Wow! Now that is an image, Hanuman - beautiful.
Okay y’all . . . question here. . . Has anyone had experience yet in
turning digital images into slides . . . how are the results? Are
they jurying quality?
At the time I picked a camera, I read through all the Orchid digital
info in the archives this past summer and did a major quick research
project. Used the comparison chart a LOT at the imaging resouce site:
http://www.imaging-resource.com Read through their forum on feedback.
Read whatever I could manage to find online. And visited my neighbor
who is in advertising and uses the camera I ended up buying.
So, I settled for an Olympus c3000z - because of it’s lightness and
versatility for travel (am always thinking about that one!
and it’s
ease of operation. The newer model is the c3030z and so the 3000z was
coming down in price very quickly. It has high enough resolution and
I like the Olympus lens. I am premature in knowing how this Olympus
does on the close up very fine jewelry shots - but am going to dive
into a light box set up this December and could let you know later.
It has manual settings and lighting adjustments and the resolution is
definitely high enough for our needs. One thing I like is the
lightweight portability and the batteries last pretty decently. BUT -
I must warn you - I haven’t even read the manual and am NOT a
photographer. My husband used this camera for the Nov LJ "how
to"images for my article on the Ginkgo earrings. LJ said they were
great. I didn’t “tweak” them at all . . . because I didn’t know how
and also didn’t have time . . . they were due a few days after I got
the camera! All I did was quickly crop them in photoshop to a uniform
size and actually size down the resolution to email them to the
publication. The larger images in the article of my 2 pieces were by
a professional and they were also digital. He somehow added a digital
attachment to his giant workhorse camera that he has worked with for
many years - to convert it.
If anyone has any interest in this Olympus camera - I could look up
some info. My daughter is also using it to create a digital animated
movie for her university class and it also has the capacity to take
panoramic images . . . so, I love the versatility. My primary
interest was to document jewelry for a website and document work.
I’ll be extremely happy if I can get “professional” results after
building a light box for jewelry. That remains to be seen.
Otherwise, I will happily leave those images to the professionals!
But the “how to” images were shot with a tripod and a spotlight - a
very easy set up and I think there is great potential for decent
images of jewelry with the right lighting. Oh, one thing, we did set
up a monitor in the studio to view the “how to” images on a larger
screen at the time of the shoot - because the little viewfinder on the
camera did not give enough of an indication of the clarity of the
results. That helped a lot in adjusting the angle of the light etc.
at the time. And you can have instant replay to do the retake right
then and there . . . really amazing!
As far as the technology changing when we blink - I feel that if we
settle for a resolution and speed and ease of use that is plenty
adequate - then I don’t see any reason not to stay with that camera
for a good length of time - even as the newer and better technology
hits the market.
Have fun . . . it is a whole new world of photography - no
chemicals! I like dragging this camera around for documenting nature
forms and also to the kids recitals - it is great! This Olympus has a
short video feature that is fun for the more techie types in the
family (not me!).
The next in the running for purchase (from our research) was the
Nikon 950 - that was also coming down in price with the intro of the
990. I was moderately partial to the Olympus because I have had that
company’s cameras in the past and have had great longevity of use.
The Nikon and Sony Mavica are also excellent choices for sure. It is
also possible to add lenses to the Olympus c3000z down the line. I
did buy a UV lens filter protector - and leave that on permanently to
protect the glass lens from scratching.
It was a hard decision - but was really worth it in our case to pick
one that was so versatile and easy to use - not just a camera for
jewelry images. Anyone else have an Olympus digital? There has been
no mention of it in the Orchid archives that I could find.
Thanks ahead - I’m glad to see the digital discussion surface again.
Cynthia