KODAK EASYSHARE KODAK CAMERA DOCK CANON PO WERSHO T
TYPE: FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER
OLYMPUS EVOLT E-300 CANON 20D
YOU: Are responsible for capturing life’s
moments, from baby shots to soccer scenes to
vacations and everywhere in between.
TYPE: PROFESSIONAL
YOU: Could write your camera’s manual;
only the best will do.
YOUR DREAM MACHINE: Kodak’s 5MP
EasyShare Z740 (warehouse #881519) features a 10x optical zoom lens, allowing you to
get amazingly close to your subject. The
included EasyShare Series 3 camera dock
features one-touch transfer of images from
camera to computer and direct printing from
camera to printer with or without a computer.
Olympus Evolt E-300
A similar camera is the Kodak EasyShare
Z7590 (costco.com #892978). It has an easy-on-the-eyes 2.2-inch LCD viewfinder and
quality Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon lens. It
doesn’t come with a camera dock, which
keeps its price lower than the Z740. “The
Z7590 sets a new price-to-performance benchmark for high-zoom consumer digital cameras
without sacrificing ease of use,” says Richard.
YOUR DREAM MACHINE: Chris suggests the
Olympus Evolt E-300 (warehouse and
costco.com #895726), an 8MP fully
loaded digital SLR. One key feature is the
Evolt’s innovative dust-reduction technology, which ensures that photos won’t be
ruined by dust and debris on the image
sensor. A value-added Costco feature is
the two lenses that come with the camera:
a 14-45 mm and a 40-150 mm zoom.
Richard recommends the 8.2MP Canon
20D Digital SLR (costco.com #856606),
which replaces the EOS 10D. Smaller,
lighter and faster, it is built with a magne-sium-alloy external body and solid stain-less-steel internal chassis. Add a 0.2-
second start-up, shutter lag of only 65 milliseconds, 1/8,000- to 30-second shutter
speed and compatibility with many Canon
professional accessories.
saved in “raw” (uncompressed) mode for later
computer manipulations.
PEN TAX OPTIO WP
The 5MP Canon PowerShot SD400 (costco.
com #894415), can shoot one-minute movies,
brightens subjects in night mode and wakes up
from sleep mode when picked up. Original
images and enhanced color versions are saved
as separate files on the camera’s SecureDigital
memory card.
TYPE: TRAVELER-ADVENTURER
The Coolpix 8700 features high-quality
Nikkor lenses. And with 8MP, you have
ample room for larger print sizes.
YOU: Live for exciting experiences, don’t want
to be hampered with extra gear and dream of
publishing a travel photo. Staying in touch
through e-mail photos and owning a camera
that adapts to changing conditions are essential.
The 6.3MP Canon Digital Rebel SLR (
warehouse and costco.com #742935) defies normal convention, combining automatic
functions with single-lens reflex (SLR) properties. It provides 2.5-frames-per-second drive
speed in four-frame bursts, shutter speeds
from 30 to 1/4,000 seconds and a scrollable
10x zoom playback mode. Costco includes
two rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. C
PENTAX S5i CASIO EXILIM EX-Z750
TYPE: TECHNO-WIZARD
YOUR DREAM MACHINE: Throw away your
cumbersome waterproof case. Pentax’s 5MP
Optio WP (warehouse #891889, a $95 Costco
savings) has a Class 8 electronic-device rat-ing, which means it’s submersible up to 5 feet
for 30 minutes, and a 2-inch LCD screen,
which is much kinder on eyes.
For more on photography in this issue, see the
articles beginning on pages 10 and 12.
YOU: Are always the one with the newest toy.
If you have to pay a little more, you will.
YOUR DREAM MACHINE: Pentax’s 5MP S5i
(warehouse and costco.com #880957) is gorgeous, with its aluminum-alloy body measuring about the size of a standard deck of
playing cards and weighing in at 4.2 ounces.
NIKON COOLPIX CANON DIGITAL REBEL
Costco’s 1-Hour Photo
labs to the rescue
TYPE: SERIOUS SHUTTERBUG
Its digital filter options are a favorite feature:
The “slim” filter makes subjects appear more
slender or broader, and the “posterization” filter
converts images to resemble an artist’s draw-ing. Fast-paced action is captured through continuous shooting; an interval shooting function
transforms a sequence of shots into a short film.
YOU: Are a determined digital-camera enthusiast who shoots stills and occasional video
clips, likes to use creative effects and is comfortable with accessories. You either know or
want to know what chromatic aberrations are.
It happens to the best digital-camera
users: accidentally
erasing precious images.
You can now take
expunged digital-media
memory cards to any
Chris also suggests the 7.2MP Casio Exilim
EX-Z750 (warehouse #900839, an $80 Costco
savings), which records MPEG-4 movies,
and the 5MP Konica Minolta Dimage Z5
(warehouse #883159, a $140 Costco savings), with 12x optical zoom and a helpful
anti-shake mechanism that helps keep images
sharp, even those taken at a distance.
YOUR DREAM MACHINE: Nikon’s 8MP Coolpix
8700 (warehouse and costco.com #859803)
has an 8x optical zoom lens made with extra-low-dispersion glass to help eliminate purple
fringing around the edges of subjects—a chromatic aberration.
Costco 1-Hour Photo
lab and technicians will
make every attempt to recover
lost images.
Take it from me: This free
service is a lifesaver.—PV
The color LCD monitor turns 270 degrees,
and the camera itself has a compact magne-sium-alloy body for durability and portability.
With the Coolpix, image storage files can be
