Need adive on two electronic purchases

I'm thinking of buying one of those home photo printers that I can use to print my digital photos (or possibly a full use printer that will print a decent looking photo - preferably on photo paper). We use PC's and I think my wife's camera is a SONY ?? But I really don't know; I'm super old school and I still use film. I don't want spend any more than I have to, but I have no idea what features are useful.
I'm also thinking of buying a fairly basic digital video camera. See paragraph above for a taste of my ignorance. I'm a cheap bastid, but I want something we'd actually use. Any suggestions and pointers would be helpful.
Thanks.

 

Most modern printers have card slots for most digital camera cards. Many will also have built-in screens to let you see what prints you are choosing to print out. These printers, of course, will also let you print regular documents. I just perused the flyers today: you can get a very nice printer for @$150 or less with all the current specials.
Have fun.

btw it doesn't matter what brand your camera is.

 

I just read over a review on this topic. I bought an HP photosmart P1100 with my Olympus digital camera, but it's getting a bit old.

The review I read said that the new HP 8250 is a lot faster, but doesn't have the color quality of the older 8050.

FWIW.

(But then, I have the additional issue of getting Linux drivers for it, as I do my printing using the fileserver as a network postscript print server.)

 

Its a little more money, but go buy a Sony Hard Disk Handycam. It records onto a hard drive that is in the camcorder so there is no mini dv or dvd tapes to mess around with.

http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/assets/di/camcorders/handycam/index.html?DCMP=CC_HDD_Yahoo&HQS=30gb_camcorder

 

I'm shockingly ignorant about computers and electronic goop for a scientist (or any profession). When the tech guy showed up at our lab the other day he asked me if I had done something to the network that he could only describe in a contorted string of jargon. I looked at him, pointed at the computer, and sighed,"Ever since they took carburators out of those things I just don't know how to work on them."
He simply stared at me like I was a humming bird moth flopping around in his refridgerator.

 

What I've realized about digital prints: When it comes down to everyday prints, you're better off printing them at your local Walgreens for about 15 cents each. They've gotten smart with their systems--you can upload them from your computer and pick them up, have them shipped or even upload them to another Walgreens location (we do this for my parents in Florida). Home photo printing still gets expensive, since you burn through the ink cartridges pretty quickly.

 

Dont have any specific part numbers for you to check out, but consider the following:

For printers, you have two realistic options in your price range. First is a color inkjet. A quality unit (i.e. one that can print photos that look as good as prints from your local drugstore) would run in the $100 or less range, maybe $150 or less. They can generally print up to 8x10" and you MUST use photo paper for the results to work well. The plus is they are cheap and can print various sizes as well as black and white. The minus is the quality is slightly below the ones I list below, and in my experience if they sit unused, the print nozzles clog up and can ruin the printer... case in point, I had a top of the line Epson Color Photo a few years back that had amazine photo-store quality output but I rarely printed pics, so after a few months it was junk.

Second option is a dedicated photo printer. These are generally dye-sublimation (as opposed to ink-jet which squirts a glob of ink to print). DS printers produce more photo-realistic results and the output tends to last longer (in years) vs. Inkjet. They often are limited in the size pics they print though, but quality is higher for the sizes they print.

Either kind of printer will work and you can get them with built in card readers so you don't need to hook 'em up to your computer.


For the camera - I am not an expert but it sounds like an "APS" (automatic point and shoot) is what would work well. The question you need to ask is - do you want it to be micro-sized (fit in a shirt pocket) or is something a little bigger but higher quality preferred? The tiny tiny cameras always have compromises in design to get them so small, although the better ones will produce very nice results. There are also the larger APS cameras that have more features and better quality at a higher price (usually) than the tiny tiny ones. The high end is digital SLR's which allow you to change out the lenses, but these are around $1k for a good one and way more than you need.

For the camera, if you want to print an 8x10 picture, you will want 6 megapixels or more. If you only intend to go up to 4x6's a 4 megapixel would be OK. Go to www.dpreview.com and see which camera gets good reviews and fits your size and budget desires.

FWIW, I have a Sony DSC-P150 (7.1MP) that I paid around $300 or so for. It has good reviews and takes good pics. Some of the Fuji cams get good reviews last time I checked, and even some of the Casio super-slim ones do too. Figure to spend maybe $200-250 for something that will produce very good results.

Hope this helps. If you want more specific product recommendations let me know and I will give you a few links to specific products. if you have a budget in mind that would help.

 

For a cheap digi cam, go out on Boxing day and buy one that's a year old. I just bought another digi cam for about 300, it's a Cannon Powershot A530 and last year I bought one for 250, brand new a 4.0 Mega Pixels Samsung, very easy to use.

Check the Boxing day fliers or just walk up to a counter and say one of these two lines: {1} "one from the stone age please". or {2} "One from 6 months ago please". If all else fails call me, I have quite the collection now, like that Samsung above.

 

I found these in the US at Best buy. I don't own any of these cameras but they seem like good deals.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7669604&type=product&id=1134702111012
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7677551&type=product&id=1134702943653
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7726428&type=product&id=1138088147117
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7972376&type=product&id=1153997787218

It's a 2 day internet sale.

 

Just scanned Walmart.ca and theres a camera and photo dock/ printer for 270.

A new digi camera no matter the price should be good enough for a weekend snapper.