lola_gunch

I said I had a snap shot, that means a picture.

I have a snap shot that is very precious to me, more so than anything I own from my perspective and I would like

to send it to the best professional company there is to breath life back into it.

I am not interested in any offers of the best job at a great price in any way.

I just want to know what company do the professionals go to when everything is on the line relative to

quality? Thats it!

R Jackson, I'm going to go with you on this one. She is a very bright girl and should be able to get most of her needs from the manuals. If she starts coming up short as the saying go's I'll get her an advanced book at that stage.

Thanks to you and the others for taking the time to assist me.

I don't know what to say, I thought someone might have personal experience with a specific book on Canon P&S cameras. This is to be a birthday gift to her and since she has never owned a camera I an sure she is going to need more guidance than I poses, not to mention she lives about 1200 miles from my home.

I know she wants it because I bought a Canon A720IS for myself and she went bananas about it, so I got her the camera but need a book that relates somewhat to it and photography since it is both automatic and manual modes. This will give her a lot better start than I had and make things easier for her. If it's easier I feel she will be a lot more interested in going forward and learning and not becoming frustrated.

The Dennis Curtain books look interesting but I feel are more aligned with digital photography period. I feel something would be better if it related to the type of camera she will be using.

 

The Canon book just covers to many models, the reviews seemed to state this rather clearly.

 

I don't know what to do at this pint.

 

What do you guys think?

Is there a really good book available for all aspects of Canon P&S cameras that cover automatic and manual

controls that would be suitable for a smart 15 year old ?

Johnny, thanks for the info, that explains the whole situation.

Dan Ferrel- If the heat will melt the Plexiglas why doesn't it melt the the original plastic diffuser, Frank Skomial implied it was plastic?

 

Nadine Ohara- This is one of the older Vivitar 285 HV flashes, not the new one they put out a few years ago. As for Vivitar, I've sent them two emails and they never answered either one! I'm afraid that company is no longer interested in flash customers.

Thanks for the reply but I don't want to spend that much right now. The flash I will be using is a Vivitar 285 HV, I want to put it on a small tripod and set it off with the wireless slave trigger.

What is a reasonably priced small tripod to put a camera flash unit on for remote flash work or will just any

old cheap one be OK, I don't know therefore the question.

What height should it be capable of?

 

I already have a slave flash wireless trigger.

 

Any advise is welcome as I am new to photography

Thanks for the information but I found out that I can simply take a piece of clear or colored Plexiglas and cut it to the dimensions I need, or a piece out of a milk carton (plastic), etc.

I purchased Vivitar 285HV today but it is missing the diffuser (piece of glass I think) I have been searching

the Internet trying to find one to no avail so far!

 

I see references to "wide angle diffuser" but I don't know if is the correct term for the diffuser or not,

does anyone know?

 

Also, are these diffusers different for each flash model or would one from a Vivitar 283 flash work?

 

All help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks for the reply, that eases my mind, I didn't think there would be a problem but it's always better to ask first.

I want to use a vivitar 283 flash as an off camera flash unit by placing it on a small tripod along with a

wireless slave flash unit.

 

However I came across some articles stating that some of these old 283 flash units drew a lot of voltage. Would

there be a safety issue with doing this, or any issues for that matter?

Robert Lee, I'm not positive but I think the A720IS has the same sensor as the G9.

Petrina I am new to photography as well. The canon A720IS has a automatic mode as well as a "Manual" mode that you can learn on at your own pace to see whether photography is something you want to get more involved with. I think you are doing the right thing by getting a good P&S first so you can explore photography, it might not be your cup of tea so to speak, later if you want to advance into photography you will have a better understanding of things and the ability to make wise choices.

Good luck.

I will be using CanonA720IS to start but plan on advancing as cash flow gets better. I have an excellent slave

flash with a "Hot Shoe" built in instead of a "PC" connection so I can virtually use any commercially made flash

unit. that will accept and work with any flash/camera.

 

Question: I a trying to do this as cheaply as i can and still have a fully functional flash unit. My slave flash

is functional with any camera and/or flash unit, so my question is a great universal flash unit that might be

old but still rated as excellent but not used by current photographers anymore. Can you recommend some examples

that I can look for?

What is the best software that is compatible with the "Linux" operating system?

I just can't for the life of me see why they shroud all news in a "Cloak", this might be a business step to them but my generation is not so tollerent, we want to hear some facts!

By not letting the public know is starting to sound more like a sales gimic that worked in the past but is so stupid it's ridiculous! Times to short to sit around assuming that they are going to do something great when there model updates are like adding another hair to your head!

I think it's time to start looking at the other manufactures like Panasonic, Fuji or anyone! Any of these companies could kick Canon's backside if they could just get up the nerve to operate on there own and design something that people really want instead of copying a company's profile, that is a PITA!

If you are a company guy for these people, bring this up at your meetings!

 

Whats the analogy from the movie, "Build it and They will Come", its actually true!

All those other camera companies have the knowledge, they just lack leadership which is quite obvious!

Is there going to be a replacement for the Canon S5IS or not?

Duane Mills you seem to understand what I am trying to say. I never heard one single person say anything about the cost of those proprietary batteries.

Trying to say that people on Amazon.com, Yahoo, Steves Camera, etc, don't know what they are talking about is totally ridiculous.

 

Also the proprietary battery charger that everyone seems to think is so cute and small, can you charge batteries for your home phone, remote control, mouse, and other items with it? What else will you proprietary battery work in? How many Eneloops can you buy for the cost of one proprietary battery? If you are in the middle of nowhere and it poops out what do you do, oh I forgot you have to have a couple for backups. Now you're talking 1 to $200.00 in batteries. If you are on a shoot in Cambodia, Africa, West Virginia, Russia, deserts, mountains, wherever and you loose/get stole, witch do you think will be the easiest to get in a reasonable amount of time?

Sorry to rant but supporting those proprietary batteries is ridiculous.

If funds are so short don't experiment with batteries, get the eneloops and stop wasting money. Walmart now sells eneloops.

I like what Tom said, now there is an optimistic person. Actually I would like to see some pictures of people and maybe a landscape.

Price batteries for the FZ50 before you buy one.

Why do they build cameras using proprietary batteries when I have never heard

of any sane person that likes or wants them?

Every article I have ever read while researching cameras concerning the

"battery's used" applauded double AA rechargeable and moaned about the

proprietary ones.

It just doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever, at one point I was really

interested in a Panasonic FZ18, I read through the whole review, when I found it

did "NOT" use AA's, I totally lost interest.

I bought a Sandisk Extreme USB card reader today and was wondering about memory

cards.

 

For my computer I have always purchased "Ridata" CD disks and have never had a

bad one yet! So, I was wondering if any one has used the Ridata memory cards

with the Sandisk reader, opinions are welcome.