I am going to buy a digital camera, probably an Olympus C 3040 Zoom or C4040-Z.
Does anyone own one of these cameras, or know anything about what they are like compared to similar brands? Any advice appreciated.
Spack, just like to know why you’re buying a digital camera rather than a digital video camera. I’ve come across too many people, who a month or two after purchase, regretted not going the whole hog.
Back to the topic though, um, can’t help you out I’m sorry.
The point is Amos that good-quality digital still cameras have precision optics and CCDs that are of far higher resolution than video capture devices … but you are right, there are people out there who just can’t tell the difference between a TV-quality frame grab and a real digital still. Kind of sad really …
Amos, as Monkey points out, the quality is far better on a camera, as opposed to a digital video camera - not that I have much of a clue in this field.
Over a year ago I bought a Sony video camera. The smaller digital version was out of my price range at the time. It works fine for my purposes but I am still green with envy whenever my friend whips out his dinky little digital “V8”. Probably in a year or two they’ll be free with every box of CocoPops (I can dream). I guess it’s the same with pcs - better and cheaper ones always come out every six months or so.
Back to your question, I currently own the 3040. Nice camera. I bought it just after Christmas for about $550 off the net. The nearest price to the one found on the net was $700 from Costco. This camera is a 3.34 megapixel. I find this is just right. Max resolution in jpg is 2048x1536. The quality is great. One disadvantage I find with the camera is that before turning it on, take off the lens cap. If you don’t, you will hear a gridding sound that can’t be good.
The 4040 is a 4 megapixel. Also has the lens cap fix. It has a safety sensor that will tell you that the lens cap is still on. The major differences I have found between the 3040 and the 4040 is:
4 vs. 3.34
Lens Cap Fix
$Price
Hope this helps. Olympus makes great digital cameras.
Konglong
Recent reviews in a techinical magazine in Hong Kong of “digital cameras” have recommended the
Sony above Nikon.
Main reason being the Sony is much lighter to carry around and produces a more “natural” picture in terms of colours, sharpness, contrast, etc for each “class” of digital cameras.
The class in question was the 3.1 MB resolution.
( As you know digital cameras can be categorise by the “resolution” of the pictures they take within each brand: Olympus, Minolta, Nikon, Sony etc…) The Cannon iXus also fared quite well as it was so small. Finally beyond a point there is trade off between portability and sharpness or resolution. 3 MB or in most cases a 2MB resolution is more than enough if you do not want to enlarge the picture much .
The other point I wanted to make was that digital video DV camcorder, which I would also recommend a Sony, as opposed to JVC etc can also produce “still” pictures but quite obviously such a camera was not designed to provide the high quality or resolution (only about 1.8MB) and contrast of the ordinary digital camera.
Although in theory they both use the same technology, the stills produced with a DV camcorder cannot be enlarged to the size of a postcard or greater without losing contrast and colour.
Also when you make movies with a DV camcorder, you don’t need such high resolution and it is unlikely that you would want to blow up (enlarge) say a tiny “corner” of the picture as you could do with the result of a digital still cameras especially if it was one with the heavy 4 MB resolution.
Sony’s 4 MB resolution digital camera , I forget the model number is so small that it can easily slip into your breast pocket. You can’t put a DV camcorder in there even if it is the newest JVC. Even though it is small about 3.5 inches by 4.5 inches, you sitll need a leather case to hang from your belt etc.
SO they are actually two quite different tools.
With a DV camcorder, you will also need to think of processiong after unloading the film (the memory) into your PC. After that you might want to re-edit or retouch the film before showing it to others. ie you might want to change the format from AVI to MPEG 2 or other suitable formats SVCD, VCD,DVD for burning into a CDROM etc… This means you need to consider getting some more sofisticated editing software tools like RealVideo or Ulead’s movie magic etc, etc…
With digital cameras, ie still images, most images are fine without retouching and can be easily resized with software which already generally comes with the camera or are already in most PCs and you can also buy Picture /Graphic editor software:eg Microsoft Picture It, Macromedis’s Fireworks, Adobe Photoshop etc… etc…
if you don’t have either a digital camera or digital video camera /camcorder , I would go for the simple digital camera first, as there is not much "processing " to do afterwards.
But if you are home movies’ fan and love to keep endless reels of home movies and the processing that goes along with each, then a camcorder is the better option. You can of course also show the movie from your website using the right server.
I find I rarely have the occasion to use a camcorder.
Also getting together an audience to sit and see you as Steven Spielberg is quite difficult for me.
Phew, thanks, Drambuie. I’ve just seen a really great website: dcresource.com. It has amazingly detailed reviews and comparisons of all makes of digital camera. I would strongly recommend a peek for anyone interested in getting a digital camera.
As to the lens cap for the Olympus C3040-Z, I read a 'user review ’ (on the above website I think) where someone had broken the lens mechanism beyond repair by not removing the lens cap before turning it on. They were none too pleased. Seems like an easy thing to do.
Well, it looks like I am answering my own posts here, doesn’t it?!
if you’re in taipei, go to fnac. you can play with any camera they have.
i ended up buying the sony p-9 (4mp). i looked at a lot and settled on that because it has tons of features packed into a small camera body. it will also do movies and ‘clips.’
the only down-side (which hasn’t been a problem for me) is the propritary ‘memory stick.’ the one that comes with the camera is only 16M, but they had a special going on 128M with a reader (so i don’t have to use my camera to dump pic files to the computer).
128M holds more pics than i could take in three days at Angkor Wat! 8)
I bought the Sony DSC-P1 when it first came out 1 and a half years ago. Fantastic camera. 3.2 million megapix of resolution and I like the short movies I can take with it and e-mail home. I bought the marine pack with it, so I always take it scuba diving when I go on vacation! Awesome! Now the newest models in the DSC series are even smaller and have more resolution and more features. And they all have a marine pack that you can buy as an accessory. My good friend liked my camera so much that he went out and bought one for himself.
Beware of DV camcorders unless they use progressive scan to capture stills, else the quality will be anything than acceptable. That said I use my DV camcorder for films only and an SLR for snap-shots.
Maoman, I have a DSC-P1 as well. Where did you buy the marine pack? Is there anywhere in Taipei to get one at a sensible price or do you know of any 3rd party marine pack manufacturers that produce an underwater housing for the P1.
I seem to remember the Sony kit retailing here for something like NT$8,000 which I thought was scandalous for a piece of plastic and rubber. And how’s the quality of the underwater pics?
I have a Nikon FM2 that I hardly use any more, because I got a canon S300 digital camera about a year or so ago. It’s 2.1 megapixels, nice and compact, and takes pretty good pictures. If you want to see some of the shots I’ve taken with it, you can visit http://www.poagao.org/pphotos.htm.
[quote=“monkey”]Maoman, I have a DSC-P1 as well. Where did you buy the marine pack? Is there anywhere in Taipei to get one at a sensible price or do you know of any 3rd party marine pack manufacturers that produce an underwater housing for the P1.
I seem to remember the Sony kit retailing here for something like NT$8,000 which I thought was scandalous for a piece of plastic and rubber. And how’s the quality of the underwater pics?[/quote]
I also paid the 8k, (FNAC) which was painful. However the engineering is great, so that’s some small consolation. The pictures are very good quality. I can send you some pix or movies I took with the pack, if you like. I also used the marine pack when I went skiing in Canada last Chinese New Year. The pics turned out really great for that. One thing I would recommend is to get the underwater filter for the DSC cameras - it will take away a lot of the bluish haze you get otherwise. It also takes a bit of experience and fiddling to know how to get the most out of your camera underwater. I did get a lot of great shots though, and a few memorable video clips - one of an eel close enough to take a chomp out of my camera, lots of me and my gf swimming with the fishies…
Wait until you see the price of an underwater kit for for DV camcorders … 
Correct me Monkey-boy, but isn’t your Sony incapable of accepting a standard memory card? What sort of problem, if any, is that (if I remember right)?
If Olympus cameras are so great why did they release a model with glaring bug in it? Why do they have “lens caps” at all rather than an automatic lens protector?
If Olympus cameras are so great why did they release a model with glaring bug in it? Why do they have “lens caps” at all rather than an automatic lens protector?
Re: purchase of digital cameras. What is the location/address of FNAC in Taipei and are there any branches in Taichung?
p.s. I have discovered that the Olympus D-40 Zoom (called C-40 Zoom in Taiwan, oddly) is essentially a mini version of the chunky C4040. It’s very high quality and every bit as cool as the Sony DSC-9 in terms of its minaiture size. Hopefully I can play with one at a FNAC if I could only find one. Are there are any other stores anyone knows of apart from FNAC (preferably Taichung) where you can play with the cameras?
There is an FNAC at corner of Nanjing and Dun Hua, downstairs in the Asia World Building.
I have a Cannon IXUS 300. I was happy enough to buy another when the first one was stolen.
There is another, smaller FNAC just beside the Shin Kong Tower near the Taipei Main Railway Station.