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Nikon coolpix 4300 and minolta s414

  • #21
spec, at the price of the 4500 or a little mre you could get a more professional camera(more buttons). Even CNET recommends going with the G series insteat of that camera, the whole swivel thing is cool looking but really isn't that useful except on maybe a video camera. Don't get me wrong, you can't take a bad picture with a 4mp Nikon, but I think you could do better at that price.
 
  • #22
Joseph,
I rarely resize up from photoshop. When i do, its only by a few percentage. Enlarging a picture in Photoshop is like using the "digital" zoom of the camera. They both artificially add detail that wasn't there in the first place.

I love the incredible detail that an inkjet can produce, but I hate how photos fade after only a few years. I'm not willing to buy the super expensive archival ink and paper. Instead, I prefer to send my digital files to places like Shutterfly or dotPhoto and have them print my photos on real photo paper using the traditional photo developing techniques.

About the Nikon cameras, the ability to swivel is extremely important to me. I like taking pictures at all sorts of weird angles. With something that can't swivel, it makes it some pics impossible.
 
  • #23
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (joseph @ June 25 2003,12:53)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">spec, at the price of the 4500 or a little mre you could get a more professional camera(more buttons). Even CNET recommends going with the G series insteat of that camera,  the whole swivel thing is cool looking but really isn't that useful except on maybe a video camera.  Don't get me wrong, you can't take a bad picture with a 4mp Nikon, but I think you could do better at that price.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
well a freind of mine got it for 300 bucks.... is that good?
 
  • #24
Well, I got my camera today. The only problem I have found with it is that it has one dead pixel on the lcd. Not sure if they will replace that for me or not. Most likely not. I will have a few sample images later tonight.

Nick
 
  • #25
larry, photoshop at least tries to estimate what the pixel should be by looking at the pics around it, definately not an increase in resolution but when you need to print a poster it helps. As for digital zoom, I agree it is just a complete pixel dropping joke.

spec, if you can get it for 300 then it is a good buy.

Swivel- what kind of holes are you guys crawling into that you use that? I've had to tilt the lcd on mine to a 90 degree angle like maybe twice when taking pics of my frogs in thier tank but I still don't place swivel or movable LCD at the top of my features list.

joe
 
  • #26
Joseph,
I get into some pretty funky positions trying to get just the right angle.
wink.gif
 
  • #27
I shouldn't have opened this thread!
I have been considering getting myself a digital camera for a while and this has me looking around.

I'm a diehard Nikon fan so I had a look at their site, look at this guy:

Nikon Coolpix 5400

It's not the pixels that attract me but it has ultra macro, you can take pics down to about 1.5cm (.5 inch).
It's pretty pricey but I found somewhere that has it for as  low as US$630.

How does this one rate?

Appreciate your comments, Troy.
 
  • #28
For anyone buying online... be careful who you buy from, especially big dollar items. If you can't review their ratings then I would advise holding off on your purchase. Sometimes you don't always get what you think you are getting and shipping can also be a nightmare. Always buy from someone reputable.
 
  • #29
You need to be very careful when buying online. Some items are not what they appear to be. When I first started looking at cameras, I found a place I could get my camera from for $302 plus shipping. I am glad I read the fine print, the battery and charger were not included with the camera they were selling. They had stripped it out to sell separate.

Some cameras are less expensive because they are what they call grey market goods. These are items that are either stripped down or bought from overseas distributors. Grey market items do not have the manufacture warranty and the manual will most likely be in a foreign language. The menus on the camera may also be in a different language and be useless. Other problems with grey market cameras is that they do not contain the same items that are sold with USA marketed items or include items that are not useable in the USA. Many grey market cameras are stripped down so much that the only thing you get is the camera, even the lens cap is sold separate. Not a good deal if you have to buy everything that was suppose to come with the camera.

The place I ordered my camera from included a USA model with all the accessories. It took 3 days for shipment even though it was stated 7-10 days. So far I am happy. I just have to learn this camera. It works very different than my old Epson.

The grey market warnings apply to any product being sold for lower than suggested retail.
 
  • #30
Troy,
That ultra macro seems great at first. But, imagine how close the lens will be to the object you are photographing. At that kind of distance, the lens, camera and you will be blocking out a lot of the light needed for a good exposure. I don't know if this camera can accept filters, but I found that to be the perfect solution. I bought some closeup filters, now I can take macro shots at full zoom. So instead of being .5 inches from the object, I can be 12 inches from the subject
smile.gif
 
  • #31
The Nikon 4300 has an optional micro light that can be attached to the end of the lens to illuminate subjects what would othewise be too dark to photograph.

I will have some sample photos up soon. Although not a hard camera to use, I need to work with it some more to get some good photographs. I will be buying a set of close-up lenses and filters later in the year. I am now looking at the telephoto lens as another future purchase. I always find other things to buy after my original purchase.
confused.gif
 
  • #32
Good point Larry

I have quite a few Nikon/ Nikor lenses including a 100mm 1:1 macro and a 16mm fisheye and ideally I would love to get a digital that accepts them but the only ones I have seen that will do that are the digital SLR's, and I can't even think about anything in that price range.

Are there adapters available that will allow me to use all my lenses on any of the digitals?

Nick, the lenses you are talking about buying, are they all compatible with a standard SLR?

Cheers, Troy.
 
  • #33
Here are a couple sample images I have taken.

MiscSarracenia.jpg


S_LeucoRed.JPG


JudithHindleNewLeaf.jpg
 
  • #34
Sweetness... looking forward to many more.
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  • #35
This one came out nice, but I think I can get a better photo. This was taken with the zoom lens fully extended with no digital zoom. I think a better image could be obtained by not using zoom and only using macro mode.

D_pulchellaGiantForm.jpg

Drosera pulchella

This shot of my Sarracenia purpurea ssp venosa came out well.

S_purpurea.jpg


The original image for the S. purpurea can be found here. This file is over 1MB is size.
 
  • #36
Well, I did some research and found one webstore that sold an adapter that would allow me to use my 37mm close-up lenses with the Nikon Coolpix 4300. I could get some close-up lenses for the Nikon but they range from 1x, 2x, and 4x. They could be combined to make a 7x lens. However, I already have a 7x and a 10x 37mm close-up lens set. This would make a max of 17x when combined. The adapter arrived yesterday and I must say this camera can take some lovely close-up images. I have to use a tripod with the camera due to close-up images becoming easily blurred if held by hand. Although I have taken some nice close-ups without the tripod, but I cannot get as close an image.

Below is a photo of a Drosera capensis 'albino' that is only 1cm in diameter.


D_capensisAlbino1cm.jpg


To see the image without any reduction is size click here.
 
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