sd500 or elan 7ne?

[wesley_chao]

Which would be the better choice for an amateur mostly

interested in vacation shots and pictures of friends? I'm ok with

the limited feature set of the powershot sd500 but I'm worried about

picture quality. How is color reproduction and sharpness?

I love everything about the elan 7ne except the fact that it's

a film camera. Still, if the powershot's picture quality is really a

lot worse, I would probably stick with film. Can anyone offer any

advice? I really don't want to go over $450-500 for camera price

alone (not counting stuff like memory cards and battery packs).

Any and all help is REALLY appreciated. Thanks.

[ryanjoseph]

Wesley,

 

These are two COMPLETELY diffrent cameras. You are comparing a pocket point and shoot digital camera to an advanced film SLR. Quality wise, I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised by the images produced from the Powershot S500.

 

The Elan I cannot form an opinion on, since the picture quality you get from the Elan will depend entirely on the lens you choose to buy with it (and the type of film you load it with, and the photo lab that makes your prints), and with your budget your options are limited.

 

If ALL you really want to do is take snapshots of your vacations and family, I think the S500 is the camera for you. It is FAR smaller than the Elan, and easy to use. If you have any quality concerns this review should help you make a decision:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/s500_samples.html

 

The choice is ultimately yours. You will be extremely happy with the S500 if all you want to is take snapshots of friends and vacations. However, if you wish to expand your photography into a more serious endeavour, then the S500 is not for you. I find the S500s image quality to be quite good from the sample prints I have made from the link above.

[eddie y.]

Actually, I think the poster was inquiring about the SD500, not the S500. The SD500 has the better 7mp 2.5" sensor.

 

If I was in your position and for your needs, digital P&S might be better for you. But I might skip the SD500 and save some cash and get the slightly larger A95 (same sensor size, but 5mp). The A95 gives you some more creative control than the SD500 but is a little bigger. I believe the A series also takes conversion lenses as well.

 

I personally wouldn't buy any film camera NEW, with the great deals on used film cameras now. Have you considered a used DSLR setup for approx $600 (used d-rebel with kit lens)?

[wesley_chao]

Thanks for the help. About the DRebel, I sort of see it as between the 7ne and the sd500, with the 7ne having a ton of control and the sd500 having next to none. I would actually prefer staying on one end or the other...if that makes sense. If I make the plunge into a full featured SLR, I really want one with the level of control available with the Elan, but if I don't, I want the unintrusiveness, ease, and casuality of the sd500. Once again thanks for the posts, and thanks in advance for any new posts!

[wesley_chao]

Oh, and also, are there problems with blurriness or anything due to the small hand-held nature of a camera like the sd500?

I know my sister's dsc-p92(sony) is very slow, and most pictures get blurred because of it.

[gary_berg]

The problem with most of the P&S cameras is that they provide you with no feedback as to shutter speed, or even give much warning when the shutter speed is too slow. So you get lots of people doing "silly" things like shooting at a tenth of a second hand-held with no flash.

 

This just won't work on a camera without image stabilization, especially when you hold the camera out in front of you so you can see the LCD instead of holding it against your face which at least helps steady it.

 

The other thing that happens is that people use the "intelligent" focusing system, which then focuses on something which is not the desired subject, but is closer or higher contrast.

 

If you want to go digital, a camera like the Canon A95 is good, since as I recall it does display the chosen shutter speed in the LCD.

 

One of the best digital cameras for someone who is considering a film SLR but can't afford a digital SLR is the Minolta A1/A2/A200 cameras. These have image stabilization, which allows slower shutter speeds, and has a 28-200 zoom lens with an electronic viewfinder. You might find a good price on the A1/A2 on Ebay - there are some refurbished A2s on the market these days in the $500-550 price range.

 

Alternatively, there is the Minolta Z5, which also has image stabilization, but is not as much of a "photographer's" camera as the A2.

 

The Canon Pro 1 is an equivalent camera, but has no image stabilization. I consider the A2 to be superior - which is why I bought one. So let me state clearly, right here, I'm biased towards the A2, so much I skipped from my Canon Pro 90 IS (which I had a Canon flash for) to the A2 and bought the Minolta high-end flash to go with it because I thought the A2 was much better than the Pro 1.

 

If you want to stay in the point & shoot range, I'd suggest either something like the A95 or else a Canon S60/S70. The Sxx cameras are really very good, they have lots of exposure control capabilities, and lots of room to "grow into". There are lots of good P&S cameras on the market, but I strongly suggest buying one with some manual exposure control and readouts unless you wouldn't really consider buying the film SLR.

 

If you really want to have a camera to grow into, consider the Canon Digital Rebel (the one that's been around for a year). That's come down to $799 list with the standard zoom lens. It weighs more than an A2, and you have to deal with dust on the sensor from time to time, and you'll spend lots of $$$'s on lenses, but it is ultimately more flexible than even an A2 or Pro 1, and will produce even nicer images (in theory).

[phule]

<< The SD500 has the better 7mp 2.5" sensor. >>

 

The SD500 does not have a 2.5" sensor. It has a 1/1.8" sensor. This translates to 8.93mm from corner to corner.

 

Wesley,

 

Your comparison really doesn't make any sense. The SD500 is a small point and shoot. The Elan7 is one step below a professional film camera. It's not even apples and oranges anymore it's apples and tuna.

[eddie y.]

Correct...I was just about to add the correction about the sensor size. Either way, the point was that the SD500 has the newer, larger sensor than most other P&S cameras.

 

Wesley, I'm not really sure about going one end or the other. Isn't it ideal to find the best of both ends? The Panasonic FZ20 gets great reviews, is SLR like in function and lens range (38-420mm or so). They go for the $500 mark. You can get a FZ15 (4meg instead of 5) for under $400.