Digital Cameras OT 69

Digital camera prices and technology changes very quickly. Unfortunately the Choice magazine reviews for this type of technology, though comprehensive, do tend to be out of date before they are even printed (Yes, I am a subscriber!). The Green Guide (in the Melbourne Age) or equivalent are usually the best places to find reviews of new technology. A good online review site is www.dpreview.com. As I said in my original post though, any digital camera choice should be made on what suits the user. Menu systems & controls do vary greatly - play with a few different cameras instore & see what you like. For genealogy-type pictures (oil-paintings, framed photos) it helps to be able to turn the automatic flash off easily (& have it STAY off!), without having to go through a lot of menu choices. A good clear macro function is also very handy for documents. Lens distortion & poor colour reproduction are probably the main reasons I find to not use a digital camera.

I still say that if you can borrow photos or documents the very best thing to do is scan them. The amount of information contained in an old printed photograph just doesn't seem to translate across when captured with a digital camera. I have scanned & catalogued hundreds of my family photos. The level of detail picked up by the scanner is absolutely amazing. Some small family snapshots that look fairly uninteresting suddenly take on a whole new dimension when displayed on a computer screen or projected onto a wall. A consumer digital camera doesn't have the contrast or resolution to do this as well as a scanner. Just remember that a 4mp digital camera takes a photo around 2240 pixels wide by 1680 pixels high. If you want to crop & print one quarter of that picture you will only just get enough pixels for a decent 6x4 print - nothing larger (without interpolation).

Anyway, better get back to my scanning!

Cheers,

Lyn