Digital Photography:


The camera I use is the Kodak DC4800 Zoom and it is a whole lot of camera for the money. Unfortunately it is no longer being manufactured by Kodak. Kodak has chosen to "take a step backward" (in my opinion) with some of the new cameras which replace it. The great thing about the DC4800 is complete user control of all the functions of the camera. This is also the thing which a lot of people had trouble with. What most people are after is simple "point, click, download and email to grandma" functionality hence Kodak's decision to eliminate a lot of operator override flexibility in some of the new offerings.

The highest resolution pictures are 3.1 MP (uncompressed TIFF) 2160 x 1440. I keep the camera set on ISO 100 and the digital zoom disabled. The optical zoom is fine, 3x (28-84mm 35mm equivalent). I use a set of KODAK EKTANAR Close-Up Lenses (43 mm threads) for close up work. The Ektanar kit comes with +7 and +10 diopter lenses which can be combined to give an effective +17 which lets me focus down to @2 inches.

Lens
Focal length (inches)
Focal length (mm)
+7 diopter
5.62
143 mm
+10 diopter
3.94
100 mm
+17 diopter (combined)
2.31
59 mm

The camera comes with a rechargeable lithium battery pack with a combination charger and AC power supply (which I fried on a trip to Switzerland last year and had to replace ...110 VAC only moron!).

As with most digital cameras the built in flash is nothing to write home about and you need to set-up properly to get good indoor shots. I use a Sunpak DS20 external flash which connects to the DC4800 with a PC sync cable. Since the DC4800 has no hot shoe mount I use my own "T" mount. For indoor pictures the best settings seem to be:

Rotary mode select
set to 2.8
ISO
100
Colors
neutral
Shutter speed
1/60

Disclaimer: The resolution and color settings of the pictures below have been "tortured" in order to make them compatible with the web so don't draw any serious conclusions about the DC4800 from them. Some better examples are here and a very comprehensive review starts here.

Taken at a friend's daughter's wedding.

Montreux jazz festival summer 2002.

Greyhound Coaching Inn where we stayed in Lutterworth, UK visiting my wife's family.

Side wheel steamer, Lac Leman, Vevey, Switzerland.

Chicago lakefront, 4th of July, 2001

Kids and seahorses, Vevey, Switzerland.

One of my very favorite human beings.
 

there's more ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Last changed February 17, 2003