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My Camera & Equipment 2003Updated February 28, 2003 |
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Warning! This article includes personal opinions and speculations!
I bough my Casio QV-2800UX in the end of May 2001 at Calmare Computer Systems.
Some of the main features of the camera are a 2 MegaPixels CCD, 8x Optical Zoom
(the zoomrange equals 40 to 320 mm on conventional cameras with 35 mm film),
1 cm closeup macro, compact swivel lens (can be rotated), shutter speed from
1/2000 to 60 seconds, external synch flash connection and choice of automatic
or manual control over all the camera settings (for example aperture, shutter
speed, iso, focus, internal flash strength and so on). The camera is small,
low weight (about 300 g) and can easily be fully operated with only one hand.
Before I decided on buying this camera I did a lot of research to learn more about the consumer and prosumer digital cameras on the market. I also did research on the professional digital cameras for comparison, although they are unfortunately much too expensive for me. As a reference I also looked at some digital video cameras with still picture function. I suspect that full feature hybrids between video and still picture cameras might be a good alternative in the future, but until now they are too expensive, have too low true resolution and lack some features before they are up to par with good still picture cameras. On the other end of the line, many digital still picture cameras also have video modes or picture burst modes that allows for short video sequences, so the border between video and still picture digital cameras is fading away... |
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I tried to evaluate what features that would be most useful for me to have,
especially for aquarium photography. I surfed the Internet, participated in Internet forums
about photography and went to local photo dealers and talked to other photograpers
and then added that info to my own experience of using digital cameras. I also searched
for where I could buy the camera and accessories at the lowest price. Finally I decided
to buy the Casio QV-2800UX. It was a low budget alternative. At the time of purchase
it was the cheapest camera I could find that met my minimum demands and as a bonus
it also had several other properties that I value highly.
I knew that the evolution in digital cameras goes so fast that whatever camera I would decide to buy, there would relatively soon be much better cameras available at about the same or lower price, it's just the way it goes. However, every day without a digital camera had been a nagging pain in the neck for me for several years, so I didn't want to wait any longer when the performance and price had finally met an equilibrium both with my minimum demands and the size of my wallet. Included in that calculation was also the price and performance of the accessories I wanted. An extra buttkicker was that I really wanted to have a camera when I knew the nature in Sweden was closing in on it's (in my opinion) beauty peak of the year in the late spring and beginning of the summer, with colorful flowers, insects, birds and animal babies all over the place. I will probably buy a new digital camera a few years from now, but until then I will having fun and shoot many thousands of pictures with my Casio QV-2800UX. The number of photos I shoot per day varies a lot depending on how busy I am, but since I got my own digital camera I usually shoot between a few hundred up to a couple of thousand pictures per week. I used to borrow several different digital cameras before I had saved enough money to buy my own digital camera. The cameras I have most experience of using out of the ones I borrowed are: Olympus C-3000Z, Olympus C-830L, Fujifilm 4700 and Fujifilm MX-700. After buying my own camera I've also had the pleasure of borrowing and using a Nikon CoolPix 995. This incredible camera is the successor to the awardwinning 950 and 990 models and these cameras are also known for their easy mounting on different types of scopes. The Nikon CoolPix 995 was released on the Swedish market in the summer of 2001 and it's a very versatile prosumer digital camera loaded with great features and manual controls. In many ways it's similar to my camera, but also surprisingly different to operate. When comparing the two cameras I think that the largest differences are that the Nikon CoolPix 995 is more expensive but capable of producing much higher quality pictures and also has more precise manual control and advanced operation and a much better internal flash, but my casio is generally easier to use. I've also tested an Olympus C-4040Z and it's also a nice camera. For post processing of my photos I usually use:
To clean your camera glass (lens, filters, converters etc) I suggest using a good manual airblower and lens cleaning tissues. This is how you can do it:
Some of the accessories included with my camera:
My additional accessories:
My computers:
Accessories that I plan to buy in the future:
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