Byte Me by Marv Dealy
Digital Camera Guide from CNET
I have an older Sony Cybershot digital camera that has taken so many thousands of pictures by now that it ought to be worn out. I haven’t replaced it because most of the non-SLR (single lens reflex) digital cameras don’t have interchangeable lenses; my camera does and I’m loathe to give that up.
It’s old enough that it has a tiny LCD viewing screen that is practically useless in bright sunlight unless I’m wearing a hat, and the mega pixel count is so low I’m not even going to tell you. If you really want lots of mega pixels you should go back to film anyway, which unlike a digital camera doesn’t have any gaps between the digital receptors, and is therefore continuous and might be referred to as infinite mega pixels.
CNET.com has a very handy guide to what they say are the top five digital cameras, ranked in price from about $150 up to $3,000 and more. Starting at the lower end of that scale, they suggest the Kodak EasyShare Z915. For around $400, they recommend the Canon PowerShot S90, which they say is an “excellent compact camera for advanced amateurs.” Those would be folks who have fiddled with their cameras enough to know what each of the settings actually do, I’d suppose.
For an entry-level digital SLR camera, they recommend a Nikon D5000 (with 18-55mm lens), which ranges in price from about $600 to $900. Priced just above the Nikon is what they call the “best interchangeable-lens compact we’ve seen thus far,” the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 (with 20mm lens) which ranges from $900 to about $1,300.
If you’re looking for a professional digital SLR camera, the recommendation is a Canon EOS 5D, which without any lens will set you back between $2,200 and $2,900. Price ranges from CNET show that different retailers are selling the same product for different prices, so you’ll want to use their website to check the prices for the model as well as read the much more thorough reviews they offer of each camera. Check it out at tinyurl.com/yj6yjc2.
DataDoctors: I see that CNN.com is featuring a video by of Ken Colburn of “Data Doctors” talking about what you should think about before you switch from a Windows computer to a Mac.
I was delighted that in the video Ken hits on the same points I did when I talked about this very subject in last week’s column: available online in case you don’t keep all these treasured words at the SMT website.
In the video (available at tinyurl.com/yc2bj87), Ken is wearing a nice “doctor” white smock with “Data Doctors” embroidered above the breast pocket, in which there was not inserted a single pencil, pen, bent paper clip, slide rule or even part of a left over sandwich. I say this is not the smock Ken wears to actually work on computers, but I digress. Full disclosure requires that Ken is noted as the Founder/CEO of Data Doctors at their website, where they say he is also a media tech personality, wine lover, golf and travel nut.
I must also say you’ll not find me wearing a white smock to work on computers with. Most of them that come in need first to be cleaned out, which we do outside as the amount of dust, dirt and lint that can gather inside even a laptop is surprising.
Also in the video, Ken has on display only two laptops, as if everyone out there years ago had dumped their desktops. Yes, someone with a Windows laptop might want to switch to a Mac laptop, but might not it be just as possible that someone with a Windows desktop would want to switch as well?
While I’m at it, I’d like to give a plug to the Data Doctors for the great job they do. I subscribe to one of their email newsletters and always learn something from it, some of which I try to pass along here. If you’re interested in the free subscription, you’ll find it at DataDoctors.com but not easily; here’s a Tiny URL to get you right to the registration page (tinyurl.com/22jeac).
Their free email newsletter this week gives some great advice for taking better holiday pictures with your digital camera, which include getting to know the camera before using it, possibly reading the book that came with it (I know where that will go), and making an impromptu tripod out of string so that you can hold the camera still for that extra couple of seconds it takes to actually take the picture after you’ve pushed the button.
They also debunk the myth of “Cyber Monday” or “black Monday” or whatever you want to call it as a marketing campaign dreamed up by Shop.org in 2005 to get more traffic to their website, while providing an online poll so that you can let everyone know “what percentage of your holiday purchases will be online” this year. At this writing, the poll claims that 36% of respondents will make 50% to 70% of their holiday purchases online.
Before you find that surprising, it occurred to me to wonder if the numbers weren’t skewed by the fact that people who avidly read stuff and fill out polls online are more likely to buy online than those who prefer reading the circular at Mart*Mart’s front door.
Email questions to Marv at: marv.dealy@throck.com.
Marv Dealy founded Throckmorten Enterprises in San Francisco in 1988 and moved the company to Big Oak Flat in 1996. Open Monday through Friday, 9-ish to 5-ish (209- 962-7308). The company provides technical support for a large Silicon Valley company’s webinars, as well as providing professional website design, and computer and network maintenance. The company also publishes the Yosemite Gazette.
