Nikon Coolpix 950 or Olympus C2040, C3000

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loosbrew

Golden Member
Oct 30, 2000
1,336
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forthat price i would get the sony f505v. superior quality and options as far as digital cams go. ive use one to take shots of my aquarium. HERE i have also heard other peoples reaction to it, and they even returned thier newly purchased 990's to exchange for the sony.

my 2 sense
loosbrew
 

mgravy

Senior member
Dec 12, 2000
312
0
0

I 2nd the opinion of the Olympus 3000z series. I did an extensive comparison of all digital cameras before buying the Olympus 3000z and I am VERY happy with my choice!
 

Mobiusx

Junior Member
Dec 3, 2000
14
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Whitedog,

I currently own the the coolpix 800, which is the little brother to the 950. It doesn't have all the frillies of the 950, but it's still a good camera, and I'm very pleased with it.

Personally, I chose the 800 for the following reasons:

Nikon, like Olympus, is IN the camera business, they both have great optics

I wanted a camera that would accept additional lenses AND optical zoom- digital zoom is just that, digital- I can digitally zoom it myself, I don't need the camera to do it for me.

The final thing I wanted, but couldn't afford, was the ability to drive an external flash unit- the 950 supports this.

From what I've read, and extrapolating from the performance of my 800, I would highly recommend the coolpix 950.

IMHO, the 950 would be superior to anything from any competing company at that price. Olympus make great cameras to. However, I wouldn't bite on anything below the C-2000 or C-2020 range in the Olympus line.


I would also like to offer the following suggestions:

Use some of the money you will save on the Nikon, and BUY some additional memory for it- 8 or even, 16meg compact flash cards run out of space pretty quick (resolution dependent of course). For instance, one picture taken in Highest resolution mode- 1600 X 1200 (TIFF) takes up 8 megs of memory!

Buy some Nickel-Metal-Hydride rechargeable batteries (around $30.00)- boy o' will you save some money there. Digital cameras chew batteries up in NO TIME.

I wouldn't worry about the serial interface. And finally, as others have suggested, you'll eventually want to buy a USB card reader for it.
They're relatively inexpensive, and you can download 8 megs worth of images in about 20 seconds or so.

Good luck and have fun with it, I doubt you'll be disappointed with the 950.
 

Whitedog

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 1999
3,656
1
0
<<wdog: rocomend you get : card reader, 2 sets nimh AA, charger, and a decent size card (32M). >>

I was planning on buying exactly these options :)
 

Mobiusx

Junior Member
Dec 3, 2000
14
0
0
Whitedog,

I currently own the the coolpix 800, which is the little brother to the 950. It doesn't have
all the frillies of the 950, but it's still a good camera, and I'm very pleased with it.

Personally, I chose the 800 for the following reasons:

Nikon, like Olympus, is IN the camera business, they both have great optics

I wanted a camera that would accept additional lenses

The final thing I wanted, but couldn't afford, was the ability to drive an external flash unit.

From what I've read, and extrapolating from the performance of my 800, I would highly recommend
the coolpix 950.

IMHO, the 950 would be superior to anything in any line at that price. Olympus make great cameras
to. However, I wouldn't bite on anything below the C-2000 or C-2020 range in the Olympus line.


I would also like to offer the following suggestions:

Use some of the money you will save on the Nikon, and BUY some additional memory for it- 8 or even,
16meg compact flash cards run out of space pretty quick (resolution dependent of course).

Buy some Nickel-Metal-Hydride rechargeable batteries- boy o' will you save some money there. Digital
cameras chew batteries up in NO TIME.

Good luck and have fun with it, I doubt you'll be disappointed with the 950.
 

Whitedog

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 1999
3,656
1
0
OK, Now you guys have me looking at these Olympus camera's. THey look pretty damn cool! :)

I think the C3000 looks like a good deal for $600, I wonder how it compares to the Coolpix 950?

I'm kinda fond of the standard body style the Olympus has. I looked at the newer C3030, but it's $100 more than the 3000. I can't justify that for little more than it is than the 3000.

Anyone here have an Olympus camera? (other than czar) ;)
 

ucdnam

Golden Member
Jan 28, 2000
1,059
0
0
I have 2 Olympus C2020Z.
I use them regularly and you have to use it to see how nice it is. Tons of features that you will not use, but worth the price. The quality is amazing. I like the fact that I can snap a 1600x1200 picture, stick the smartmedia card into my smartmedia card reader, and make it my desktop. Anyway, like everyone else said, don't worry bout the serial vs. usb interface. You don't wanna use that anyway, you're just depleting your batteries. Go buy a media reader and use that.
 

Huma

Golden Member
Oct 10, 1999
1,301
0
0
One really nice thing about the olympus 2020 is the lcd. It's great at a variety of angles which can be great when taking shots at weird angles and positions.