Curiousity, Following Up On a Class Assignment

I already finished a school assignment that had me interview three people who use digital cameras. I don’t really feel like it went far enough, and I’m curious as to the results I’ll get here. Help a poor student out, will ya?


Do you use digital cameras?
Yes 28(100.0%)
No 0(0.0%)

If so, what manufacturer/model? If more than one, let me know.
ga_sunshine — Vivitar something
simplykimberly — Canon and Nikon
tyme — Canon Powershot S110
je_reviens — Vivitar, don’t know more than that
dwivian — Olympus D450Z, Kodak DX4330, Cheap Target Brand ($60 or so, for web-ready shots)
kmccready — Nikon 8700, HP 720
kamyra — Sony
soquili_gitli — Canon Powershot A75
sleepingwolf — Casio (I’ll try to remember to check the precise model)
catamorphism — Kodak
starwolf67 — Cannon
bibliogirl — Kodak Easyshare LS743
waya — Kodak EasyShare and Sony Cybershot
technomom — Canon IXUS
joyeuse13 — Canon DigiPro and a Kodak something 🙂
trillian42 — Canon S30
epi_lj — I have a Kodak DC290. My wife has a Kodak EasyShare CX6200. My cell phone, an AudioVox 8900 (I think?) also has a camera.
aciddragon — Canon Powershot A70
naesa — elph powershot…
redcub — Sony
hobbitblue — Fuji Finepix F601zoom
notspam — Nikon
ms_interpret — Toshiba PDR 4300
hopeevey — Epson
ruisseau — Hewlett Packard
allessindra — teh NLSO had gotten one that I thought was very good, and I’m blanking on the name. Currently we have one found after the Invisible Housemate moved out, a Fuji thingie. both of these are a few years old at this point.
great_eye — Olympus E-20, Nikon 4500
polypolyglot — Olympus C2100 UZ, bought in 2001. It’s only 2.1 megs, though

How long have you had your camera(s)?
ga_sunshine — 6 months
simplykimberly — years and years
tyme — 4 years?
je_reviens — since August
dwivian — Olympus – 6 years, Kodak – 1 year, Cheapo – 2 years
kmccready — The hp is 3 years old, the Nikon 2 months old.
kamyra — 5 years
soquili_gitli — Less than a year
sleepingwolf — 2 years (bought used for $100)
catamorphism — 1 year
starwolf67 — 2 years
bibliogirl — About eight months (this is not my first one, though)
waya — I’ve had the Cybershot about three or four years and the Kodak since Christmas.
technomom — 1 month
joyeuse13 — The Canon, for a bit over 2 years; the Kodak, for about 4 years
trillian42 — nearly 3 years
epi_lj — The DC290, 6-7 years. The cell phone, about 2 years. The CX6200, about six months.
aciddragon — 1 year, 2 months
naesa — several years
redcub — 7 years
hobbitblue — 2 years
notspam — this one 3 years
ms_interpret — 13 months
hopeevey — about two years or so
ruisseau — approx. 1 year (used)
allessindra — 2 years ish.
great_eye — 3 years
polypolyglot — 3 1//2 years

Would you buy the same brand again?
Yes 24(92.3%)
No 2(7.7%)

What features are most important to you?
ga_sunshine — quality of photos, zoom, memory
simplykimberly — real zoom (not digital), ability to do mini-movies, expandable via memory cards, etc.
tyme — A flash, some zoom to help with cropping.
je_reviens — price, megapixels, having a flash and an LCD screen, “recovery time”
dwivian — Optical Zoom, stablization, chip memory or high-speed transfer (USB2.0 or Firewire)
kmccready — manual settings, like white balance, high pixels for printing big pictures, low noise at high ISO settings
kamyra — Easy to Use with Good Quality Photos. Easy to Put into Computer and easy to get copies printed up
soquili_gitli — Optical Zoom, solid construction, good UI.
sleepingwolf — Macromode. It also has a nifty feature where the optics can be rotated about the horizontal axis independent of the rest of the camera.
catamorphism — ease of transferring files
starwolf67 — view screen, delete options, filters, shutter control
bibliogirl — Ease of use, good pictures taken in low light, much faster than the one it replaced
waya — Easy of upload, quality of the photos, optical zoom,
technomom — Point and shoot
joyeuse13 — ability to manually adjust settings if I want to, but a smart enough automatic setting that I don’t have to
trillian42 — I like the navigation, and the custom settings that I’ve bothered to figure out.
epi_lj — Good quality photos, good optical zoom, ease of use, size / weight, response time.
aciddragon — Good detail in macrophotography with an extremely close minimum focus distance
naesa — the metal casing! along with it’s portability and physical zoom as well as digital.
redcub — Recharging Lithium Ion battery, smart card, USB hook up.
hobbitblue — metal case, small, good lens & zoom, lcd screen, easy to transfer pics
notspam — size, compact flash cards rather than smart memory cards or other type of storage, zoom, ability to manually adjust settings, resolution ability, rechargeable battery
ms_interpret — manual everything, automatic everything
hopeevey — fast picture taking, high resolution
ruisseau — ease of use, picture quality
allessindra — I didn’t answer ‘buy it again’ because it’s both. The model the NLSO had, yes we’d buy again. The other one we have, no. Features: personal usability, pixel quantity, ability to take Real Lenses.
great_eye — manual settings and quality lenses
polypolyglot — The convenience of digital and, for a while, the 10x optical zoom

What, if anything, would you change about the camera if you could?
ga_sunshine — I’d want more zoom options and lenses I could change out like on my 35 mm
simplykimberly — I suppose if it were smaller, that would be nifty, but I didn’t buy a smaller one, so I guess I don’t care much
tyme — I would have unlimited size movie mode . Currently limited to 30 seconds.
je_reviens — well HSN just had another camera for sale, same megapixels, flash, etc, but also plays and stores MP3’s, for the same price! I would totally get that one instead if I was looking now.
dwivian — Make it just a bit ‘hefty’-ier, as it feels too cheap and light.
kmccready — The Nikon 8700 is great, except for the manual focus which is digital and not very precise or useful.
kamyra — easier to get copies printed up
sleepingwolf — It doesn’t have a viewfinder, just an LCD.
starwolf67 — no
bibliogirl — Slightly better auto-focus, more zoom, more megapixels
waya — Ability to interchange lenses,
technomom — Charge battery in camera; use “normal” batteries; some on-board memory
joyeuse13 — The Canon: the silly flash pops up in a little trap-door thingy, and it’s hard to remember to keep your hand off it.
trillian42 — Longer battery life
epi_lj — I’d love for it to be much smaller/lighter and for it to take shots more or less instantly with no power-on time or lag from when I push the shutter button.
aciddragon — Shorter minimum focus length
naesa — better resolution- so i guess i would get a new one.:)
redcub — processer speed, megapixels (don’t bother with less than 5 or 6), and an optical finder for outdoor shots when it’s too sunny to see the LCD screen.
hobbitblue — The buttons are a bit fiddly for my partners fingers
notspam — I would have the flash more strictly manually adjustable – with this camera if flash is off you automatically have a slower shutter speed – it CAN be done but its a huge pain and reverts back after one photo
ms_interpret — better optical zoom – ability to attach other lenses would be nice (mom’s camera has that – I’m jealous)
hopeevey — make it take pics faster
ruisseau — feeling more like a non-digital camera
allessindra — The one we have: more pixels, different user interface, larger-capacity memory card. But it was free.
great_eye — E-20: would love interchangable lenses
polypolyglot — Smart Media is a soon to be obsolete card format and I’d upgrade to CF or SD

What do you do with the photos?
Publish them on the web
7 (25.0%)
Print them yourself
0 (0.0%)
Have them printed professionally
0 (0.0%)
Something else (tell me in the comments, please)
2 (7.1%)

What software do you use to manage and/or edit your photos?
ga_sunshine — it came with the camera, I don’t recall, honestly
simplykimberly — various – Zoom Ex is pretty neat and came with the Canon
tyme — Fireworks
je_reviens — photoshop
dwivian — Photoshop (for Mac)
kmccready — Corel photopaint 9, Adobe photoshop 7
kamyra — Photo Shop
soquili_gitli — Manufacturer included software. Irfranview.
sleepingwolf — Adobe Photodeluxe, CorelDraw, software that came with the camera.
catamorphism — nothing
starwolf67 — Photoshop
bibliogirl — Kodak’s own to get them off the camera, then Paintshop Pro for editing and “album” for creating albums online
waya — Kodak EasyShare software.
technomom — IrfanView
joyeuse13 — Photoshop
trillian42 — Photoshop
epi_lj — Photoshop, GraphicConverter, IrfanView, Fireworks, PixelNHance, “Gallery”, a bunch of other random tools.
aciddragon — Canon ZoombrowserEX (bundled with the Camera), and GIMP
naesa — photoshop,mainly.
redcub — Photoshop
hobbitblue — paintshoppro and photoshop
notspam — NikonView, Paintshop Pro 7, Canon panorama maker/photostitch, Broderbund Photo Organizer, Easy Thumbnails, ArcSoft, Album Express, Jasc Animation Maker
ms_interpret — ACDSee for minor stuff – Photoshop for major stuff
hopeevey — the software that came with the camera, and paintshoppro8
ruisseau — Gimp for editing and I manage them in directories in Windows
allessindra — I don’t use any software. I just download them from the camera and store them. By default, the mac laptop I have uses iPhoto, but I don’t like it and don’t really use it.
great_eye — Adobe Photoshop CS
polypolyglot — Photoshop Elements 3.0, sometimes Dell Picture Studio

What advice would you give to someone shopping for her first camera? (May need to use comments)
simplykimberly — Know what you’re looking for in a camera first, then take a look at dpreview.com – get the most camera you can for the money
tyme — Look for reviews of your prospective cameras, then hunt down prices using pricegrabber, or on-line deal sites.
je_reviens — you CAN find a 3MP camera for around $100, which is an awesome price, if you look.
dwivian — Pick it up and see if it feels good to use. If you don’t, you may find that you hate to hold it, and thus never have it nearby.
kmccready — Think about what you want to use it for and then check prices. See if you can try the ones you like out first?
kamyra — Get the best one you can affford
soquili_gitli — Avoid Sony. Shop around extensively. Higher MP doesn’t equal best. Optical zoom is EVERYTHING.
sleepingwolf — Try to buy a cheap used one from someone who takes good care of their things. It’ll help clarify what you like and don’t like, and while the resolution may be low, you will likely get an excellent feature set to give you an idea what is worthwhile.
starwolf67 — For a first camera, I would suggest purchasing something in the $ 200.00 range, then it will be a good experiementing camera, then save up for a more expensive one when you are confident with usng a digital camera.
bibliogirl — Spend as much as you can realistically afford, don’t skimp, and buy more/bigger memory cards…
waya — Rate what is important and use that for your shopping. There are cameras with all combinations of features.
technomom — Figure out what you want to do with it, then shop
joyeuse13 — Get the highest quality (in terms of megapixels and memory) you can afford.
epi_lj — Try them all out as much as they’ll let you. If possible, take the same shot with several cameras and compare them.
aciddragon — Research which cameras have the features you really desire. Every brand excels at something different. Also, find the price/value sweet spot, i.e. find the camera that gives the best upgrade for the least additional cost from the one below it.
naesa — hmm…find something portable, and with decent resolution, easy to use, and an optical zoom.:)
redcub — Spend the big money now to get a good camera that will last a long time.
hobbitblue — read plenty of reviews, work out what features you’ll use and what size/digital format is best
notspam — Educate yourself to exactly what your own personal photo needs/wants are; Ask others what they like/dislike in their cameras; Be willing to pay for what you want instead of settling for less; Buy Nikon or Olympus but if you don’t, at least buy Canon
ms_interpret — figure out what you want it for, first.
hopeevey — I have no idea – mine was a gift
ruisseau — Maybe eBay isn’t the best place if you haven’t handled the model you are looking for.
allessindra — What user interface aspects do you like and dislike in regular film cameras? Get the *exact same thing* in digital. Digital is not some magic thing that will make you work differently.
great_eye — #1. Make sure to hold it in your hands before buying. Even if you like the specs, make sure you like the feel.

Rate your expertise with digital cameras. 1 is a beginner, 10 is a pro.
Mean: 5.79 Median: 6 Std. Dev 2.08
1
0 (0.0%)
2
2 (7.1%)
3
2 (7.1%)
4
5 (17.9%)
5
4 (14.3%)
6
3 (10.7%)
7
5 (17.9%)
8
4 (14.3%)
9
3 (10.7%)
10
0 (0.0%)

Rate your expertise with cameras in general. 1 is a beginner, 10 is a pro.
Mean: 5.96 Median: 6.5 Std. Dev 2.31
1
1 (3.6%)
2
1 (3.6%)
3
2 (7.1%)
4
6 (21.4%)
5
2 (7.1%)
6
2 (7.1%)
7
4 (14.3%)
8
6 (21.4%)
9
4 (14.3%)
10
0 (0.0%)

Rate your expertise with computers. 1 is a beginner, 10 is a pro.
Mean: 8.54 Median: 9 Std. Dev 1.27
1
0 (0.0%)
2
0 (0.0%)
3
0 (0.0%)
4
0 (0.0%)
5
1 (3.6%)
6
1 (3.6%)
7
3 (10.7%)
8
7 (25.0%)
9
9 (32.1%)
10
7 (25.0%)

Rate your expertise with graphic software. 1 is a beginner, 10 is a pro.
Mean: 6.25 Median: 7 Std. Dev 2.41
1
2 (7.1%)
2
0 (0.0%)
3
3 (10.7%)
4
3 (10.7%)
5
1 (3.6%)
6
1 (3.6%)
7
8 (28.6%)
8
6 (21.4%)
9
3 (10.7%)
10
1 (3.6%)

Cyn is Rick's wife, Katie's Mom, and Esther & Oliver's Mémé. She's also a professional geek, avid reader, fledgling coder, enthusiastic gamer (TTRPGs), occasional singer, and devoted stitcher.
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