Camera Advice Needed

[centipede]

I'm new to the digital world and am looking for a camera that can take pictures of small drawings and regular 5x7 photos so that I can post them on a web site I'm putting together. I have a rudimentary understanding of pixels, macro lenses etc. but I could use some input as to what I should buy. If possible, I'd also like to use it to take "regular" pictures.

[rprr]

Wouldn't you be better off with a scanner for what you want to accomplish?

[Guest]

Disclaimer: Most people know that I'm a terrible photographer and would love to have a much better camera then I do. I also know very little about photography so take my advice for what it's worth.

If you have the negatives, you should be able to take them into any photo place... possibly even walmart I believe, and have those pictures put to disk.

From the disk you can load them to your website.

Then again, if your looking to put things on a website... your really not looking for high quality I'm assuming? (Higher the quality...longer downloads, etc.)

The pictures that I post on my blog are done with a simple $100.00 digital camera and I've always got the thing set for Web Pictures. (can fit more on memory card and most of the time I'm just taking random shots that are just for memories)

Taking pictures of pictures is already degrading the quality big time.

[Andrew]

I take pictures of pictures all the time for the web. It's possible to do it without loosing quality and if you have some Photoshop skills you can achieve very good results. That being said there are a lot of tricks to doing it well including understanding lighting, camera settings, the angle you take the picture at, glare and so on.

As Damon says you don't need a camera that has a really high megapixel output. The cheapest cameras today have way more megapixel output than is needed for the web.

Andrew

[centipede]

Thanks for the input so far but I was under the impression that a crucial item is focal length. Let's say I want to take a picture of a sketch that's 6x6. I'm under the impression that if I get too close, it will come out blurry, and if I'm reading you folks right, all I have to do is take the picture from a distance and then blow it up and crop it?

[Andrew]

email me nisbet1 at yahoo.com

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[dlnragent]

Get an inexpensive scanner. It will give much better results than taking photos of pictures or drawings. It will also allow you to digitize and archive important photos and documents. You can then save them to cd/dvd for permanent safe storage. You can also use it as a copier if need be.

[Devany]

Yes, you can get a scanner for about $60-$80 and it will serve you well. I agree, it is very helpful for documentation of things as well. We have all of our important documents on a CD and when we travel we bring color copies of our passports, credit cards and other things that might be lost or stolen on the trip.

Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany

Devany Vickery-Davidson
East Bay Potters
www.eastbaypotters.com
www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.travelingfork.blogspot.com

[centipede]

quote:

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Originally posted by rprr

Wouldn't you be better off with a scanner for what you want to accomplish?
It sounds like a good idea if only I knew what a scanner was and how to use one.

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[rprr]

quote:

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Originally posted by centipede

quote:

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Originally posted by rprr

Wouldn't you be better off with a scanner for what you want to accomplish?
It sounds like a good idea if only I knew what a scanner was and how to use one.

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A scanner functions similar to a copier with the difference being that instead of printing the copy on paper, it saves it as a computer image. These days it is possible to find devices that combine three features - print, scan, and copy into a single multifunction machine. Obviously you need a computer to be able to hook up the scanner. For example

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Pixma-Inkjet...B000SQ5N4Y

Cheaper machines that do this are available as well. Look at your local Walmart.

A beginners guide on scanning is available at

http://www.scantips.com/begin.html