response 1 of 20:

Apr 28 16:45 UTC 1995

the disposables, they are cool, require good technique, depend on the
photographer, and once developed, force you to pick a new flavor to try
the next time. I am fond of the panorama jobs.

response 3 of 20:

Dec 4 19:32 UTC 1995

the panoramas are OK for certain specific shots (very good, actually) but not
for general picture taking.  the "weekend" camera has a plastic housing and
is _great_ for the beach, pool and under water up to 9' deep!  takes good
pics with good color, especially in a _clean_ pool with lots of sun.  It
also floats, in case you drop it.

For best photographic effect I suggest a SLR of at least 35mm format.

I just did a whole lot of looking/shopping and finally got a new Canon EOS
ElanII E (the E stands for 'eye controlled focus).  This is a full featured
SLR for a serious amature (or low-end professional) and the eye focus is
cool.  You calibrate the thingie to your eyeball, and it bounces a beam off
your eye while you're looking through the viewfinder to determine where you
are looking...then it focuses on the nearest focusing point to your subject.

Only had it a couple of weeks now, but the fotos are _great_!  My previous
"good" camera was/is about 20 years old.  What a difference new technology
makes!
]

response 5 of 20:

May 25 21:05 UTC 1996

How expensive are these newer cameras like the new Canon EOS
ElanII E?

response 7 of 20:

May 26 17:05 UTC 1996

I bought an EOS ElanII-E with the data back and 28-105mm (1:3.5-4.5)
ultrasonic autofocus lens just before the new year.  Add a lens filter, really
cool and well padded bag, some film and a couple of other accessories and I
spent below $1k.  I think the camera, lens and filter were in the $800 range
if I'm not mistaken.  Next option I'll buy is an extra battery pack which is
also a vertical handgrip/shutter button.

I've been very happy with this camera, even though I'm not yet comfortable
with all the "automatic" capabilities.  Sometimes my pictures don't come out
as well as my old manual camera took them...I'm trying to get the feel of what
each automatic mode actually does.

response 9 of 20:

May 27 01:34 UTC 1996

Rickyb - do you have the "bar scanner" option with your camera?  I have it
and it is sort of gimmicky, but it works real well.  

This is a light pen and a booklet of difficult picture types.  Each pictured
"difficult" type of photo has a bar code.  YOu scan it with your pen, and
enter it into your camera and it automatically shoots for the same effect as
in the booklet photo.  I used it to take a picture of a white painted brick
house with a white door and two pots of red flowers either side of the door.
The booklet was a picture of a white cat on a white chair on a white porch.
Worked fine!

response 11 of 20:

Jun 2 16:49 UTC 1996

I work with barcodes for a living, so if anybody is interested in trying to
decipher what those barcodes contain, I can help.  I can also print barcodes.

response 13 of 20:

Jun 29 01:12 UTC 1996

I am aware of two Pentax IQZooms which were nice cameras but failed early.
One belonged to my daughter and one belonged to a guy at work.  They both
failed by an apparant "jamming" of the zoom mechanism.  I took my daughter's
apart and found a tiny Delrin gear cracked neatly into pie-shaped segments.
I am familiar with failure in plastic mechanical parts and I believed this
to be due to stress (pressed on a shaft) in combination with lubricant oil.
(Environmental Stress Cracking).

I wrote Pentax and told them I believe the failure was due to design 
(stress cracking) and asked if they would stand behind their product for 
quality.  They returned a  letter which said they stood behind their 
warranty and this was out of warranty.

I am told by the owner of a local camera store that the best (Lowest) 
warranty performance is (1) Ricoh, (2) Samsung, and (3) Olympus.

response 15 of 20:

Jun 29 01:29 UTC 1996

That's a lot of power in those little capacitors, isn't it?  I saw some
electronic project that used a couple of those.  I think 330 volts is the
usual.

response 17 of 20:

Jul 6 20:12 UTC 1996

My sister-in-law also has one of these Pentax zoom cameras like the one
I just brought--and she's had problems with hers, too. For example, it goes
through batteries fast AND one of the button thingies on top broke off.
And reading about some of the concerns here in this item, I'm seriously
thinking about returning this camera when I get back to NC later in the
week. I still have the receipt and have had it for only
a week--so they should take it back. There was another camera I was also
looking at--it does the zoom, the wide angle, and the panerama pictures
all on the same roll of film... Do any of you know how good these panarama
pictures are??

response 19 of 20:

Jan 19 18:04 UTC 2002

How many of you are using digital cameras now?? Sometime in the near [I hope!]
future, I'd like to get one.  What are some recommendations? problems? Etc?