[CUBE] what scanner? what digi camera, what printer

[David Flory]

On Sunday, April 13, 2003, at 09:28  AM, abillups at mac.com wrote:

> I can second the opinion of Canon scanners and printers. Two years ago  
> we got tired of the expensive Epson replacement cartridges at our  
> school and after research, went for Canon. They have individual  
> replacement cartridges, and they can be refilled. The individual tanks  
> are about half the cost of the Epson ones.

This part is good. The part that we have a Canon BJC 6000 printer that  
works great, but Canon still hasn't given us a driver for OS X is  
really, really bad!! Canon cameras are good, so are Sony, Fuji, Nikon,  
Minolta etc. The key to being happy with your digital camera choice is  
to think about what kind of pictures you take (and will take.) I try to  
take pictures of animals, particularly whales, dolphins and other  
marine stuff.

The key to a _great_ picture is getting the exact moment you wanted.  
Most digital cameras have a second or so lag between the time you press  
the shutter and the time the picture is actually taken. This due to  
focussing and measuring light intensity and setting the diaphragm and  
shutter speed. What it means is that instead of getting the great shot  
of the flukes of the whale lifted up in the air you get a great shot of  
swirling water after the whale has disappeared. One way to get around  
this delay is to press the shutter button halfway, and hold it there,  
which gets the camera to measure exposure and focus, and then when the  
moment comes you press the button the rest of the way and take the  
picture.

The one I am lusting after right now is the Minolta Dimage 7hi. This  
one has a seven X optical zoom and a 5 megapixel image, which gives you  
good ability to get right up close in your final image. It will also  
take 7 images at a rate of 3 per second which gives you a great chance  
to get just the right one that your want. Best price is pretty high,  
around $1k, but there are a couple of highly rated internet vendors  
with it at that price.

A good feature is use of AA batteries instead of proprietary special  
battery packs. The best AA's I've found are 2100 mah capacity, nickel  
metal anhydride type. Another tip that can save hundreds, get your  
compact memory from a place like Crucial.com. That's where I get all my  
computer and photo memory media. They aren't the cheapest but I've  
never heard anyone with a complaint about them. One of the places that  
has the Minolta at a really good price wants 4 times what Crucial  
charges for a 512M Compact memory card. That's right, no typo 4 times  
as much!!

Caveat Emptor, do your research!
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