Which digital camera

[JeanM]

I am planning on buying a digital camera to photograph my egg tempera paintings. My son has a Nikon digital that did a great job, but was rather expensice. I don't want to spend more than necessary. I would appreciate any suggestions.
JeanM

[Rosemary]

Hi Jean,

I have tried nikon and canon and the nikon has better color balance for art work. The canon seems to be optimized to photograph people. I also had a gallery tell me that they prefer Nikon for the same reason.

I got a second hand Nikon coolpix 990 that does a fantastic job. Be sure and try different distances from the painting so that you don't get curved edges on your painting from the wide-angle effect. Fortunately with digital, you can see it on the monitor.

Even a model 950 works well, with about 6 MB tif file for the highest quality photo even it is a 1.8 Mega pixel system. I think the 990 has about 12 MB for the hi quality setting. Be sure and turn off the flash and use diffuse daylight for the photo.

Rosemary

[JeanM]

Rosmary, thank you very much for the good information. Your explicit instructions will be very helpful to a digital novice like me. I will look for a Nikon (preferably a used one).
Jean

[Alessandra Kelley]

Watch out for old digital cameras. Quite a lot of them, from all major manufacturers, used the same faulty imaging chips, made on the cheap with epoxy instead of ceramic. Many of them are now failing.

Here is a link to an article about it from the Wall Street Journal, which can also tell you which models to watch out for:

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113036700399480540-a19XaVrSzPcGNlv5Gmp_TgcLE_E_20061027.html

[PhilS]

A suggestion, Jean: If you buy yourself a 6- or 8-megapixel camera, you will be able to print out a full resolution reproduction at 8 1/2 x 11 size or larger. 2 mp cameras will only give you quality reproductions up to six or eight inches in any dimension.
Some people recommend 4 x 5 film (large format) for the best quality. Depends on how serious you are. I find digital to be fine for me, though I wouldn't photograph my work with anything less than a 6 mp camera.
Check out dpreview.com. It's a great resource for researching digital cameras.
Phil

[JeanM]

Alessandra, thanks for alerting me to this potential chip problem. Very interesting article in the WSJ. My son has a Nikon and I will pass along the info to him. And I will be careful about a purchase of my own.

[JeanM]

Phil, I will check out the dpreview.com site. I feel that I'm off to a good start with the help from this forum.
Thanks much.

[Dimitris C. Milionis]

I purchased a Nikon Coolpix S4 (6 megapixels) in December 2005, at first I was puzzled at its poor video in low light and the time it took to click a picture, the reason I purchased it was for family moments and studio work.

I am not happy with it! though the spilt system was the real bonus and the 10x zoom

http://www.nikonusa.com/images/products/25533_360.jpg


now Nikon has come out with the Nikon Coolpix S10 (6 megapixels) that seems to have solved the previous problems

http://nikonusa.com/images/products/25555_360.jpg

but if you want quality poster reproductions, you better go to a pro SLR digital level with over 10 megapixels

[JeanM]

Thanks for all the advice I have received. I did purchase a Nikon Coolpix P1 and it has 8.0 megapixels. So far I very satisfied with it. I am not a professional, and it's takes care of my for now.

[Dimitris C. Milionis]

For those interested and will stick out another year or so, we should be seeing the first fully compatible traditional SLR 35mm (135) cameras equivalent in format size to the upcoming 18 megapixel CCD digital SLR's .

this size will closely match the 24x36mm film/slide image on traditional kodak / Ilford / Agfa / Fuji films soon to be discontinued

So you next real SLR Digital camera that will take those studio quality shots will be a 18 megapixel camera either Canon, Sony, Nikon, Olympus.

as for prices! well with f2.8 lens it will be in the $2,000+ range

the funny thing is that's this is a Kodak product which is great


http://www.letsgodigital.org/images/artikelen/22/kodak_KAF-18000CE_sensor.jpg

full info

http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/news/articles/story_2836.html

[Dimitris C. Milionis]

but this would do just the same, an art in its own form


http://www.karlblessing.com/shares/nettar515_1.jpg