Re: OT -- "eBay Digital Camera" -- Clarification Message #6 Posted by Dve Shaffer on 30 Aug 2002, 1:42 p.m., in response to message #5 by Ellis Easley
Ellis, et al.,
I HAVE been using rechargable NiMH AA cells in my HP210 camera, with no ill consequences so far (certainly, no "nuclear explosion"! I almost fell of my chair while reading that one!). Either I didn't see the warning in the manual or decided to ignore it. I did worry that the NiMH voltage would be a bit low (1.2 V/cell versus 1.5 V/cell for standard batteries) but that doesn't seem to be a problem. In fact, as you noted, this camera really pulls the amps from the batteries, and if anything, the NiMH (and NiCad for that matter) are pretty good at supplying hefty currents.
I, too, discovered and now use the Lexar "USB enabled" compact flash card, and that really is the way to get images out of the camera. You can get more generic CF (and other memory card type) readers, as well - check E-bay listings for better prices than you'll find at either your local CompUSA or camera store. These card+reader systems also serve nicely for file transport between computers - you can think of them as 16/32/64/etc MB solid state disk drives. They are much faster than ZIP drives or CD writing for modest file sizes (10-ish megabytes) that are too big for floppies.
I haven't tried extreme close-ups with the '210, but it works fine for distances of a foot or more, and I have used it to image mice and other small devices for sale on Ebay. The resolution is enough that you can crop the image substantially and still see enough detail. Remember, you don't want megapixel images for your E-bay sales - it ticks off potential buyers if they have to wait a minute for the image to come through.
There is significant parallax between what you see in the viewfinder and what gets imaged when you are working up close with the HP210 (and, I suspect, most other digital cameras which non-imaging viewfinders). A little practice, though, will allow you to center the image (and "film" is cheap - just push "delete" if you don't like what you see!).
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