Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A lot of people on this forum post great pictures of their boas. I was wondering what kind of camera everyone is using. I am getting real frustrated with my 3.2 mega-pixel Kodak DX4330. The rechargable battery packs only last for about 10-15 pictures and sometimes don't even hold their charge when not in use. It takes pretty good pictures, but could use some help when shooting in the macro mode (which is what I always use when photographing my boas). I will probably end up getting a new camera in the near future. In your opinion, what is the best camera for under $500? I have heard great things about the Nikon Coolpix line of cameras... anyone using them? Is the battery life of your camera decent?
Thank you very much for your help, I appreciate it.
Take care,
Eric Simonds

Eric, The camera that you have is fine. You don't need togo out and pay 1,000 for a cookpix 5700. I been doing photograpy for about a year now. If you camera is 3.2 megapixel thats all you need for what your doing. The higher the megapixel the larger the photo you can blow up too. With your 3.2 you can go as large as an 8"x10" photo. Plus its all in the lighting, if your taking photos outside you would want to do it in the morning or late about 5 to 6pm. If your shooting indoors try not to use a fluoresent, if do your photo will look kinda green. You can use a 100w cool white in a lamp. Its best if you place your lights at 45 degrees to the snake. I can't help you with your macro mode unless you tell me whats going on. Here are some links that will help everyone.

Good Luck
John Clarke

http://www.graphic-design.com/photographic/studio/default.html

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml;jsessionid=1YTTU3ZYBLLYHQHIO3JXWIY?pq-path=338&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=318960

http://sell-it-on-the-net.com/photo_guide/flash_portrait_usage.htm

http://www.photo.net/making-photographs/light

http://www.sphoto.com/list.php?exhibition=16

Thank you very much John for your reply. My problem really doesn't have to do with the quality of the photos or MP size, but more the battery life of the camera. If there is no solution to this problem (I just e-mailed Kodak), then I am going to have to get another camera. I travel quite a bit and take lots of pictures, so I need more life out of the batteries.
Thanks for the links, I am going to check them out in a little bit.
Thank again John,
Eric

Eric,

for the price the camera to get now is the Sony CD 500 and is 5.1 MP Its going for 699.00 right now. Its just as good or better then the coolpix 5700 thats going for 1,100 right now. I have the Sony CD 250 and I can shoot over 1,000 photos with out the batter going dead. It stores the photos on a pocket CD that and on the lowest seting can hold about 1,200 photos. the highest setting can hold about 800 photos. I'm looking to get and SLR digi thats going for 3,000.00 but for the photos I take I need it. The Sony CD 250 works great. Hers's a photo I took of my hypo but my screen colors off so it don't look that clear.

PS the the CD 250 is going for about 400 to 500 now I paid 700.00 when it first came out

That is pretty bad battery life! I have a canon powershot pro90 IS (a mouthful ), and it's lithium-ion battery will last at least a 128 mb CF card full, (143 pics), I think it will last significantly longer if I use the electronic viewfinder (mini LCD inside the camera's viewfinder) instead of the LCD on the back of the camera.

...found it...says the battery will last 300-800 pics depending on LCD and flash use...sounds about right.

What kind of batteries are they that last less than 20 pics? Maybe they're dying?

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-audri
Webpage/Pics

Thank you for your reply. To answer your question: the battery pack is pretty much brand new. I thought it was defective, so I sent it back to Kodak and they returned it saying it was fine. While this was going on I bought another rechargable battery figuring it can't hurt to have two. This new one doesn't work very well either. I am really considering just getting a new camera with longer battery life.
How many mega-pixel is your camera? Your photo looks great!
Thanks again,
Eric

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Jonathan Brady
My Kingsnake Photo Gallery

Possibly.... it doesn't seem to charge the batteries for much longer than about 40 minutes, when it is supposed to take approximately 1.5 hours. I have an e-mail into Kodak, so hopefully they can shed some light on this issue for me.
Thanks for your reply JB,
Eric

That's lousy (about the battery)

Thanks. We got the camera in April 2001. The actual image recorded is only 2.6mp, I believe (1856x1392 max res. - so much for easy-to-remember numbers) Oddly enough, it doesn't even have a macro feature. The combination of a 10x optical zoom and an close-up lens accessory, though, lets very close up pics be taken (and you can be 1.5' away, not inches like regular macros) (the close-up lens was not used with the boa's photo, however - it can focus w/ no zoom fairly close) So I'm pleased. Bad thing about it is that it is large (size and shape similar to a regular 35mm SLR) so my dad, who bought this cam in the first place, bought a -second- cam that is more practical to travel with.

And here's a fresh out of the egg cornsnake, 10.5" long

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-audri
Webpage/Pics

>>What kind of batteries are they that last less than 20 pics? Maybe they're dying?

To clarify, I mean that all rechargable batteries gradually lose their ability to hold a charge so charging them fully will give you less and less use.
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-audri
Webpage/Pics