Cameras!

[Cosine]

I maybe could put this in the photographpy forum but I'm not JUST talking about tank shots.

Well my current camera is a Nikon coolpix 3500. I'm planning on giving that to my sister and my parents will give me some $$ towards an upgrade.

I'm not sure yet how much I wanna spend, I don;t know much about photography but want to get into it more.
My dad is really into it though.

Well what would you buy? should I go SLR?
I will be getting digital by the way...
Any suggestions out there?!

Thanks everyone!

[cath]

Hey Cosine!

I'm gonna pinch FishDaddy and KWJones on this one. They recently gave me some good advice for me to give a relative. Of course, we have lots of good photographers here, and we can all learn from them.

[Doug1]

digital SLR are spendy, might be worth upgrading to a digital slr if you had a Canon or Nikon 35mm setup already

[FishDaddy]

Hi, Cosine,

The two big questions are; what is your budget and what do you plan to photograph?

As Doug said; DSLR's are 'spendy'. While the basic "kits" offered with Nikon D70, Canon D-Rebel; etc.; are priced only a little higher than the top-end non-DSLRs, the accessories and extra lenses needed to fully utilize these cameras will easily cost as much, if not much more, than the original camera package. If you have a 35mm DSLR with auto-focus lenses, this could be a big factor in choosing a camera. It's the lenses that are important and they will serve you through the next generation of cameras. Another factor with DSLRs is post-processing. They are ok as point & shoots, but to get your money's worth out of them you have to spend time in PhotoShop, Paint Shop Pro, or a similar program to tweak the images for highest quality.

What are your goals in photography and what do you like to photograph? Do you need the extra zoom of an Olympus C-770, Nikon 8800, or Canon Pro 1 or will wide angle and 3x suffice for what you shoot? There's so many cameras out there to choose from.

Here is a great site with reviews and specifications of all current digital cameras: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs.asp

I'm no expert by any means but it is a hobby and I do have several digital cameras. Kevin and others on the forum are very knowlegeable and hope they will respond as well.

Dick

[Cosine]

Thanks for the replies everyone
Dick
my cousin just gave me that website aswell. It's a good spot, thanks for link.
Well I haven't decided on a budget just yet. Have to see what kind of job I'm going to get for my term out of school that is coming up. That might be the decider.
I'm gonna check out a few cameras then come back to the table with what I've narrowed down too.
Keep any advice coming!
thanks again!

[Cosine]

Well my first thought is that I may not go with DSLR yet. Maybe buy a high function, high zoom point and shoot then if I really get into it later I can always upgrade into the world of SLR.
Is this a good thought?
Does anyone have thoughts or experience with the 8megapixel range of point and shoot world?

[FishDaddy]

Cosine,

Good that you found that site. You might want to review the forums for comments and discussions from actual users of the cameras you are interested in.

The high-end fixed-lens cameras are very good but all are compromises in one way or another. You just have to decide which features suit you best.

In the 8 megapixel long-zoom category, there are only two; Canon PowerShot Pro1 and Nikon 8800. The Nikon has the advantage of image-stabilization which is a real boon to handheld shots. I haven't used either of these cameras but took a look at them before buying my D70.

The Olympus 770 is an excellent camera with full features and hotshoe for accessory flash. It's 'only' 4 megapixels but is very capable and the smallest of the good ones.

Panasonic FZ20 is another one worth looking at. It's 5 megapixels, 12x zoom, and has image stabilization. It's gotten great reviews, both by the professional reviewers (see the DPReview Review) and also by several of my friends who have bought this camera. Don't be put off by the 5 megapixels. That's a lot of pixels for most any purpose and the long zoom lets you do the cropping in camera instead of with software where many of those pixels might be cropped off anyway.

Good luck in your camera quest!

Dick

[Cosine]

Thanks again Dick
I'll have to see how much money my parents will put towards this as well in exchange for my old camera but I'm not expecting any huge amount! haha
Well certain features I am looking for are good macro, good optical zoom, and a fast continous that can buffer as many pics as possible. A quick shutter speed would be great but I'm pretty sure every camera in this range can handle that one.
Thanks again I'll keep you posted on how the searching is going.
PS
Glad you like the D70 my mom is going to get that for my dad in the near future, although canon has an 8 megapixel SLR out now that I might get her to consider. But just cause it's a higher res. doesn't mean its a better camera. Also he has a F60 now. Not sure which lenses he has but do you know if they could transfer over to the D70? If not I'm sure I can check that quite quickly
Thanks again!

[FishDaddy]

Originally Posted by Cosine

Also he has a F60 now. Not sure which lenses he has but do you know if they could transfer over to the D70?

Most Nikon lenses will work perfectly on the D70, especially the later Autofocus ones. Here's a couple of good sites with reviews and comments about Nikon lenses:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/nikkor.htm

http://www.bythom.com/lensacronyms.htm

Dick

[Cosine]

thanks again Dick
you've been really helpful

but there is a lot of cameras out there to choose from!
I think I'm gonna be reading reviews and forums for awhile!

Also one thing I could never get a good shot of was my fish. Now this is a combination of not using a tripod and having a shaky hand. This was a problem because my camera kept slowing the shutter speed when the flash was off. I guess not enough light from the tank? Another reason to get MH?
Anyways what are some features I should look for to catch the fish well?

[FishDaddy]

Cosine,

Light is the key to any photograph, so whether ambient light or flash, you've got to have enough to be able to use higher shutter speeds. All of the better digicams have manual settings so you can set the desired shutter speed but you'll still need that light!

Dave has an excellent FAQ on tips for photographing tanks on the Photography Forum:

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=23680

Glad to help!

Dick