Is there a still camera digital solution for the aspiring professional photographer that is most suitable for the 200 photos at a single session? Is it cost effective yet? That is, when evaluating dollar for dollar digital to 35mm ,(with a negative scanner going to a Mac G4)is there a viable DIGITAL alternative?

The Olympus C2500L has High resolution: 1712 X 1368 pixels Basic resolution: 1280 X 1024 pixels, 640 X 512 pixels 36-110mm (Equivalent to 35mm, 3x optical zoom) Digital Zoom: 2.5x Store 4 - 322 photos on included 32MB Smart media card

At High resolution, how many pictures are we getting?

-- Robin Bishop (bishop@boulder.net), January 16, 2000

Answers

Robin:
I really like the C2500L - I think it would do a nice job with an economy wedding package - however I would say that the resolution and technology are on the "ragged edge" of the requirements. If the wedding party is looking for a low cost wedding photographic package this could be acceptible - otherwise no.
The C2500L (and other digital cameras in it's class) significantly challenge 35mm in many aspects - but are at an observational distance from medium format cameras(4 X 6, 6 X 6). Medium format is typically used by professional wedding photographers. These make superb 8 X 10's, fabulous 11 X 14's, and really good 16 X 20's. For digital move your slide-rule down three and a half notches to determine the acceptibility for your situation.
Make sure your get the prints done by a real photo printing service. Some digital printing services create images that will fade in a couple of years. Inkjet prints too will fade rapidly. These would only be considered Proof Quality. Poke around this web site and you'll probably find lots of digital photo finishers - I like OFOTO since their service is easy to use and they use Kodak products that will last. There are other good services though.

Think about this opportunity...

I shot an economy wedding about a year ago (I am not a professional wedding photographer) and used my Nikon 35mm and my digital (Sony FD-91). I took just a few digital pix before and during the wedding - then at the reception. The 35mm were shot for the official wedding album - the digital pix were placed on a website that very night for friends and family who couldn't attend. I used the MPG movie and sound capabilities as well. They loved the album pictures - but the web page was the big hit!

Des

-- Dan Desjardins (dan.desjardins@avstarnews.com), January 17, 2000.

I've done two weddings for friends, the last using a Minolta Dynax 500si 35mm and a Philips ESP80 for "snapshots". Agreed, the Philips is a bit on the rough side of digital photography (a Ricoh clone - FYI), but it did assist with shot framing.

I was terrified AFTER the wedding, as with film it can be a hit or miss affair. With today's digital cameras providing 1600 x 1200 and better resolution, the Wedding Amateur could have an advantage.

If your checking out storage space, have a look at Sony's cameras with memory stick technology. Alternatively, consider getting a cheap laptop or notebook and a camera with USB download facility. This could in effect, remove any limit on your shooting capability. Downloading by USB is a very fast process, and with todays technology it means GigaBytes at your disposal.

Good luck in your quest!

-- Bob Drake (panther@ukf.net), February 05, 2000.