In the market for a digital camera- advice?

My Olympus C-2020z is a great camera and all- but it's old and tired... After taking a few shots of the Enzo/F40 on Saturday- I was really disappointed at the Ferrari red coming out as Ferrari pink .. It's pretty rare for me to get a shot of cars like these, so when I do, I want it to be perfect.

I am getting very interested with digital photography even though I would consider myself a novice- I want to learn though. I have a budget of $500-$1000 (I'd rather spend closer to the $500 side though). Ideally, my camera would have a usable video option and a manual focus option in which I could really take some nice quality pictures.

What should I be looking at? What are some tips? Has anyone bought a digital camera recently who could offer some advice?

Any help is appreciated!

 

great site: http://www.dpreview.com/

doody.

 

www.dcresource is pretty good too.

have you looked at the Canon G5 or digital rebel? you could get the digital rebel for under 1k with a lens and you'd have a 6+mp dslr.

 

i have been into photography as a " other , other " hobby for a long time. like a car, its going to depend on the uses and conditions you will be using it most, say a static protected studio or an all out sports/ outdoors use. i have a nikon something (its in my truck) and i absolutely love it. i use my manual focus minolta 35mm with a bazzillion lenses only for special occasions. just like a test drive, try out as many cameras as you can and get what meets your needs the best!

 

1.5 years ago, I paid top dollar for a Canon Powershot G2 (4 megapixel).

I am very loyal to Canon as a brand, and their powershot series is extraordinary. They have G3 and a G5 models out now. These are their top of the line, high-end consumer cameras, and they have a real "photographer" feel to them.

Even now, even with all my buddies have their cameras--the camera that takes the group shot for the 8x10 is mine.

I've also gotten some amazing shots in certain conditions (hot air balooning over napa valley) that I was ONLY able to get by manually tweaking the aperature / F stop settings...

Cons: Kind of big (won't fit in your pocket), must be patient with the autofocus, outdoor pictures occasionally lack good color variance

Pros: great resolution (amazing 8x10s), great night mode, manual mode for photography buffs to control shutter speed / fstop, uses common Compact Flash cards (not anything proprietary), great zoom, great close-up pictures, remote, timer, great movie mode.

But, this has been covered before--lots of good info on this in the archives!

 

i heard the cameras that do fit in your pocket and are 5.0MP are bad??

people say bigger cameras are better

i know zilch about them...and would like to buy a 5.0MP by jan

i found this..any thoughts?

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Sony/sony_dsct1.asp

 

Thanks for posting this subject and for the replies.

I am looking at purchasing one in about 2-3 months when prices drop some more.

 

What do you guys think of the Nikon Coolpix 5700- seems like they are 800-900 new but 500 used- which isn't too horrible. Is it a significant step up from my Olympus C2020z?

 

That's a great site. I like the Canons. If you want quality and a decent size go for the S50. If you want a little more functionality buy the G3 or the G5 (4 and 5 Mpixel). They are a little bigger though. I have the G3. It is an amazing camera. Battery life is outstanding and so is quality. I never really use it at the highest resolution so I dont have a need for 5MP. At 4MP I have had 8X11's developed and they are close to perfect with great resolution. With the G3/5 you can add lenses (telephoto/wideangle) with an adapter. I just used my G3 on Safari - worked very well even using the digital zoom (the photos were very clear).

 

my 2.0 cool pics nikon 2500 whatever takes great pics. i think the newer version is under $300 and has more " pixels" 4.0????? anyway its small and lite, ive taaken it to race tracks, themeparks with rollarcoasters beach and boating trips ect. i would not get one that is too big if you are going to be busy with kids ( dont know if you have any or not.... i dont ) or busy doing other things. yes my 2.0 is on the low side but from cars to pics of naked chicks its been ( ahem!!! ) a great freaking camera. battery will take 150+ pics before it runs out and i have a 64 meg card that will hold 900+ low to med resolution pics. i have had no need for the super high res stuff because i have to resize it to put it in an email on the net anyway.

 

What do you think about the new Ferrari Digital Camera??
see:
www.forzarossa.nl

(you can buy it at the off. Ferrari Store...link on ForzaRossa.nl)

 

des

how many MP is that

for a person who only takes family pics, car pics, meet pics..and want a little bit of zoom, are these big cameras necessary?

i would like something i can carry everywhere but 5.0 and good quality.

 

www.stevesdigicams.com is pretty cool.

I have a Nikon CoolPix 5700, and love it to death - even if it is a little fragile!

Ernesto

 

kenny, i just got a Canon G5 and love it...i'm not even close to using it to its max but has great battery life and takes great shots.

 

Does anyone have the Olympus Stylist 400,? Im thinking of buying one this week, 4megapix 3optical and a metal water/weather resistant case. on sale for $306 plus $40 mail in rebate. Heard there good. Any comments

 

Kenny, the camera i have is a little out of your price range (Translation: LESS THAN five hundred dollars!) but i like it a lot and can take video with it... It's a Sony Cyber Shot; the camera, with an extra memory stick and an extended warranty was around $300, i think... You could take the extra $200 and buy more memory sticks... The 256 MB memory stick was around $100+ when i bought one, so buying two of those would have you set to take some 500+ pictures... Just a thought...

 

Bump.

Still clueless as to what to buy- I'd prefer to spend closer to the $500 mark- and it seems like everyone is leading me to that new SLR Rebel.. I'd like a camera that is signifcantly more professional than my current c2020Z- which is 2.1 megapixels with a 3x zoom and no manual focus but can't really justify spending 1k on a hobby that I could potentally drop the week after I get the camera due to it being too complicated.

Anyong have any suggestions for a good beginning SLR/manual digital camera?


Thanks!

 

des

how many MP?

this sony which i thought is the cybrshot is almost 600 bucks

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Sony/sony_dscv1.asp


cant decide between sony dsc V1 or sony dsc T1

 

I got a Sony DSC-F717 which costed me 850 euros

Great pictures, great options. 5 MP 5x optical zoom, 10x digital.
Carl Zeiss lens, Nightvision, Infrared focus in dark, Manual and autofocus

 

if u want something close to 500$ go to manhattan and buy a Minolta Dimage 7i as i did last year..5.0MP and i paid 650$.

 

I have 2 fuji finepix F601Zoom (1 for me the other for the wife)I wiuld thouroughly recommend one of these the only thing I did was to take out the stock multi-media and replace it with a 512k card,i find the results are fantastic and it is also very user friendly.
best regards
Dave McGuire

 

I have the digital rebel SLR - its VERY easy to use in the first instance. 5 or 6 basic modes:

Full Auto (point and fire)
Portrait
Landscape
Sports
Night Portrait
+ one which I forget.

These plus some basic photoshop skills should give you most of what you need.

SLR over a regular Digital is all about whether you'll use additional lenses (I have a regular Canon SLR so can reuse my old lenses). Plus whether you'll use the advanced and manual modes. There are lots of cool features on the Digital Rebel which I haven't got into yet.

Don't forget that focal length changes on the digital SLR so a 200-300 Zoom becomes 1.6x ie 320-480mm.

 

Thanks guys!

After researching a bit I've narrowed it down to the:

Fujifilm FinePix S7000 Z
Approx. $750
6.0 Megapixels
Max shutter speed: 1/2000 sec

Canon EOS-300D (Rebel)
Approx. $900
6.29 Megapixels
Max shutter speed: 1/4000 sec

Sony DSC-F828
Approx. $1000
7.99 Megapixels
Max shutter speed: 1/3200 sec

From what I understand, Fuji would be the least expensive out of the bunch and offer most of the same options- enough for a novice digital camera user who would like to get into more advanced photography. The other cameras, while more advanced, have a steeper learning curve, and after performing some basic modifications, will be significantly more expensive.

As you can see, I am leaning towards the Fuji- however, I'd really like to hear from someone who has one (and if possible, could compare it to the Canon)..


Thanks!