I have been LUSTING for a digicam, & Mavica seems convenient for PC apps, because of the floppy function, right? 1.) Is it a recommended buy? 2.) They seem to go for around $500, but is there a Source where it might be heavily discounted? 3.) Since I am not a photog' and only want the digicam to clutter up my website and annoy people, and to send enemies photos of me snarling, is this the simplest, dirt-cheapest thing around? Thanks.

-- Jeff Frieberg (detective@erols.com), May 03, 1998

Answers

Hi Jeff,

Unless you're considering the Mavica with the 10x zoom lens (a nice feature, without doubt), the Olympus D-320L is now priced very competitively with the non-zoom Mavica, and also includes their version of the floppy adapter. Advantages include *much* greater resolution, and more/bigger files can be carried across on the memory card, via the floppy adapter. (You aren't limited to the 1.4 meg of the floppy.)

As to price, there have been reports of the older (non-removable memory model) Oly 300-L selling for under $100, which would be a KILLER deal if you can find it. Try the usual internet price-search engines, or maybe someone here can point you in the right direction.

How about it folks, anyone have a super deal to point Jeff to?

PS: All that said, the floppy-based Mavicas are by far the msot popular digital camera model right now.

PPS: You can get a general idea of 640x480 vs 1024x768 by looking at some of the VGA-level cameras on the site, such as the Casio 700 & 770, the Olympus 220, and the Toshiba PDR-2.

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), May 03, 1998.