Dear Sieglinde,

My experience has been that even 3 megapixel cameras were inadequate for our
shell photography, when photographing anything more than a nearly flat
specimen. I tried several different digital cameras (3 meg), here at our
university, none of which came anywhere near the capability of a good 35 mm
(SLR) optical camera. The biggest problems are 1) diffused lighting, and 2)
the fact that digital cameras to date don't afford full flexibility in
choice of lens. Depending on shell size & shape, I find a 350 mm Macro lens
most useful for good depth of focus, minimum distortion, and good shadow
detail. Sometimes I need also to use either  extension tubes with a 55 mm
standard camera lens, or an 80-210 mm zoom lens. Shadow and highlight detail
are most important qualities, and after doing some 300 pictures to date, I
cannot match the optical camera results with those of the 3 meg digital
camera .

A very good quality lens & 35 mm SLR camera setup can now be obtained on the
used equipment market within your price range. We scan our negatives at a
15-20 MB per image resolution, adjust them in Photoshop then put them on our
web site at a size of about 70 Kb per image
<http://nighthawk.tricity.wsu.edu/museum/home.html>

-Burton

> From: Automatic digest processor <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Conchologists of America List <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 19:51:57 -0500
> To: Recipients of CONCH-L digests <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: CONCH-L Digest - 20 Feb 2002 to 21 Feb 2002 - Special issue
> (#2002-32)
>
> From: Sieglinde Hofer <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 14:46:08 +0100
> Subject: digital camera
>
> Dear members of the list
>
> I have the intention to make some nice images of
> different things, including some shells, if I can
> do this also with a digital camera.
> Which digital could you consider. I don't want
> spend too much about 500 dollars or somewhat more
> (here in in Europe about 400 - 600 €).
> How many pixels should the camera have (I think
> about 1.200.000 - 2.000.000) should be sufficient,
> the card should have at about 8 - 12 MB, zoom from
> 2,5 - 3 should be enough.