard
drive fills up in a hurry. I would agree that you need to get the one
that will give you the best resolution. I am waiting for the prices to
really come down so that I can have one for me to play with at home.
millie in Md. waiting eagerly for NCECA
Dannon Rhudy wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> At 07:35 AM 2/18/99 EST, you wrote:
> >----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> >It looks positive that I have recieved a grant to purchase a digital camera
> >and scanner for the ceramic department, here at Georgia Southern University.
> >I would appreciate any input the clay art people could give .......
>
> We may be purchasing one here, also, so I would be very interested in
> experiences/opinions regarding digital cameras, especially in terms of
> quality of image as compared to slides, etc.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dannon Rhudy
> potter@koyote.com
NakedClay@aol.com on sun 21 feb 99
Hi Digital Camera Buffs!
My friend and fellow photographer, Leonardo, brought his Mavica (by Sony)
camera to my studio here in the Mojave, a couple of months ago.
This is a camera with conveniences, such as a 3X zoom lens (not a great zoom
ratio, mind you), and an internal, switchable (an on/off switch) flash unit.
The selling point of the Mavica cameras is it's use of 3 1/2 inch floppy
discs, as it's "medium" of choice. Instead of plugging a patch cord or
requiring some other unwieldy method of image transfer, one simply removes the
floppy disc from the camera, and inserts it into the "A" (or whatever
designation) drive of the computer. One must have "JPG" reading capabilities
on the computer, such as a photo and image program (I use the Microsoft Photo
Editor).
There are several options the Mavica user can use, to take really fine photos.
The "finer" the quality of the photos, the fewer images one can record on a
floppy disc, however. Leonardo's camera, a Mavica Model 85 (?), can also take
15 or 30-second movies, too, but with very limited (tinny) sound quality.
I recommend the Mavica camera, for general-use digital photography, and to
take photos of one's pottery or ceramic wares. At the discount stores (Los
Angeles, CA area), the Model 85 can be bought for around $600.
Milton NakedClay@AOL.COM
A starry night awaits me out here in the Mojave Desert.
| |
|
