My choice for a P&S to complement my 20D

[michael s.]

You're welcome, Tim.

 

On the question of the flip out lcd, I have a Canon G2 (released 2001) with the pivoting lcd. It is an excellent feature, and in my view pretty robustly assembled, too.

 

I can't comment on the A620 or its lcd (just haven't handled it), but I believe that Canon, now in its 4th or 5th year of selling digital cameras with this feature, has sold many many thousands. If they were too fragile, we'd have heard about it by now.

 

Incidentally, that pivoting lcd allows you to take a decent photo virtually unnoticed, even by a person seated nearby ... whose photo you are taking.<div></div>

[michael s.]

I just wish that the F10/F11 or a camera like it offered an optical viewfinder -- even a little one would be okay.

[Tim_Lookingbill]

Good capture, Mike.

 

I can't seem to get my F10 to give me that Ansel Adams dramatic

contrasty look straight from the camera.

 

I'll lock meter for the highlights, but the LCD ends up looking too

dark and so I'll dial back by either metering in darker areas or

adjusting the ev settings by a 1/3 or so.

 

Never comes out like yours and Brians.

 

Plastic body camera's make me too nervous shooting outdoors.

The new Pentax WP seems to be built for very rugged use.

[brian_goodman]

Tim.

 

I love to work my shot's in photoshop. To me that is half of the fun of using a digital camera. My approach is that the camera gives you the raw materials to work with, and then you put them all togeather to capture the feeling you had when you clicked the shutter. It's basically like burning and dodgeing in the darkroom, but now it's much more efficient.

 

On that shot of mine, I did expose for the highlights. I did'nt want to burn out the highlights in the clouds just like you described. I bracketed all of shots from 0 to -2/3. The shot looked dark on the lcd screen, but in photoshop, I was able to retrieve the forground detail. The Fuji's screen is not a tell it like it is kind of a thing. You have to work it alittle bit.

[phule]

<< The flip out LCD on the Canon is nice, and I can see how that would helpful in alot of way's, but it looked like a slight mishap would snap that thing right off. The whole build of the A620 looked like to me that it would hard pressed to survive a three foot drop onto a floor >>

 

I've owned a Canon A80, which has the rotating LCD, for 2 years. In that time I've taken 17,600 shots and dropped the camera twice (both times the camera was off). The second drop was from a height of about 4 feet onto a tile floor.

 

I don't know of /any/ digital point and shoot that would, on average, survive a fall like that while in the on posistion. With the camera off, I think your chances are better. I doubt the Fuji is any less prone to failure in this respect.

 

<< The new Pentax WP seems to be built for very rugged use. >>

 

If you're willing to trade image quality for durability, then the Pentax might be the best choice. But I'd seriously look at the reviews of that camera before buying.

 

Then again, my needs are different than others.

[Tim_Lookingbill]

Brian,

 

Thanks for the filling us in on the details on how you captured

that beautiful shot. It's amazing the level of quality that can be

acheived with a P&S's 8 bit image and Photoshop. I wonder how

much better the shot could be with the added time and expense

using more expensive equipment and a RAW workflow.

 

I guess it pays to underexpose with these camera's. I've tried

calibrating the F10's LCD display by adjusting the LCD

brightness feature embedded in it's menu system. Sometimes it

works.

 

The neat thing about underexposing on this F10 is what you'ld

think has clipped to 000RGB going by the LCD display really

hasn't. The in-camera processing always seems to hold at

around 5 to 8 level black point when measured in Photoshop so

you at least have some data to work with when editing.

 

You can also really capture quite a bit of color gamut by

underexposing. I took this shot of a restored antique roadster

you can see at the end of my post.

 

It took several meter samplings to keep the ground from

bleaching out and the intense red on the fins of the car from

posterizing toward the highlights. I'm sure a RAW capture with a

more professional camera would've gotten better results.

 

I'm going to start bracketing when I get a larger capacity card. I

was working with the paltry 16MB card that came with the

camera.

[Tim_Lookingbill]

Rob,

 

I'll take image quality over fragality. Besides the F10's handy

string like wrist strap really kept accidents from happening while

at the same time not getting in the way of quick shots.

 

You don't know how many shots i've got of my film camera's

bulky strap showing up in the picture or ruining exposure and

focus metering.

 

dpreview doesn't seem to have reviewed the Pentax WP yet and

that's the only place I feel comfortable with so far for reviews.