recommend a good computer and digital camera?

I'm at Brooks Institute of Photography, and Macs are the choice computer and laptop for photography and digital imaging. The Nikon D100 can be found on the used market for approx. $600, or the new D70 are both excellent digital cameras. If you already own Nikkor lenses, they work with both the D100 and the D70. I own a D1X and the images are stunning. Check out my website for samples of images using the D1X. Canon also has excellent digital cameras.

http://homepage.mac.com/rosstamann/PhotoAlbum10.html

As a professional photographer I have much the same opinion as Gunbei. I have a Mac dual processor tower and the new 17" Powerbook. Both are excellent and you have the choice of several operating systems.

I have OS 9.1 on one hard drive in the Mac tower and OS X Panther (plus OS 9) on the other hard drive. The Powerbook is running OS X Jaguar.

For those who are accustomed to Win machines, the software that makes them so valuable in the business world is also written for Mac. I have Microsoft Internet Explorer, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage.

As Gunbei pointed out, Photoshop and Illustrator are native to OS X and not only run faster, they never crash. With each Mac, comes photo viewing software called I photo which is the "visual" counterpart to I tunes and the I pod.

If you install the editing software provided by Nikon or Canon, the Mac software recognizes it and allows the user complete control over where to view, edit and change images. The FireWire port on Mac will allow you to plug Nikon directly into the computer and control it from the desktop. Handy for time exposures, delay flash or astral photography or a situation where you wish to be remote (or in the comfort of your car).

As for Cameras, I don't know your budget but the new Nikon D70 is pro quality for reasonable price. I suspect it will sell for about 1K. Here is a link to a new test and review:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d70.htm

Good luck with your venture whatever way you decide to go.

While i'm not much of a computer whiz, i know more than a few of my friends do. Having said that, they had me set-up a couple of differnt Dell laptop's for them. The first one was completely "whacked" when we took it out of the box. The operating system had major errors in it from what i can tell so we didn't even mess with it. They did send another one out to replace it right away.

Once we got the second one, my experience with Dell customer support was like that mentioned above. That is, it was horrible. I literally spent two to three hours each on a couple of different occasions trying to resolve problems. On top of that, the Dell branded Wi-Fi ( wireless network ) gear has problems with it, so shop wisely.

As a side note, Sony Laptop's don't come with a copy of the OS or a recovery disc, so if anyone has one of these, you better make a back-up disc before doing anything else to it. Otherwise, you'll have to contact Sony and purchase a disc separately, which could put your computer out of commission for a period of time. Not good and really stupid on the part of Sony's marketing as far as i'm concerned. Sean
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Mac all the way

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Agreed, forget wintel boxes, get a Mac and be done with it. Anything else is a lesser choice at best.

canon S500 powershot is a very nice cam for reasonable money. For a bit more, I'd step up to the EOS rebel digital or the EOS 10D. (those make excellent sense if you have an investment in EOS 35mm gear, as they use the same lenses.)

-Ed

I'll chime in although my views have some definite biases that are probably in the minority. I'm a digital retoucher and illustrator and make my living exclusively using Macintosh computers.

I realize that you're present goals are much simpler than that, but I have a sneaking suspicion that once you have a digital camea, computer and an inkjet printer your interest in image editing and the other fun things you can accomplish will grow.

If you think there's a remote chance of that happening I would encourage you to get a Mac. Apple invented the GUI, their machines look way cooler, apps like Photoshop are optimized to run in Apple OSX, it's my opinion that you'll be able to view and get better color with a Mac and its ColorSync features, and they are very plug and play. How about that for a run-on sentence?

If you don't think you'll need a suped up editing station how about an iMac or the portability of an iBook? All Macs come equipped with Firewire and USB connectivity which makes them a snap to connect to digital cameras, card readers and inkjet printers.

Ok, so I'm biased. Actually no matter what computer or operating system you choose, I think you'll have a lot of fun!

I own a 5 megapixel Olympus E20, but I think the 4 megapixel Canon S45 I use on vacations is much more what you're looking for. The E20 is about the size of a standard 35mm SLR film camera.

The S45 is small enough to put in a shirt pocket, and can be put into action in just a few seconds. It takes great pictures and has excellent tonal balance. I use a 256MB Simpletech compact flash card when empty is good for about 220+ pictures.

Make sure to buy an extra battery for your camera so you won't be caught with a dead camera when that beautiful Italian woman strolls past you in Santorini.

A media reader like the Simpletech compact flash/Smartmedia reader I use when connected to your computer will get all those neat pictures on your machine.

I see a lot of dark or overly flashed pictures posted on Audiogon. An image editing app like Photoshop is a good way to correct strong color casts, open up dark images and pull back highlights from being specular. Photoshop also has a good prepare for web module with export preview built into it that will allow you to make sure the images are the right size and look good even when compressed.

Just in case you ever decide to print out your images, consider the excellent line of Epson inkjet printers. I got turned on to them by a Dallas based photographer over 3 years ago. I use a 2000P and it beats the pants off of anything an offset printer can produce. There are lot's of good inkjets from Hewlitt Packard and Epson starting at $70!

I'm sure some professional shooters like Marco [Jax2] and Albert Porter will have some great recommendations.

Good luck and have a ball!

I would avoid the Gateway AND HP/Compaq. Both have serious QC issues. I agree that Dell is options extra happy, but will add that they sell robust machines that perform very well. I have a Dell desktop that is over 4 yrs old and still works as well as it did out of the box. I have a new Inspirion notebook that, so far, seems a good buy for the money (less than 900.00 w/ wireless card, 15" screen, DVD/CD-R drive).

Sony is making some very nice digi cameras in a wide variety of prices.

I own the Canon Powershot G5. This is my first digital camera. While it has 5 megapixels, which is real good, the comments I get from others is on thw quality of the color in the photographs.

I really don't have much to compare it to but those who have experience with digital cameras say that they love the pictures that mine takes.

One thing to look into is the HP Photosmart 7960 printer. It will take just about any flashcard from any digital camera and you can print/Email/download direct from the printer. this means that anybody visiting your home can download the pictures to your computer via your printer.

Also, the printer is built like a tank; unlike comparably priced Epson printers.

Oh, I use a Mac G5.

Ive owned more than quite a few digital cameras, you really dont need huge megapixels to take good pictures, i have had good results using several of the olympus models including the very economical D-150 to the more expensive 4 megapixel
D40. One of the main reasons i like these is they use AA batteries and rechargeables work great! With proprietary battery cameras, when it does, you find the charger and an outlet, not always convenient. I now use a Sony DSC-P9 that is this way, great camera again however.
The reason i switched to the Sony dig camera however is both my laptop and my Sony MXS-10 as well as other models have on board memory stick bays instead of transfering data any other way, i have found this works great. I bought my mother a lesser model Sony PC that also has the memory stick slot. GREAT FEATURE.
If you look on Ebay you can get very good deals on new or refurb computers and cameras.

Hope this helps and good luck.

CDC,

I've been extremley pleased with a Sony 707, which you could pick up used on Ebay assuming you want to take the risk. I've sold my Leica equipment because of the results.

You may want to check out the digital camera site: http://www.dpreview.com/forums

The Toshiba PDR-3300 digital camera (3.2 megapixel) that I got for my birthday has become indispensable. My Hasselblad camera is somewhere in the house, largely forgotten.

Our company purchased 15 Dells over a three year period. I have purchased a laptop and two desktops from them. In my experience, they were once merely satisfactory. Today, they are awful. Not only do they break your back by charging separately for essential items, their customer "service" is deplorable. Typically, the representative (after endless transfers and a terminal wait on hold) tries to find a way to deny support. This is the case even with the optional service plan I have purchased at an extra cost. Awful. Not recommended.

As an aside, I have nothing but great things to say about Canon. Great Multifunction machines, and superb support.

I am having a new computer made by a gentleman who lives near me. He will be around to help with the inevitable glitches. I bet an Agoner can recommend a similiar person if you disclose where you're located.

try slickdeals.net or xpbargins.com for better pricing Also pricescan.com

Happy Shopping