# Digital camera choice



## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

I don't have any experience with any of those, but check out dpreview.com. They have in-depth reviews of cameras, including sample shots. Great site. roud:


----------



## mikeG (Nov 21, 2004)

My advice, Narrow it down to the ones you like (you have) now, go to the store (circuit city, best buy, walmart or camera store) and grab ahold of them. See how they feel in your hand. Are the controls pretty obvious ? If not, lots of manual reading. Are you going to take it with you when you go places? Small and light is nice if you plan on that. If the battery isn't in it, find out what battery it takes and go find it and pick it up. They can get heavy with a li-ion battery in them or 4 aa's. 

Read and research ALOT, but picking it up will make alot of difference (dpreview is a great tool).

Are you an experienced user of any kinda camera ? Don't buy something you are going to grow out of quickly if you plan on this becoming a second hobby. Look for manual adjustments - aperture, exposure setting etc.. 

Good all round camera IMO the Canon A95, it's 5.0mp (good for prints over 8x10)...decent 3x zoom....lots of manual controls... small/take with you... the perfect camera for a newbie.
Plus if you want to learn about exposure,aperture, etc etc, read a book

the Oly is a good choice too  The 4800 has more image sizes available to it than the 5400.

Another option is picking up a used higher end camera. Easily found on ebay and sometimes at camera stores... I picked up a Canon G6 -- lovely camera 8)
check some of these shots out... http://michaelgoddard.net/page2.html

Good luck with your choice, and if you have any more questions, ask away !

mike


----------



## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Mike - Those pics are killer! Congrats!

But did you do that with an off-the-shelf G6, or with extra lenses and stuff?


----------



## mikeG (Nov 21, 2004)

THank YOu !

off the shelf Canon G6 no filters, no added lenses just me in my backyard. Used photoshop to resize them down and add borders.

except the last one, that was me sitting in the parking lot at one of the Lowe's stores I service..


----------



## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

That's a nice one, that last one! You've got talent! roud: 

I am a Canon addict myself and couldn't agree more with Mike's suggestions.


----------



## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Wow! I gotta getta G6, if for no other reason than getting better shots of my tank! Too bad I just missed a recent double blooming my A. madagascariensis...

I've got a Sony Cyber-Shot, top of their line maybe 1 and 1/2 yrs ago... It takes HORRIBLE shots. Really, it's not just me. I've started to take old 35mm point-and-shoots out of the closet because they take better pics.

I went to a wedding the other day - saw a friend there who is a professional photographer. He wasn't there to shoot the wedding. He was a guest. But he still couldn't help taking pictures. And what did he have in his hand? 

A Canon A95.


----------



## mikeG (Nov 21, 2004)

go take a look at them. Another good one is the 1s or whatever the canon image stabilized one is... I forget all the letters and numbers to it.


----------



## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

I have been trying to talk "She Who Must Be Obeyed" into letting me have a new camera. I have been leaning toward the Canon PowerShot S1 IS which I think is the camera that Mike is speaking of.


----------



## Alex (Nov 6, 2002)

The Canon A line is a very good line of cameras. Here is a picture I took with a A70, Crypt picture.

Alex


----------



## mikeG (Nov 21, 2004)

Rex Grigg said:


> I have been trying to talk "She Who Must Be Obeyed" into letting me have a new camera. I have been leaning toward the Canon PowerShot S1 IS which I think is the camera that Mike is speaking of.


Yup, that is the one


----------



## andyg (Oct 9, 2004)

Rex Grigg said:


> I have been trying to talk "She Who Must Be Obeyed" into letting me have a new camera. I have been leaning toward the Canon PowerShot S1 IS which I think is the camera that Mike is speaking of.


Rex, I got the S1 IS a few month back and I love it. I was trying to decide between this one and the Olympus 770. The features are basically identical, the 40X zoom is great. The only thing the Olympus had that I wish the Canon had is the hotshoe for a separate flash (could be useful for taking pics of the tanks to be able to offset the flash.) On the other hand Canon has the image stabilization wich is missing on the Olympus. Wheight is not a factor in either of those, but the Canon is more along the lines of a typical SLR vs a more compact package for the Olympus. Overall, I definitly do not regret my choice. :icon_bigg


----------

