Digital camera for knife photos?

Danbo

Danbo

Joined
Nov 28, 1999
Messages
14,985
I am thinking of buying a digital camera for mainly taking photos of my knives. Who has good knowledge of these cameras, and can anyone help me get one at or close to dealer's cost?

------------------
Danbo, soul brother of Rambo
 
That's good info, but I want to use this camera for more than just knives. Knives are the main thing I will use it for, but I have to justify it to the wife, and she is going to want to take it on vacations and stuff. I still need an experts help here.

------------------
Danbo, soul brother of Rambo
 
Those will give you the listings of the places that sell diff comp stuff.
Try both of them to find the best price, since the listings will varry, but be sure to call in & check if they have the item in stock.
www.pricewatch.com www.zdnet.com


------------------
zvis.com
Have Fun,
Alligator
 
Danbo, I have 2 digital cameras that I use. One is an Olympus D340R...the other is a Kodak DC280. Both will do quite a good job on knives. They are best suited for small to medium sized knives. If you are shooting a large knife, then you will need to do a bit of adjusting of the picture using software such as photodeluxe. For best results, amke sure the one you choose has a dedicated close up mode.

As for using the camera for vacation, thats where the difference in my 2 cameras really comes in. Neither one will give photo quality scenery/landscape shots...but the Kodak does a pretty nice job anyway. The Olympus maybe capable of scenery shots, I just have not had much practice at those kinds of shots with it.

Also, my Olympus uses a serial connection to the computer...downloading pictures is sloooowwww
smile.gif
...The Kodak has the option of plugging into a USB port and is FAR faster downloading. The Olympus however, has an advantage in how long the batteries last...both are rechargable though.

Im sure I have forgotten to include alot of info, so feel free to ask away, and I will attempt to answer. There are plenty of cameras out there, and I can only speak about the ones I have.

Here is my album of knives...all shot with my cameras.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=110070&a=4518795



------------------
Richard
icq 61363141
Just some knife pictures
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=110070&a=4518795
UPDATED and REVISED
 
I still have my first digital camera, a Sony DSC-F1. It is a good snapshot camera, with 300k pixels, 2 Meg of memory (non expandable), and a single focal length lens. I paid about $800 for it four years ago.

I recently replaced it with a Casio QV-3000EX. I enlisted my engineer neighbor to assist me making the best choice. The Casio has a Canon made seven element glass lens, with 3x optical, 6x digital zoom, a whole host of features for special exposure types, panorama shots (you splice pics together to make a panorama pic), and an IBM 340 Meg hard drive for memory. It features 3.3 Megapixels. It will download by USB port, which means I can download about 10 pics each approx. 1.3 Meg, in the time my Sony downloaded a single pic. The reason why 3.3 Megapixels translates to about 1.3 Megabytes is that even the finest quality setting on the camera still has a JPEG compression of about 1:3. If this bothers you, you can use a TIFF format download, and the pics will be the whole 3.3 Megapixels.

It is a real trip when you boot up the hard drive, and see that on the finest setting you have 245 pics ready to be taken!

You can check out some of my pics on the Chris Reeve site on the Gold Coin 2000 thread. Just realize that I am not a good photographer, I was using my son's reading lamps for illumination, and had to compress the photos down to about 100 to 200 Kilobytes so as not to take up too much bandwitdth. So, the pics do not really do the camera justice, but they are still pretty good.

Total cost, including the IBM hard drive, a $400 option if purchased separately, but $200 if bought with the camera, carrying case, 4 AA NiMH batteries, and photo software was $1,000. It is about the size of a conventional 35mm. camera body (when off, the lens barely protrudes from the body). Check it out here: http://www.digitaletc.com/casio/qv-3000ex.htm

I am quite happy with it. Walt
 
Nearly all of the pics on the 1SKS site are done with a DC-260 or DC-290. There are a tonm of tricks you will have to learn to get the camera to choose the proper exposure though. Call me for help
smile.gif


------------------
Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
Show Your Support -Visit Our Sponsors - Click On The Banners!
Visit www.onestopknifeshop.com
Sales from 1 Stop Knife Shop help support this site!
Also check out our new auction promo site.
www.wow-direct.com
 
I'm on my second Olympus camera, and I've been extremely happy with both. The first was.., I think.., the 200D. 1024x768, $900 at the time (which was about 4 years ago).

My current camera is, I think ('cause it's at home), the 450D. 1280x1024, I think, with a 3x zoom (which is mostly why I bought it)..., but the batteries last 4-5 times longer than my first camera, and it has interchangeable flash memory cards, if you need to take more than 36 high quality pics before downloading.

Richard is right, though.., downloading *SLOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW*. The first camera took about 40 seconds per picture. The newer one seems to run 90-120 seconds per pic.

I think the 450 is down to around $400 these days. I don't regret buying it.., the pictures are very sharp and well saturated..., it's been a really great camera, and there's nothing like going filmless!
 
Danbo
Choose a camera for your greatest need. A good 35mm is still the best bet for all around use. But if you are set on a digital, consider the new Kodak 4800. It goes between $700-$800 and has a true 3.1 megapixel resolution. If all you want is something for the internet go with a cheaper model. Remember that the best image on screen only needs to be about 72 dpi. http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=243110&a=5817307&p=28818668&Sequence=0&res=high
------------------
It's never too late to have a happy childhood!
Terrill Hoffman Knife Photography http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=243110

[This message has been edited by Terrill (edited 09-22-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Terrill (edited 09-22-2000).]
 
If you want a digital camera that rocks get the Sony Mavica. I have the MVC-FD90 it has 1.6 Mega Pixels which means that the images are very clear. It uses the standard 3.5" floppy dicks to record the pictures on and is also Memory Stick Compatible. Another great feature of the camera is that you can also take up to 30 sec of video w/ sound.

Most digital cameras eat up batteries. This camera has a recargeable battery that lasts up to 2.5 hours.

Example of photos:
Brother-in-law with big smallmouth bass:

View


I also use it to take pictures of all my knives for my web site.

Phil

------------------
www.2thehilt.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top