Big_Ed
Flashlight Enthusiast
So I've been noticing how many people have digital cameras these days, and how they are improving continuously. It just so happens I still have my previously used cameras. The first one I bought used off a friend of mine for $100 back in 1999 or so. It was an Olympus D-320L made in 1997 (I think). About 1 megapixel on it's highest quality setting, about 1/3 megapixel on it's standard quality setting. It uses 4 AA batteries that it eats at an incredible rate, no internal memory, a smartmedia card for storage, (no larger than 8MB can be used), fixed focus, no zoom, no movie capability, and it doesn't even use a USB cable to connect it to my computer, it uses a serial cable or something like that. Surprisingly, it still works, and still takes decent pictures for what it is.
I decided to upgrade around Christmas, 2004 and bought myself a Gateway DC-M42. 4 Megapixels, 11 MB of internal memory, uses SD card for storage, powered by 2AA batteries, can make QVGA movies with sound, autofocus, 3X optical zoom with 2X (I think) digital zoom. I got a free all in one printer/scanner/copier with it for a grand total of $200. Seemed like a good deal. The camera looked good on paper, and in the store, but I should have done some research first. I've never really been satisfied with it. Usually dark pictures when taken indoors, often blurry and out of focus, and it was slow writing the pictures to the SD card.
Then in the summer of 2006 I got fed up with the Gateway and bought a Kodak Z612. It came with a kodak series 3 photo printer for $400. It has 6.1 megapixels, 12X optical zoom with 4.2X digital zoom, auto focus, image stabilization, uses SD card for storage, 32 MB internal memory, makes VGA movies in stereo sound, uses a lithium-ion battery or CRV3 lithium primary battery, lightning-fast writing speed to the memory card compared to my previous cameras, and a large 2.5 inch LCD screen. It takes very good pictures. I think this camera will suit me just fine for a long time. I'm very satisfied with it. The photo printer does a nice job printing pictures, too. Printing each picture costs approximately 31 cents, making it very comparable to taking the memory card to Walgreens and having them do it.
It's amazing how digital cameras keep getting better and better for less money all the time.
So what was your first digital camera? What have you had since then? What do you have now?
I decided to upgrade around Christmas, 2004 and bought myself a Gateway DC-M42. 4 Megapixels, 11 MB of internal memory, uses SD card for storage, powered by 2AA batteries, can make QVGA movies with sound, autofocus, 3X optical zoom with 2X (I think) digital zoom. I got a free all in one printer/scanner/copier with it for a grand total of $200. Seemed like a good deal. The camera looked good on paper, and in the store, but I should have done some research first. I've never really been satisfied with it. Usually dark pictures when taken indoors, often blurry and out of focus, and it was slow writing the pictures to the SD card.
Then in the summer of 2006 I got fed up with the Gateway and bought a Kodak Z612. It came with a kodak series 3 photo printer for $400. It has 6.1 megapixels, 12X optical zoom with 4.2X digital zoom, auto focus, image stabilization, uses SD card for storage, 32 MB internal memory, makes VGA movies in stereo sound, uses a lithium-ion battery or CRV3 lithium primary battery, lightning-fast writing speed to the memory card compared to my previous cameras, and a large 2.5 inch LCD screen. It takes very good pictures. I think this camera will suit me just fine for a long time. I'm very satisfied with it. The photo printer does a nice job printing pictures, too. Printing each picture costs approximately 31 cents, making it very comparable to taking the memory card to Walgreens and having them do it.
It's amazing how digital cameras keep getting better and better for less money all the time.
So what was your first digital camera? What have you had since then? What do you have now?