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umm, no, there are cheaper cameras. Much cheaper and brand new, from very reputable stores.

well, both LightZone and Raw Therapee support most of their functionality on JPEGs even though both are oriented towards RAW. and I'd put both programs as much superior tools for a photographer than TheGIMP, Photoshop, or ugghh, Elements. Plus, they run on Linux, unlike Aperture and LightRoom.

umm, no, there are cheaper cameras. Much cheaper and brand new, from very reputable stores.

well, both LightZone and Raw Therapee support most of their functionality on JPEGs even though both are oriented towards RAW. and I'd put both programs as much superior tools for a photographer than TheGIMP, Photoshop, or ugghh, Elements. Plus, they run on Linux, unlike Aperture and LightRoom.

Not really. Photoshop lists for about $699 USD. A base DSLR is at least a hundred or two hundred more than that brand new.

Digital SLRs have been coming down in price. $699 will get you a Digital SLR with some kind of lens attached nowadays, such as this one.

Update:

Bibble Labs does 2.5 or so updates / year, so

I may have to wait 3 more months before getting killer photo-editing of my RAW format files.

Also, I just checked, and the Noise Ninja in the current version ( 4.9.8e ) is a cut-down version,
but if one gets a full-version of Noise Ninja ( which IS available for Linux ),
that full-version gets integrated into your Bibble copy.

Doubly-also, the demo-mode works for 14 days.

The only downside, other-than no current support for the ultimate pocket camera for manual-control freaks
( the G9: http://www.powershot.com/ . . . trustworthy camera-joint fer buyin' stuff: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ ),
is that there isn't any JPEG2000 support.
Tiff ( 16 or 8 bit ), PNG ( 16 or 8 bit ), 8-bit-JPEG, for output. . .

Cheerses ( & yeah, this is offtopic, but this information does inform, and the perceived hole in Linux ability isn't an actual gap!! :)

Note that he's talking about sheet film, not 35mm. He's presumably using 4x5" sheets with a field or view camera which generally don't have any electronics in them.

We're talking about something like this or this.

Note that he's talking about sheet film, not 35mm. He's presumably using 4x5" sheets with a field or view camera which generally don't have any electronics in them.

We're talking about something like this or this.

Yep, you just need a backordered, $100 cable to connect the GPS to the camera. Good 'ol Nikon. People have come up with more open source hacks, the big problem is the extraordinarily non standard 10 pin connector to the camera. Anyone with a good source of those (and not the horrid little Chinese things you see on ebay) can make lots of Nikon shooters happy...

NO, $3000 is VERY low. Sony GL2s cost about $2000, and they're basically crap. One thing that is basically a neccessity if you're going to look semi professional, is WEIGHT, because ligheter cameras are just going to jiggle like crazy every time you do a simple pan on a tripod, or even just standuing still. I work as a videographer and producer in a very small local network station (50 odd so employees, one of the smallest NBC affiliates in the country). We use JVCs that cost in the neighborhood of $7000-$9000, and they START to look semi-professional, but even then, they leave much to be desired. Add to that a $500+ harddrive unit, and $100+ batteries, a $300 tripod, and you're getting somewhere. $3000 is good for home movies, but I wouldn't want to broadcast that the public.

Audio, on the other hand (my degree is in audio design, actually), is pretty cheap to get good. For one thing, even most stations either don't have the time or the knowhow to do really high-quality audio, and most of it has to be done on the fly. If you do pre-recorded sound, with a little effort in EQing and proper compression, you can make an SM58 ($100) sound not too far off from a professional live radio broadcast. We're a lot more accustomed to low-quality audio than video (unless you watch a lot of pr0n). And "professional" mics don't start a $3000, like someone said... many mics used in studio recordings start at just over $250. The Shure SM7 is one of the most widely used broadcast mics, and we're talking $350. B&H has a package deal that coems with a gooseneck mic boom, pop filter, and XLR cable for $500, and you're SET.

$3K for the camera is still a bit much. If I were looking to do a video cast I'd be looking at the Canon GL2 for $1700 (after a manufacturer's rebate). The porn industry loves them, with good reason. They're small, easy to use, excellent quality, and inexpensive for what you're getting.

For only a bit more than $3000 you could be doing HD with an XH-A1. And I'm willing to bet that there are other manufacturers that make other possible choices, but Canon is what I'm familiar with.

$3K for the camera is still a bit much. If I were looking to do a video cast I'd be looking at the Canon GL2 for $1700 (after a manufacturer's rebate). The porn industry loves them, with good reason. They're small, easy to use, excellent quality, and inexpensive for what you're getting.

For only a bit more than $3000 you could be doing HD with an XH-A1. And I'm willing to bet that there are other manufacturers that make other possible choices, but Canon is what I'm familiar with.

...in case anyone wants to know.
http://www.pricescan.com/electronics/items/item527 336.asp?sid=G5120995

And here's its specs.

Is it the fact that they are diffractive optics that make them expensive, or just the fact that they are cannon lenses?
this lens is probably a better example for the average bear. Twice as expensive as it's nearest realative, but it's also 2" shorter. And that can make a big difference when your walking around knocking into stuff. Is it worth it? don't know, is the picture quality any better? don't know. I would assume so, or why sell the thing at all.

Technically, this is true, but I am not sure about the reasonable cost part. It is also possible to correct chromatic aberration using diffractive lenses which require much less exotic (at least completely passive) technology. Canon has been able to take the concept of diffractive optics technology to market to manufacture some relatively compact telephoto lenses but even after many years of production, DO lenses are still quite expensive.

For the transparencies you should use a backlit flatbed or if they're few enough hire out the work. Assuming most of your media is 35mm film, you probably want to get yourself a film scanner which has an automatic feeder so you can automate a significant amount of the scanning process. Some of them have slide feeders too.

The Canon Digital Rebel XTi kind of makes even looking at the 30D pointless unless you just like how it feels in your hand better. That is the camera I would recommend to newcomers on the DSLR scene.

The article does readers a disservice by implying that "gray market" automatically means counterfeit. Gray market products are genuine branded products that were simply not intended for the market in which they are being sold. They are just as good as regular products, with the exception that their warranty is generally invalid in the region where they're sold. Reputable merchants who deal in gray-market products include B&H Photo and Dynamism.com. (And no, I don't work for either of them.)

I guess I won't be able to drink coffee, take photos and work on my ninja talents.

Trademarks are ridiculous when they're normal, everyday words. While I don't support trademark law, I can understand "Xerox," but pod? Come on.

The X5L is 30gb and the battery lasts about 27 hrs - yes I love its features and the fact that the people on the iAudio forums actually listen to the firmware requests. A lot of people don't like the file-folder based navigation system but a lot of my mp3s dont have id3 tags and I've already sorted the lot my genre>artist>album so the file-folder system actually works better for me.
FM and recording are absolutely superb.

Its around $300 this side of the atlantic so I'm surprised you only find it for 400 Euros. I think even with shipping it should work out a lot cheaper. If your familiar with the the M3 (I had one until some fucker stole it in NYC) then you might wonder about the remote - you won't need it and it makes only a marginal difference with the battery life especially with the X5L.

Also following this discussion I've been looking into putting RockBox on it - http://www.rockbox.org/ - it looks very cool.

Heres the link for the place I bought mine from and its still around $300/-
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A= details&kw=IAX5L30BL&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=3 96390

I think if you buy it from the COWON website they usualy throw in some free stuff like the nicer dock. When I got the M3 it came with the CW200 a small 128mb player which I use if I go biking.

As you can tell I'm pretty loyal to COWON because the damn thing is built like a tank (dropped I don't know how much) and both the M3 and the X5L have already served me really well. Also look at the Toshiba and Sansa players - they have comprable features and I've heard good perosnal reviews on the Toshiba ones. iRiver ain't bad and I'm actually kinda waiting to see what happens with the Zune. Moral of the story is there is more out there than the iPod especially if you like having more features.

Good luck!

Do what I did and say "Screw the DSLR!" and get a Panasonic/Lumix FZ-30. 8MP, Full auto or manual controls, 12X OPTICAL zoom, LCD viewfinder and rear screen, more features that you can shake a stick at, and it's only about $500. Sure, you don't get interchangable lenses, but that's a money sinkhole I didn't need. You can control just about anything you can think of and more on this camera.

I love this camera, I can't say one bad thing about it. It puts my film SLR to shame most of the time.

Which lens were you referring to, with the 100,000 actuations?

Thx for the infon the lens. Been looking to upgrade...
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O= productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=234444&is=USA&addedTr oughType=categoryNavigation

Don't scan printed copies. Scan the negatives instead, using a film scanner. You can scan a whole strip in a batch; depending on the model, you can scan 4 to 6 pictures in one strip, or even a whole roll, if the film is uncut.

The price of a good film scanner is less than you might think. I would recommend the Nikon Coolscan V if you want something reliable and affordable. Those gadgets are not generally available in the tech shop next door. Look for them in stores that sell photographic equipment. You can also purchase them over the internet on stores like Adorama or BHPhoto.

http://www.adorama.com/INKCSVED.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O= productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=310476&is=REG&addedTr oughType=categoryNavigation

I don't think I've seen a single other company support the standard.

They do exist. Older Samsung camcorders such as this one take only Memory Sticks for flash memory.

According to the Samsung website, their newest camcorders take either SD/MMC or are like this one and take, niftily enough, SD/MMC, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro.

This may, admittedly, suggest that the Samsung camcorders are just Sonys in disguise.

Want to save an image losslessly? Digital SLRs (and some point in shoots) let you save in RAW. Not only is the image saved losslessly, but you can adjust white balance, exposure (within reason), sharpness, and more all after taking the photo!

Want decent optical zooms? SLR lenseshave been available for decades now that range from 8mm to a whopping 1200mm. That's over 100x for you guys used to talking about lenses in terms of "how much zoom" they have. Canon's lens selection.

Want 13MP? The Canon 5D does 12.8. The Canon 1Ds Mark II does 16.8.

Want storage? You can get CF/SD cards as large as 8 gb, and portable hard drives such as the Epson P-2000 made for offloading photos out in the field.

Want to wirelessly transmit photos? The 1Ds Mark II can do it with the WFT-E1A.

Current batteries can let you shoot 2500 shots on a single charge. Spare batteries are cheap and keeping spares in your bag is no big deal.

The thing is that all this technology is already available, but be prepared to spend thousands of dollars for it. If you're looking for all this technology crammed into an everyday point & shoot, give it a few more years.

Instead of more MP, how about better high ISO capabilities? No shutter lag from when you press the button to when the camera takes the picture? How about taking photos at 8fps? Instant-on when you power up your camera? Quicker autofocus? These features are very important, but these too are available on DSLRs, and for a price. Considering how little money you're spending on a point & shoot, they do quite a bit as it is and they'll only get better. The technology is already there and it will eventually find its way down to lower end cameras.

I shoot mostly with a Canon EOS 20D digital SLR (the 1.6x sensor crop and smaller pixel pitch it great for extending your telephoto shots). Anyway, there is a "custom function" (i.e. a user-configurable parameter) in the camera (and all high-end Canon dSLRs) that enables "image verification". It basically digitally signs the original image, and then with the $700 Canon DVK-E2 Data Verification Kit, you can verify the signature. Apparently, this is used a lot in the insurance fields.

Now, when it'll come to your little point-and-shoot... ;)

While you have to pay over a $1000 for an IS lens for Canon or Nicon cameras [...]

Not really.

Although it would still be a nice thing to have built-in to the camera. (How does it work on the Konica Minolta cameras? Does it wiggle the sensor round or something like that?)

And I have to assume that you don't seem to be familiar with modern large format cameras. Very, very few people use 8x10 glass plates anymore, but there's lots of people that use 8x10 negative and slide film.

WTF are you talking about? Scheider lenses are in the same category (or better) as Zeiss: they've been making lenses for Rollei since forever (the one in my early 60's Rolleicord makes it easily beat any digital camera that costs less than a car --- in all aspects of image quality). They also make some of the best large format lenses that money can buy; look here for a modern normal lens.

Why do you think they can get away with charging $2500 for a normal lens (about 50mm equivalent for 35mm photography) that the buyer needs mount onto a lensboard himself?

These lenses make Canon's and Nikon's offerings (with maybe a few exceptions, like Canon's 200/1.8) look like the cheap, mass produced crap they are. Which, BTW, is fine because I also want to be able to actually buy a few lenses.

Before I got the Etymotics I linked above, I used a pair of Sony EX-71SL's (I love this store...and it's right down the street from my work!). The isolation was maybe only slightly looser than the ER-6's aforelinked - but the Sony's are more comfortable. A subjective thing for sure - but it's a subjective thing that is the main reason for the $70 price difference: sound quality. They block almost exactly as well as the ER-6's, but the ER-6's are (to my ears) far more neutral and accurate in sound.

If you want to go really cheap, I found the Koss "The Plug" canalphones to be decent. But not very comfortable. And sound quality was a high priority of mine, so they quickly fell to the wayside next to the Sonys and Etymotics.

1) Where the fuck can you buy a 4GB drive nowadays? I don't think any store around here carries anything under 80GB as you only get less space (not enough, that is) for the basically same price - and often they don't even have something that small in stock. I don't think anything smaller is being manufactured anymore either.

Lots of places carry 4GB harddrives. What cave do you live in?

Oh, and the original poster is wrong. a 4GB microdrive is about half the cost of a 4GB compact flash card.

use a reputable dealer like Amazon or NewEgg for any electronics.

Also, since this article is about cameras: B&H Photo http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ is well respected. Not the bottom barrel cheapest, but reputable and I've never had a problem with them.

NewEgg http://www.newegg.com/ is great, although they've recently defaulted to UPS (oops) shipping, and FedEx now costs extra.
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/ is okay, but make sure you're actually buying from Amazon directly, and not one of the scammy "partner stores" which link off of the Amazon page.

...the same rules apply now that applied 35 years ago when I started buying photo equipment. Most are places that will screw you one way or another. Some are downright crooks. And there are a few gems that stay in business year after year, garnering more and more loyal customers even though their prices aren't rock bottom.

Personally, I use BHPhotoVideo.com for darn near everything photographic. Some things, like flash brackets, are personal taste problems. You just gotta touch and feel before buying. But for everything else, B&H is either the best or so close I can't tell the difference. They're businesslike (even brusque, sometimes) on the phone but they're also professional and reliable. The number of similarly high-quality online dealers in this market segment can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Actually, you only need two - B&H and Adorama. There are a few specialty dealers who are good for other things and if you need what they sell, they're wonderful. But for the full line of general photo gear available online, it's B&H and Adorama.

The best guidance I know of for buying a camera or related equipment in the U.S. is at photo.net.

There are a few fine NY stores: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ http://www.adorama.com/ http://www.jandr.com/ In particular, B&H tends to carry everything photo related. Adorama carries almost as much as B&H. I've seen people happy with J&R, and I think 17th Street Photo (but I'm not sure of the last one), but they don't tend to have the depth B&H and Adorama has. So if you need say an Olympus 35-100mm f/2 lens, they will carry it, but you will get the glazed eye look if you ask for it at Best Buy. My one beef with B&H is they don't want to ship to maildrop places like The UPS store (I've had problems with delivery to the house, and prefer to get things delivered to the UPS store where somebody will sign for it, and I can pick it up at my leisure). So I tend to order from Adorama more often. Note that the price on these stores tends to be a fair price, but it isn't a 'deal' that the scam sites pretend to have.

If you live in a major metropolitan area, you may be able to buy locally, but if you live in, say, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, you're just plain out of luck. For example, I wanted to buy a "Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM" lens (about $1600-1800), and I tried to find it locally. No luck. Then I tried the major stores. They don't carry it either. I searched anywhere with a website and local stores, and I finally found it listed in stock... in New Orleans... in the flooded part.

Needless to say, I ended up making yet another purchase from B&H, as they have extensive inventory, respectable prices, excellent service, and (perhaps most importantly) a long history of existence. It's just not an option to buy locally in Baton Rouge.

Ditto. I hesitated to post positive comment on a specific store for maybe being labeled a shill, but I I'll chime in. I've purchased nearly 2 dozen system lenses and bodies from B&H http://bhphotovideo.com/ usually 1 or 2 pieces at a time, over the past 4 years. Had to return a defective Canon 1D, and that was handled well. They don't have the most rock-bottom prices, but, then, dealing with them is not a typical NewYorkCameraStore risk. Their prices are always better than local prices. I got good enough deals that I've been able to Ebay some of the equipment I no longer needed for little or no loss.

When I first heard about this yesterday, I was surprised. The victim in this tale is a fan (or employee? dunno) of flickr, one of the hottest social network web apps around at the moment. Yet when buying a camera, he didn't take advantage of them at all.

Look around any photography forum, every time a questions like, "hey, I just saw this camera at an incredible price at this store, is this a good deal?" people always reply with "check out resellerratings.com. How someone so technically and netsocially (for lack of a better term) savvy didn't ask around about this new store they were about to send $3k to is a mystery to me. Heck, a simple google search would've revealed problems.

There are so many tools out there to verify good sellers/companies to do business with. Why do you think B&H has so much business, even though its prices aren't rock bottom? They win on service and reliability, again and again. Of course, they're not perfect, but they've never failed me, and 'horror stories' with them are few and far between - especially compared to the volume they do.

Speaking of trust systems: I've had excellent results with ebay - buying from reputable sellers. There are quite a few chinese/hong kong sellers on there with 10-50k transactions and 1-10 negative feedbacks. I don't know *any* brick and mortar stores with those kinds of numbers.

Well, it's up to you if you want to play kickass games on some shitty 5" screen in your bed. Personally, I play games to have fun, not because I'm so addicted that I'm playing every night as I try to fall asleep. And it's not that expensive, nor does it require grand living rooms with vaulted ceilings. People play on projectors right in their dens or whatever. And with systems like the xbox 360 going for $400, and games going for $50 each, spending $500 on a decent projector doesn't sound that bad anymore. You better hope you can get some HD action on that thing (although it's not actually HD, at least it's higher than NTSC).

And if you haven't actually tried playing on a properly set up system and projector, you have no idea what you are missing. I'd suggest checking it out.

Actually, the $900 is just for the camera body. $1200 with a lens, but in all fairness it's an excellent Nikkor. Personally, I'm going for the $1400 two-lens package, you can't beat the price for the glass you're getting.

Canon might make an arguably better body in the Digital Rebel XT, but by all accounts the kit lens pales next to the Nikon. And yes, I am a Nikon fanboy, or at least I already have several F-mount lenses that more than justify buying a new Nikon body.

Actually, the $900 is just for the camera body. $1200 with a lens, but in all fairness it's an excellent Nikkor. Personally, I'm going for the $1400 two-lens package, you can't beat the price for the glass you're getting.

Canon might make an arguably better body in the Digital Rebel XT, but by all accounts the kit lens pales next to the Nikon. And yes, I am a Nikon fanboy, or at least I already have several F-mount lenses that more than justify buying a new Nikon body.

Actually, the $900 is just for the camera body. $1200 with a lens, but in all fairness it's an excellent Nikkor. Personally, I'm going for the $1400 two-lens package, you can't beat the price for the glass you're getting.

Canon might make an arguably better body in the Digital Rebel XT, but by all accounts the kit lens pales next to the Nikon. And yes, I am a Nikon fanboy, or at least I already have several F-mount lenses that more than justify buying a new Nikon body.

Seriously, 200GB is peanuts. My MP3 collection alone is 100GB. I also back up all my computers (including the one with the 100GB MP3s) to hard drive, so I have two copies of all this stuff.

I just bought one of these: LaCie Bigger Disk for my Mac, which is 1TB RAID for under $1000.

Just buy a TB or two, and if you fill that up any time soon, then, well, start deleting stuff. My personal files take up megabytes, my MP3s take up gigabytes, so 1TB is fine for me. 1TB ought to be enough for anybody.

I'm even thinking of buying another one of these, syncing the first one up to it, and then putting it in a safe deposit box and repeating every 6 months.

There are plenty of solutions out there, but they're all fairly expensive (Between $600 and $3000). The reason for this is that they're targetted at professional users.

The cheap solution: You can hook your camera's firewire port directly to a laptop, and have your video software do direct recording, but you have to carry around the laptop, and deal with all the trouble that entails. If you're doing any sort of moving around, this likely more trouble than it is worth. The good news is that you don't have to take time to download the video to your computer for editing.

If you don't use a computer, you need a hard driver recording system. Unfortunately, your average firewire enclosure is too basic to know what to do with a DV stream, so just plugging a firewire drive into your camera won't work.

The following companies (not a complete list) make standalone devices that include a built-in hard drive, battery, and the logic to capture the firewire stream directly to disk:
      ADS Technologies (PyroDV)
      DataVideo (DV Bank)
      Focus Enhancements (Firestore FS-3, FS-4)
      Sony (DSR-DU1)

B&H search for "video hard disk recorders" gives a decent listing:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O= NavBar&A=search&Q=&ci=6544

In addition to other things, I also oversee a facility which checks out camera equipment to students in a university film program. I cannot imagine a situation in which cameras receive more abuse, and this is my recommendation. The http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O= productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=302346&is=REGSony PDX-10. It is the smallest and cheapest of Sony's "Prosumer" cameras, and is as durable as any of their professional models. We have one unit that has been in continuous use in the field for 4 years and has never had maintenance problems bigger than needing the heads cleaned. It is a 3 chip camera, has a large, good lens, and a durable body. These models also have an excellent shotgun mic and will record in DVCAM mode which shortens the recording length of the tape but improves error correction. (Contrary to popular belief, this does not require DVCAM tapes -- any DV tape will work in either mode.)

Make no mistake, these cameras are not cheap, (circa $1800) but cameras are one of the few items where you truely get what you pay for. No consumer camcorder will ever have the lifespan, durability, or reliability of a professional camera, and when you look at TCO, $1800 pays for itself pretty quickly when you're buying another $600 camera every year. Another poster wished someone made a "toughbook" camera. They do, and these are they.

Now things are engineered for disposability/cost rather than repairability.

Not if they're made for professionals. Which brings me to the question that must be asked - if you are shooting something as part of your job, why are you using a consumer-grade camcorder?

To the article submitter: my guess is when these repairmen told you that your cameras weren't "up to the task" that they also told you to buy a camcorder made for the task. There are many such models available. Go to any decent camera store (B&H in New York, for example) and look around. It's really not hard. Hell, B&H has a whole professional video category right there on their web site.

I have a feeling the question being asked was not actually "what camcorders are up to the task?" but rather "what camcorder can I get for no extra money that will give me professional level durability?" Sorry, but the fact is you do get what you pay for. Pro gear costs more because it lasts longer and can handle the extra abuse of being tossed around and used basically 24 hours per day. You can't go on the cheap and expect to use a consumer-level camera in a professional capacity (and that is exactly what you have previously tried to do - I'd have thought you'd have learned your lesson by now).

Good Job! You sir, are the absolute marvel of technology! However on earth did you pull this miracle off?

B&H has the 3M 1720 for $130.
Or you can JFFI,

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A= details&Q=&is=REG&O=productlist&sku=266546

Now this is a monitor that rocks. We use'm all the time... excelent configuration, great luminance, and perfect spot size.

Oh yeah, and it kicks the ass out of the 4Kx3K IBM flat panel that we paid 10K$ for.

And not to mention that an $800 steadicam is about the very bottom of the barrel. Something professional level can easilly be more like 7000 dollars." And that's a used one...

Just the bracket used to convert the steadicam to a really low to the ground shot can run about $800.

You can get photo quality filters from B+H.

Apple makes a snazzy bluetooth keyboard and mouse. To connect to your TV, you should get a DVI to Component cable or adapter. Something like these:

Adapter
Cable (I would get this)

If you want a print that will really last a while, covert it to greyscale, interpolate the image to an 8x10 300dpi, then invert it. Print it on a sheet of transparency. Finally platinum print it. Platinum prints last as long as the paper they're printed on and they look freakin awesome. Archive that! Daguerreotypes are also permanent, though they're made on glass plates which can break, plus the process is more cumbersome for somewhat less spectacular results.