Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Suzanne Kantra

Aired July 20, 2003 - 08:16   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.


THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Three simple directions, right? Point, click and smile. Well, that's what millions of Americans are trying to do this summer and it's exactly what digital camera industry people are doing so well. Over the next five years, sales are expected to reach more than $11 billion.
And if you're among the amateur photons ready to enter into the 21 Century your choices are vast here, people. What should the novice shutterbug look at in the digital camera age?

"Popular Science" asked just that question in the August issue. And the magazine's editor here joins us now to explain. Suzanne Kantra joins us from New York to talk with us more about digital cameras. The point, click and smile age that we all live in.

Suzanne, good morning.

SUZANNE KANTRA, EDITOR, "POPULAR SCIENCE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

ROBERTS: So, let's talk about this. When it comes to digital cameras, what's the first thing that we should look at? It's not really the price here, is it?

KANTRA: Well, it's not because as prices are coming down. What we're recommending is you look at a three-mega pixel camera, and that means three million points of information are being captured by the camera. The second thing that we recommend is a three X optical zoom lens. Not a digital zoom, and this will let you get up a little bit closer to your camera -- to your subject.

And the third thing is we recommend that you go down to the store and actually put your hands on these. The size and shape, the layout of the buttons, they're all very different on the cameras. And you have to make sure that it's intuitive for you to use.

ROBERTS: So you really need to really get hands on in a situation like this to go figure out whether or not you can see the button, work the camera, figure it all out. I mean besides getting the manual once you purchase the camera, but actually just going in and doing that research first.

KANTRA: That's a really great idea. Obviously, going on line and researching saying -- seeing what other people are saying about them is a good idea as well. One thing about the three-mega pixel cameras today is they have a lot of smarts built into them. We took four different cameras in our August issue and took a look at them and there are some key me features you might want to think about. One is the Sony Cyber shot P- 8, and one thing that we loved about this camera is that it has continuous auto focus. Which means if you have kids running around or a dog, as soon as you depress the button you know you've take than picture. So you don't have to worry about them running out of the shot. The a...

ROBERTS: Hey Suzanne, did you bring some of the cameras with you, I understand?

KANTRA: I did bring some of the cameras with me. We have the Olympus Stylus Digital 300, and the neat thing about this it has a weather resistant case. And that's great because as we were saying these cameras cost about 300 or so dollars, this one 399. And you don't want to, you know, get dust on the lens; you don't want to worry about going out into a rainstorm. It's a great feature. You know, you don't have to work worry about knocking this camera aren't.

The other thing we liked is the Minolta Dimage XT. And the cool thing about this is it's incredibly tiny, very, very slim. And what they've done is they've been able to put the lens directly into the housing so it doesn't stick out when you turn the camera on. The other thing is a very short start-up time. So that you don't have to worry about, you know, not having your camera on and missing that shot.

ROBERTS: Suzanne, these cameras just keep getting smaller and smaller, don't they? That almost looks like two credit cards put together.

KANTRA: It certainly does. And you know, you can get credit card sized cameras. One thing people often ask us is do you really need three mega pixels? You can pick up a digital camera these days for under $100 for the one-mega pixels. And those are good for sharing on the web or may be making very small wallet sized prints. But three mega pixels is going to give you that 8 by 10 size easily.

ROBERTS: And where do we find the middle ground, though? Would that be cameras that are between 250 and $300, this being for the person that really doesn't want to be the amateur but also doesn't want to be the expert?

KANTRA: Well, we're saying three mega pixels. That does get you into the $300 price point. Two mega pixels is going give you between two and $300 and that's good for up to 5 by 7s. Maybe an 8 by 10 if you use the entire shot. One thing that people don't realize when they're taking their pictures is if somebody wanders into the side of a shot, you want to be able to crop that person out, or maybe you want just a small piece of that photo. If you're talking about 2 or 1 mega pixel camera, you're not going to be able to crop them out and still be able to get a 4 by 6 or 5 by 7 shot.

ROBERTS: Suzanne Kantra, "Popular Science" magazine, we appreciate you taking time to talk about us about this. And now, we're all going to be better off for our summer vacations when we know what to go buy in terms of cameras.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 20, 2003 - 08:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Three simple directions, right? Point, click and smile. Well, that's what millions of Americans are trying to do this summer and it's exactly what digital camera industry people are doing so well. Over the next five years, sales are expected to reach more than $11 billion.
And if you're among the amateur photons ready to enter into the 21 Century your choices are vast here, people. What should the novice shutterbug look at in the digital camera age?

"Popular Science" asked just that question in the August issue. And the magazine's editor here joins us now to explain. Suzanne Kantra joins us from New York to talk with us more about digital cameras. The point, click and smile age that we all live in.

Suzanne, good morning.

SUZANNE KANTRA, EDITOR, "POPULAR SCIENCE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

ROBERTS: So, let's talk about this. When it comes to digital cameras, what's the first thing that we should look at? It's not really the price here, is it?

KANTRA: Well, it's not because as prices are coming down. What we're recommending is you look at a three-mega pixel camera, and that means three million points of information are being captured by the camera. The second thing that we recommend is a three X optical zoom lens. Not a digital zoom, and this will let you get up a little bit closer to your camera -- to your subject.

And the third thing is we recommend that you go down to the store and actually put your hands on these. The size and shape, the layout of the buttons, they're all very different on the cameras. And you have to make sure that it's intuitive for you to use.

ROBERTS: So you really need to really get hands on in a situation like this to go figure out whether or not you can see the button, work the camera, figure it all out. I mean besides getting the manual once you purchase the camera, but actually just going in and doing that research first.

KANTRA: That's a really great idea. Obviously, going on line and researching saying -- seeing what other people are saying about them is a good idea as well. One thing about the three-mega pixel cameras today is they have a lot of smarts built into them. We took four different cameras in our August issue and took a look at them and there are some key me features you might want to think about. One is the Sony Cyber shot P- 8, and one thing that we loved about this camera is that it has continuous auto focus. Which means if you have kids running around or a dog, as soon as you depress the button you know you've take than picture. So you don't have to worry about them running out of the shot. The a...

ROBERTS: Hey Suzanne, did you bring some of the cameras with you, I understand?

KANTRA: I did bring some of the cameras with me. We have the Olympus Stylus Digital 300, and the neat thing about this it has a weather resistant case. And that's great because as we were saying these cameras cost about 300 or so dollars, this one 399. And you don't want to, you know, get dust on the lens; you don't want to worry about going out into a rainstorm. It's a great feature. You know, you don't have to work worry about knocking this camera aren't.

The other thing we liked is the Minolta Dimage XT. And the cool thing about this is it's incredibly tiny, very, very slim. And what they've done is they've been able to put the lens directly into the housing so it doesn't stick out when you turn the camera on. The other thing is a very short start-up time. So that you don't have to worry about, you know, not having your camera on and missing that shot.

ROBERTS: Suzanne, these cameras just keep getting smaller and smaller, don't they? That almost looks like two credit cards put together.

KANTRA: It certainly does. And you know, you can get credit card sized cameras. One thing people often ask us is do you really need three mega pixels? You can pick up a digital camera these days for under $100 for the one-mega pixels. And those are good for sharing on the web or may be making very small wallet sized prints. But three mega pixels is going to give you that 8 by 10 size easily.

ROBERTS: And where do we find the middle ground, though? Would that be cameras that are between 250 and $300, this being for the person that really doesn't want to be the amateur but also doesn't want to be the expert?

KANTRA: Well, we're saying three mega pixels. That does get you into the $300 price point. Two mega pixels is going give you between two and $300 and that's good for up to 5 by 7s. Maybe an 8 by 10 if you use the entire shot. One thing that people don't realize when they're taking their pictures is if somebody wanders into the side of a shot, you want to be able to crop that person out, or maybe you want just a small piece of that photo. If you're talking about 2 or 1 mega pixel camera, you're not going to be able to crop them out and still be able to get a 4 by 6 or 5 by 7 shot.

ROBERTS: Suzanne Kantra, "Popular Science" magazine, we appreciate you taking time to talk about us about this. And now, we're all going to be better off for our summer vacations when we know what to go buy in terms of cameras.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com