I'm looking for the best dig camera for my application. In a professional setting, I need to take close-up photos (full face only) with ability to view image on a pc monitor fairly quickly, with option to print 4x6 or 5x7 as needed.

I'm looking for best download (USB vs Serial port), need adequate image resolution (not necessarily the maximum available), and acknowlege that most of the special digital camera features are not needed as the camera will always be used indoors, essentially tethered to a PC. Can it run on AC adapter and forgo batteries? Thanks!

-- Ken Brein (kbrein@cyberia.com), June 07, 1998

Answers

Well, this isn't really an answer, but I'm looking for pretty much the same thing (my question is "good camera for portraits"). I found that www.dcresource.com was a good place to look at reviews, and that there was a great online book at www.shortcourses.com which helped me get a better handle on how digital cameras work, but if you already know what you're talking about, maybe it's not worth your time to read through it all. Good luck (even though I'm sure this wasn't too much help)!

-- Aimee Boone (abb7b@virginia.edu), June 11, 1998.

You'd definitely want USB (or parallel) for an application like that, unless you were willing to pull out the removable flash memory (CompactFlash or SmartMedia) and put it in the PC between shots. The fastest and simplest and cheapest solution would be a camera meant for videoconferencing. Those will only provide video resolution (640x480 tops) and might not make adequate prints at 5x7.

Any of the Olympus cameras could do what you want via serial, but it's not extremely fast. The control software is also a little rudimentary since it's not the camera's primary mode of operation. The same probably goes for most other cameras with a serial interface.

As an aside, you'll probably have to use hot lights (designed for video production) because none of the cameras you're likely to consider will supply flash sync (unless you get something like the DSF-1 slave, but then you have exposure problems because the camera doesn't take the extra flash into account when setting exposure).

-- Ben Jackson (ben@ben.com), June 18, 1998.

Using the Nikon Coolpix 900 and the serial cord brings in an image in about 60 seconds if you use the Fine setting. Depending one what you are doing, you might be able to use the Normal setting and the time is about 15 seconds per image. The quality is just outstanding. I'm printing 8x10s that surprise people. You can read my review of the camera and see some pictures at

http://www.freedombyfaith.com/Tech/reviews/Nikon/Coolpix900.html

-- eric gray (tech@freedombyfaith.com), June 30, 1998.