Looking for a new digital camera, please help!!!

Hello everyone,

 

I�m looking for a new Digital Camera. I currently have a Sony Mavica

MVCCD400. I love the ability to use CD�s for recording media; however,

I really am getting sick of the fact I can�t change lenses. I have

used many SLR film cameras and I would now like to get an SLR digital

camera. I�ve been looking online, and talking to several people about

this, and so far I�ve found very mixed feelings on them. Here are the

choices I have found thus far.

 

1. Canon EOS Digital Rebel Digital camera

2. Minolta DiMAGE A1 Digital camera

 

Am I missing any other SLR digital cameras? I am looking to spend

between $500 - $1500. I normally like to shoot landscapes, groups of

people, and night time shots of all different kinds of stuff. I guess

what I�m saying is I need a camera that can be very versatile. (I love

my Mavica�s ability to take it all, but I would love to be able to

zoom more, and take shots quicker.)

 

 

I also have found these, non SLR camera�s,

 

1. Sony Cyber-shot DSC F828 - Digital camera - 8 Mpix

2. Nikon Coolpix 5700

3. FujiFilm FinePix S7000

 

Any suggestion you might have would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks for your time and consideration,

Scott C. Bleile

Not to start the N v. C debate, for the price, take a look at the Nikon D70, which will be out soon (under $1000?)

 

Then, since you like using CDR, get an Apacer Disc Steno CP-100 (link below), which allows you to transfer images from your CF card to a CDR without the use of a computer.

 

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/disc_steno.html

 

KL

IMO unless you're planning to spend thousands of dollars, you're better off without interchangable lenses, if the camera has a really good fixed zoom to start with, like the Sony F828 or Minolta A-1. I just got an Apacer CP100 this week, and it seems like a great idea.

From what you said you like (digitla SLRs with interchangeable lenses) and the list of cameras you made to compare, you only have one choice: a Canon Rebel D.

About a year ago I was in your position, sold my MVC-CD400, and preordered the about-to-be released Canon 10D (with a D30 for a month while waiting for the 10D to arrive). The Sony was a fun camera and pretty good quality, but the typical P&S inability to control DOF and the inability to change lenses got old fast, and I really wasn't too happy with even 8x10 prints if I did any cropping.<p>The 10D was the smartest purchase I ever made! Beautiful prints up to 13"x19"! I am really glad I didn't "upgrade" to another P&S that would quickly show similiar shortcomings to the Sony.<p>If you can't afford the 10D, go for the next best thing - the Digital Rebel/300D with the EF-S 18-55 lens. A great system to build on.<p>As far as Canon vs. Nikon in digital, I figure that Canon is setting the standards and Nikon is trying to play catch-up.

Hello Scott. Go to

 

http://www.dpreview.com/

 

and click on the digital camera "buyers guide" link. This takes you to a features search, where you can select from a wide range of features and the dpreview database then lists which digital cameras have the features you want. And there are extensive reviews on site for you to read up on.

 

Regards, Ross

The Digital Rebel and it's "kit" kens is essentially the only choice you have in digital interchangeable lens slrs at this point if you hope to stay under your budget. The Nikon D70 and it's basic lens might come in under budget but that won't leave much for batteries and memory.

 

The harder your budget line is, the more necessary it will be to stick to the high-end long zoom digicams. Then you kind of need to really look at the individual cameras and determine which features you really like and which you can maybe give a little on. Some are a little faster than others, some have longer zoom ranges, etc. I'd suggest looking at all your choices. The other possibility is to stick with what you have for a while longer. There is a likelihood of a number of announcements at PMA in February and they may change the landscape for you some. I'd suggest checking these cameras at your local stores just to see if they feel right, reading specs and reviews isn't everything. And waiting at least until PMA in February. There is a new Nikon announced as well that is an 8 meg follow-on to the 5700 so it might be worth seeing how it and the issues with the Sony 828 shake out.

The Canon 10D is on the high end of your price range, but it's an excellent value for the money. The dRebel is a great camera for the price, but if you can afford the extra $500 for the 10D, you'll get a substantial amount of additional flexibility. Your subsequent investment in lenses, etc., will be the same with either camera.

 

The Nikon D70 looks like a great camera, too, but it's anyone's guess as to when it will actually ship.

 

As for the "near-SLRs" (the ones with SLR-like features but non-interchangeable lenses, most if not all feature electronic viewfinders, which I find substantially inferior to true, through-the-lens optical viewfinders.

 

Good luck!

I second Bill's opinon. If you dont have the disposition to buy, yes quite literally, thousands of dollars of lenses; you would be better getting the Sony F828. It is one hell of a camera, if I had an extra 1K I would get it for my bag.

 

F828 is one complete package, it takes all the normal bird, family, beach, b-day party, landscape, it does nightshot, Infared, and takes pictures that rival most any other Digital SLR. And it has a Zeiss lens! to get anything that quality in Slr lenses, its going to be ~$1000 - $1.6K for one lens!

 

If you get an DSLR, a decent zoom lens for it is going to be another $500 dollars. $700 if you want relatively wide angle(Disposable camera POV) shots. That is just the price for a lens that will do medium style shooting(indoor stuff - aka wide angle enough for things where you can get more than one person in the picture). For anything telephoto zoom its going to be another 1K. Of course non-zooms are cheaper and give much much better image quality, but then you loose the versatility that you wanted.

 

If you want to get into photography, get the dslr because of the accessories;

 

(flashes,macro,hook it up to telescopes/microscopes, ability to hook it up to the canon 1200mm or a nice 400 2.8)

 

Which are even more expensive, $60 just for a cord to hold the flash (another $300) off camera!

 

If you just want a versatile all-in-one picture taking solution get the sony.

 

-Dan

If you are feeling limited by a digital P&S, you may do well to avoid another and get a DSLR.<p>For all of its other features, the Sony F828 is still just another P&S with a very small sensor (8.8mm x 6.6mm) combined with a short focal length lens (28-200mm "equivalent" means it is really about a 6mm x 43mm lens, and although Zeiss <i>designed</i> the lens, who actually makes them?).<p>Small sensor + short focal length = huge DOF. No people shots standing out against an out-of-focus background. That takes a lot of creativity out of photography. Yes, background blur can be added in post processing (I understand the new Photoshop CS has a great new feature to do this well, but CS is $650), but is it really the same?<p>So, it boils down to DSLRs, which boils it down to Canon or Nikon, and your budget boils it down to the Canon Digital Rebel (22.7mm x 15.1mm 6.3MP sensor, and although fewer pixels than the F828, fewer pixels on a larger sensor make a nicer image than more pixels on a little sensor), with the 18-55mm lens, a CF card or two, and maybe an additional lens, which doesn't need to cost a fortune (28-135mm IS, perhaps?). That should come in around your upper limit of $1500.

If the ability to shoot consecutive shots with out much write time "down time" the Nikon D70 looks like it's well worth waiting for (due in Spring). It's 144 jpg buffer at 3fps will be larger than any camera currently available including Nikon's flagship high speed camera , the Nikon D2h. Basically this should mean the camera should have similiar performance characteristics to a Nikon N80, with the added bonus of not having to change film for the equivalent of four and half rolls! Let's hope Nikon up's the ante, and includes faster autofocusing than the N80/D100.

 

The Digital Rebel is a nice camera, but it's buffer is pretty small. If performance is what you're looking the Eos 10d is much better choice. It's got a larger buffer and can shoot more consecutive shot before taking write breather. If you really, REALLY, need performance (over large image files) on a budget, then another choice would be a used Nikon D1. It can churn out 21 consecutive 2.75mp files at 5fps, which from performance standpoint is better than all but a handful of cameras (the NIkon D1h and 2h and the Canon 1d). Be aware though this camera has issues with rendering flesh tones (too magenta) and generally speaking it's white balancing isn't as convenient or accurate as newer cameras. And above all the it's image file are less than half of today 6.0 mp cameras. If you value fast autofocusing, the ability to rip through consecutive shots, and a body like a tank however, and you don't print much beyond 8x10, then at around $1000 on ebay they provide decent value.

 

The thing is the uses that you've mentioned don't necessarily indicate you need the performance upgrade a slr would provide. You've indicated you want faster write times, but haven't indicated whether you need better it for better consecutive shot performances with fast continuous autofocusing or whether you just want faster write times for single shot shooting. The uses you've mentioned indicate faster write times between individual shots. The Dimage A1 would definitely provide faster write times and much better autofocusing. The Dimage's weakness is in the user's inability to track focus of a moving subject, due to the slow refresh rates of it's electronic viewfinder. It's not the Dimage's focusing isn't capable, but the lack of tactile feedback is a henderance- which is where optical viewfinders of slrs shine. This only manifest itself in unpredictable shooting environments such as sports- not the relatively sedate shooting situation you've indicated you'd like to use it for- which the A1 should be more than adequate for. The digital rebel is no burner performance wise- but for the uses you've mentioned it should also be more than adequate. If you're going to do sports, you need to move up to the Eos 10d. On the Nikon side, right from the specs I'm hearing about the Nikon D70, I can't think of a compeling reason to buy a D100 at this point in time.

 

If you're longing for better optical performance, more creative control, and quite frankly you just want experiment a variety of glass, then slrs are definitely the way to go. Going "long" digital is a relatively inexpensive proposition due to the standard 1.5X crop factor. What's expensive is lens performance at the wide end; what's even more of holy grail are the standard zooms that are taken for granted in 35mm terms such as the 28mm-105mm zoom. It's going to take me two lenses to cover this range on my used Nikon D1, and nether are going be as convenient as the 28-105mm I used to use, or the the 20mm, 35mm, and 90mm prmes I used for my serious work (all 3 with 52mm filters). Zooms to cover the normal range are just beginning to appear, but most such as the Canon 18-55mm, and Sigma 17-55nn are geared toward the lower consumer market. It Nikon 17-55mm 2.8 Af-S looks like it will be the first pro- level zoom to cover the standard range (if they stop pushing back the intro date), but 18-70mm that supposed to come standard with the $1299 D70, looks promising as standard lens for the "rest of us" who can't afford a pro level lens. Nobody's tested one yet, but the fact it's AF-S and that it cost $300 are promising sign to me (I've always consider $300 to be the bare minimum a good lens will probably cost). I expect it be better than adequate- if not there's alway the sigma. That and some of the wide angles recently introduced by Nikon- the 12-24mm and 10.5mmm fisheye in particular have got me really excited about owning Nikon again. The first time I picked up a Eos 10d I wondered whether I needed to sell my Nikon gear. It was bad year to be Nikon owner (okay not as bad as being Minolta owner, but close). 2004's looking alot better.

 

WOW, I want to thank all of you for such timely responses!!! They have been so helpful!!! I am posting responses to your questions, or my comments to your responses in the order they were listed.

 

KL IX, I will be studying this new Nikon that so many people have suggested on here. It looks interesting to say the least!

 

Also the link you gave me for the Apacer Disc is awesome!!! That solves so much of the worries I had about buying a camera with a memory stick, or micro-drive!!! Thank you so much!

 

 

Maureen and Jon, thanks for those suggestions! The Canon 10D might hold off my timeframe for purchasing it a little, but before I say I am going that way I�m going to have to follow Craig�s advice and try all these cameras on for size.

 

(I�m heading to a couple of stores today in Cleveland to look and hold some of these cameras. Does anyone know of any stores in Northern Ohio where I could find all these cameras in one place? I�m basically going store to store today, and since one store has only one of the cameras on my new list, and another has one of the others� it�s going to be a long day!)

 

Daniel, I�ve been looking at the Sony F828 a lot, because my buddy is a part owner of a Sony Dealership. He�s going to bring in an F828 just so I can check it out, and see what I think of it. Thanks for the advice :-)

 

Paul, I�ve noticed those cons on the Sony, I guess at this point I�m going to end up trying all of these cameras, before I buy them! I�m amazed the knowledge base that�s on this website!!!!

 

G. Wiley, the pictures I like to take are more for single shots, artistic shots, and stuff like that, my current cameras record time, and time for it to focus and adjust end up making my subjects waiting for a while, and then sometimes the picture still doesn�t always come out how I like it. I guess I�m looking for a faster, and more manual adjustment. I just miss the adjustability of my old Film Minolta, but I love the digital pictures I get with my Sony Mavica�

 

Well thanks again to everyone, it means an awful lot, and you�ve given me a lot to think about!!!

Thanks,

Scott

Hi,

Don't rule out the Sigma's. The SD10 is a little under the Canon 10D and the older Sigma SD9 is about the price of the Rebel. It may go against the tide but the images are very good. The choice of lenses are growing, the SD10 takes great night pictures and I suspect the camera line will be around for a long time. If you go to DP Review take a couple of minutes to check them out.

Be sure to come back and tell us what you decided!

 

Good luck!

 

-Dan

I am a canon user. Been one since I started shooting 3 years ago. Started with an AE-1 and moved into an Elan 7E. The camera that I can't wait for is oddly enough this one.<br>

<br>

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0401/04012805nikoncp8700.asp<br>

<br>

Yep a nikon 8700. If canon would get off their buts and produce a camera similar to this one, or a higher quality P&S then I would get a canon model. So until PMA and canon releases some data, I am holding out for one of these. I originally wanted to get a 5700 but when they announced this one, I had to check it out. I don't have a clue on canadian prices, but I hope it sticks around 1200 or so.

 

If you want a DSLR get a Rebel, or wait until you can afford a 10D. If you want a P&S wait for PMA, and find out what is comming out. Me my SLR's all going to be film until I become a Photojournalist, or a semi-pro to pro shooter. Film is so much more "old school", and the chemicals ooohhh, just thinking about them makes me want to go and develop my latest B&W roll. Good luck out there.

 

Cheers,

A camera is like a woman...it Doesn't matter what her name is, it only matters what you do with her...;)...J