buying a new digital camera - any suggestions?

C

c.g._eads

Veteran
buying a digital still camera. would like to spend about $500 and get the best image quality possible. Anyone got any suggestions or know of a previous thread that discussed the topic? thanks!
 
The Nikon D50 is a little over that, but if you are after quality, it might be a nice investment...
 
you might want to review info. at dpreview.com. tons of info. The Olympus 8080 price has dropped, but I don't know by how much.

If you don't want dslr, than I might go for an olympus. if you are willing to spend a bit more than yeah the nikon's (d50 or d70) are the way to go IMO.
 
buy Canon or Olympus. they are the best. buy something with huge very good lens and don't care the megapixels, they are not the main options. and buy non-automatic.
 
I would say that nikon, canon, and olympus have better glass, but $500 for 8 mp aint bad. But do you really need 8 mp? SD cards cost more than compact flash. 8 mp on this size camera might be overkill, that is that quality of the images may not be that good given the size of the sensors.

can you test it out first? importat factors I consider are speed and battery duration too.

here is an image sample of the camera:
http://www.dpreview.com/gallery/?gallery=panasonicfz30_samples/
 
I've owned a canon Powershot A70, a powershot G3, a powershot canon G5, digi Rebel XT, as well as an XL1 camcorder. I absolutely love the canon G5, and I know that the current model (G6) is equally as awesome if not more so. I highly highly suggest going Canon. I am very partial to Canon products. The canon G6 is right in your price range, and I guarantee you that you won't be dissapointed in ANY way with that camera. The image quality is supurb. The glass is top notch, 9pt autofocus is fast and very accurate, macro photography is amazing, 7.1 on compact flash cards, etc, etc, etc. Now remember, that megapixels don't matter if the photo isn't sharp. And believe me, the photos that came out of my G3 and my G5 were as crisp as could be. Check out all of the specs here on neweggs site -- >http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16830120158 . It's $531 with shipping to anywhere in the US. The only thing you would really need for this camera would be a larger compact flash card. The one included is only 32 megs.

I would definitely suggest this camera with my experience. Do some research on it and you'll see that it's overall an awesome, very versitile, functional camera that is capable of producing great images.
-Jeff
 
I have no idea what you are using the camera for. That's probably the most important thing. It's not the price that counts it's the "what's it for?" that matters when seeking cameras. If it's to carry around in your pickup to do quick point-and-shoot shots then you might not need to spend $500. On the other hand, If you are planning on doing some really quality photography in many different conditions and at different speeds, $500 isn't going to do you much good. You are going to need more than $1200 before you're through. Megapixels require time to write. If you like shooting lots of photos very quickly that costs more bucks. 6.1 megapixels can be blown up to fairly acceptable 20"x30" prints, but you have to have good quality lenses to support that. Those run above $300. Also, more pixels, more card space. A 2 gig card costs a little over $200. A must for a traveler that doesn't want to carry a laptop to clear his card. All in all, I would stay with something elegant, inexpensive, easy to operate and small. You will development a lovely relationship with a camera like that that feels good when you hold it. Canon Elphs and Sony Cybershots fall into this range. I have two Nikon D70s that I use for event work. Fully equipped, for wedding photography including extra batteries, bags, sb800 flash, card, custom flash bracket and external battery pack you're looking at around $2500.
 
Oh yeah, the Canon G6. Very cool camera!

My problem is the way to handle those things. There are a couple of controls that some digital still cameras just f*ck up. I can get that there is no aperture control on the lens, really, it's lame but it's ok, now Focus? That is absolutely essential, especially since those cameras take forever to autofocus...

That is why I prefer SLR type cameras. But considering, the G6 is still way cool...
 
Taubkin, I'm not sure what you meant by that last post... but there is definitely an aperture control, as well as manual focus on the G3 and the G5. I'm sure they followed through with the same controls and functions with teh G6. The G5 and the G3 can be completely manual. Manual focus, manual aperture, manual shutter speed, 4 ISO settings, 6-ish flash strength settings, manual or custom white balance, and everything else. The camera has quite a few shooting modes. You can adjust EVERYthing if you shoot in manual mode. You can check it out on Canon's G6 mini-site here http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=ModelDetailAct&fcategoryid=144&modelid=10463 Just check it out. It's an amazing camera and it's an absolutely great value. Gotta go guys! See ya! Good luck choosing a camera. I highly suggest the G6.

-Jeff
 
i'm using the camera to experiment with photography, explore composition and light, learn to be a better photographer. The Canon G5 looks cool, but since I love to just be able to pull out the camera on a whim and take a picture (if the mood strikes), I think I should go with something much slimmer. Can anyone recommend a slim model? What is the drawback in quality with these (as I assume you lose something by gaining portability)? thanks for all the help so far.
 
Well, it is there, but it sucks. It's not on the lens, you have to acess a menu, and roll this scroll wheel near the shutter button. Besides, to judge focus you have a ridiculous uprezzed square in the middle of the screen that don't help a lot. I just like to look through the viewfinder and work my focus and framing through the lens... I have such a hard time adapting to those eletronic controls, that I still shoot film (way cheaper anyway...)
 
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