digital camera recommendation

[k8te]

Hello!

 

I want to buy a prosumer digital camera with removable lenses that

accepts Smart Media cards and has all manual settings. Video not

important. Also, I prefer that it takes AA batteries.

 

Any recommendations?

[hyunyu]

There aren't ANY prosumer digital cameras with removable lenses. You only get that feature with digital SLRs. I don't think any of the current DSLRs use SmartMedia--the 128MB cap in capacity is just too small.

[leslie_cheung]

Surf over to dpreview.com and knock yourself out.

 

smart media are discontinued.

 

changable lens are only available to dslr.

 

all dslr have manual mode I believe.

 

good luck!

[Greg M]

Cameras that use removeable lenses (SLR's) all use compact flash. I've heard of some with dual slots to take both CF and SD cards, but they all use proprietary Li-ion batteries, not AA's. I believe I have heard of possibly one DSLR that has an accessory grip that allows for the use of AA's, but their capacity to take many shots per set would be very limited due to the huge power requirements DSLR's require.

 

The Konica Minolta A2 has an accessory grip that allows for the use of AA's, but it only accepts CF cards.

 

The Canon A-95 would be a good choice as far as AA use goes and you can go fully manual or fully automatic, but again, they use CF cards, not SD.

 

I'm sure there are others- that's all I can think of.

[jbq]

Smart Media has pretty much disappeared, I think that only Fuji still ships some cameras with it, but none of those will fill your other requirements. $50 gets you a 512MB compact flash, $145 gets you a whopping 2GB that you'll have a hard time filling in a single shoot.

 

All cameras with interchangeable lenses (all SLRs for all intents and purposes) support "most" manual settings (focus, zoom, shutter speed, aperture, ISO sensitivity), though not all of them will let you pick the auto-focus mode, metering mode or flash power.

 

The only DSLR I'm aware of that can run from "regular" batteries is the D70, which can use 3 CR2s (and probably uses them so fast that you'll really wish you had bought a second of third dedicated battery).

 

Solutions start just below $1000, and a good setup can be bought for $2500 to $3000.

[hyunyu]

The new battery grip for the Canon 20D DSLR can also use 6 AA batteries.

[jim_zwig]

Why smart media? The SLR doesn't accept smart media. The CF now is cheaper enough.

[phong]

Just a clarification: not all digital cameras with interchangeable lenses are DLSRs. See for example the Epson R-D1

www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Epson/epson_rd1.asp

 

- Phong

[GerrySiegel]

The AA batteries are OK,you still need rechargeables and a charger for any heavy use,but I think more and more cameras are coming out with their own long lasting rechargeable mfr batteries,with higher capacity than the AAs and better performance. Me, I wouldn't make this a requirement if I were shopping. Nor SM,unless you have a warehouse full. Olympus started with Smart Media and the story is that Hitachi(I recall) was never able to develop the format media to take more than 128 meg of data,so it is now getting to be an out of date choice. I would find a camera that takes CF if you can, more or less the standard and best value card per unit of storage. xD is not bad,but gets lost in the lint in my pocket,too small. Go for a good lens too,low light capability,and a large 2"+ LCD screen. Lots to choose from. Good luck.

[GerrySiegel]

PS: Don't tell my wife that Smart Media are discontinued. She still uses it. And it is still sold.

[mike_elek]

The thing that hurt Smart Media is that the drive controller is built into the camera. The drive controller in a CF card is in the card, so in theory the camera took take as large a card as the manufacturer could make.

 

Early cameras had upper limits of 16MB and then 32MB -- sort of like the old DOS limit on hard drive capacity.

 

To go larger, you often had to return the camera to the manufacturer. I seem to recall that Olympus had such a program in place, but I'm not positive about that.

 

Within a fairly short time, CF cards had become the dominant technology and were very inexpensive. Even Olympus and Fuji, early SM adopters, have moved over to CF.

[franka t.l.]

You basically had CF & SD these days. Fuji & Olympus go the size route with that untra minin xD and Sony with its own memory stick. Both of which are being too expensive when compared to like capacity in SD and CF.

 

Kate, your need will be satisified by going to a DSLR, no prosumer had yet give the possibility of interchangeble lens. Most consumer / mid range DSLR had capacity to take AA via a Vertical grip or just are using that by itself.