A newbie request help selecting digital camera

ASAAR wrote:

On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:18:55 -0500, John Turco wrote:

I've nothing against refurbished products, and even prefer them, in
many cases. Nonetheless, where DSLR's are concerned, it might be a
better idea, to limit purchases to brand-new merchandise.

This is due to the fact that such cameras have "focal-plane" shutters,
whose "lifetimes" can be relatively short. (50,000 actuations is the
norm, for entry-level models.)

You're thinking of "used" cameras, John, not those that have been
refurbished. I've yet to see a refurb. that shows even a week's
worth of wear, and the manufacturer's stated shutter lifetimes
appear to be substantial understatements, at least for Nikon's and
Canon's shutters. All of the reports I've read of cameras that have
had to have their shutters replaced, usually "pro" models, have been
after they were used for several times more shots than you'd have
expected, between 400,00 and 500,000. Here are two recent threads
you may find interesting. The first has several reports of advanced
shutter life (Nikon & Canon). The second has detailed photos of the
just replaced Nikon shutter mentioned in the first thread :

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=31894999

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=32099700


Hello, ASAAR:

Okay, that's good news, for my "entry-level" Pentax K100D -- it only has
1,212 shutter actuations, at the moment. g


Cordially,
John Turco

Kris Krieger wrote:
Hello!

snip

Based on what you said, you're not spending enough to get a D-SLR, so
you're going to be choosing among a very few point and shoot models.

Start with the drop-dead requirements and narrow it down from there.

1. Optical or Electronic Viewfinder
2. Wide angle lens
3. Li-Ion batteries
4. Image Stabilization
5. Manual Control Option
6. RAW mode
7. Hot Shoe

You've just eliminated 95% of the el crapola cameras and are left with
the following three choices:

1. Canon PowerShot G10
2. Fuji FinePix S100fs
3. Nikon Coolpix P6000

If you want a super zoom, you're limited to the Fuji. Not a bad choice,
but as with all super zooms, you get purple fringing.

The G10 and the P6000 are fine, though they do lack some features that
were present in older models in each series.

If you're willing to buy something with AA batteries (not recommended by
all the experts) then the Canon SX1 IS is a good choice for a super zoom.

"Tzortzakakis Dimitrios" wrote in
:


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John Navas wrote in
:

On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:58:28 +0300, "Tzortzakakis Dimitrios"
wrote in :

Hi, there's no "one size fits all" in photography.

True. More to the point, the camera is just a tool. What matters is
the *photographer*, not the camera. A great photographer can take
great pictures with pretty much any camera. A great camera cannot
take great pictures without a great photographer.

My worrry, tho' is spending a couple hundred $$ on one, and finding out
that
it doesn't take crips pictures, or that the colors are off, or some
other flaw, because I didn't know what I was buying...

Granted, a True Artist can cerate art using ground rocks and a frayed
reed (liek the Lescaux etc cave art), but having th ebest tool one can
get isn't a
bad thing, either G!


There are good, hi-end
P&S for example, if you are looking for convenience and compact size.

Damned with faint praise. "P&S" is a favorite pejorative of insecure
dSLR owners that badly mischaracterizes the better compact digital
camera, no more appropriate for them than for a dSLR in automatic
mode. The Panasonic DMC-FZ28, for example, has full manual control,
RAW mode, and more total capability than any dSLR.

I wrote that one down


... Advanced dSLR users use
what is called RAW, or digital negative, which is the raw output from
the camera sensor, with as few manipulation as possible (demosaicing
and compressing-you will do these on your computer, instead
on-camera). ...

Some do; others do not. RAW is not essential to great photography.


But it's good to know, because I also do computer graphics and 3D
modeling,
so that part I understood

It's all grist for the proverbial mill

I have a P&S, a nytech www.nytech.de ,a german design but made in
China,
which IMHO is a small jewel, aluminium die cast body, glass LCD screen
and takes excellent pictures. www.esnips.com/web/dimtzortsphotos It cost
180 euros, complete with 2 li ion batteries, charger and 512 MB SD card
(good for holding 140 photos at 7 megapixel, normal sharpening at
highest jpeg quality. I had before that a Nikon FM-2, with 50 mm 1.4
Nikkor, 70-210 Tamron zoom, 24 mm Tamron 1.9, and a soviet mains powered
flash, and the rest paraphernalia. I shot slides and colour and B&W
negatives, but I don't do any hiking anymore, and I take much better
photos in general than at the film era, and with much less effort.


Belated thanks for your reply. It looks like a nice unit, though I was
looking for more zoom. I saw that they had otehr models as well, so I'm
checking those out as well, thanks

- Kris

ASAAR wrote in
:

On Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:40:29 -0500, Kris Krieger wrote:

ALl I do know is that, with my film camera, and 100ASA (or is it ISO? I
knwo the terms changed but now I can't recall what the newest one is)

It's ISO now, at least for digital cameras. As far as I know,
film always used ASA, but it's been so long since I bought film I
don't really know. I have an unopened box of Kodak's TMAX 400 and
all it shows on the box is "E.I. 400 / 27°". The expiration date on
that box is 12/1990. I think that the ASA and ISO numbers are
equivalent.

THat's what I thought but I wasn't at all sure, so thanks


I spent years using a slr before changing to a dslr. The only thing I
had to get used to was not being stingy with my shots. I still take
fewer shots than many dslr users because there's something ingrained
in my mind about more shots costing more money.

I also assume, tho', that most DSLR cameras use those removable mini-
flash-drives...? That's another thing I'm looking at, making sure taht
teh pics won't be lost because a abttery jiggled lose and wiped the
RAM...

No problem there, Flash memory isn't volatile. You can take the
card out of the camera, put it in your wallet, take it out a month
later and the images will still be there. Unless at some time
during that month you sat down and heard a snap!


Heh, or sit on a magnet Good to know, tho'!

- Kris

Matt Ion wrote in
:

On Jun 15, 12:01*pm, Kris Krieger wrote:

In any case, best of luck with your shopping, and I know I at least
would be interested to know what you end up with. *I've been enjoying
Canon SLRs (digital *and* 35mm, and a fantastic little Minolta X-700
before that) for a good many years now as my main creative tools; I
too like the level of control the (d)SLR format affords me... and
yes, I vastly prefer a true optical viewfinder over an electronic one
(althoug
h
I have found my 40D's LiveView mode extremely useful at times!)

OH! *Now, you see? *It's unpredictable when some snippet will illumin
ate
something for me. *"Optical versus digital viewfinder". *I had though
t ALL
digital cameras have those little screen-thingies. *So it' scompletely
new
to me that some have optical ones. *So I'll also have to compare that,
because I'd been thinking that part of the advantage of digital is the
"WYSIWYG" - IOW, being able to see a "preview" of what the pic will
look like before yu commit the image to memory.

SO even that helps me, thanks!

Until recently, DSLRs have all had purely optical viewfinders, the
same as their film ancestors - reflex mirrors, pentaprisms and the
like). It's only the last couple years that the live display has also
been available on the back LCD (normally just used for reviewing) on
mainstream models. Naturally, the through-the-lens optical view is
still available on pretty much all DSLR designs, although such time-
honored SLR features as interchangeable finders with goodies like
waist-level viewing, magnification, and so on are getting harder to
find.

You'll also find most modern autofocus SLRs (digital or not) are
sorely lacking in manual focus aids in the viewfinder (the split
center-dot rangefinder and the micro-prism being the most common ones
familiar to MF shooters). Fortunately, most models DO have easily
interchangeable focus screens, and most manufacturers have alternate
screens available with those focus aids. There are even some good
third-party screen available for most DSLRs, if you prefer your manual
focus (check out www.katzeyeoptics.com, for exampe).

The optical viewfinder, however, has been getting more and more
difficult to find on P&S models... I suspect the main reason for this
is that most P&S models also feature multi-times optical zoom, and
there's no easy and cost-effective way for a simple peek-through
window to display that without resorting to something cheesy like crop
marks on the glass (of course, it's still easy with the SLR framework,
because you're looking through the same lens that the sensor sees).
Otherwise you'd need a complex zooming feature in the viewfinder as
well, synchronized to the lens's zoom (and even that would be
ineffective if you start going into digital-zoom range)...

Thus, the optical viewfinder has become largely obsolete for P&S
designs. The closest thing you'll find is what's commonly called the
EVF, or "electronic viewfinder"... it looks like a typical peep-hole
viewfinder, but inside is a very small LCD that gives you the same
display as the rear-panel LCD. These things have their fans, but I
can't claim to be one of them. However, if it's a feature that
appeals to you, by all means, give it a closer look (pun intended
The one advantage it does have over JUST the rear-panel LCD is that
your view isn't hampered when shooting in bright ambient light.

*whew* So... hopefully that helps some more, without triggering too
many more questions


It answers a lot! I'm sort of questioned-out for now, because of having
received more info than I'd really hoped for from everyone =:-D

I've been saving the messages and will look mroe intensively closer to the
Holidays; for now, I've got to concentrate on doing as much glasswork as I
can, inthe hopes of maybe selling a few items later this year.

But again, thanks for all the great info! I also have lots of terms I can
now use for online searches, which is also in itself a huge help

- Kris