Re: Camera suggestions - oh Linda?

[Linda Shipman <Linda.Shipman@chezor.alaska.com>]

Hi Deb and Brierfolks:

Work and life have been crazy busy here.  Plus Iris has managed
to roll in dead fish or bear poop three times since we returned home
last Tuesday, which necessitates bathing....

We have a Kodak 280 Plus.  We bought it 18 months ago for under
$500, plus have added about $150 worth of gidget/gadgets, like a
memory card and some hardware to convert pictures from the
camera to the home computer.

It's been more than adequate for our use.  In April, 1999, we
weren't sure if it would be worth the investment....if we would
even use it that much. Turns out we use it all the time.  Our
families and friends keep up on our daily lives, because it's so
easy and inexpensive to snap photos and then web publish them.

Also, I've learned a lot about photography because I can see
immediately how certain lighting conditions, settings or poses
are captured in the lenses.  In the past, it was not usual for us
to develop a normal roll of film two years after the photos were
taken.  Now we just pop the memory card in the computer as
soon as we return home and have immediate feedback.

I use the digital camera much more than I ever did the regular
kind, because once you buy it, you no longer need to buy film
or pay for developing.  Your only expense is lithium batteries
every 200-300 shots.  I think they're about $20; but Perry buys
them, so I'm not sure.

There are two drawbacks with this particular camera.  Really three.

Like Leigh mentioned on his.....it does not take good pictures in
	low light;

You cannot shoot rapid pictures all in a row.  There is a 3-5 second
	delay between shots while it recharges itself;

At this point, we would really like to be able to take videos easily.
	Trying to get those videoclips up on the website this week
	was a bear.  Took Perry a full week and a lot of cursing to
	surmount the limitations of bleeding edge software transferring
	footage from our video camera to web viewable clips.

But really, we've gotten nearly two years of use out of our present
digital camera, tons of photos, and the knowledge that this
technology is definitely here to stay in our lives.	So if we had it to
do over again, I'd probably still start out	with one of the less complex
cameras, and a lower cost, and then let our own skills dictate when
we needed to upgrade.

Questions welcome...though I may put my techie hubbie on to
answer some of them :-)

Linda
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Linda Shipman
Juneau, Alaska
Linda.Shipman@chezor.alaska.com
http://www.chezor.alaska.com
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