michelle_cox

<p>@Nadine: I tried but I've never had much luck with that. I don't know if it's something I'm not doing right or what but my flash photos always look awful. :(<br>

Michelle</p>

<p>That's very sweet of you to offer but I'm in Wisconsin. This is the event:<br>

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY10MW?sid=1003&type=fr_informational&pg=informational&fr_id=22877<br>

Unfortunately, it's supposed to be thunderstorms on Saturday so there's a very good chance it will move inside. I know even a hotshoe flash isn't great for that but it would be a bit better than the popup. Maybe I'll get lucky and the weather will change. :)<br>

Thanks,<br>

Michelle</p>

<p>@Nadine: Yep.<br>

Ok, here's the latest in this saga. :)<br>

Adorama has been great in working with me on this. Even though it's really not their fault, they offered to ship me out a different flash with free next day shipping so I could have it in time for the event on Saturday. Unfortunately, they have no way of guaranteeing a different flash would work with the 7D, either. Plus, there just really wasn't any other flash in my price range that I liked.<br>

In the end I decided to just ship it in to Tocad and get it upgraded. It means having to use the pop up flash for the event, which sucks, but I think it's the best long term solution.<br>

I want to thank Adorama for going out of their way to help me with this and also Tocad for their quick response and being willing to update the firmware for free and also you on this thread helping me figure this all out. :)<br>

Michelle</p>

<p>@Alan: Thanks for the ideas but Sunpak did confirm it needs an update to work.<br>

@Helen: Thanks, I'll email you.<br>

Michelle</p>

<p>Wow, Sunpak is fast with the responses...</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Yes it is compatible. Since the 7d just came out you need a firmware upgrade for the flash. You send the flash to us at Tocad America , 53 Greenpond Road, Rockaway, NJ 07866 and we upgrade it at no charge.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I'm a little bummed having to ship off a flash that I just bought 2 weeks ago but at least I can use it. I think I'll wait and see what Adorama says first, though, in case they have some already upgraded in stock and can maybe just exchange.<br>

Thanks everyone for the help!<br>

Michelle</p>

<p>I appreciate you trying. What can you do when the company contradicts itself from one page to another?<br>

Michelle</p>

<p>Well, I'm confused. http://www.sunpak.com/sunpak/flashunits.html doesn't list the 7D or the 5D MKII but that link you gave clearly does. And I can't see any way to make it work. I've never had an external flash so I won't rule out user error but you'd think it would at least work in total automatic mode in an fairly dark room.<br>

Haven't heard back from Adorama, yet, but I only emailed them this morning.<br>

Might have to contact Sunpak directly. This is really confusing having all this conflicting info. :(<br>

Thanks,<br>

Michelle</p>

<p>Nadine - Sorry, missed yours while I was typing. Adorama didn't sell the flash in the kit but they listed it as being compatible with cameras that have the "E-TTL II" so I thought it would work. :(<br>

Thanks,<br>

Michelle</p>

<p>Yes, test firing works. But the camera won't fire it. It recognizes there's a flash there. if I go into the flash options and try to do anything with the popup flash it says it can't because there's an external flash. But I can't figure out any way to get it to fire the flash. Even on full automatic it doesn't fire. And none of the options for external flash in the menu work because it says it's not compatible.<br>

Michelle</p>

<p>I bought these two together at Adorama recently. Given the information on their site, they looked to be compatible. After not being able to get it working, I went to Sunpak's site and found that the 7D is not listed as one of the compatible cameras even though it's the same flash type: "Canon E-TTL II: Digital Rebel, XT, XTi, XSi, EOS D50, EOS 40D, EOS 30D, EOS 20D, EOS 5D"<br>

It seems strange that it works with all those cameras and not the 7D. Am I missing something? Is there a way to make it work? I've got an email into Adorama to find out if I can send it back if it can't be made to work but I'm hoping I can use it because the popup flash isn't very good.<br>

Thanks,<br>

Michelle</p>

If anyone is still reading this old thread and wondering, I went with the Canon A710IS. Got it this morning and it's really nice. A bit slow when using flash but otherwise very responsive. Just what I needed.

Thanks for all the advice,

Michelle

Jim - My D40 is an Olympus, not Nikon, and it's very much a digicam. Since I used it before getting my DSLR and really learning what I was doing, my OOF backgrounds were a matter of luck, not skill, but they did happen on occasion, so I know it's possible with a digicam. That's why I'm wanting AV/TV control on my replacement digicam so I can learn to do it deliberately with a digicam like I do with my DSLR.

Thanks,

Michelle

Sorry to keep replying to this days later. I keep forgetting to check back here. Anyway, I wasn't upset... More annoyed to come back and see you simply post a sigh with no explanation. I had this image of you rolling your eyes at me because I didn't agree with your advice. :)

I actually did go and look up that hyperfocal distance when I first read your post and it talked about having a huge depth of field for landscapes, which is exactly what I _don't_ want. I know it's a PITA to get shallow DOF with a digicam, but not completely impossible. I managed it now and then with my D40 and I didn't even have a clue what I was doing back then. I want to get one with AV mode so I can set the aperture as wide as it goes to get the shallowest DOF I can. I'm hoping that it's at least shallow enough that setting the distance to 6 feet when I'm a foot away from him _will_ matter. If the DOF is really going to be that huge that it doesn't matter, I guess Michael is right that a P&S just isn't going to cut it.

Thanks,

Michelle

Sigh? Huh? What on Earth are you sighing about? That I don't want to manually focus? I hardly think it's sigh-worthy that I don't want to take the time to manually focus on a fast moving toddler. My auto focus can barely keep up with him. LOL

Michelle

Sorry, didn't realize there were more responses here. To be honest, I'm not concerned about having manual focus. I don't manual focus a lot on my DSLR and I really don't see me doing it with a P&S. I have manual focus on my Oly D40 and it's a total PITA.

Basically, I just want something fast and small to have with me for impromptu photos. For fancier ones, I'll bring my 10D.

Thanks for all the advice,

Michelle

The Kodak looks nice, but it's a lot heavier than I'd like. The Panasonic looks really nice, and even got a review on Luminous Landscape, so it got my interest... Until I saw the price. I was hoping to keep this around $300 or less.

My current top contenders are:

Canon Powershot A710IS - Overall nice camera but maybe a little big

Fujiflm Finepix 30/31 - If this had a viewfinder, it would be my #1

Fujiflm Finepix E900 - Older camera but looks interesting

Canon Powershot A570IS - This one is new and not a lot of info yet

Canon Powershot TX1 - Neat hybrid but way more than I wanted to spend

Thanks,

Michelle

Jim - We posted at the same time last night. Yeah, I know it's in the reviews, but it's hard when you don't even have a starting place to just look at every review.

Sounds like I don't need to be worried so much about shutter lag as other features, though, if they've all gotten faster. I know with my Oly D40, the half press didn't help. It still takes several seconds to actually take the picture. :( But that's 5-6 year old technology, so I guess there's been improvements.

I'm going to go take a look at suggestions here as well as watch what comes out of PMA. I'm hoping to buy in April, so I have a bit of time to research.

Thanks all,

Michelle

Just got home from camera club. I'll take a look at the Fujifilm and Casio ones. I was looking at the A630 earlier and put it on my maybe list. The 640 is more mpix, but more money, too, so I don't know that it's worth it.

I ran into this while looking and am intrigued. It doesn't really fit my criteria above, but I like the idea of being able to take decent video with it since my main focus with this camera would be my toddler.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0702/07022203canontx1.asp

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll do some more investigating in the morning.

Michelle

Going to a store to test isn't easy with a toddler. I need to do my research online first. I've been going brand by brand and looking at the newest offerings and hardly any of them offer AV/TV control. How strange. My 5 year old digicam has that on it. I'm beginning to think that criteria is going to be harder than the shutter lag one. I'd hate to get a camera with no manual control even though I mainly want it for snapshots. Even with snapshots, I'd like to be able to throw the background out of focus somewhat or make sure I have enough of a shutter speed to stop motion...

Wow, shopping for a digicam is even harder than shopping for a DSLR. So many cameras, none do what I want. LOL!

Any more ideas?

Thanks,

Michelle

I'm used to my Canon 10D and the painfully slow shutter lag on my 5 year old

digicam that I use for a purse camera makes me leave it at home. So I'm in the

market for a new one. I know no digicam will be as fast as an SLR, but I'd like

to get the most responsive one I can get. Other criteria are that it needs to be

compact and let me easily set aperture and shutter priority. Beyond that, I'm

not too picky because this will just be for snapshots on the go and I'll still

use my 10D for planned shoots.

I've tried searching dpreview, but it doesn't let you put shutter lag as a

criteria. :( Does anyone have any suggested cameras? I can do more research from

there, but I don't even know where to start looking for responsive ones.

Thanks,

Michelle

Pico - Yeah, La Crosse, WI. I've never tried photographing on the tracks... I meant that I hadn't heard anyone getting hassled for what they are shooting when they are shooting from a place they are allowed to be. Come to think of it, I do know someone who got stopped once but I can't remember the details now so I don't know if he was on private property or not.

One of our club members did extensive photographing of the new blue bridge as it went up and I don't remember him saying he had any trouble. I think there would be an uproar if photographing that ever became off limits, though, since they're such a big part of La Crosse's image. :)

The person in the photo looks familiar but I just can't place him. Do you know his name?

Michelle

Pico - Glad to see I'm not the only one that picked up on that. I was debating whether to post because I don't want to derail the thread, but I do think that comment was unnecessary. The thought that someone is suspicious simply for being middle eastern and carrying a suitcase is just as worrying as being suspicious for carrying a camera.

Back on topic, threads like this are pretty scary. I hate to see how 9-11 is being used as an excuse for pointless "security". I haven't heard anything like this happening here in the La Crosse area, and I'm glad because we have a lot of photogenic bridges. :)

Michelle

Here's one I did with an Easter basket when I was testing out the lighting before trying it with my son.

Michelle

PS: I just realized I called that other shot "Baby on Mirror". It's not really a mirror; it _is_ Plexiglas. Just a mirror effect.<div></div>

I just attempted this yesterday, so this if far from an expert answer. What I did was buy a piece of the thin cheap plexiglas from Home Depot and layed it on top of a dark blue blanket. I used a matching dark blue blanket as a background. (I don't have a budget for the fancy ones. :) I put one light at floor level aimed slightly up just to the left of the camera. I'm happy with the results I'm getting so far. They're far from perfect, but getting there. Unfortunatly, I only managed to get two shots in of my baby before he lost head control and hit the plexiglas :( So I've shelved any further experimenting until he's older. Too bad I didn't realize his reflection was cut off until I looked at them on the computer. That's one thing you'll want to watch for.

Anyway, if this forum lets me attach images, I'll attach one of them so you can see the results I got.

Michelle<div></div>

You might want to try posting your question here:

<p>

<a href="http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&group=microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker">microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker</a>

<p>

Michelle