I hate to say this, but you got burned. I saw it going for NT6,500 on Bo-Ai 2-3 weeks ago.
FNAC is more expensive, but they’ve earned my loyalty for glorious deeds in the past. And you NEVER have problems there taking back purchases - that’s worth a lot to me…
Also, do you know which Marine Pack it was? The Sony MPK-PHA is the most expensive one yet…
I got a Sony 3.2 a while back. A pamphlet with the camera says you can get 1 Gig memory sticks. That would be real nice. Anyone knwo where to get them?
Brian
Why is the proprietary memory stick thing a problem? I also quite liked the Nikon Coolpix 5400; I like the lens on the Sony, though. And the V1’s got great features and I like the look, even though Maoman’s little thing is also damn sexy.
The salesguy also told me that the 256MB stick is available for the Sony, but if I have enough money I’d like to buy the 1GB too.
Thanks for the help, everybody!
You can always find “Sony compatible” memory sticks made by a second party at retailers thoroughout Taiwan, and North America for that matter. Same thing with their Lithium Ion batteries.
I bought the Sony DSC-S85 last Christmas. 4.1 mega pixels. Tried like heck to negotiate the price from the Sony website price and the best I could do was get a 64MB memory card in addition. Paid the difference for a upgrade to 128MB. Almost US$1000.
Still haven
"All things set up, tripod and a non-moving subject, I think quality is as good as or better than 35mm. "
The technology is simply not good enough (yet) for it to be as good as 35mm, and I argue it will never ‘surpass’ 35mm, MF or whatever in the quality stakes.
Hi:
I am looking to buy a new digital camera, can anyone give me any good sugg. on which one I should get?? I don’t have any special request for my camera, as long as it does the work, easy to use & carry, good images when posting it on the computer. Oh, if it have one of those feature where you can take a pix for yourself, that is even better. Anything cheaper than $15K is great.
Thanks!
~miakaw~
Sony cybershot. Dunno what number they’re at now, but my P5 is excellent. The only niggles being:
- short battery life, and you can’t put use 7-11 replacements
- uses Sony memorystick instead of generic flash media, expensive
Email and I’ll send you a pic taken with it.
Thanks for your advices!
I’ve checked out Sony Cyber-Shot P8 / P10 and they are really cute, it also have 4 colors to choose from!!
I’ve also look into Nikon CoolPix, Pentax (I don’t remember the model, but it is the smallest and the lightest one they have). Any reviews on Nikon CoolPix??
Canon and / or Olympus? My price ranges are from 10000NT to 14000NT, I want something light, easy to carry, easy to use, long lasting usage, good quality of pictures (print out as well)…
Thanks
~miakaW~
Miakaw, tried to email you some pics as requested but your hotmail box is too small. The smallified versions are below.
I recently printed out some mugshots for use as ID photos. With the right paper and printer the quality is fine. Average quality printouts on ordinary paper are fine for posters in classrooms etc.
This is a beach in Thailand, the original was 2048x1536 - approximately 25 times bigger.
Jilong ghost festival, taken at medium resolution (1600x1200) and trimmed/tweaked with photoshop.
Get a spare battery, or a longer life one if such a thing is possible.
I managed only 54 shots with flash, over about 90 minutes at the ghost festival. Sony P5
TMWC, they’re some great pictures!
MiakaW, to my knowledge, Nikon have always used great quality lenses in their cameras, which may make a difference…
I’ve been using a Canon IXUS V.3, which I bought for the same reasons that you’ve listed (convenience). The V.4 is now available, which means it should have some extra features (including greater picture resolution). Here’s some of the pros and cons:
It’s about the same size as a pack of cigarettes.
The battery pack is great; rechargeable and lasts a long time.
The memory card was too small (only 16mb); enough for about 30-40 high-quality pictures… so I bought another down at Boai Rd (don’t worry, as they are quite cheap in Taiwan).
There was no camera-bag supplied, so I had to buy that too…
The “movie” function is great fun, but I can’t use the zoom when I’m recording.
It’s a little difficult to photograph moving objects as it takes some time to automatically focus on them; with a manual camera, I can just point and click.
All in all, I’m quite satisfied with the camera, but I’ve kept my old manual camera for those occasions when a high-quality picture is really needed.
Cheers,
The Big Babou
Babou, Thanks for your post! I heard a lot of good things about Nikon’s digital cameras and that is why it is on my list. I guess one con about Sony as TWMC mention was that Sony uses its own memorystick.
The pix that TWMC took was awasome!! I love the one you took in Thailand, the colors are great and it seems like a postcard rather than a picture. Keep the sugg. coming!
Thanks guys!! - MiakaW
I have a Nikon 995. I wouldn’t recommend it. Although many reviews rave about how great Nikon lenses are, this camera has a ridiculous amount of pincushioning in the pictures it takes. “Pincushioning” is image distortion:
qcplus.co.uk/training/training-vickers.htm
Also, the camera’s autofocus has some very strange ideas about what to focus on. One fine day, I got a sliver in my foot, and couldn’t see it, so I tried to take a closeup. The center of the image was nearly completely filled with foot. The camera instead chose to focus on the tiny strip of carpeting at the edge of the image, even though I had selected “macro” (closeup) mode. After a few dozen attempts, I gave up. This is a consistent problem with the 995 – given a large object (flower, foot, whatever) in the center of the image, it will pick ANYTHING else to focus on.
You might wonder what the problem is about that – well, the LCD screen on the back has such low resolution that it’s usually impossible to tell whether an image is in focus or not. There’s no way to tell other than to take the picture, upload it to a computer that can display the full-resolution image, and see what happened. This isn’t usually convenient. . . .
I’d recommend looking for an SLR. I think the Sony first-generation CD-R digicam was SLR. It was model “xxx-1000”, can’t remember what the “xxx” part was.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that with some digital cameras (I think the Sony, for example) you can buy lens attachments, like filters, wide angle lenses, and zooms. Although they’re not as good as buying a manual (SLR) camera, it certainly adds to the convenience.
Oh yeah, and the price…
Actually, I bought my 2nd hand “Fujica” SLR in Australia for about $2000NTD. All of the lenses (24mm, 28mm, 50mm, 105mm, zoom and a great fisheye) were bought at pawnbrokers for between $400-1500NTD. Although it can be cumbersome lugging this stuff around, it makes for some great photography! I’m sure you can find stuff like that over here…
I have a question about places to get my digicam repaired. Unfortunately its still under warranty… US warranty that is. So i tried to take it to some shops near the Taipei Main Station. one shop gave me an estimate of 5K.
alternatively i could mail it back to the service center in US, but that is my last resort. the turn around time seems too long.
anyone have suggestions. Might the TW service center be kind enough to honor my warranty (only less than 3 months old).
crap. never buying an oly digicam again. at least not with ones that extend their lens objects on power-on.
My Canon S40 broke. Bought it in the States. The only service center was in Chicago. Had to end up sending it in to Chicago. Had to pay my way there. Since it was under warranty, they fixed it and paid to send it back.
they sent it back? i thought we have to pay both ways. was there a problem with customs getting it back into the country. i am not about to pay the tax twice.
Did you fedex/DHL? how much was the price? thanks. man, i’ve only had this thing for a few months. piss me off.
Oh, I forgot a rather important point. My camera was dead for 4 months until I made my yearly trip to LA. I didn’t ship it from Taiwan. I shipped it from LA to Chicago. I shipped it UPS ground with insurance, costing me around 20-some bucks total. They fixed it and returned it to LA. When I made my NEXT trip to LA, I picked it up. The point is that I’m sure they will pay to fix and SHIP BACK to a point in the States. I can’t guarantee that they will ship back to an international destination. I rather think the warranty won’t pay for that.