1. Can that annoying beep that heralds the taking of a pic in the 2020 (and presumably 3030) be disabled?

2. The 2020 is now under #500 in the UK. I dunno whether to snap it up, or wait for the 3030 at #800. I am used to a Canon Pro Shot 70, so if someone tells me that the 2020 equals the quality of pics from that camera, I'll go and buy it tomorrow!

-- Lord Beau (fransnet@clara.net), May 12, 2000

Answers

It's on page 177 of the 2020Z manual. From menu, go to "Mode Setup", then "Setup", select the speaker icon, and select HIGH, LOW, or OFF for the beeper. Read the manual several times front to back, and after using the camera for two or three months, read it again. There are a lot of features that we seldom use, which can come in handy in certain situations.

I've found that the beep is useful when you have someone else unfamiliar with a digital camera take a picture. The beep lets them know that they have taken a picture.

-- John Slivinski (slivinj@donet.com), May 12, 2000.

You can set the volume of the beep from either HIGH, LOW, or OFF. I personally like the feature because it signals me when the shot has actually been taken (due to the shutter delay. In the LOW mode I don't find it THAT annoying.

As far as picture quality is concerned, compare this: ~2.1MP for the 2020 and 3.34MP for the 3030 and the NEW 3000! That will only matter for printing and will not affect web photos.

-- MikeB (airlinestuff@yahoo.com), May 12, 2000.