Camera in the hand is worth how many on the website.

Many here say that handling the canera before you buy, it's a good idea to
get a feel for the camera, while I agree with this, is it as valid as it
sounds surely hands can adapt to a new camera.
Maybe the old way of holding your favoutire camera could be improved with a
newly shaped camera. i.e many millennia ago my choice in camera was a
Praktica L [1]
The shutter realese at about 45 degree angle on the front of the camera,
my second camera was a Praktica VLC2 then a Praktica EE2. All of which had
the shutter release
in the same place, then I went 'up market' and brought a Canon A1 whose
shutter release
was on the top like 99.99% of cameras are. I didn;t have any great problems
adapting.

Recently I decided that my canon S70 was a bit old and upgraded to a canon
G10,
most things felt different the shape of the camera the way to hold it, menu
functions etc..
but within a few hours if not less I'd gotten used to it and now prefer it.
So just how valid is the idea of handling a camera before buying ?
Of course this goes for both P&S, DSLRs and anything else you can use to
take photos with.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/whiskydave
Picture of cat in a pub taken with canon G10 at 1600 iso.
Take into account the cat was behind me, and that I turned around everytime
there
was a arh look at the cute kitty. These pictures won't win a quality
competition obviously,
but that isn't why I brought my camera or took the photos, sure DSLRers are
right
I should have used a camera with a better sensor and perhaps set up studio
lights,
but I really wouldn;t take that sort of kit to a pub in the east end of
London and if I did
what's the betting the cat would have 'pussed' off long before I was ready
to photograph it... ;-)
These are the sort of reason I chose a P&S over a DSLR, this time.

NB
No beer was spilt in the taking of these 3 photos.


[1] No batteries, totally manual, no meter, you even had to use a lever to
advance to the next frame !

whisky-dave wrote:
Many here say that handling the canera before you buy, it's a good idea to
get a feel for the camera, while I agree with this, is it as valid as it
sounds surely hands can adapt to a new camera.
Maybe the old way of holding your favoutire camera could be improved with a
newly shaped camera. i.e many millennia ago my choice in camera was a
Praktica L [1]
The shutter realese at about 45 degree angle on the front of the camera,
my second camera was a Praktica VLC2 then a Praktica EE2. All of which had
the shutter release
in the same place, then I went 'up market' and brought a Canon A1 whose
shutter release
was on the top like 99.99% of cameras are. I didn;t have any great problems
adapting.

snip
I have a Canon S3IS, all I could afford; I like it very much and
recognize its limitations. I ordered it online, so I obviously couldn't
handle it beforehand. One thing I certainly noticed if I had handled it
beforehand is that practically all of its controls are right where my
right thumb naturally falls right on top of them. I have to be very
careful that I don't accidentally change any settings. I would probably
have bought it anyway, but this is a downside of it that I've never seen
mentioned.
Allen

"Allen" wrote in message
...
whisky-dave wrote:
Many here say that handling the canera before you buy, it's a good idea
to get a feel for the camera, while I agree with this, is it as valid as
it sounds surely hands can adapt to a new camera.
Maybe the old way of holding your favoutire camera could be improved with
a newly shaped camera. i.e many millennia ago my choice in camera was a
Praktica L [1]
The shutter realese at about 45 degree angle on the front of the camera,
my second camera was a Praktica VLC2 then a Praktica EE2. All of which
had the shutter release
in the same place, then I went 'up market' and brought a Canon A1 whose
shutter release
was on the top like 99.99% of cameras are. I didn;t have any great
problems adapting.

snip
I have a Canon S3IS, all I could afford; I like it very much and recognize
its limitations. I ordered it online, so I obviously couldn't handle it
beforehand. One thing I certainly noticed if I had handled it beforehand
is that practically all of its controls are right where my right thumb
naturally falls right on top of them. I have to be very careful that I
don't accidentally change any settings. I would probably have bought it
anyway, but this is a downside of it that I've never seen mentioned.
Allen

I have the same problem with a SONY. If I hand the camera to someone to
look at a photo my thumb will usually hit the T/W button and blow the photo
out of any reasonable proportion. My two previous SONY's had that function
located elsewhere. We shall overcome.