I have a sony videocam, but I am looking to buy a digital still camera in the 275-450 range, 2.1 to 3.3 megapixels. I am looking for advice on a mac-friendly camera. So many appear impressive, but they are windows-centric or so it seems. Thanks
The Sony DSC-P50 has gotten some good reviews. It's $399 most places. I've got the P30 and it works without a hitch with X. Just plug it in and go. No buttons presses needed. There's a list on Apple's website of cameras that work with Image Capture. <a href="http://www.apple.com/macosx/whatyoucando/applications/imagecapture.html"; target="_blank">Here's the link</a>. Any of these cameras should work fine. Enjoy!
That OS X page hasn't been updated to reflect the additional support from the 10.1.1 update. Oh well. Peculiar that the Olympus C-2040 isn't on the list.
My suggestions are Olympus C-20XX, Nikon CoolPix 775 or Canon PowerShot A20.
I have the Canon Powershot A20, and it is, in fact, the sheeyit. Excellent optics, excellent controls, excellent pictures. Period. Not to mention the good array of manual control one can choose to exercise (white balance, exposure, flash type, etc.) and the nice add ons (waterproof case, close-up lens, zoom lens) you can buy. My only gripe is a lack of manual focus, but the camera does a good job of picking out the correct focusing. It can get tricky with off-center subjects, but it's not too hard to figure out. Besides, if you want manual focus on a digital camera, you're probably not going to find it in a sub-$800 unit. All in all, an amazing camera. I got mine with rechargeable batteries and charger, an extra 32 Mb compact flach card and a five year, no questions asked, we'll replace it if it's broken warrantee from The Wiz here in New York for $500 even. The manager must have been in a good mood, because he cut 80 dollars off the price for no reason. I said I couldn't afford the extra warrantee, so he gave it to me for free and cut 20 dollars off the price of the camera. Nice guy
The A20 is very OS X friendly with Image Capture (which, by the way, works exactly like a good program should. You plug in your camera, Image Capture opens automatically, gives you some options like "where to save" and "auto build web page," and imports your pictures. My only complaint, and this is so extremely non-major, is that there is no option in Image Capture to erase the memory card after importing files. That would truly make it a all bases covered kind of program. you gotta love apple, though, for making programs that do one thing and do it amazingly (iTunes, iMovie, Image Capture, Quicktime), rather than attempt to cover every damn multimedia base in one program with possibly the worst interface in the history of software cough...windows media player...cough
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at [email protected] . I'll do my best to answer them.
<strong>I have the Canon Powershot A20</strong><hr></blockquote>
be wary of getting any of the Canon Cameras outside of the USA. They have different name's and USB id's. So the Image capture App will not recognise the cam.
I have a Digital Ixus which is identical to a US Digital Elph. Yet the Elph is suported but the Ixus is not.
I've got the Digital Ixus too (downunder) and I wasn't aware of this.
Cheers.</strong><hr></blockquote>
If you go and have a look on Apple's Suport Discussion boards There is a Thread about adding in the Support for the Ixus cameras, there are links to pre-edited .plist files and instructions on how to do it.
<strong>The Sony DSC-P50 has gotten some good reviews. It's $399 most places. I've got the P30 and it works without a hitch with X. Just plug it in and go. No buttons presses needed. There's a list on Apple's website of cameras that work with Image Capture. <a href="http://www.apple.com/macosx/whatyoucando/applications/imagecapture.html"; target="_blank">Here's the link</a>. Any of these cameras should work fine. Enjoy!</strong><hr></blockquote>
There's also the new P-3 and P-5 which I believe are the next generations of those cameras.
I have the Kodak DC4800 (3.3MP) which is going for around $450 now. It works flawlessly with OS X--actually that was the only reason I bought it. To my surprise it is a wonderful camera--if you're familiar with photography. It's unforgiving to amateurs like me.
Does there appear to be a way to use an old Apple QuickTake 100 camera with a USB Mac (like an iMac) under OSX.1? A hardware adapter and cooperative software, for example?
Well I just got a Canon G2. Brand new model... only out a few weeks and 10.1.1 recognized it immediately. Great camera btw. Just outside the high end of your scale, but if it's any indication of the quality of Canon digital cameras, I would say the A20 might also be pretty good.
I'm looking at the Canon PowerShot Digital Elph S110, it has all of the power I need, it looks EXTREMELY nice, I've held several in my hand and it is nice and small and comfortable, I like the buttons, I'm familiar with Canon's on-camera software already, and it got the best review in its class of cameras in a piece out of the MacWorld before last. It is a bit pricey at $499, but I've found a website that sells it for only $379! And it's supported, thank goodness. Yay!
Though, I'm debating looking over at some jewelry & loan places (read: pawn shops) for really good deals, I could sacrifice the looks if I got like a $999 Nikon for like $300.
bradbower - the S110 is the "Digital Ixus" outside of the States. It rocks. I'm just waiting to purchase a Ti550 so I can sync them up, and then try the Canon s/ware provided. Also, hoping that Apple will release some photo editing s/ware (a'la iTunes).
Retails for about $1099(Aus), so anything less than US$499 is great - go for it. I wish I thought about ordering mine online now!
Make sure you budget for another card though - you'll need it. (I picked up a 64MB card.) Maybe a spare battery too! Also, get the Canon case that's designed for it. It's small, discrete and black and holds both the extra cards and a battery - everything you could possibly need!(Well worth it I think )
Comments
My suggestions are Olympus C-20XX, Nikon CoolPix 775 or Canon PowerShot A20.
Check this website for reviews too... <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/"; target="_blank">http://www.dpreview.com/</a>;
I suggest getting a flash memory reader if you're going to be using OS 9.x or earlier. Card reader support in OS X is somewhat limited at this point.
The A20 is very OS X friendly with Image Capture (which, by the way, works exactly like a good program should. You plug in your camera, Image Capture opens automatically, gives you some options like "where to save" and "auto build web page," and imports your pictures. My only complaint, and this is so extremely non-major, is that there is no option in Image Capture to erase the memory card after importing files. That would truly make it a all bases covered kind of program. you gotta love apple, though, for making programs that do one thing and do it amazingly (iTunes, iMovie, Image Capture, Quicktime), rather than attempt to cover every damn multimedia base in one program with possibly the worst interface in the history of software cough...windows media player...cough
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at [email protected] . I'll do my best to answer them.
<strong>I have the Canon Powershot A20</strong><hr></blockquote>
be wary of getting any of the Canon Cameras outside of the USA. They have different name's and USB id's. So the Image capture App will not recognise the cam.
I have a Digital Ixus which is identical to a US Digital Elph. Yet the Elph is suported but the Ixus is not.
You have to hack the .plist to add in suport.
I've got the Digital Ixus too (downunder) and I wasn't aware of this.
Cheers.
<strong>Mediaman - thanks,
I've got the Digital Ixus too (downunder) and I wasn't aware of this.
Cheers.</strong><hr></blockquote>
If you go and have a look on Apple's Suport Discussion boards There is a Thread about adding in the Support for the Ixus cameras, there are links to pre-edited .plist files and instructions on how to do it.
<strong>The Sony DSC-P50 has gotten some good reviews. It's $399 most places. I've got the P30 and it works without a hitch with X. Just plug it in and go. No buttons presses needed. There's a list on Apple's website of cameras that work with Image Capture. <a href="http://www.apple.com/macosx/whatyoucando/applications/imagecapture.html"; target="_blank">Here's the link</a>. Any of these cameras should work fine. Enjoy!</strong><hr></blockquote>
There's also the new P-3 and P-5 which I believe are the next generations of those cameras.
Though, I'm debating looking over at some jewelry & loan places (read: pawn shops) for really good deals, I could sacrifice the looks if I got like a $999 Nikon for like $300.
Anybody here got an S110?
<hr></blockquote>
bradbower - the S110 is the "Digital Ixus" outside of the States. It rocks. I'm just waiting to purchase a Ti550 so I can sync them up, and then try the Canon s/ware provided. Also, hoping that Apple will release some photo editing s/ware (a'la iTunes).
Retails for about $1099(Aus), so anything less than US$499 is great - go for it. I wish I thought about ordering mine online now!
Make sure you budget for another card though - you'll need it. (I picked up a 64MB card.) Maybe a spare battery too! Also, get the Canon case that's designed for it. It's small, discrete and black and holds both the extra cards and a battery - everything you could possibly need!(Well worth it I think )