Need help with Digital Photography

[jepuskar]

Thanks for all the input and the couple people who emailed me. Right now I think I decided on the 5050 with the PT-015. Probably get the wide angle lens also.

Are there any macro lenses for that thing?

I am going to pass on a strobe for now and use the $$ for that on storage.

What kind of storage devices can interface with the 5050 on the road? I am not bringing a laptop down with me, so I would like a travel friendly device. For my dive trip coming up, I am looking at 9 days of diving, purely photography.

My last trip I took mostly video, but I did end up with around 400 pictures from the camera and that was only 7 days of diving and after deleting the ones I didnt like.


Needless to say, I am gonna need storage.

Jason

 

[samuelsk]

For mass storage, I use the FlashTrax 40GB from SmartDisk. This unit has a screen that lets me review the photos and the ability to connect to a TV (has a remote as well). If you don't want/need to review the material, a unit called "Tripper" (manufacturer unknown) just stores data/images. These two units read CF cards only, but you can get adaptors for other cards. There are many other choices.

Digital Photography Review (www.dpreview.com) is a great resource to find reviews from actual users once you limit your selection. Go to the "Storage and Media" and type in the name of the unit you'd like more information on.

Steve's Digicam (http://www.steves-digicams.com/digi_accessories.html) provides good reviews as well. Scroll down to "Image Storage Devices".

Good luck.

 

[TedJ]

I use the slightly older Archos Multimedia Jukebox. Very similar but with a smaller lcd screen.

 

[jepuskar]

The flashtrax device is exactly what I am looking for.

This is starting to shape up in one big spending frenzy!!!

 

[justleesa]

Are there any macro lenses for that thing?

Check out this site. They offer the wide and macro lens from Inon (also the strobe, for later).
http://www.marinecamera.com/inon.html

What kind of storage devices can interface with the 5050 on the road?

The cool thing is that the C5050 supports 3 different kinds of media, You can have 2 in the camera at one time. Either SM & CF or CF & XD. I purchased a 512mb CF at amazon for about $79.-US (great rebate deals) and have the small xd that came with the camera for the panorama pictures (which is only supported on the original Olympus XD media). Right now you can get a 256mb XD media at amazon for $107.- and a 512 (largest available in XD) for just under $170.-. Each (the 512 CF and the 512 XD ) hold about 400+ pictures in the best resolution.
If you have a lot of money set aside you can get the 4GIG chip for about $700 :dropmouth

My last trip I took mostly video, but I did end up with around 400 pictures from the camera and that was only 7 days of diving and after deleting the ones I didn't like.

Believe me, you will be taking a lot of good pictures. I take about 100 pictures, give or take a few, per dive and sometimes can only tell if it's good or not when I have it on the big screen. Plus you have the option of taking short mpg's....up to 1400 some seconds on a 512.....( but you might not want to do that if you take your video camera along)

Hope this helps,
Aloha,
Lisa

 

[samuelsk]

Whatever you finally decide on, www.pricegrabber.com will do a pretty good web search for competitive prices. Specify the model and storage capacity to limit the search--"FlashTrax, 40GB".

 

[TedJ]

I use two 512 CF cards and a 128 xD card.
TedJ

 

[jepuskar]

I think I have everything I need..knowing that 512CF can hold about 400 pictures on the best resolution will help me out alot. That should be good enough to get me back to the FlashTrax.

Thanks everyone for helping me spend my money.

Jason

 

[SubMariner]

I think I have everything I need..knowing that 512CF can hold about 400 pictures on the best resolution will help me out alot. That should be good enough to get me back to the FlashTrax.

Thanks everyone for helping me spend my money.

Jason

Jep, you really out to re-think the strobe. You can easily DL the pictures from the memory chip/stick to "save" on space. Shooting u/w without a strobe is like only using one eye... really!

 

[jepuskar]

Sub, I can only see out of one eye so not having a strobe will be ok. The only time space will be an issue is while I am traveling and that is when I dont want to bring anything I dont have to...like a laptop or whatever. The FlashTrax is perfect for me, portable, even plays MP3's.

Part of my reluctance in buying a strobe, besides only having one good eye, is ignorance. It seems like another thing to play around with when in fact I dont want to be playing around with settings while I am on vacation. I only get two weeks out the year to dive tropically...time is a factor. Yes, I could practice in the pool, but lighting etc wont be realistic. Heck, the other day I even asked Dee what exactly a strobe was....I was right on my assumption BTW.

I understand what your saying and I might decide to edumacate myself on strobes, but right now my money is better spent on storage.

Author's side note.....1 month from now I will probably own a strobe and storage for my trip, just because I am a stroke.

Also, I was kidding about my eye being bad. I actually have better than 20/20, so the government tells me.