Buying my first digital camera

For 20 years I have used a nice Canon 1.2 SLR and am now looking at a
small digital for taking on extended trips. Have looked closely at and
am interested in Canon Powershot S80, SD 500 & 550 and Sony Cybershot DSC
P200.

Also looked briefly at Olympus C-7070 (too large), Casio Eilim EX Z-750
(OK-but cradle charging scares me away), Nikon CP 7900 (no manual focus
and poor focus in low light, etc.), Fuji finepix S5100 (slow start, etc.)

Intention is to use it both indoors with groups as well as outdoors in
the country-mountains, or in cities taking shots of buildings, people,
and stuff of general interest. Opinions as to the Canons and the Sony
would be appreciated, as well as if you know of other comparable or better.
thanks, Miles

Miles wrote:

For 20 years I have used a nice Canon 1.2 SLR and am now looking at a
small digital for taking on extended trips. Have looked closely at and
am interested in Canon Powershot S80, SD 500 & 550 and Sony Cybershot
DSC P200.

Also looked briefly at Olympus C-7070 (too large), Casio Eilim EX Z-750
(OK-but cradle charging scares me away), Nikon CP 7900 (no manual focus
and poor focus in low light, etc.), Fuji finepix S5100 (slow start, etc.)

Intention is to use it both indoors with groups as well as outdoors in
the country-mountains, or in cities taking shots of buildings, people,
and stuff of general interest. Opinions as to the Canons and the Sony
would be appreciated, as well as if you know of other comparable or better.
thanks, Miles


I believe someone responded directly to my email address, not to the
newsgroup. When spam was being auto deleted, I'm certain I saw some
writing on this subject. If so, would you please resend -- and perhaps
include the newsgroup so it won't get lost in spam removal with MailWasher.

Thanks, Miles

Miles wrote:
For 20 years I have used a nice Canon 1.2 SLR and am now looking at a
small digital for taking on extended trips. Have looked closely at and
am interested in Canon Powershot S80, SD 500 & 550 and Sony Cybershot
DSC P200.

We have two small Canons, an A40 and an A75, both discontinued models
now, but my wife and I find them ideal for travel. They're light in
weight, but big enough to be easy to handle. I would hate to muscle any
of the digital SLRs around on a trip.

Both cameras, if used with proper care, yield pictures that will blow
up to great 8 x 10s, even though they're only 2 and 3 megapixels,
respectively. By "proper care" I mean, if indoors, don't use the flash
but do rest the camera on some support: a ledge, up against a wall, etc.
, and use the program mode. And, most important, use the 2 second delay
on the shutter release. I'm convinced more pictures taken with small
cameras are ruined by camera shake than any other factor. By using the
delay, the camera can be gripped firmly so that it is not moving when
the actual exposure takes place.

That said, I'm sure any of the models you suggested would do the job.

-- Ron

Ronald Hands wrote:

Miles wrote:

For 20 years I have used a nice Canon 1.2 SLR and am now looking at a
small digital for taking on extended trips. Have looked closely at
and am interested in Canon Powershot S80, SD 500 & 550 and Sony
Cybershot DSC P200.


We have two small Canons, an A40 and an A75, both discontinued models
now, but my wife and I find them ideal for travel. They're light in
weight, but big enough to be easy to handle. I would hate to muscle any
of the digital SLRs around on a trip.

Both cameras, if used with proper care, yield pictures that will blow
up to great 8 x 10s, even though they're only 2 and 3 megapixels,
respectively. By "proper care" I mean, if indoors, don't use the flash
but do rest the camera on some support: a ledge, up against a wall, etc.
, and use the program mode. And, most important, use the 2 second delay
on the shutter release. I'm convinced more pictures taken with small
cameras are ruined by camera shake than any other factor. By using the
delay, the camera can be gripped firmly so that it is not moving when
the actual exposure takes place.

That said, I'm sure any of the models you suggested would do the job.

-- Ron

Thanks, Ron, and that's a good pointer as to the 2 second delay. Went to
a store last night for the first time to see how the cameras feel and
much to my surprise discovered that many of them are simply too small for
my big mitts.

So am back to the drawing boards -- looking for ones with AA batteries
which have an enlarged area for gripping, or a twist out LCD, or one that
has the button more towards the center of the camera instead of the right
top which cannot be reached unless using two hands such as some of the
Olympus', or ones that have a decent ridge on the front or back right
side that allows a better grip.

The only store open last night was Circuit City and theirs had a large
plastic piece on the bottom for the electricity & cable so could not grip
them properly. Today will try some other stores that don't have that
"feature." And I think I do agree with you as to the mp, 8 or 10 mp's
is unnecessary, and will look in the 5-6 mp range first, then higher if
there has been substantial improvements made in later models.

Miles

In article ,
Miles wrote:

For 20 years I have used a nice Canon 1.2 SLR and am now looking at a
small digital for taking on extended trips. Have looked closely at and
am interested in Canon Powershot S80, SD 500 & 550 and Sony Cybershot DSC
P200.

Also looked briefly at Olympus C-7070 (too large), Casio Eilim EX Z-750
(OK-but cradle charging scares me away), Nikon CP 7900 (no manual focus
and poor focus in low light, etc.), Fuji finepix S5100 (slow start, etc.)

Intention is to use it both indoors with groups as well as outdoors in
the country-mountains, or in cities taking shots of buildings, people,
and stuff of general interest. Opinions as to the Canons and the Sony
would be appreciated, as well as if you know of other comparable or better.
thanks, Miles

I love my Canon A80 - flip screen that I love, love, love. 4MP.
--
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com, updated 11-19-05 - Shiksa Varnishkes.

"Melba's Jammin'" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Miles wrote:

For 20 years I have used a nice Canon 1.2 SLR and am now looking at a
small digital for taking on extended trips. Have looked closely at and
am interested in Canon Powershot S80, SD 500 & 550 and Sony Cybershot DSC
P200.

Also looked briefly at Olympus C-7070 (too large), Casio Eilim EX Z-750
(OK-but cradle charging scares me away), Nikon CP 7900 (no manual focus
and poor focus in low light, etc.), Fuji finepix S5100 (slow start, etc.)

Intention is to use it both indoors with groups as well as outdoors in
the country-mountains, or in cities taking shots of buildings, people,
and stuff of general interest. Opinions as to the Canons and the Sony
would be appreciated, as well as if you know of other comparable or
better.
thanks, Miles

I love my Canon A80 - flip screen that I love, love, love. 4MP.
--
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com, updated 11-19-05 - Shiksa Varnishkes.

The A95 is working out very well for me. I believe that has now been
superceeded, not sure of the model# but has same features with a 4:1 zoom,
something I would have liked on the A95. To go above that in Canon involves
more money, but the G6 is a great camea, somewhat larger and has a hot shoe
plus lots more. Next step up would be a dslr.
Dave Cohen

Dave Cohen wrote:


"Melba's Jammin'" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Miles wrote:

For 20 years I have used a nice Canon 1.2 SLR and am now looking at a
small digital for taking on extended trips. Have looked closely at and
am interested in Canon Powershot S80, SD 500 & 550 and Sony Cybershot
DSC P200.

Also looked briefly at Olympus C-7070 (too large), Casio Eilim EX Z-750
(OK-but cradle charging scares me away), Nikon CP 7900 (no manual focus
and poor focus in low light, etc.), Fuji finepix S5100 (slow start,
etc.)

Intention is to use it both indoors with groups as well as outdoors in
the country-mountains, or in cities taking shots of buildings, people,
and stuff of general interest. Opinions as to the Canons and the Sony
would be appreciated, as well as if you know of other comparable or
better.
thanks, Miles

I love my Canon A80 - flip screen that I love, love, love. 4MP.
--
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com, updated 11-19-05 - Shiksa Varnishkes.

The A95 is working out very well for me. I believe that has now been
superceeded, not sure of the model# but has same features with a 4:1 zoom,
something I would have liked on the A95. To go above that in Canon
involves more money, but the G6 is a great camea, somewhat larger and has
a hot shoe plus lots more. Next step up would be a dslr.
Dave Cohen
I also have the A95 and really like it. It is my first digital camera so I
only have file ones to compare it with.
Tom Atkins

Panasonic Lumix FZ5 is worth looking at. I like mine.

Thomas S. Atkins wrote:
Dave Cohen wrote:


"Melba's Jammin'" wrote in message
...

In article ,
Miles wrote:


For 20 years I have used a nice Canon 1.2 SLR and am now looking at a
small digital for taking on extended trips. Have looked closely at and
am interested in Canon Powershot S80, SD 500 & 550 and Sony Cybershot
DSC P200.

Also looked briefly at Olympus C-7070 (too large), Casio Eilim EX Z-750
(OK-but cradle charging scares me away), Nikon CP 7900 (no manual focus
and poor focus in low light, etc.), Fuji finepix S5100 (slow start,
etc.)

Intention is to use it both indoors with groups as well as outdoors in
the country-mountains, or in cities taking shots of buildings, people,
and stuff of general interest. Opinions as to the Canons and the Sony
would be appreciated, as well as if you know of other comparable or
better.
thanks, Miles

I love my Canon A80 - flip screen that I love, love, love. 4MP.
--
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com, updated 11-19-05 - Shiksa Varnishkes.

The A95 is working out very well for me. I believe that has now been
superceeded, not sure of the model# but has same features with a 4:1 zoom,
something I would have liked on the A95. To go above that in Canon
involves more money, but the G6 is a great camea, somewhat larger and has
a hot shoe plus lots more. Next step up would be a dslr.
Dave Cohen

I also have the A95 and really like it. It is my first digital camera so I
only have file ones to compare it with.
Tom Atkins

After far too much consideration I am settling in on the Canon A610 with
5mp. Do not believe the A620 at 7mp is needed. Thank you for the lead to
the A95 as apparently this is a later version.

The negatives to the camera appear to be:
1) No stability or antishake.
2) No raw/tiff which is surprising since the camera has so many manual
settings -- but then I am not a camera head, so will not spend hours and
hours playing with each pic.
3) Noise extremely high at ISO 400 rendering it useless, and 200 isn't
the best. Curious as to how taking at 100 will affect action shots.
4) Lots of redeye, so will probably need to buy slave.
5) Does not show battery status -- low only -- Is that similar to a
temperature idiot light on the dashboard of your car that doesn't go on
until it's too late?
6) Construction appears a bit flimsy -- plastic and metal -- but
talking with a camera buff who has a 620 he said it's very strong as he
straps it to his leg and uses it frequently as he climbs cliffs etc to
obtain shots of birds with his other extreme zoom cameras.
7) Need to buy charger & NmH batts. It contains 4 AA's instead of 2
which certainly increases the size of the camera -- but guess that
provides longer battery life? And the charger/spare batteries are one
more large item to fill my suitcase!
9) Although the shape with the battery housing provides a nice grip,
the camera is too large to fit in pants, coat, or shirt pocket. If only
I could find an identical camera that uses a small lithium battery that
my hands can still grip -- perhaps I could glue a section of a chopstick
to the front!

The positive points are numerous as seen by the reviews at:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_.../a610_pg6.html

And this one of the A620 (identical camera, except 7 mp's instead of 5:

http://dcresource.com/reviews/canon/...ew/index.shtml

Miles

Seems like a good choice, Miles. The A610 is the successor to the A95
which is the successor to the A80 ... good bloodlines. If you haven't
already come across Albert Achtung's review of the A80--

http://albert.achtung.com/cameras/A80/index.html

--it has some information that may also be useful for the A610, esp.
with regard to setting up a fast point & shoot mode (SNAP) that
eliminates the time ordinarily taken by the camera's auto focus. He
gives instructions for programming the camera for both indoor and
outdoor use and I find I use his settings most of the time. Like Ron, I
also make frequent use of the 2-sec. timer for shutter release,
particularly in lower-light situations. I almost never use the flash
except as fill-flash.

I've a handful of shots on Flickr, all done with an A80:
http://flickr.com/photos/blueshoe

The shots on that page aren't print-ready files but I can tell you that
printed 8 X 10's come out beautifully.

Jon