MACRO IMAGING CLOSE-UP PICTURES USING SONY DSC-S30 CYBERSHOT FOR USE ON EBAY, YAHOO, AND MORE!!!!
Written: May 25 '01 (Updated May 31 '01)
Product Rating:
Ease of Use:
Durability:
Battery Life:
Photo Quality:
Pros: Compact, MACRO Imaging, Ease of Operation
Cons: No View Finder, Zoom Could Be Better, 1 Second Delay On Shutter Operation
The Bottom Line: This is a GREAT Compact Camera with more than enough features to get you going for your online auction needs. I could have spent more on a camera..........but why?
Lonster99's Full Review: Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S30 Digital Camera
For those of you who have been on search for a digital camera as I have been, it seems almost as if the search may never end. My main goals were to keep the cost as LOW(?) as possible and to have a camera that will meet my personal needs.
FIRST THINGS FIRST - DECIDE WHAT YOUR NEEDS ARE
I can’t stress this enough. BE CERTAIN BEFORE YOU MAKE YOUR PURCHASE as to what your current, as well as future needs will be....you wouldn’t want to have to pay for the same real estate twice, so there’s no sense in doing that here. The questions I ended up having to answer were these:
1) Do I just want a standard digital camera, or one with a ZOOM feature?
2) Do I want to be able to take EXTREME close-up pictures?
3) Do I need a camera that will give me HIGH RESOLUTION pictures? As it turned out for me, I needed ALL of the above. But which one will accomplish all of my needs, and still be affordable within my budget?
AHHHH.....THAT BUDGET
If budget is of no concern to you then skip this section. But, if you’re like me, you’ve already spent just a few dollars on your system. So it sure would be nice to be able to get your next accessory for as good a price as possible. My wife began the search on the internet, searching out sites that provide group purchasing, such as the Mobshop.com, or other sites that can give you a fairly good price. If you don’t need to have the camera YESTERDAY, and you’re willing to spend the money but don’t have it all at once to spend, and, if you don’t mind the wait, a lay-a-way at a local store such as Wal-Mart might work for you. It all depends on how you need to accommodate your budget to make the purchase.
WE HAVE THE MONEY......SONY HAS THE TECHNOLOGY
Based on my past experience with SONY electronic equipment, we opted to go after a SONY digital camera. We knew it wasn’t going to be cheap, but we also knew that we would most likely find a camera that fit all of our needs. So, I went to their site and checked out ALL of their current line of digital cameras. My first choice however was NOT my FINAL ONE. I thought that I was going to go after the SONY MAVICA that uses the floppy 3.5. But after a trip we made to Circuit City to actually SEE AND TEST it out, the one thing that made me shy away from it was the 3.5 floppy itself. The mechanical operation of moving the data disc drive will be used constantly.....over, and over again. Eventually, as with all moving parts, something will wear out and need repair. BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT DRAWBACK was that in order for the disc drive to work, IT NEEDS POWER.........MY BATTERY PACK POWER!! NOPE. Not for me. I’m not going to sacrifice my power source for the LUXURY of changing out my floppy from the camera to the PC. The last thing I want to have happen is to kill my batteries because I’m using too much power driving the disc.
As it turns out, while I'm standing there checking out the Sony MAVICA, a few feet away from me my wife just seems to really love this small compact Sony she's found. So I walk over to her and after about a half hour of really checking it out, we came home.....with NO CAMERA. However, over the next couple of weeks, we talked more and more about this little camera that seems to do just about everything we need or want. I was very impressed, and so was she....in fact SO IMPRESSED that she continues her net searches to find the best price available. Those searches brought about the decision. The SONY DSC-S30 CYBERSHOT.....FINAL ANSWER.
THE CAMERA - SONY DSC-S30 CYBERSHOT
Unlike the SONY disc cameras, the DSC-S30 uses a “MEMORY STICK” to hold the images. The camera comes with one stick that is 4MB. This translates into: 4 IMAGES at 1600x1200; 5 IMAGES at 1472x1104; 6 IMAGES at 1280x960; 10 IMAGES at 1024x768; or 57 IMAGES at 640x480 (I actually got 60 images at this setting!!!).
As for your BATTERY POWER, it will depend upon your usage. When fully charged, the battery will give you 220 minutes when the camera is on the PLAY(viewing your images) MODE. When you are in the STILL(taking pictures) MODE, the time on fully charged battery is 150 minutes. The compartments in which the battery pack and memory stick are located, are next to each other on the same side of the camera. AC power adapter is included. The VIEW SCREEN is an LCD that flips UP for viewing, and down when not in use. Also, the view screen may be turned (ROTATED) so that it faces you, if you are standing in front of it so you can see how you look before taking a TIMED picture.
Here’s a list of the features:
1) Date/Time Settings
2) AE Program
3) Optical/Digital Zoom
4) Auto Macro (records images CLOSE-UP to a distance of only 3CM, or about 1 3/16
of an inch away from the subject)
5) Exposure Settings
6) White Balance
7) Flash Level (adjusts the light of the flash)
8) Auto/Manual Focus
9) Self Timer (take a picture of yourself when nobody else is around)
10) Delete-Copy-ReSize Images
11) Zoom and Trim (allows you to zoom in on an image and crop it)
12) Picture Effects (B&W, Solarize, Sepia, Negative Art)
13) Index (shows you 6 images at once)
14) Slide Show
15) E-Mail Mode (records images smaller for email use)
Operational Temperature is 32F-104F (0C-40C), so if you want to take pics in the snow or in the desert, best bet is to take them quick, and get the camera out of the extreme
temperature.
ONLINE PHOTO ALBUMS, PERSONAL PROFILES, EBAY & YAHOO
After loading your pics to the PC, you can then manipulate the images with your own software, or the software that is included with the camera. You are then ready to upload your pictures to the internet. You can use them on your personal PROFILE here at Epinions, or an online PHOTO ALBUM that you use to share your images. You may also need to have your own Web Page, or an image HOST that will hold the images online for you....the same as you do here on Epinions. If you are doing auctions, E-Bay now has it’s own hosting through Andale. Adding images to your auctions greatly improves the possibility of a sale. My personal need for this camera was the MACRO IMAGING. I sell rocks and minerals, and some of them are quite small. Using the MACRO FEATURE allows me to take extremely close-up pictures of the minerals. They turn out just spectacular!! Check out my PROFILE page and look at the images I have taken using this camera. In fact, all of the images that are on my profile page(except ME) were taken with this camera.
The DSC-S30 accessories include: Owners Manual, AC adapter, Wrist Strap, Battery Pack, 4MB Memory Stick, USB cable, A/V cable(for TV/Video connection).
THE DOWNSIDE
1) The cost....although it is coming down. My price was $409.00. Since then, I have seen them go as low as $379.00.
2) The Digital Zoom.....as with all cameras, using any kind of telephoto lens or Zoom lens lessons the quality of the image, making it grainy looking. The Zoom feature works well up to the point where the DIGITAL ZOOM takes over(the lens zooms out for about half the distance, then the DIGITAL OPTICS take over for the rest of the zoom feature). The image loses resolution quite quickly after reaching the half-way point (see my pictures of the STS-100 launch on my PROFILE page. The small insert was a separate picture that I used the ZOOM on).
3) There's about a ONE (1) second delay when you click the button, until the shutter actually allows image capture. This is NOT a camera to use if you need to be SUPER FAST.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Considering what this camera does, as well as the cost, for us it is by far the best purchase we could have made. Thank you SONY!!! Now, if you just want to have a digital camera for the sake of just being able to take pictures that you can load to your PC and internet, then you might only want to purchase a standard digital camera with no frills. They are relatively inexpensive as compared to the more sophisticated cameras. I do recommend you at least check out SONYs’ line of digital cameras. They offer many different features, including movie and sound(DSC-S50 OR DSC-S70). Good Luck with your search and I hope to see some of YOUR pictures here on Epinions.
Sony (Cyber-Shot DSC-S30) Battery. 30 days money back & 12 months warranty on Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S30 Battery Slim. This 1500.00 mAh battery delivers...More at eBatts.com
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