I wish to be able to photograph items I have for sale in my Antique business and post them on the internet at sites like Yahoo & Ebay, to help buyers to see what they are buying. The Subjects I wish to photograph vary from small items like spoons and hall marks on silver to large items like chairs, tables and large furniture. It is also important to record colour accurately. Picture size is not critical provided the size is not too small (no smaller than 3cm x 5cm. I realise that transfer speeds will be affcted by picture size, but clarity even if the picture is small, would be better than a grainy picture of postcard size. What accessories will I need to connect my pc and how long does uploading from the camera take. What price would be reasonable as I have limited resources. All responses will be acknowledged. Thank you Tony A-J

-- Tony Johnstone (Tonyjohnst@aol.com), September 20, 1999

Answers

Tony:
You have a plethora of choices. The most difficult for you to resolve is how you may, or may not, use the pictures beyond your desire to place them on the WEB.
Every decent digital camera on the market (Nikon, Canon, Fuji, Olympus, Sony) will give you more resolution than you want for posting good quality pictures on the WEB. You don't want extreme resolution since the slow downloads will actually drive potential customers away. The best approach is to put low to modest resolution images directly in the sale page, but include a link to a higher resolution image for people who want to examine things a bit closer.
An example of HTML that will do this is:

<A HREF="your hi res image filename"><img src="your low res 
image filename" ALT="Click to see high resolution version" 
></A>

This will place a low res image in a page that is a link to a hi resolution image. Since you want lots of close-up capabilities you will want some important features in your camera too.
1. Close-up/Macro capability
2. Manual Exposure control (especially f/stop) so you can control your depth of field

You should seriously consider other aspects of what you are doing. It will take more than a decent camera to create prevocative images.
Lighting is extremely important. You should purchase 2 or 3 good tungsten studio lights, and create a decent background for your products. I see too many pictures on eBay taken on the livingroom couch with a wrinkled sheet draped in the background. They make me want to barf.
You might consider getting a decent book on taking product shots as well. A professional looking product presentation will give the buyer some level of confidence they are not dealing with some guy named Earl in a grease-stained shirt working from the back of an auto shop.
Des

-- Dan Desjardins (dan.desjardins@avstarnews.com), September 20, 1999.

The Nikon Coolpix 950 is the best camera hands down for close up macro photos. But at approximately $800 it might be a bit pricy for you. It is also an excellent general camera though, so it might be worth it for you.

A more inexpensive option for you might be the Olympus D-340. It can be had for 250 but it does not have a zoom and it does not go as close as the 950. Has great quality photos however.

-- Joshua Abell (nox@usa.net), September 25, 1999.