HELP NEEDED: Oly 2100 or ....

[syberascal]

I'm considering the purchase of a Oly 2100 because I would love to use a 10x stab. lens, and by all user accounts, the camera sounds reliable and worth the money. Unfortunately, I'm hung up on the 2.1 meg rating, and I don't want to regret my purchase later. The largest enlargement that I would probably make would be a 8 x 10. I would further add that I'm very particular about my photos. Having said that, should I consider paying more for something like a Canon G2 or even a Nikon 5700? I know everyone has a opinion for any Camera choice, but I was hoping someone would have some additional insight.

Thanks in advance for your time and comments.

 

[Gandalf89279]

I'm considering the purchase of a Oly 2100 because I would love to
use a 10x stab. lens, and by all user accounts, the camera sounds
reliable and worth the money. Unfortunately, I'm hung up on the
2.1 meg rating, and I don't want to regret my purchase later. The
largest enlargement that I would probably make would be a 8 x 10.
I would further add that I'm very particular about my photos.
Having said that, should I consider paying more for something like
a Canon G2 or even a Nikon 5700? I know everyone has a opinion for
any Camera choice, but I was hoping someone would have some
additional insight.

Thanks in advance for your time and comments.

Well this isn't the best place to get real objective opinions since
most of us LOVE our uzi's. (Nickname for the C-2100. )
But yes it is a great value and will print
most pictures as 8x10 fine. I have only had mine for 3 months
but have already take over 3000 photos and enjoying it more
every day.

--
Gandalf Guinn
http://www.pbase.com/gandalf/teleconverter_tests
http://members.cox.net/gandalfpublic/teleconverters.htm

 

[Peter B.]

I guess it depends on how particular you are about your 8x10's. If you currently crop a lot then you can save lots of that by using the zoom. I personally think my UZI can produce very nice 8x10's but I'm not super picky. I also noticed that my printer made a big difference.

The camera in my opinion is awesome. In a perfect world the camera would have some more pixels but for the money it's worth buying and having lots of fun while waiting for the newer expensive cameras to come down in price.

My 2 cents,
Peter

--
http://www.pbase.com/optionguru

pbase supporter

'Wherever you go, there you are.' Buckaroo Banzai

 

[zete]

Hey, here is a suggestion if you are curious about the quality. Ask someone from this board to send you a picture that they took with the uzi. (Something generic, like an animal or landscape). Then, upload it to walmart.com and have it made into an 8x10 print ($3 + $1.30) shipping.

If you are satisfied with the quality, then purchase the camera.

I would send you one, but I just got my uzi today. Will probably be a week before I get adjusted and take some good pics.

Good luck.

I'm considering the purchase of a Oly 2100 because I would love to
use a 10x stab. lens, and by all user accounts, the camera sounds
reliable and worth the money. Unfortunately, I'm hung up on the
2.1 meg rating, and I don't want to regret my purchase later. The
largest enlargement that I would probably make would be a 8 x 10.
I would further add that I'm very particular about my photos.
Having said that, should I consider paying more for something like
a Canon G2 or even a Nikon 5700? I know everyone has a opinion for
any Camera choice, but I was hoping someone would have some
additional insight.

Thanks in advance for your time and comments.

 

[Brian]

Being a fan of cameras with zoom, I'd go for the C-2100 or the 5700. I think I'd lean toward the 5700. There are a couple of reasons.

1) it takes compact flash which can be considerably faster than SM and can also have much higher capacities.

2) The resolution is much better especially fo landscapes where leaves tend to turn into blobs much sooner on 2.1MP cameras. Also you end up with a much higher ability to crop. People around here will tell you that they don't need to crop because they framed it right. I say that is the case 50% of the time for me. Often though I end up over zooming in the quest for greater detail, in a sense over cropping with the camera. There is nothing you can do to save an over cropped picture.

The C-2100 does have the IS on it which can be worth it's weight in gold in certain situations. It also has a slightly brighter lens.

I'm considering the purchase of a Oly 2100 because I would love to
use a 10x stab. lens, and by all user accounts, the camera sounds
reliable and worth the money. Unfortunately, I'm hung up on the
2.1 meg rating, and I don't want to regret my purchase later. The
largest enlargement that I would probably make would be a 8 x 10.
I would further add that I'm very particular about my photos.
Having said that, should I consider paying more for something like
a Canon G2 or even a Nikon 5700? I know everyone has a opinion for
any Camera choice, but I was hoping someone would have some
additional insight.

Thanks in advance for your time and comments.

 

[Gandalf89279]

Hey, here is a suggestion if you are curious about the quality. Ask
someone from this board to send you a picture that they took with
the uzi. (Something generic, like an animal or landscape). Then,
upload it to walmart.com and have it made into an 8x10 print ($3 +
$1.30) shipping.

If you are satisfied with the quality, then purchase the camera.
I would send you one, but I just got my uzi today. Will probably be
a week before I get adjusted and take some good pics.

Good luck.

That's a good suggestion. You are welcome to download any
image off of my pbase site listed below. I have printed several
of them at Walmart and was very pleased. Just use the save
picture option of your browser to save the picture to your hard drive.

--
Gandalf Guinn
http://www.pbase.com/gandalf/teleconverter_tests
http://members.cox.net/gandalfpublic/teleconverters.htm

 

[Dan Ausbun]

If you're concerned about print quality, consider a Sony DSC-F707 with that lovely 5x Carl Zeiss lens. It costs $999 at CompUSA. Its 2560x1920 pictures are 60 percent bigger than an UZi's 1600x1200. (Of course, that means that every pictures uses 60 percent more memory.)

Here is a picture that I shot with my UZi about three weeks ago on vacation:

http://www.pbase.com/image/2615515

I printed a 4x6 of it the other day on my $29 Lexmark printer, and I would have sworn that it was postcard. That person at the lower left of the picture is my wife, 5'6" tall.

My feeling about the UZi is that if someone buys one, then is unhappy with it and gripes about it all the time on this forum, I'd just as soon they bought something else!

Dan Ausbun
http://www.pbase.com/ausbun
You are welcome to download any

image off of my pbase site listed below[[

 

[photovoyager]

Hello,

I'm going to my local CompUSA this weekend to probably buy a 2100. It says they have one in stock. I'm convinced that the image quality is great, and that the feature set is great. I just need to touch and feel it to make sure the ergonomics pass muster. If they do (I need to try out the electronic viewfinder, never used one before but I find the LCD fine so an EVF should be the same, just smaller), I'll buy it.

The Coolpix is three times the price. I highly doubt that it is three times the image quality.

If it was under $1000, and it had IS, I'd consider it.

I am not inclined to buy a long zoom without IS.

I agree that the resolution looks very good on the Sony but I have a problem with the fact that all colors in the orange-red family look exactly the same to me. I much prefer a neutral color cast, where colors look like what they are. If I want oversaturation I can do it in Photoshop, it will only be for one or two shots here or there. If every shot is oversaturated, I'll need extensive post-processing on almost all of them. No thanks. I much prefer my photos to look the way the did in real life, unless I am specifically looking for some sort of distortion in the color.

This may not be a problem for you but for that reason I am hesitant to even look at a Sony.

I have borrowed an Olympus C-2020Z for the past few weeks to make sure I really like digital photography before I buy something of my own, and I've gotten what I consider to be very nice photos out of it. I don't look at my photos from under magnifying glasses. If it looks great to the naked eye, then to me it is great!

I will tell you if and when I get a 2100 what sort of images I get but so far I am pretty much convinced.

Regards,
photovoyager

 

[tagboard]

After 30 years of film SLR's, I picked up an UZI last December. I to was concerned about 8x10 print quality. You can look @ http://www.pbase.com/tagboard for some examples of what this camera can do at drag racing events. Almost all of these photos were cropped to some extent and then printed at 8x10. They all came out fine. BTW, I don't own a film camera any more.

PJ

I'm considering the purchase of a Oly 2100 because I would love to
use a 10x stab. lens, and by all user accounts, the camera sounds
reliable and worth the money. Unfortunately, I'm hung up on the
2.1 meg rating, and I don't want to regret my purchase later. The
largest enlargement that I would probably make would be a 8 x 10.
I would further add that I'm very particular about my photos.
Having said that, should I consider paying more for something like
a Canon G2 or even a Nikon 5700? I know everyone has a opinion for
any Camera choice, but I was hoping someone would have some
additional insight.

Thanks in advance for your time and comments.

 

[P Flood]

I've just had mine for a couple of days, and so far am very pleased with the

zoom as I've had some amazing wildlife shots I would never have had from my other 3x zoom. The colors do not seem quite as bright as I have been used to, but nothing that Photoshop can't correct. I don't do may printouts these days as I have a real good monitor, and they come out looking like 35mm slides.

Like yourself, I considered the alternatives of more megapixels, but there was nothing else out there similar to the 2100. The closest was the Sony D707, but that was only a 5x zoom and no IS, and was nearly double the price. As I was prepared to spend up to $1000 anyway, I am going to buy

a compact size 3 or 4 mp camera with the usual 3 x zoom in ADDITION to the 2100UZ. That way, what more could anyone want for any circumstance, and all for $1000 or so! I paid nearly that for my Kodak DC290, which took great pictures, but was slow to boot up, and was only 3x zoom and 2 mp anyway!

Right now there is nothing out there that comes close to the 2100UZ
especially for the money. Buy one while you still can!

I'm considering the purchase of a Oly 2100 because I would love to
use a 10x stab. lens, and by all user accounts, the camera sounds
reliable and worth the money. Unfortunately, I'm hung up on the
2.1 meg rating, and I don't want to regret my purchase later. The
largest enlargement that I would probably make would be a 8 x 10.
I would further add that I'm very particular about my photos.
Having said that, should I consider paying more for something like
a Canon G2 or even a Nikon 5700? I know everyone has a opinion for
any Camera choice, but I was hoping someone would have some
additional insight.

Thanks in advance for your time and comments.

 

[syberascal]

I would like to thank everyone who responded to my question! Everyone provide great and sound advice. Again, thanks!

I'm considering the purchase of a Oly 2100 because I would love to
use a 10x stab. lens, and by all user accounts, the camera sounds
reliable and worth the money. Unfortunately, I'm hung up on the
2.1 meg rating, and I don't want to regret my purchase later. The
largest enlargement that I would probably make would be a 8 x 10.
I would further add that I'm very particular about my photos.
Having said that, should I consider paying more for something like
a Canon G2 or even a Nikon 5700? I know everyone has a opinion for
any Camera choice, but I was hoping someone would have some
additional insight.

Thanks in advance for your time and comments.