ju4dy
09-04-2006, 12:09 PM
I haven't frequented this site in a long time. Back in 1999, i got my first digital camera, it was a Nikon Coolpix 950, it had about 2MP or so. Anyway, i used this site to help me choose what to buy and to just get all kinds of information, and to enjoy the subject matter.
Recently, i wanted to get a new digital camera, actually my third but the second wasn't for serious photo taking purposes.
when i came to this site, i couldn't find some of the features I used to like and am wondering if they are still here and i'm just not seeing them, maybe not looking in the right place.
One was a buyer decision making guide where you enter answers to all kinds of questions about criteria, like a big multiple choice test, you rank criteria by importance, and by whether the matter at all, price, image quality, size, design, features, i can't remember them all now, there were so many that it went on for a few pages. Then, the program would make recommendations based on your answers. You could experiment with weighting different criteria different ways in order to get different kinds of recommendations.
Then, i think, on the page where the recommendations were, and also along the top of the site homepage and elsewhere, there was a link button to take you to a long list of cameras by brand and models, showing quite a bit of information about each one as you scrolled down, it too went on for pages. there was a small picture of each camera, there were older models and newer models, average prices, links to online stores, links to reviews, links to user reviews where people posted photos, and a blurb on each camera including a highlight of some feature.
I know that some of this info is still available on this site in other formats or in a redesigned way. I'm just wondering if there's anything like what i just described that kind of brings it all together.
Also, i'm curious whether the forum postings from those times are archived and accessable.
I got a great deal of help by posting in the Nikon DCRP forum, and also was directed to Nikon's own user forum where nikon representatives posted and interacted. My camera had a problem, i can't remember what it is but it was serious, i think it shut down when i tried to autofocus., and it was brand new, and i tried to return it to the store for an exchange but they said no returns, it was just a few days after i got it i think.
I discussed it with the nikon rep and other users on that forum and was told nikon's policy was that the store should accept a return for a full refund. I went back and forth for a while, telling them about the store's refusal to take the camera back, i spoke to the owner, i gave the name of the store on the forum, the owner explained that it wasn't cost effective for the store. Pretty soon, the nikon rep on the forum consulted with nikon people and then helped me to return the camera to nikon and they sent me a new camera--
for a while it was hairy because nikon's policy was that the store was to refund or exchange a DOA or defective camera, and nikon only did repairs, no exchanges, no returns, so they were willing to take my brand new camera and keep it for weeks while repairing it, a basically DOA camera. I was not ok with that. I didn't have confidence that the camera wouldn't be a lemon, there were many repair delay horror stories on the nikon user forum. But finally they made an exception in their policy due to discussions on that Nikon user forum, and once they decided to do that, they quickly sent me a new camera and a box to return the old one in. The nikon rep on that forum helped me with it and put me in contact with the person at the corporation who took care of it.
That camera is now pretty obsolete for my needs, though i got some good photos out of it.
So, i just bought a canon powershot A620 which i received 4 days ago and am enjoying this site again. I got a lot of help in choosing which camera to buy by reading reviews and links on this site. Just wondering if the old features exist in some new form or if i'm just not knowing where to look.
Recently, i wanted to get a new digital camera, actually my third but the second wasn't for serious photo taking purposes.
when i came to this site, i couldn't find some of the features I used to like and am wondering if they are still here and i'm just not seeing them, maybe not looking in the right place.
One was a buyer decision making guide where you enter answers to all kinds of questions about criteria, like a big multiple choice test, you rank criteria by importance, and by whether the matter at all, price, image quality, size, design, features, i can't remember them all now, there were so many that it went on for a few pages. Then, the program would make recommendations based on your answers. You could experiment with weighting different criteria different ways in order to get different kinds of recommendations.
Then, i think, on the page where the recommendations were, and also along the top of the site homepage and elsewhere, there was a link button to take you to a long list of cameras by brand and models, showing quite a bit of information about each one as you scrolled down, it too went on for pages. there was a small picture of each camera, there were older models and newer models, average prices, links to online stores, links to reviews, links to user reviews where people posted photos, and a blurb on each camera including a highlight of some feature.
I know that some of this info is still available on this site in other formats or in a redesigned way. I'm just wondering if there's anything like what i just described that kind of brings it all together.
Also, i'm curious whether the forum postings from those times are archived and accessable.
I got a great deal of help by posting in the Nikon DCRP forum, and also was directed to Nikon's own user forum where nikon representatives posted and interacted. My camera had a problem, i can't remember what it is but it was serious, i think it shut down when i tried to autofocus., and it was brand new, and i tried to return it to the store for an exchange but they said no returns, it was just a few days after i got it i think.
I discussed it with the nikon rep and other users on that forum and was told nikon's policy was that the store should accept a return for a full refund. I went back and forth for a while, telling them about the store's refusal to take the camera back, i spoke to the owner, i gave the name of the store on the forum, the owner explained that it wasn't cost effective for the store. Pretty soon, the nikon rep on the forum consulted with nikon people and then helped me to return the camera to nikon and they sent me a new camera--
for a while it was hairy because nikon's policy was that the store was to refund or exchange a DOA or defective camera, and nikon only did repairs, no exchanges, no returns, so they were willing to take my brand new camera and keep it for weeks while repairing it, a basically DOA camera. I was not ok with that. I didn't have confidence that the camera wouldn't be a lemon, there were many repair delay horror stories on the nikon user forum. But finally they made an exception in their policy due to discussions on that Nikon user forum, and once they decided to do that, they quickly sent me a new camera and a box to return the old one in. The nikon rep on that forum helped me with it and put me in contact with the person at the corporation who took care of it.
That camera is now pretty obsolete for my needs, though i got some good photos out of it.
So, i just bought a canon powershot A620 which i received 4 days ago and am enjoying this site again. I got a lot of help in choosing which camera to buy by reading reviews and links on this site. Just wondering if the old features exist in some new form or if i'm just not knowing where to look.