Dan Lauring 's Home Page Video and Digital Camera comparisons: Sony TRV series, Minolta Dimage V, Nikon Coolpix 900, Kodak DC260.

I started this page to exchange info on technogadgets Hope you find it useful or at least entertaining.

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January 7th, 2000: Been a long time since I've been back here! I finally decided to replace my 15 year old 8mm camcorder. If you look at an earlier posting you will see I tried this before but returned the brand spanking new camcorder because it absolutely sucked at filming in ambient indoor lighting. What changed? Well the new 3 CCD miniDV camcorders have been garnering lots of praise...especially for their low light capabilities. I picked the Canon GL-1. With its 3 CCD's it does pretty well inside...but with much greater resolution and detail than my old 8mm ever saw. You can find my preliminary review here . Also, as I figure it out, I will be writing a section on home video editing with a firewire equipped PC. I've ordered both a simple firewire editor and a much more expensive and hardware intensive real time editor.

June 3rd, 1999: Added some photos edited for printing taken with the Nikon 950. This is to give you an idea of how some small touches can improve pics for print. Email me if you have any questions on what exactly I did to them.

SOLD: I sold my Nikon 900. Parting is such sweet sorrow. Since I've got the 950 its time to move on. I sold it at eBay.

May 22nd, 1999: Added more 950 pics from my vacation. Check out the tiger in the 1.5x Tiffen teleconverter section.

April 21st, 1999: Updated my review of Nikon 950. Included shots showing forced flash exposure problems.

April 21st, 1999: Today, I received my new Nikon 950. See my comments here.

March 23rd, 1999: I picked up an adapter and some other accessories for my Nikon from CKCpower. His page is a bit confusing but he's got some neat stuff there. Highly recommended is the adapter (quality part), tripod, and slave flash. He also sells a modified telescope, threaded for the Nikon. You can see some of the accessories I use with the Nikon at my Photopoint website.

March 19th, 1999: I picked up a Fuji MX-500...third new camera in about a weeks time. The Fuji is supposed to have the same basic engine and lens as the Fuji MX-700 in a less sleek package for a lot less green. The Fuji MX-700 has garnered a fair amount of praise.

Overall it is a slick little camera. The zoom on the review is a nice feature. It doesn't take quite as sharp pictures as the Nikon 900 but it is more user friendly...especially with regards to the flash and auto-settings. It has warmer fleshtones than the 900 meaning shots of people don't come out so pale or require the post editing that often accompanies 900 shots.

March 11th, 1999: I picked up a Canon A5 as a second camera and for my kids to use. You can find them for $400 on the web now. I really liked the fact that it used CF cards like my Nikon (instead of smartmedia), it had fast iso400 ability and it's compact size. Unfortunately, I had to return it. Here's an example shot that explains why.

I also tried out an Agfa 1280. Its a heck of deal for $300 at Costco stores. I decided that it wasn't what I was looking for. It was bulkier than my Nikon and had all the problems that go with a camera that is missing an optical viewfinder (hard to see in bright light...impossible in dim light.) It also has a typical zoom macro lens that can zoom closer at wide angle than telephoto. This limits how much of the frame you can fill with your subject. I guess I was spoiled by the Nikon which can get right in there at full telephoto. Also, the Agfa seems to have an "all or nothing" flash. It really burns out subjects.

August 23rd, 1998: I added a couple of planet shots taken with the Nikon Coolpix 900 through the eyepiece of a C8 Celestron at 240X.

August 22nd, 1998: I added shot of a life and death sea struggle taken with the Nikon Coolpix 900 on my vacation last week at Sanibel Island, Florida.

August 9th, 1998: I added a bunch of telephoto critter shots taken with the Nikon Coolpix 900 through the 25mm eyepiece of the Celestron 80mm (16X.)

August 7th, 1998: My new Celestron 80mm f/5 scope arrived! I tried taking a picture of a Dove on my birdfeeder with the Nikon Coolpix 900 through the 25mm eyepiece (16X.) Also included is a short review of the telescope.

August 2nd, 1998: I added some attempts at photographing the moon with Nikon Coolpix and 3X telephoto converter and 8X monocular. I will also add a shot from my 8" SCT when it arrives.

August 1st, 1998: This page was getting too long so I moved the comparison between a new Hi8 to and old 8mm camcorder to here.

July 31st, 1998: I attached a few video lens extenders that I bought from the bargain bin of my local photo store to my Nikon Coolpix 900. Here is the results.

July 20th, 1998: I attached an 8X monoscope to my Nikon. Heres what it looked like.

July 12th, 1998: Added a quicktime VR 360 degree movie of my backyard created by splicing together Nikon Coolpix 900 digital shots. This puppy is 3 meg so it takes a few minutes to download over a modem (took 5 minutes over my 64K ISDN line.)

July 11th, 1998: Added some great new links on digital photography (check out the links section.) Do yourself a favor and spend some time reading Curtin's Short Course on digital photography. It is an excellent reference to everything from composing a picture to an explanation of how the compression formats work.

July 2nd, 1998: I added a gallery of Nikon Coolpix 900 shots.

July 1st, 1998: I added a shot from the Nikon Coolpix 900 that demonstrates one of the benefits of digital photography.

June 26th, 1998: I added a few more pics from the Kodak. This is it for this camera. It is going back. It has a serious focus/sharpness problem. I'd love to see if its a flukey bad one or if they are all like that. It made me appreciate my Nikon that much more.

June 24th, 1998: I added some pics from a Kodak DC260 and a short overview.

June 22nd, 1998: I added a Nikon CP900 digital picture to the comparison of captured video from Hi8 vs. digital camera pictures.

June 19th, 1998: I uploaded one shot from my new Nikon Coolpix 900. I thought the Minolta was pretty good but that was before I took a few shots with the Nikon.

June 15th, 1998: I uploaded some shots (with all there imperfections) from my new Minolta Dimage V here.

The Dimage V is one of the best deals right now in a 640x480 digital camera. No other camera in this price range has an optical zoom and built in flash.

June 11th, 1998: I uploaded some shots from a Ricoh 18H Hi8(Sony TR-101.) This is a Hi8 camera of similar era to my RCA Pro8 8mm camera. So far, it looks like the Sony does not have the low light capabilities of the RCA. Check out first shots here.

I am trying to understand F-stop, aperature, focal length and their relationships to each other. I'm also trying to learn about the relationship between f-stop and light gathering. I am putting together the information I find here.

I'm hoping that I can use this knowledge, and the information published by the manufacturers to get better understand and predict the low light performance of cameras.

If you can shed any light on this please email me (dlauring@hotmail.com)

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Here are some informative video links:

First some magazines, DV sites, and general video info sites:

"Digital Video Live"

"NewMedia Magazine"

"DVD Insider"

"DV Central"

"Videomaker Magazine"

"The Mining Company"

"The Video Guys" (a commercial site but lots of good info)

"Super Video" Another commercial site that specializes in selling Japanese imports. Lots of good info on new products.