Best Digital Camera

[Paul Cherubini]

Stanley A. Gorodenski wrote:
>
> Minolta makes a 3.2 megapixel camera that has a 10x optical zoom and a
> good (allegedly) macro lens for under $500. The camera can still be used
> for normal photography. Can anyone who takes close up digital images of
> leps (as full frame images) recommend any others, and what other
> considerations there may be, having used one, in making such a purchase?

I also recommend the Olympus C-750 10X Ultra Zoom. You can get fantastic
10X zoom pictures plus macro capability down to 1.2 inches.  I bought
this camera last fall and at first found it a bit tricky to get the focus
always correct as compared to my my 3 year old 3x Olympus C-3000.
However, after reading the manual some more I activated the 
 "focus lock" feature which eliminated the problem.

Three neat features of the C-750 are that you can control of the
amount of contrast, saturation and sharpness of each picture.  So I don't
necessarily need to use a photo editing program to get the sharpness, contrast
and saturation correct as I did with the C-3000

One downside about the C-750 10X as compared to the C-3000 and other
Olympus cameras with a 3-4X zoom is that the depth of field
is not as good when taking landscape shots.  So that means you can't
take a close up of a butterfly on a flower and have the background in
good focus at the same time as was possible with the C-3000.  Also, 
wide angle shots are not very wide with the C-750 as compared to the 
3-4x zooms.

Overall, however, I find myself using the C-750 most of the time 
because of it's slightly superior overall image quality and versatility
as compared to the C-3000.  The C-750 also scored at the top of the
pack in a recent issue of Consumer Reports.

One final tidbit: the C-750 is incredibly rugged. Can you believe my
C-750 survived 5 minutes tumbling around violently inside my clothes dryer?
Sounds incredible, but it's true.  My C-750 accidently got placed on top
of my recently washed sleeping bad and tossed into the dryer along with
some tennis shoes.  It took me 5 minutes to realize the loud tumbling noise 
was my new $500 camera and not just the tennis shoes!

Paul Cherubini

 
 ------------------------------------------------------------ 

   For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:

   http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl