Need good tiny digicam to compliment my 30 D. HELP

[jay_d.__los_angeles_]

Picked up the olympus stylus 720 today and not sure if I like it. Bad low

light shots and flash seems crappy! I would like to get a slim and sleek very

compact digicam that WILL take good pics indoors with flash as well as

outdoors. Any suggestions? 300-400 $ price range. Thank you soooo much for

any input.

[peterblaise]

.

 

Hi Jay,

 

They're all "good" - that is, they do exactly as promised. Did you not master your own needs "versus" the camera's offering BEFORE purchase to make sure there was a match? If you think the Olympus is "crappy", send it to me and I'll take some great shots with it and not send it back!

 

What's wrong with carrying the Canon 30D with you everywhere? Seriously! I carry my "larger" digital camera everywhere, and I don't complain, not did I complain with carrying my "larger" film cameras in the years past - a "big" Minolta Alpha 507si and Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3, and before that a "smaller but still heavy" Minolta X-700 and Vivitar 28-105mm f/2.8-3.8, and before that a "heavy" Minolta SR T 100 and Minolta 50mm f/2 - they each fit nicely in a "holster" around my waist in a fanny pack, as I NEVER hang a camera around my neck - has anyone seen a cowboy hang their weapon of choice around their neck? Silly idea, no? Maybe you just need to different ways to carry your Canon 30D more easily with you everywhere so you can shoot everything all the time. What lens do you "walk about" with?

 

However, regarding smaller digitals ... let's inventory some criteria.

 

My partner wanted (a) small/pocketable, (b) super zoom, © stabilization and a (d) viewfinder, and gave up on the viewfinder. My partner just got a Panasonic/Leica DMC-TZ1 and is pleased. The Kodak 610 and Nikon S4 didn't have stabilization.

 

I want (a) RAW, (b) direct control and read out knobs, © super zoom, (d) stabilization, and a (e) viewfinder, so it's a good thing I also don't want (f) "small" as there ain't one! I got a Minolta DiMage A1. The Panasonic/Leica DMC-FZ-series STILL hasn't matured - why doesn't the stabilized, viewfindered DMC-FZ20 with it's 36-432mm f/2.8 CONSTANT lens have RAW output(?) - as they STILL aren't using big enough sensors in my opinion - see http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=sensor_sizes for comparison information.

 

Hay, I think you may have to start all over again from scratch. I think you have to explore your own criteria very carefully and extensively. Then compare your own criteria equally carefully and extensively to the features and benefits of what's out there. Be prepared to compromise, as you may find NOTHING that meets ALL of your criteria, but it's a place to start.

 

We used http://www.dpreview.com/ and http://www.amazon.com/ and the manufacturer web sites to help us learn. We downloaded all the data for cameras that interested us and read the details and reviews and even read the PDF owner's manuals completely. We also shopped at a variety of different stores over and over, together and apart. By the time my partner decided, the price had dropped, and the $350 camera was $300, which made it "only" $500 by the time we left the store with a memory card, spare battery, hip case and extended warranty - geesh!

 

Let us know what YOU do and how this progresses - we're all doing this for ourselves and for our friends who "think" that we know what we are doing. Silly them! =8^o

 

My address is: Peter Blaise Monahon, 3686 King Street #185, Alexandria, Virginia, 22302 US - so you can send that Olympus to me so I can show you what it can do! ;-)

 

Click!

 

Love and hugs,

 

Peter Blaise peterblaise@yahoo.com Minolta DiMage A1 Photographer http://www.peterblaisephotography.com/

[tom_burke3]

Peter said:

 

"What's wrong with carrying the Canon 30D with you everywhere?"

 

Well, one instance when it can be a pain to carry a full DSLR everywhere is on holiday! If

you fly within europe, hand-held baggage allowance is often just 6 kgs, and the airlines

are beginning to restrict the sort of extras they used to allow, eg a camera around your

neck when you check in. And they're beginning to take a tougher line on actually weighing

the hand-held bags, and checking their dimensions. In that situation, having a little

compact digicam would be handy.

 

This is for a (non-photopraphic) holiday, of course: if I was going abroad specifically to

take pictures then it would be different. But on a general family holiday, using up most/all

of my limited hand-held baggage allowance on the DSLR is beginning to be not sensible.

[jim_gifford]

Jay,

 

If you really want "good indoor pictures with flash" you will have to exclude from your hunt ALL the itty bitty digital cameras with the flash 30 mm from the lens.

 

Pocketable digicams WILL take indoor pictures with flash, and those pictures will be better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but they will not be GOOD. The flash reflector is too small and it is too close to the lens. As a result, the lighting is harsh and flat, and anyone farther than arm's length from the len will have redeye.

 

Cameras that are stack-of-credit-cards size (roughly 90mm by 60mm by 25mm) are marvels of technology. They can take wonderful photos in bright light, and they can take so-so photos when the light is fair. Their tiny flash units adjacent to the lens are hopeless, though.

 

Be well,

[jim_gifford]

Tom,

 

The answer is not to fly within Europe. The airlines keep tightening the passenger restrictions, making it less pleasant and less practical to comply. So don't comply...

 

Most of western Europe is accessible by fast, comfortable rail service. No 6 kg limits. No stuffing your knees into the seatback ahead of you. No strangers' elbows nudging your ribcage. If you look at true door-to-door times for your destination, including the recommended "arrive xx hours before flight" recommendations, you may well find that trains are FASTER. Driving can be faster still, if you count all the transit times within the vacation (and cheaper even at XX euros per litre).

 

If the airlines cannot really offer an advantage in speed within the EU, and if they cannot get you to your destination for less money, and if they treat you like livestock, why fly?

 

Just a thought, in case you've been a victim of the airline passenger frog syndrome (if the temperature of the water is raised gradually enough, frogs stay put until the water is much too hot for their health).

 

In the USA, for trips less than 600 km it is almost always faster to travel by car than to travel by airline (especially because one is always urged to arrive at the airport hours before flight time to be assured of passing through TSA screening in time to board the flight). Intercity train service in the USA is lousy compared to that in Europe, with the notable exception of the Washington-Philadelphia-New York-Boston corridor.

 

Be well, and always take 7 kg or more of photo gear...

[tom_burke3]

Quote:

 

"The answer is not to fly within Europe. The airlines keep tightening the passenger

restrictions, making it less pleasant and less practical to comply. So don't comply..."

 

Have you seriously looked at the time and cost involved in getting from where I live

(Sheffield, UK) to, say, Greece (where we've just been) or Palma (where we're going in

September) by rail? Whereas Rome is 2 and a half hours by air from East Midlands airport,

and Mallorca is less than that.

 

I'm a fan of rail, and where it's easy I'll use it. But easyJet, Ryanair, bmiBaby and all the

other budget airlines have completely altered the travel equations. Stag weekends in Riga,

for example....

[phule]

Get the Fuji F30 and forget the flash.

[mr._smith]

"Bad low light shots and flash seems crappy!"

 

Before you spend money on a new digicam, you might want to try this:

 

Shoot at ISO 400 indoor and use flash. And then use NoiseNinja/Noiseware/Neatimage to denoise your pics. You might be surprised at the results especially the Photoshop plugin version in batch mode.

[chris_david]

The F30 is the best low light small camera on the market.

 

I have and like the Pana DMC-FX01 but it's not a great high ISO camera. It does has IS and the lens is 28mm on the wide end which I wanted.

[peterblaise]

.

 

Travel without the camera of your choice BECAUSE the carrier wants to limit your carry on weight?!?

 

Wow.

 

Just a reminder - photo.net is for PHOTOGRAPHERS, not light weight travelers who think photo gear is optional! ;-)

 

GEESH!

 

Anyway, to each their own. Yes, even National Geographic photographers have been known to say, "I don't take a camera on vacation because for me, carrying a camera is work and that wouldn't feel like a vacation." Apparently someone else takes family pictures! =8^o

 

Ah, yes, to each their own.

 

Quite a variety of personal opinions and attitudes towards photo gear and being able to turn photography on or off on demand.

 

Wow.

 

I'll keep reading - you all keep writing. There's so much to learn about each other!

 

Click!

 

Love and hugs,

 

Peter Blaise peterblaise@yahoo.com Photography is Free Speech http://www.peterblaisephotography.com/

[jim_gifford]

Tom, I was thinking more along the lines of Paris-Rome or Rotterdam-Monaco or something... that pesky Channel of yours does put a kink into your land-based travel options (but the good news is, it also slowed down Napoleon and Hitler).

 

Still, when you say "Rome is 2 and a half hours by air from East Midlands airport" you're not taking into account the whole travel time. Here in the USA at least, if you follow airline suggestions, at two and a half hours into a trip you will not yet have left the ground at your departure airport (because you have to leave home early enough to get TO the airport and check in a couple hours before flight time).

 

I live less than an hour's drive from Baltimore Washington International, National and Dulles -- the three airports in the Washington D.C. metro area. My parents used to live on Hilton Head Island, about 650 miles (roughly 1,000 km, yes?) from my front door.

 

The drive on the interstate would take roughly 10 hours, sometimes nine and a half hours, door to door. That would involve traveling at about 10mph over the posted limit, which is fairly typical on interstate highways here.

 

Flying also usually took nine to ten hours door to door. Once in a while, all the connections in North Carolina or Georgia would work as planned and the airborne route would be six hours.

 

Planes are quite fast while airborne and out of the terminal area, but you're only airborne for a small part of the overall duration of the journey.

[jim_gifford]

One more thing, Tom...

 

"But easyJet, Ryanair, bmiBaby and all the other budget airlines have completely altered the travel equations. Stag weekends in Riga, for example...."

 

I do not doubt you. Airlines have REALLY changed their marketing strategies for intra-European travel in recent years, and as a result the number of flights, the number of passengers and the tourist holiday options have skyrocketed.

 

Riga? Wow. As the French say, ploo ka shahhhnj.

 

Be well, have a wonderful time in Parma...