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A craftsman is only as good as the tools that he uses. (Conversely, it's a poor craftsman who BLAMES his tools.) In order to be successful at online auctions, you'll have to invest some money in a tool that will take good pictures of your product. This past holiday season was a record for sales of digital cameras, but if you managed to push through the crowd at the electronics counters and make it to the display case, you were faced with a wide array of features, prices & brand names. To try and sort this confusion out, AuctionBytes-Update will be taking a look at several of the best digital cameras for taking pictures of online auction items in this and future issues.
The criteria for our reviews differ slightly from those in mainstream computer magazines. While most of the cameras on the market today will take good, if not stunning images of landscapes and exteriors, AuctionBytes-Update judged these cameras on their ability to work in lower light, interior settings. AuctionBytes-Update used the following criteria:
- Taking close-up pictures, which are vital in relaying the information a potential buyer needs to feel comfortable bidding on your auction.
- Transferring the images in the camera to your computer.
- Battery life.
- Ease of use.
This review will cover two of the more popular models, The Kodak DC280 Zoom ($650 range street price) and the Olympus D-340R ($250 range street price). AuctionBytes-Update will add more reviews as we continue to test models.
KODAK DC280 ZOOM
There are some very nice on-board features to the Kodak DC280 Zoom digital camera, such as the impressive active matrix screen and very intuitive menus. It also comes with a nice software bundle, (ArcSoft PhotoPrinter, Adobe PhotoDeluxe, and PageMill) and, because it's compatible with USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports, it transfers images to your computer at a comfortable rate. It's quick and easy to delete unwanted pictures, or you can delete all stored images on the generous 20mb Compactflash card and start fresh by pressing a couple of buttons.
I started by taking some general outside shots, just to get the feel of the camera. I found the camera a little uncomfortable to hold, and continually pressed the wrong button when trying to shoot. I also kept smudging the active matrix screen with my nose (may just be my big nose), but as with most digital cameras, companies seem to want people to use the most expensive component as a nose rest. Picture clarity is amazing outdoors, especially in 1760x1168 mode.
Then I brought the camera inside and began to take some shots of auction items. The first thing I noticed was that I had a little trouble framing the item in the viewfinder. I like nice centered shots, and generally crop the item in my imaging software. Kodak could have been a little more generous with the eyepiece. The low light conditions inside didn't bring out the best in the camera. I continually played with settings, but my auction items looked either very dim, or completely overexposed (using the flash). I wasn't able to get an acceptable close-up shot of a marking on my item. I experimented with the zoom and moved back slightly, but close-ups are definitely not a strong point of this camera.
Probably the most annoying aspect of the DC280 is battery consumption. If you don't mind spending all your online auction profits on AA batteries, buy this camera. It runs through them like Ms. Pacman. Kodak supplies 4 AA Alkaline and 4 AA NiMH batteries, and you'll probably need ALL of them in the first few hours of shooting.
Conclusion
Kodak's DC280 digital camera is a nice choice if you're taking shots of the kids or exteriors. It's not the best choice for the online auction user. $650 street price puts it right in the middle of the pack in terms of price, but there are other cameras on the market that do a better job for the online auction user at a much lower price.
OLYMPUS D-340R
If you're buying a camera to take pictures of auction items, you want a good, functional model that takes nice close-ups and is easy to use. The Olympus D-340R is darn close. Olympus foregoes a lot of the fancy features, such as a zoom lens (there is a 2x digital zoom), which saves on battery life. Throw in a VERY attractive price tag ($250 range street price) and you've got a BARGAIN!
I was very surprised that an inexpensive camera like this took such nice close-up shots. You can get as close as 4 inches away and still get a focused image. Great for taking shots of markings and manufacturer's stamps.
There are several resolution settings, up to 1280x960, but I was happy in 640x480 mode, which will allow 120 pictures to be stored on the 8mb SmartMedia card included. For people who are photography novices, the D-340R has auto-focus, and auto white balance, which makes for clear, true-color images. There are also 4 flash modes, including a fill mode that brightens the picture without blowing away details. The software bundle is very good, with Olympus' Camedia software interface for transferring pictures, and Adobe PhotoDeluxe 3.0 for Windows and 2.0 for Mac.
There are some shortcomings to the D-340R, however. The documentation leaves much to be desired and, because the camera transfers images through a serial connection rather than USB, transfer times can be EXCRUCIATINGLY slow.
The camera is kind to batteries, but you don't want to have your camera shut down during transfer, so I would suggest an AC adapter ($60 if you buy the Olympus adapter, I've seen knockoffs on eBay for $29, although I haven't had direct experience with them). Olympus also offers a FlashPath floppy disk adapter ($99) which eliminates the need to keep the camera turned on during transfer.
Conclusion
All in all, this is a very nice offering from Olympus. The attractive combination of price and picture quality makes it a great entry-level camera for the online auction user!
Go to
http://www.auctionbytes.com/Email_Newsletter/Email_Graphics/camchart/camchart.html for a comparison chart.
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