Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Interview with Suzanne Kantra, 'Popular Science'
Aired June 04, 2002 - 07:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: If you enjoy taking pictures, you might want to think about taking it to the next level by going digital this summer. "Popular Science" magazine features some of the best digital cameras now on the market, and the magazine's technology editor, Suzanne Kantra, here to give us a crash course on some of the new gadgets out there -- good morning to you, Suzanne -- nice to see you.
SUZANNE KANTRA, TECHNOLOGY EDITOR, "POPULAR SCIENCE": Good morning.
HEMMER: My friends have told me to go digital for some time. I have refused, but I think maybe this would be a good education for all of us.
KANTRA: Oh, absolutely.
HEMMER: Just so our viewers understand, if you have a camera, you're already going to know this, but if you don't, a pixel essentially is a dot. The more pixels you have, the better resolution, the better picture you'll have. One megapixel is the equivalent of one million pixels.
KANTRA: Yes, it is.
HEMMER: With that as a backdrop, you've got to know what you're shopping for, right? So when you go into the store, what do we look for first?
KANTRA: Well, one of the first things that you are going to be looking for is the resolution. How many pixels does it have? If you're talking about a one megapixel camera, then you're talking about something that's good for e-mailing. It's good for maybe 3 x 5 prints. You go all the way out to a five megapixel camera, and you can actually make poster size.
HEMMER: And we're going to do that in a moment. Now, zoom, you say three times is the recommended?
KANTRA: Right. Because when you are traveling, let's say that you are in the Sistine Chapel, you want to get all that detail on the roof. So you need to have an optical zoom lens.
HEMMER: Lens type. KANTRA: One of the things that makes a clear, crisp picture is having a glass lens. So if you are looking a lower end, maybe a cheaper version of a camera, they may use plastic. So be sure to ask about that.
HEMMER: One thing I have found in this technology boom is that simplicity sells.
KANTRA: Well, one of the things that is definitely going to help you out, if you don't want to be fumbling with lots of buttons when you are trying to take that perfect shot, you want something that's going to be really easy to use.
HEMMER: Ease of use, very critical. OK, you brought six for us today.
KANTRA: Well, we start out here on the low end. Actually, this is the Logitech Pocket Digital, and this is a one megapixel camera. It has built in memory. And this is great for e-mailing and...
HEMMER: That is really small.
KANTRA: It's wonderful. You can just always bring this along with you.
HEMMER: And that's the Logitech, 129 bucks?
KANTRA: $129.
HEMMER: All right. Casio GV-10 is No. 2 here. You step up a bit in price, 350?
KANTRA: 350, but what you are getting here is this camera, you can actually drop it into a bucket of water, leave it there for 30 minutes...
HEMMER: Waterproof.
KANTRA: Well, not entirely waterproof. But it's also dust proof, so you could really bring this to the beach, and you wouldn't have to worry about it.
HEMMER: Toshiba PDRT-10 (ph), 399, just a tick under $400.
KANTRA: Well, what's great about this is it's the world's first with a touch screen display. So when you want to access a feature, all you do is touch the screen. So this is a great option for somebody who doesn't want to deal with a lot of hassle.
HEMMER: Kodak is into this market, the EasyShare LS-420 is this one here, is that right?
KANTRA: This is also -- these three are all two megapixel cameras. What's nice about this model is one-button touch transfers all of the images to your desktop, because sometimes it's hard to get these down to your desktop for e-mailing and printing. This also recharges the battery, which is a great...
HEMMER: Just about 300 bucks. How many megapixels in that?
KANTRA: Two megapixels.
HEMMER: Two, OK. Now, let's step up a little bit. The Hewlett- Packard HB-812, you're going to go up in price, $449?
KANTRA: Right. A four megapixel camera, and what's great about this is you're at a party, you're taking some shots, and you're like, oh, OK, I'm going to e-mail that to you. You are never going to remember when you get home.
HEMMER: That's right.
KANTRA: So what this lets you do is you share it right there. You say, OK, make a note right on the camera that this is going to be e-mailed to Joe or to Sally. And when you bring it home, you dock it, and it automatically opens up e-mails with the files attached.
HEMMER: All right. We said 500 on this; $1,000, the Nikon Coolpix 5000.
KANTRA: This is the highest image resolution that you can get for a point-and-shoot camera, and you are going to pay for it. But this is something that you can make posters. This is something that you are going to be able to make archival photos. So if you really want to make sure that this image is going to last, you're going to want to go up to the five megapixels.
HEMMER: Megapixels, how many?
KANTRA: Five.
HEMMER: Five.
KANTRA: Yes.
HEMMER: OK. Just to give our audience an idea here about what you are getting in terms of resolution. Your daughter, who is now nine months old, we have a few pictures we are going to show up here. Now, the first photo you are going to see, this is two megapixels, right?
KANTRA: Yes.
HEMMER: Now, she is cute, huh? What's her name?
KANTRA: Alannah (ph).
HEMMER: Alannah (ph). Excellent. Now let's go up one notch here though. Take it up to three megapixels, and can we see -- oh, this is six. I apologize.
KANTRA: It's six megapixels.
HEMMER: We skipped one here.
KANTRA: Right.
HEMMER: Now, as we look at this screen, can we get a fair representation for what it actually looks like?
KANTRA: You can sort of see. What happens is with the two megapixel image, when you go up beyond 8 x 10 prints -- or actually even an 8 x 10 print, you're going to see that there are sort of blocks in the image, and you're not going to get that with a six megapixel image or a five megapixel image at an 8 x 10 print size.
HEMMER: Now is the time to go digital.
KANTRA: Absolutely.
HEMMER: Good tour. Suzanne, thanks.
KANTRA: Thank you.
HEMMER: Suzanne Kantra, "Popular Science" magazine.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
