Well I've finally gotten fed up with my crappy freebie digital camera so I sprung for a new one. I got a flyer from Micro Center that they were having 20% off all their digis so after a quick consultation by a friend, I decided that the HP Photo Smart 620 would be a good buy. I was wanting a 3.1 megapixel camera but he sent me a pic taken with a 2.1 megapixel camera and it amazed me, so I got the cheaper 2.1 megapixel type. Any thoughts on this buy? Will it produce pretty sharp images, at least ones good enough to show engine detail or to sell a car over the 'net with?

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Regards,
Aaron

The advances in digital cameras over the last few years have been amazing. I think it should be great for what you doing. Anything you want to list online should only be 72dpi, so you won't be using the highest resolution setting even on a 2.1. The digital film (compactflash media, etc) are getting so large now that you should be able to hold hundreds of pictures without filling it up too.

I'd highly recommend getting Photoshop Elements for digital editing. Its a little easy to use the full photoshop with nearly all the capabilities, plus its much cheaper (around $75 I think, full version is $600). We've been field testing it at work and it has everything but the most advanced features.

I'd say that for anything short of production photography that camera should be just fine.

Congradulations!

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1988 420SEL 170K

Wait wait. I need FILM for this????

The cheapo I use stores the pics in it's memory.

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Regards,
Aaron

Not film, a memory card. I think yours is compact flash. You can pick one up for around $20. Your old cameras' was internal.
Happy Shooting

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Brandon



2008 S550
1957 Dodge D100
1967 VW Microbus 21 Window
2001 Suburban
2004 Beach cruiser bicycle
-----------------GO DUKE!-----------------

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here." Patrick Henry 1776

I see. Thank you guys for the clarification.

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Regards,
Aaron

I have a kodak 3900 3.1 mega pixel camera. The quality is amazing. But if you are just going to view the pics on computer, 2.1 is fine. Infact I use 2.1 most of the time to save space on the flash card

Sorry for the confusion. 'Ditigal Film' is industry slang for all the different memory cards available for digital cameras (compact flash cards, smart cards, etc). I would recommend getting a 128MB card from one of the better companies like Viking or San Disk. Like tires on a car, the right memory card is one of those things that many people mistakenly overlook in order to get the cheapest thing. A good memory card will save images faster, be more reliable and have a decent warranty if anything goes wrong. A 128MB should be less than a hundred bucks for a good one, probably less than 80. You could also get a 64MB but you would only save about $20 for half the capacity.

These guys are just about the most reputable photography store in Manhattan and the prices are very good.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

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1988 420SEL 170K