cameras

[arethinn]

I've been thinking that I want a basic digital camera that is of higher migapixels than the 3.1 one I have, mainly because at full (optical) zoom, the pictures turn out kind of impressionistic due to a lack of detail capture. But I am resisting the idea of getting one (short of buying a real SLR, as I was mumbling about a while back) because I just don't know what to do with the one I have. I am not simply going to throw it away, but it's very unlikely I could sell it (since the price I paid for it four years ago buys about twice as much camera now; plus the battery cover has never fit right and has a chip off it anyway), and I don't know of anywhere to give it away to (is there anywhere that recycles or redistributes, like cell phones?). It bothers me... a film camera is forever, barring mechanical failure; but a digital camera has to be continually upgraded, just like any other kind of electronic equipment, and then what do you do with the old ones? I don't want to contribute to that by buying anything other than another "forever" camera. Humph.

ETA: GreenDisk, who I've used before to dispose of some CDs and cassette tapes, apparently also takes other "technotrash" like cameras, although only in their "Can" products which costs a minimum of $29.95 (so it would make sense to build up a collection of stuff to send, to make it worthwhile).

Comments

[winterredwood.livejournal.com]

Here's a place that recycles them, but you have to mail it in:

http://www.recyclingforcharities.com

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, thanks.

[twopiearr.livejournal.com]

"free to the first person that comes to pick it up" on CraigsList usually works for me...

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

Except that I am impossible to find at work, apparently (tried this already with freecycling something), and I'm not keen on people coming to pick things up at my home address.

[dragonzuela.livejournal.com]

Salvation Army?

I know how you feel about hating to throw things out. I didn't even buy a digital camera until about a year ago, and then I made sure that it was one I really wanted so that I could hang onto it for as long as possible. And my cell phone is going on three years old even though I qualified for a discount on a new one at two years.

I'm trying to get rid of a desk chair for free, and I've had three people say they want it and then vanish. :/

[foxgrrl]

You could hack the camera. I was going to mod my D50 to do IR and UV photography — but it's currently loaned out to someone else for visible-light photography. (It was better than their cell-phone camera, and I wasn't really using it.)

You can get a full DSLR setup for US$600 by the way. (D40 + 18-55mm G lens) (I'd recommend the old 50mm f1.4 lens, which is what I use for everything these days, but you'll have to manually focus it on the D40; The D50, and up, will auto-focus with old lenses.)

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

"You could 'hack' the camera."

You could hack the camera, maybe. It's well beyond me. If I do in fact get another one, though, I might be willing to let you have the one I have. It's only a Kodak EasyShare DX6340 tho.)

"You can get a full DSLR setup for US$600 by the way."

Still something that requires planning into the budget, rather than "I think I'll buy a camera today!", which I can just about do in the $150-200 range.

(I'd recommend the old 50mm f1.4 lens, which is what I use for everything these days, but you'll have to manually focus it on the D40; The D50, and up, will auto-focus with old lenses.)

But I want manual focus. Not being able to manually focus is one of the things that annoys me so much about point-and-shoots, even fancy ones. y Pentax body is theoretically capable of driving an AF lens but I never spent the money on one, so I am deep in the grip of MF. Heh.