By Fred Hume

Looks like another summer is just about shot. Kids are heading back to school, trees are starting to turn. Winter will soon be here. Ewwww! Time to dust off my trusty old weapon and head out into the woods. My weapon of choice, of course, being my good old digital camera. Bet you were wondering how I was gonna work that one around to computers, huh? This is by no means intended to be a buyers guide to the world of digital photography, but if you have any interest in the subject, I'll run through a few of the things you should be looking for if you want to invest in and start using a digital camera.

First thing, buying a digital camera is much like buying a computer. You really need to know what you intend to do with it before you decide which one to buy. Are you a weekend snapper? Satisfied with quick shots of the kids or pets? If so, a low end or entry camera is probably for you. I've seen them advertised for as low as $69.99 and they will go up to about $299. This will buy you the "point & shoot" garden variety digital camera with capabilities much like a 35mm throwaway or the old reliable Kodak Instamatic. You point, you push the button, it does the rest. You get a nice low resolution picture about 2 x 3 inches suitable for uploading to a Web page or e-mailing to friends and family.

The mid-range cameras, priced from about $350 to $700, give you a bit more versatility. You can get options like normal/telephoto lenses, macro focus, (for extremely close work), some manual control like variable ISO settings, variable flash settings, some control for focus and aperture, and variable resolution modes. You can expect a picture comparable to a 3 x 5 or 4 x 6 35mm print.

Now we get to the top end stuff. The $700 to the-sky's-the-limit range. I do mean sky. A top of the line 6 megapixel, camera will cost you about $25,000. That's not a typo. You better be a pro at this range. Cameras that will do most of the tricks of a good 35mm and a few things a 35mm never thought of doing go for between $750 and $1000. How about shooting stills and/or a 1 or 2 minute movie with audio? We're talking interchangeable lenses, full manual mode, aperture/f-stop/shutter speed, variable/hot shoe flash, telephoto modes that will knock you over because they zoom in so far, so fast, you better be hanging onto something. These cameras can do just about anything and will give you a good quality photo up to 8 x 10.

Don't let me confuse you when I talk about print sizes. I'm using standard photographic terminology for clarity. There's no film or prints involved here. No running to the drug store to drop the exposed film off and waiting for the prints to come back. No processing fees either. Digital cameras use digital media to record the pictures. There's a shocker huh? Why do I refer to prints at all? Well, because if you have a good quality ink-jet or laser printer, that's the fun part. After you download your images to your PC, you can manipulate them any way you want to with a good photo editor and print them at home. VOILA! Instant gratification!

Ok, what's digital media? There are four basic types. Different cameras use different media to record images and, (big surprise here), they are NOT inter-changeable.The first one you are all familiar with, the good old 3.5 inch, 1.44 mb floppy disk. This is the preferred media for the Sony Mavica line. You stick a floppy in the camera and take pictures. The image is recorded on the floppy, and when it's full, eject it and put in another one. The advantage with this media is, it's cheap. You all probably have some and it's easy to use. It works like what it is. A floppy. The down side, a large bulky camera, and who wants to walk around with a camera AND a box of floppies?

Second type of media is called a PC card, or as you laptop users know it, a PCMCIA card. Yup, you can take pictures on 'em. They are about the size of a credit card and have huge capacities, normally 20 to 80 mb. These are the medium of choice in professional level cameras. The down side? The price. Normally a 20mb card will deplete your checking account to the tune of about $300. An 80mb card will get you for about $750. Ouch!

Third type of media is "Compact Flash," a smaller version of the PC card with pin connectors at one end. Capacities run from 4mb to 64mb and prices are much better. A 4mb card will only choke about $40 out of "piggy," but a 64mb will still bite you for over $300.

Last type is "Smartmedia." Looks something like an old 5 ¼ inch floppy only shrunk down to about a 1.5 x 1.5 inch square and has a hard shell. These also vary in capacity from about 4mb to 64mb, but the price is a bit more reasonable than the "Compact Flash" cards. Watch for sales on these as prices vary all over the place. Most all cameras come with some level of their respective media to get you started.

This is the end for this month. As you have probably gathered by now, this is a complex subject. I will expand on what I've stated here in next month's issue and start to include other considerations in buying and using a digital camera. See ya!