I hate to start another thread on this subject but I need some advice. I cannot find the camera I am seeking at B & H Photo ;( Has anyone ever dealt with ‘ TriState.com ‘ ? I’m having a difficult time with the search for the best price from a trust worthy internet dealer. Fuji FinePix S-602 ( I know it’s outdated but it’s still the one I want )
Chuck, thanks i’ll check into it right now. As far as E-bay…na, not for pricey cameras. I have a wee bit more brains than that. 😉 I did also just find it at Beach Camera.com where everyone gave bright smiley face reviews on the store….not sure if those are reliable though.
Chuck, I was just coming back to tell you the same thing ! lol I want to , i want to…but I got to talk to hub first…he’s not home t’il 10-ish tonight ;( How I wish i could just forget that conversation and order it this second ! Oh, I’m looking at getting the Epson 1280 printer as well….there is a reason for my madness 🙂
Hi Patti, yes i was in there and looked around for a while. It’s very tiresome looking for a seller.
Pete, I’m not sure I would say it ‘replaced ‘ it. The s602 is still on the Fuji site at a higher price. Despite the 10X zoom in the 5000 I still prefer the s 602…i don’t know…i compared the 2 quite a bit along with the 7000 but for what i want to do with it I think the 602 will be my baby…I think. I missed you last week 😉
Chuck, i mailed you for some additional info…thanks.
BTW, Jodi, I was looking at the ratings for buydig.com myself, and I think I would go with Beach instead, unless anyone here has any personal experience with them?
Missed you last week too. The little ones kept me occupied. Gheeze,… two year olds are …. ehh, you know…..and 2 year old X 2 = a very interesting and mostly entertaining week : )
My head is still trying to adjust from going from sea level to 35,000 feet then down, and then back up to 35,000 before descending on about 5000 feet. Then a week of 7,000 feet, driving up to 14,000, back to 7000 then walking the 7500-8500 foot Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. I was really glad to hear my ears pop that one last time over Tampa Bay returning here.
Barb, I actually found them( Beach)in the back of my PC Photo magazine first and then went on to check it out. I don’t mind spending a little extra as long as I know I’m dealing with a reputable company. Anyways, I’m still waiting for a reply from Chuck on the mail i sent him before i leap. I hate spending money even if it is for a great camera. Though, it is only money.
Pete, ya i’m sure you are glad to be back home. I guess it will be a while before you see the little ones again…Hey, they can visit you next time ! Sounds like you had a good time with lots of exersise…now you need a vacation !
No I didn’t get it ! Darn it, I was having problems with my mail but thought they were over ! Could you try sending it again ? Meanwhile I have to see what’s going on ! grrrrr
Jodi, did you get my 2 e-mails as well? One of these was about buying this camera. I would go for teh new model, because of its larger exposure latitude. This is extremely important as we all know about the problems of bleached out highlights.
Leen and chuck, no i did not got mail from you or anyone else. I’m waiting for tech support to open at 8 this morning and hopefully I’ll get this cleared up. I’ll be looking forward to reading my mail !
OK, just got off the phone with tech support and yes it’s them and not me. They said they are working on it and that they are hoping to be up and running at some point today. At least I can still get on line. Chuck or Leen or anyone else…should i go for the s5000 or s7000 fuji Fine pix. I need the camera for taking portraits ( not group ) … Anyone know where to get cheap portrait lighting ?
I just bought a Nikon 5700 from Butterfly Photo. They had the best price around, were courteous on the phone and sent it immediately by Fedex 2 day express. Couldn’t be happier.
Jodi, go for the new Fuji. Its extended exposure latitude is the key to success! 😉 And buy a sturdy tripod with a reliable ballhead with it, because so much zoom cannot be used handheld. Moreover, when it is on a tripod you will have both your hands free and that can be extremely useful when you have to pose people.
Hope you will be able to read your mail soon, because it took me quite some time to tell you what i considered you have to know.
BTW: missing morning coffee is the worst thing that can happen to mankind, even worse than missing e-mail. I cannot remember a morning without coffee; I still remember the days without e-mail.
wow, Leen, yes i got your wonderful mail ( Chuck, I still didn’t get yours ) and i replied. i truly appreciate everything you sent. You are a good man 😉
Ken, geeze, it almost sounds too good to be true. I feel if I buy the s5000 I’ll be doing well ( very ). OK, I must go check into the 5000 or 7000 thinking process. I’m thinking now that the s5000 will be a good(great) buy.
Jodi, I don’t know what happened to my mail – maybe your ISP looked at it and determined it was junk…
🙂
Re s5000 vs s7000: the big difference is twice the native pixels in the s7000. Could come in handy for the really big enlargements. But then, Leen has done very well with incremental upsampling, and the s5000 does its own interpolation to get an image that’s 6 megapixels vs. the camera’s native 3 mp. I’m guessing you’ll be happy with the s5000 at the incredible prices I’m seeing advertised…
chuck, re; junk mail…i don’t think so ! 😉 Got everyone’s mail bit by bit. It also depends how often or how many times your isp will resend it before giving up…which it probably did…I’m sorry ;( Beach Camera site is updating right now so can’t check prices there at the moment but I’m heading to B & H Photo so I’ll have something to compare it to later. I’m getting excited !
Update; Beach Camera has the camera ( Fujis5000 )at a lower price ( much lower ) than B & H Photo However ( big however ) Beach camera did not include all that is ‘suppose’ to be in the box…so there ya have it. I’m sticking with B & H Photo. Thanks everybody….especially Chuck for pointing me towards checking things out ‘ properly ‘ before jumping.
Oh, one more thing…i use the ‘mail me a better price’ option on both of those sites. Chuck, I don’t see the mail yet but I’m sure it’s coming 😉 Thanks again !
Jodi, I have had email for four years and coffee for forty-odd, having been introduced to it probably far too young. I can live without email for a few hours, but take away my morning coffee and you’ve got a homicidal maniac on your hands. And give me decaff and it’s worse, that adds insult to injury.
Well done Seattle and to hell with the Espresso tax!
Oh, did they reject it?! I haven’t seen any of the election results yet. The last thing our baristas need is another tax. Government officials may think the extra dime would have come from the drinkers of the espresso, but it actually would have come right out of the tip jar for the minimum wage workers. That’s what’s happened with prior increases in sales tax around here. Tax goes up; tips go down.
Pete, hi there , I ended up getting the s5000 through recommendations of experienced photographers. I’m nervous ! Hope i can figure out how to use it to it’s full potential ! Also, it’s beginning to look like ‘yard sale’ time ( I don’t have a garage ) 😉
I can’t be on-line too much anymore before 2:30 now that my daughter is in Kindergarten ( i have one phone line and I use dial-up connection). This paranoid mom needs to think about another phone line or a cell phone. I hate cell phones !
Jodi, Congratulations on your new purchase. Let us know how you like it. I am in need of a new digital camera and have been considering the Fuji S5000 and the Olympus C-750. Still "kicking the tires." I had 2 phone lines – one for phone, one for computer. I got rid of the 2nd phone line for the computer and switched to cable – Cox in our location – and the connection is fast and the dollar amount is about the same. Ken
Congratulations from me too. You got me very interested in the s5000.
Speaking of cable: that’s the way to go! You’ll never look back at dial-up. BTW I sent you three e-mails between Monday and Tuesday. If you did not get any one of them you may want to consider another ISP anyway. (And give in, get a cell phone, too 🙂 )
Juergen, i got your messages and replied to them but you probably didn’t get them due to isp problems. Yes i know I should consider cable connection but…not right now…i have too many other things on the table at the moment. cell phone shmell phone 😉
I should have the camera friday and will take me a while to get used to all the settings. I’ve been using a simple point and shoot for the last year….so I’ll let you all know how it goes and i’ll probably post some pics somewhere to share. I’ll be hoping to tell you that ‘fuji Rocks ! ‘ 🙂
Another option is a v92 modem, if your provider supports it. Dubbed ‘modem on hold’, if you have an incoming call whilst online, you are alerted and can pick up the call,your modem connection is put on hold untill the call is completed.
May be OK for the price of a new modem and call call waiting service.
(OK for me, just had aDSL installed about a month ago) 😀
Juergen, i checked my sent items to refresh my memory on our mail status. You had said you had bought from beach camera in the past and that you were happy with the purchase and the service. At the time i thought i was going to buy from them as well and replied to you with that thought….. but later found that the items in the box they were to sell me were inconsistent with that of the fuji home site and B&H Photo….which justified the ‘lower cost’ of the camera. I wanted ‘all’ specified items so i paid the extra money to B & H Photo. It was the right thing to do 😉
Juergen, got one message from you and replied. I also got messages from Chuck, Leen and Beth…hope it stays working ! When I was having problems receiving mail from this country I was able to get and send mail to Leen in Holland..Soooooo, go figure !
grrrrrr, it works when it wants to. Juergen, I just sent you a message…Chuck I sent you a message at 8:20 am…first line was …’ better late than never….’ did you get that one ? Pete, i’m sending you a message..let me know if you get it…reply and create new message and I’ll see if it works either way.
Chuck, good guess. Right time. BTW, good afternoon.
I just wondered about the time difference. I know the east coast is 6 hours as I’ve been in NH at Lake Winnepesaukee (correct spelling?)for 40 hours, now I know the Adobe coast difference is 9 hours. This way we have almost all day available to drink our mutual morning coffees.
Not sure what is going on in cyberworld but my "Excite" and "Hotmail" E mail accounts are not receiving either. Have not received mail at those accounts for several weeks. My real (unpublished) e mail is working fine though.
Leen, according to my Palm organizer CityTime program, you are in the timezone GMT + 1 hour, while I’m in GMT minus 6 hours. There’s a slight difference in the timing of our respective daylight saving time periods, but otherwise, it’s a 7 hour difference.
I’m back, i replied to you all over on the printer (im)permanence thread.
Time zones are strange. If you are an American who owns a biz in China…do you wake up at 3:30 am to make a phone call to your biz associates over there ? That would suck !
Jodi, the strangest time zones I’ve encountered are in Australia, where they may be only 30 minutes apart instead of an hour – can you imagine trying to keep up with that? Our friend Susan S. is in one of those off-hour zones…
Update; Jodi frye is now the proud owner of the fuji S5000 that came to her door today via UPS. She opens the box and finds all that is promised. She holds it in her hands and it feels real good. Smaller than she thought it would be but she’s thrilled regardless. She’s half way through the manual. 🙂 She’s debating on whether or not to install the software that came with the camera. She really doesn’t have to ’cause she bought a card reader and intends to use PS for any editing needs. Although the software has raw converter but will she be shooting in raw ? Only time will tell on what she decides. Stay posted to further be annoyed by her 😉
If the RAW converter software is fast, I believe Jodi should definitively shoot RAW. Granted, it takes more space on the card, but the rewards are equally great. Like the ability to correct a badly exposed picture, add more constrast, etc. Also, Jodi might find it interesting to know that some driver will permit the owner to leave his/her name in the camera memory. In case it gets stolen, it’s one more proof that the camera was Jodi’s.
And congratulations to you – and to Fuji, who will ultimately benefit when people see the incredible pictures you take and decide that a Fuji camera will help them take similar pictures!
I sold a Fuji camera with a similar chip to a customer of mine and every day she keeps on mailing new images to me. 😉 She is so extremely enthousiastic about it and the results of this expanded exposure latitude indeed are amazing!
Whenever I might be around, I’ll drop by to have my portrait made by you with this combination of a wonderful camera and an overtalented woman. 😉
Jodi falls over backwards over the kind words written to her. She will probably shoot in raw. She will install the software. She is thankful to have such wonderful friends 🙂
Her friends are equally greatfull to know her, and especially to see her talent displayed on the Challenge, week after week. Her friends feel it’s a never ending source of inspiration 🙂
geeze, makes no difference in age. Boys, men….your all on the same train…one track mind….heading to the big ‘blue’….yonder. 😉
Well, I get a wopping 9 pics on my camera with a 64mb xd picture card in RAW format. I should have bought the 128+mb card. Note to self; don’t spend before knowing the facts….famous last words.
geeze, makes no difference in age. Boys, men….your all on the same
train…one track mind….heading to the big ‘blue’….yonder. 😉 We are all on our own train and that track has switches that can shunt you onto turnouts where you can bide your time or let you crossover to other tracks along the way. It’s not immutable. Myself, I prefer to set my own switches. Now if I can just keep from derailing before I reach my final destination.
Well, I get a wopping 9 pics on my camera with a 64mb xd picture card in
RAW format.
First of all, let me congratulate you on your new S5000! Great choice, Fuji has been doing interesting things with their cameras. If you haven’t already, I’d recommend you get some rechargeable NiMH batteries. Here’s a link to a review of them: http://www.steves-digicams.com/nimh_batteries.html
Now about that RAW shooting. Some may consider this heresy but you don’t always have to shoot in raw. From what I’ve seen, the highest quality/resolution jpg setting also gives very good results and is very close to raw. For most use, I think jpg will be fine and you’ll get a lot more shots on your 64mb card. I’d recommend that you do a test of raw vs jpg with your own camera and in lighting conditions that you would normally expect to be shooting — shoot the same subject in both modes. That way you can make up your own mind about it.
For many, raw vs jpg borders on religious fanaticism. I won’t go there. I’m pragmatic, use whatever works best for you. You don’t have to use either one exclusively.
Bob, Agree with you totally. I have run tests with both my cameras, comparing highest quality JPEG with RAW and/or uncompressed TIFF. I cannot see the difference until I zoom WAY in so I am looking at individual pixels. For me, it is just not worth it. Not only does it limit picture capacity on the cards, but both of my cameras are rather slow in saving the picture, and in TIFF or RAW, it just takes forever. Bert
Jodi, don’t buy a 128+ card. Go for much higher. When I went digital is bought myself two 128 cards, a friend gave me his 64 card, later I had to buy a 256 card and ended up with buying two 512 and a 1Gb card too. So now I have 2.5 Gb and I ,m still always afraid I will run out of memory, especially when I’m comissioned abroad. (BTW: today someone asked me if I would be able to cover his wedding in Venice(Italy) and he was surprised he didnot get a rebate because I would be able to visit Venice as well… It ‘s work and working abroad is more exhausting than at home)
So, go for at least 512Mb and you will be surprised how soon you will buy your next card!
Hi, Jodi. I’ve been shopping for larger cards, too, and to me it looks like it’s cheaper to get two 256 cards than one 512. BTW, our local Target has a really good sale on compact flash cards right now–competitive with any price I’ve found on the net. Don’t know if that would be the same where you are.
EDIT I totally agree with Leen. 128 is not nearly enough. I’d get a gig card, but I figure for a klutz like me it’s better to have more smaller cards. I’d be pretty unhappy if I messed up one of the really big cards.
Bob, I was one of those fanatics for RAW of whom you speak – not based on any comparisons of actual image quality, but rather the feeling that RAW just HAD to be better. I’ve since backed way off, and use lowest-compression/highest-quality JPEG for a good portion of my needs, especially when I’m fairly confident the images are going to be used for e-mail, newsletters, website, etc. and not ever likely to be made into huge prints. I’ll still switch over to RAW when I’m on a mission to create some images that have a higher likelihood of becoming large prints – which, frankly, isn’t very often. The difference in the Canon world between RAW and JPEG is a factor of about 3, as I recall. It would be a no-brainer if the comparision were between JPEG and TIFF, which is more like a factor of 12 – JPEG would rule in that circumstance.
I will shoot RAW for the exact same reasons Chuck mentionned. For our Canon, RAW = 8 Mb and JPEG = 2.5 Mb. Also, only RAW permits to transfer the pictures in TIFF 16 bits. Now, I’ve seen some discussions before on the relevancy of 8 vs 16 bitts and after trying it for myself, I can say that I do see a difference between TIFF 8 bits and 16 bits. It helps to make some adjustments (details in shadows) more easily manageable.
And if I shoot for a someone else, it’s RAW only. Should make an error, it will be corrected more easily.
Well I was really anxious to play with my new camera today even though the sun refuses to shine. I just wanted to get the feel of the camera so i put it in ‘auto’ mode and took some shots. I also left it in jpeg at lowest compression. I really, really love this camera ! Extremely user friendly.
Great shot, Jodi! But those are cones not acorns! 🙂 That looks a lot like a fir tree. Is it? If so, I’d probably feel right at home there in upstate New Yawk.
Are you going?? If nothing else, you won’t have any problems with your outdoor shots as far as background is concerned. We went last year and really enjoyed it.
Beth, did I say acorn ?? duh. It’s a tiny dinky tree that stands about as high as me. The sun did finally come out this afternoon and WOW…you guys, the color is phenominal with this fuji ! I can’t get over it. I piddled around the yard looking for things to take pictures of….anything…even tall grass. I can’t tell you how accurate the color is and how sharp the images look. Did i tell you the camera has a 6mp setting for capture quality ?…that’s what i’m using. I admit I’m still on ‘auto’ mode but will get the gutts up to expand the field when I’m feeling overly comfy with it. My photo guy sayse the S7000 is the one that should blow some socks off some people….the ones with extra cash X-D
Jodi, you wrote "…anxious to play with my new camera today even though the sun refuses to shine" This is a common misunderstanding. Once, we all were told to shoot in bright sunshine whenever possible. Preferably with the sun in the back. This "rule" dates from the days of extremely slow films with often small exposure latitude. These films couldnot cope with great contrasts, but needed quite a lot of light for handheld shots. Backlit shots are usually boring because everything is lit too evenly; there is hardly any contrast to make subjects stand out from the background. Direct sunlight often brings too much contrast; especially digital cameras don’t like too much contrast, so the best "photographic weather conditions" are with a slightly overcast sky. I always try to avoid direct sunlght, so, especially when it comes to environemental portraiture I ‘m always looking for more shady conditions.
Jürgen, when the customer accepts my price offer I will go to Venice, but they had to think it over. Usually I’m a little sceptical about these requests. In general, people who want to show how much they can afford by flying the wedding party to some far away venue, these people are the ones that try to save on expenses for their wedding album. It occurs too often to me that people want me for their wedding to show they can afford me and afterwards they want to buy only a few images, because the wedding guests won’t know they could hardly afford the "show", but at least, the guests have seen me, a well known photographer….. Although, to US standards, I’m rather cheap. But maybe I ‘m mistaken. I just sit back, wait and see.
These past few months I’ve been asked twice from Singapore, once from San Diego and once from Los Angeles. But I hate flying for a long time like more than a few hours, so I quoted prices about 6000 to 8000 euro + expenses. And I think this isnot extremely expensive as travelling, recovering from a jet lag etc, will cost me about a week. They had to think it over too. If they really want to show off, they ‘ve got to be able to pay for it! (-; A six hours flight to the US east coast is about the limit for me.
Jodi, Re card sizes: Before you buy any big (512MB,1GB) cards, make sure your camera can handle them. I was going to buy a 512MB card for my Oly E20, and I checked with Oly Tech Support…they said 256MB max. The E20 is an old design. Probably most new cams will handle larger cards, but it wouldn’t hurt to check. I don’t know what kind of cards your Fuji takes, but out here in Southern California, 256 MB seems to be the "hot" price point right now for CF cards. As someone said in an earlier post, you can buy two 256’s for less than one 512. Definitely true here. Bert
Leen, I agree that bright full sun isn’t the best for alot of shots but I think my images look way better when the sun is present. Yes in a slightly shaded area they are perfect. I just hated the fact that I got my camera when the weather sucked. That dang Isabelle! The wind was still screwing me up as well…even after the sky opened. Ya, I’ll look into the memory cards soon. I think I’m ready to move the dial off ‘auto’ and do some real playing tomorrow 😉 Thanks
Bert, I’m not sure what the limit is. the chart in the manual shows it up to 512 but there may be some other info that i looked over too quickly. It’s a good manual though. well put together for the idiots like me 😉
Jodi, your images look way better when the sun is present. In a slightly area they are perfect……?????? I know you are extremely talented, but didnot realise you were even able to improve perfection. 😉
When "playing around" first try out the aperture priority mode. This is the setting most professionals prefer as it gives you control over your depth of field. Check what over- and underexposure does to your image. My camera is always at -0.5 as this helps me prevent burned out highlights. Run a number of test series of the same subject in the same lighting conditions and under various lighting conditions.
Have a nice day, I hope your "hubby" and children will be able to enjoy this day too, as I suppose they will be the subject of your testing. 😉
Bert, I’m not sure what the limit is. the chart in the manual shows it up to 512 but there may be some other info that i looked over too quickly. It’s a good manual though. well put together for the idiots like me 😉
Jodi, according to the Fuji website, 512mb is the limit. Great picture, Fuji has come a long way from the 6900!
Ok, I’m playing again with the new S5000. I cropped this one a bit, took the leash out and added a filter. This is my mugly doggy. I’m still shooting in JPEG.
I always thought they said that pets looked liked their owners < big huge grin >. When you were chasing this guy, did he run full speed into a wall < another big huge grin >. Seriously, a very nice looking dog and compliments to his owner for showing us the great photo.
Guys I am new here so please don’t throw any rocks…Yet. I see the talk about card size, and wonder if any of you are using portable media storage. You dump the card whatever size, and start over with the same card?
Bruce, no rocks thrown here…bouquets occasionally, but no rocks!
Mostof the discussion has centered on the in-camera storage cards, which come in a variety of sizes in each type (which is camera-dependent). Many of us have two or more cards, so if we’re out for the day or week and taking lots of pictures, we can fill a card then swap in an empty one. When we get home, we upload the contents of the multiple cards to the computer.
Some people also use portable bulkstorage devices, which may be dedicated hard drives of sorts with battery power, to dump the cards’ contents as an intermediate step before uploading to a home computer. I haven’t heard much about those lately; with the price of in-camera cards at a pretty attractive level right now, it’s hard to justify spending a lot for the intermediate portable storage.
Chuck, I agree, they are pricey. It just seemed to me, that with a pro or serious amateur, taking tons of shots, they might be able to justify the cost. I guess as you said, with the price of cards right now, maybe not. I cruise a good bit and when you are out two or three weeks, you can fill up some cards real easy. Thought I would raise the issue. Here is one of the newest storage devices, very pricey, just for info.
Bruce, I think it’s a great subject to raise – will be interesting to see if anyone here has some experiences to share with them, including any bargains that might be out there. We might get more ‘nibbles’ if you create a new thread on the subject – do you have time to do that? Thanks!
Bruce, I just returned from covering a wedding when I read your posting. At this wedding (I’m a fulltime professional photographer)I produced exactly 407 shots, a little over 1.5 Gb. I don’t even consider using a storage device that is powered by batteries; I think it is too risky. I have a little over 2.5 Gb on cards and this caters for all my needs. With todays prices for storage cards I think it is the cheapest and safest way to go.
Chuck and Leen, Thanks for your opinions. I did start a new thread on this. The more I think about this, with the prices of cards what they are, I believe you guys are probably right, just get more cards. I am using a Fuji Finepix 3800 BTW.
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