Digital Camera News: Shutterfly Holiday Cards for a Cause, Panasonic FZ30 Wins Gold, Get Back to Basics

[Ben Stafford]

Shutterfly Sells Holiday Cards to Benefit Save the Children

In time for the holidays, Shutterfly is offering several card designs to benefit the Save the Children organization.  Ten percent of the revenue from the Save the Children designs will be donated to the organization.  Save the Children is a non-profit organization dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of disadvantaged children worldwide.

I checked Shutterfly's site (www.shutterfly.com/savethechildrencards), and there are currently three charity designs to choose from: Snowman Heaven, Helping Children, and Children of the World.  Take a look and make a difference this holiday season.  If they're not what you're looking for, Shutterfly has many other products as well.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 Wins DIWA Gold Award

The Digital Imaging Websites Association (DIWA) has announced that the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 has won their Gold Award.  The FZ30 is among the top of the class in the ultrazoom product space.  The 8 megapixel camera has a 12x optical zoom lens and a 2.5 inch LCD.  Additionally, the FZ30 has many digital SLR level features, like the ability to capture RAW and TIFF format images, 3 fps continuous shooting ability, zoom and manual focus rings on the lens.  It also "beats" a digital SLR since movies can be captured and the LCD (or electronic viewfinder) can be used to frame images.

The FZ30 scored exceptionally well in DIWA's rigorous testing process.  The excellent lens performance was a primary feature that set this camera apart from its competition, along with image quality and value.

DigitalCameraBasics.com Cuts Through the "Mumbo Jumbo"

If you're new to digital photography or you're looking for your first or second camera and need to get past the sales jargon, check out www.digitalcamerabasics.com.  Check out "The Basics" page for easy to understand definitions of terms that you'll see in sales materials and camera reviews.  If you have any questions, it may have already been answered in the Q & A section or the message boards.   Head on over to get "No Fluff or Mumbo Jumbo - Just the Basics on Digital Cameras".

 

[Eliwood]

That digital camera basics site explains things well, but let the reader beware that some of the information is heavily outdated (the outdated 1990's style design only adds to my suspicions). The author refers to cameras that are 5 years old in his FAQ (even when he makes recommendations, many are discontinued models no longer sold in stores) and says that cheap DSLR's still cost over $1000 when they cost almost half that on average nowadays ($550-$700).

It's not a bad site at all, and I like the explanation of terms, but I don't want to see misled buyers searching for inferior cameras (that are far superceded by current models) or cameras that simply no longer exist.

[Ben Stafford]

I agree with you on the timeliness of the camera information. The areas that I see most valuable to newer digital photographers are the definitions of key terms and *some* comparison shots to show what a good camera can do vs a cheaper camera.