The canon G6 is currently the one I've been drooling over after all the talk in here... though I want to get down to a best buy or circuit city to hold it / compare it to the sony v3 which has bee the other talk of this forum...
I'm glad you all agree that I should hold off on a DSLR, they seemed a little too high tech for me at this point, and I really don't have the money for it yet...
I read in another thread a while ago about a guy who took his memory card into the store to test and compare how camera's he was debating over did... will most stores let me do this? My camera uses an SD card though currently... so I might need to get a CF card in order to be able to do that in the first place, heh.
(also- any reccomendations on what stores might have the best deals on these prosumer cameras?)
Buy any of the pro-sumer range. G5..coolpix..DMZ-20...C-8080...they all have their pros & cons.
Run it flat out & just keep experimenting over & over & over again until youve reached you limit with it. This 'limit' will come to you in a blinding flash one day & you will be ready for a DSLR.
Its then onto the feeding platform.. with the rest of us DSLR'ers.. that andy walks onto & throws lenses at us on a daily basis to keep us addicted.
I read in another thread a while ago about a guy who took his memory card into the store to test and compare how camera's he was debating over did... will most stores let me do this? My camera uses an SD card though currently... so I might need to get a CF card in order to be able to do that in the first place, heh.
All the best online review sites have sample images shot with the camera, which would be a much better way to judge the camera, IMO. They shoot under different conditions, measure and judge image quality based on different criteria.
The thing that the in-store experience can give you is an idea of how the ergonimics and controls work. That's something you'll never get online.
Sample images are the reason I'm leaning more towards the Canon G6 than the Sony V3... I've only looked at the pictures on dpreview.com-- do you have any other good sites w/ sample images that I can look at? Thanks.
I'm really anxious to get a feel for the different cameras though as far as how tricky they'll be to operate, hold, change settings on, etc... that's the main reason I want to get myself into a store for handling...
All the best online review sites have sample images shot with the camera, which would be a much better way to judge the camera, IMO. They shoot under different conditions, measure and judge image quality based on different criteria.
The thing that the in-store experience can give you is an idea of how the ergonimics and controls work. That's something you'll never get online.
(also- any reccomendations on what stores might have the best deals on these prosumer cameras?)
any major camera purchases i've made have been from amazon.com, typically the best prices plus free shipping. i've been extremely happy with all of my amazon purchases.
(also- any reccomendations on what stores might have the best deals on these prosumer cameras?)
I've bought most of my equipment online from B&H. My D70 actually came from BestBuy though. They often have pretty good deals and you can go play with the cameras first.
Check their site to see if they have and sales going on on particular brands.
on your budget, DO NOT buy an SLR. The body is just the tip of the iceberg. The kit lens will quickly frustrate you in its limitations. You are better off and will get better versatility from a nice, all in one digital camera. Down the line, when you have more funds, you can sell/upgrade.
There are reasons to get a point and shoot and reasons to get a DSLR.
If you just want to take pictures...get a point and shoot. If you want something small and uncomplicated...get a point and shoot. If you don't mind red-eye and "flash look" photos indoors...then get a point and shoot.
If you want to learn photography...then get a DSLR.
Can you spend LOTS of money on a DSLR? You bet. Do you HAVE to? Not at all. Just because you CAN buy "L" lenses, doesn't mean you HAVE to. It's that you have the OPTION of buying different lenses to meant your growing interests and needs.
If the lady pretty much likes here didgi-cam experience, and just wants something "a little better" -- then upgrade to a better digi-cam.
If she wants to grow as a photographer -- get a DSLR.
There are plenty of folks I'd never reccomend get a DSLR. But the reasons I've heard on this thread are just ones I'd never give. A used Rebel with kit lens and $75 50mm f1.8 will provide a LOT better platform to not _only_ "take pictures" but really progress as a photographer.
Firstly: find me a used DSLR in my price range that also happens to be from a dependable seller, and maybe I'll be able to afford it
Secondly: A lot of people have been arguing above that a DSLR is too large of a leap for me to take all at once, and quite out of my budget at the moment. Many people above have stated that they think going to a prosumer camera with lots of manual features will be a good thing to start my learning curve and get me to understand what all a camera can do... which to me seems like a lot less daunting of a task than to jump right into a DSLR
Mainly I don't think I'm ready for a DSLR quite yet. Not that I wouldn't mind eventually getting one, but I still don't even *know* what some of the manual settings a person can control can even do! I'm working on learning this, but my knowledge of manual things on cameras is extremely low... a stepping stone from my point and shoot to a prosumer point and shoot wit ha ton of manual features that Dpreview considers "slr-like" seems like a much better idea for me at this stage...
I guess a lot of it though breaks down to the fact that I'm vary cautious when it comes to used items... if I knew and trusted the seller it might not be an issue, but I don't really know many high tech camera users... that and I'm pretty sure with a DSLR that they don't come with a lens initially do they?
Thanks for your input though on your thoughts between point and shoot and DSLR... but I really don't think I'm quite ready for / can afford it yet to take that big leap... (in my opinion, if I have to pay more than a month's worth of my rent for the camera, my priorities have shifted in a wrong way, lol...granted most of the prosumer camera's are a little above half my rent, but still...)
There are reasons to get a point and shoot and reasons to get a DSLR.
If you just want to take pictures...get a point and shoot. If you want something small and uncomplicated...get a point and shoot. If you don't mind red-eye and "flash look" photos indoors...then get a point and shoot.
If you want to learn photography...then get a DSLR.
Can you spend LOTS of money on a DSLR? You bet. Do you HAVE to? Not at all. Just because you CAN buy "L" lenses, doesn't mean you HAVE to. It's that you have the OPTION of buying different lenses to meant your growing interests and needs.
If the lady pretty much likes here didgi-cam experience, and just wants something "a little better" -- then upgrade to a better digi-cam.
If she wants to grow as a photographer -- get a DSLR.
There are plenty of folks I'd never reccomend get a DSLR. But the reasons I've heard on this thread are just ones I'd never give. A used Rebel with kit lens and $75 50mm f1.8 will provide a LOT better platform to not _only_ "take pictures" but really progress as a photographer.
Can someone explain to me the difference between getting an SLR-like camera (ie canon g6) sometime in the nearer future vs. holding off and waiting a year or so to have enough spare change to afford an actual DSLR... what would the big key differences be to someone of my level? My dad is saying that he's worried that it might not do everything I may want it to do... but with my low knowledge on so many manual functions, does it even make sense to shoot for the top right away?
Hope that's not too confusing of a question... my dad is pretty big on photography, he's self taught, so I'm not sure if he knows exactly what I do or don't need in a new camera. He wasn't really able to explain to me the exact difference between the two in terms of how it would affect me and my usage.
Help?
((p.s.- david_h: my dad says that when I do settle on getting one or another, we're probably going to take a trip into NYC and go to B&H or J&R--- we live like an hour to an hour and a half from the city ^_^.))
Plans for today are to head off to Riverhead and fiddle around at the Best Buy there though to get a feel for these different camera's.
Another P.S.- forgot to mention that my dad was letting me fiddle around with his Olympus E-10 today x.x that's a heavy clunker... still waiting for him to locate a card reader for me so I can see how the few trial shots I took w/ it came out--- dpreview calls that an SLR-like too... my dad has a DSLR, Nikon something or other... may or may not get to fiddle w/ that... more concerned w/ fiddling w/ the brands and such that we've been talking about on here...
So, I wrote this giant reply discussing why I thought you should buy a DSLR, then I went and read a little about your DX6340; I see that it includes PAS mode which lets you choose between aperture, shutter, and program priority. In all honesty, I think aperture priority and shutter priority are the two most useful "semi-manual" modes. If you have figured out what those do, you won't be gaining much with a prosumer camera except more megapixels and you should buy a DSLR. If you haven't mastered the concepts behind aperture and shutter priority, etc, maybe you should stick with your current camera for now.
www.photo.net has some great articles in the "learn" section discussing camera techniques and features, though many of the articles are focused on 35mm film cameras. It would be worth spending some time reading there to learn more about technique and theory before getting too immersed in "4x zoom" and "7.2 megapixels." Research is free, cameras cost money.
A couple more thoughts...as I have no problem being a bit "contrarian".
For years people learned photography without auto everything cameras. The idea that you have to "work your way up" to an SLR is just silly. That's what puzzles me about your thinking on this. If you just want to "take pictures", that's one thing. But you've clearly stated that you want to learn photography.
Money...that's another issue altogether. What you can't afford, you can't afford. I understand very well "this is all I can afford". I have a 20D and about $3000 worth of quality third party lenses. Why? Because I can't afford a 1DsMkII and $10,000 worth of L class lenses.
I understood you wanting to upgrade to a better camera to "learn photography". To me that meant that you'd outgrown your current digi-cam.
Thus...I'd have you wait until you could afford an SLR and continue learning photography with your current camera.
BUT -- if your current camera is not meeting your current needs....and you can afford a better digi-cam but can't afford a DSLR...then go ahead and upgrade.
BTW, I just went to your site and looked at your photos. You are no snapshooter ( I was looking at your nature section). You clearly have an eye and compositional skills.
So, I wrote this giant reply discussing why I thought you should buy a DSLR, then I went and read a little about your DX6340; I see that it includes PAS mode which lets you choose between aperture, shutter, and program priority. In all honesty, I think aperture priority and shutter priority are the two most useful "semi-manual" modes. If you have figured out what those do, you won't be gaining much with a prosumer camera except more megapixels and you should buy a DSLR. If you haven't mastered the concepts behind aperture and shutter priority, etc, maybe you should stick with your current camera for now.
www.photo.net has some great articles in the "learn" section discussing camera techniques and features, though many of the articles are focused on 35mm film cameras. It would be worth spending some time reading there to learn more about technique and theory before getting too immersed in "4x zoom" and "7.2 megapixels." Research is free, cameras cost money.
I'm quite familiar w/ the PAS mode, but it's really not that great of a mode on this model. I often have problems getting it to do things that I can get my father's camera's to do... which is why I want a better camera... this camera was meant for point and shooters and then the PAS is there in case they decide to stumble on it... it's really not meant as a regular constant mode, considering you have to go into the one button to do it, and it's the last button on the wheel... but yeah, great example of it earlier was that I was trying to take a certain picture a certain way, someone suggested I lower the aperature to get my background blurrier... so I did this... and then my Kodak would *NOT* focus on my foreground at all... I had to go back into macro mode and then I was still stuck w/ not being able to change the aperature. It was a bit fustrating... had much less problems when I borrowed my dad's camera earlier today...
Anyway, in other news, I'm going to upload the pics I took on the Olympus E-10 that my dad was letting me borrow and see how they actually came out, kind of hard to tell on just the preview screen...
EDIT: on that note, one of the features I'm wanting is a manual focus option x.x
BTW, I just went to your site and looked at your photos. You are no snapshooter ( I was looking at your nature section). You clearly have an eye and compositional skills.
Thanks, I've put it in my watched items, it's still got just under 24 hours left though so it's still possible for it to take a jump as it nears the time of being sold tomorrow...
If I had enough money I would by all means be getting a DSLR... that's the main key problem I have...
The logic of it being a "stepping stone" was that there are tons of more manual features on the prosumers models... but mainly...it's affordable now...
If I can save up and end up with a dSLR that would be nice, but I have so many costs coming up in this last year of college that it's hard to predict if I'd be able to put all that aside at the moment...
If you find any other nice deals for dSLR's feel free to let me know though keeping my options open and continually looking...
Sony V3
Forgot to mention- went to Best Buy today, they didn't have the Canon G6 in stock, but they did have the Sony V3.. fiddled around with it for a bit... wished I had remembered to bring a memory card w/ me to test the pictures, but oh well... it had a sturdy feel to it, and I fiddled with as many settings as I could to see how everything worked, I probably missed some more settings that are available within the menu's, but I tried my best...
...really wished they had the G6 to compare to...
...and I would have fiddled w/ some dSLR's but all of those were locked up in glass cases not easily accessable for testing purposes....
I have learned that the small camera store in town (within walking distance from my house if I felt inclined to walk)... is still open, the son evidently owns it now... so I'm going to stop by on Tuesday when stores are open again and see if he has digitals and such... it's a really small store, so it's hard to predice what he will have... (my town is tiny, you can drive through it in like 3 miles...)
There's the gallery of pictures I took while fiddling around on the Olympus E-10 today (slr-like, not a true slr)... some came out good, some not so good (sometimes the flash is too close and overwhelming, but most times it behaved)... I enjoyed macro on it.. and I loved being able to switch between auto and manual focus by just clicking this one thing left or right...
I definitly enjoyed having more control over what I was working with... though I didn't have enough time to work with it, will have to recharge the battery for tomorrow...
Anyhoo, that's what happens when my dad gives me his Olympus E-10 and leaves it up to me to figure out the options--- on this note, if there are any options I've yet to find that you would all recommend I fiddle with, please let me know...
Thanks for all your continued help everyone, you're all being quite helpful.
Comments
I'm glad you all agree that I should hold off on a DSLR, they seemed a little too high tech for me at this point, and I really don't have the money for it yet...
I read in another thread a while ago about a guy who took his memory card into the store to test and compare how camera's he was debating over did... will most stores let me do this? My camera uses an SD card though currently... so I might need to get a CF card in order to be able to do that in the first place, heh.
(also- any reccomendations on what stores might have the best deals on these prosumer cameras?)
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All the best online review sites have sample images shot with the camera, which would be a much better way to judge the camera, IMO. They shoot under different conditions, measure and judge image quality based on different criteria.
The thing that the in-store experience can give you is an idea of how the ergonimics and controls work. That's something you'll never get online.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
I'm really anxious to get a feel for the different cameras though as far as how tricky they'll be to operate, hold, change settings on, etc... that's the main reason I want to get myself into a store for handling...
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any major camera purchases i've made have been from amazon.com, typically the best prices plus free shipping. i've been extremely happy with all of my amazon purchases.
Check their site to see if they have and sales going on on particular brands.
Cheers!
David
www.uniqueday.com
If you just want to take pictures...get a point and shoot. If you want something small and uncomplicated...get a point and shoot. If you don't mind red-eye and "flash look" photos indoors...then get a point and shoot.
If you want to learn photography...then get a DSLR.
Can you spend LOTS of money on a DSLR? You bet. Do you HAVE to? Not at all. Just because you CAN buy "L" lenses, doesn't mean you HAVE to. It's that you have the OPTION of buying different lenses to meant your growing interests and needs.
If the lady pretty much likes here didgi-cam experience, and just wants something "a little better" -- then upgrade to a better digi-cam.
If she wants to grow as a photographer -- get a DSLR.
There are plenty of folks I'd never reccomend get a DSLR. But the reasons I've heard on this thread are just ones I'd never give. A used Rebel with kit lens and $75 50mm f1.8 will provide a LOT better platform to not _only_ "take pictures" but really progress as a photographer.
Lee
Secondly: A lot of people have been arguing above that a DSLR is too large of a leap for me to take all at once, and quite out of my budget at the moment. Many people above have stated that they think going to a prosumer camera with lots of manual features will be a good thing to start my learning curve and get me to understand what all a camera can do... which to me seems like a lot less daunting of a task than to jump right into a DSLR
Mainly I don't think I'm ready for a DSLR quite yet. Not that I wouldn't mind eventually getting one, but I still don't even *know* what some of the manual settings a person can control can even do! I'm working on learning this, but my knowledge of manual things on cameras is extremely low... a stepping stone from my point and shoot to a prosumer point and shoot wit ha ton of manual features that Dpreview considers "slr-like" seems like a much better idea for me at this stage...
I guess a lot of it though breaks down to the fact that I'm vary cautious when it comes to used items... if I knew and trusted the seller it might not be an issue, but I don't really know many high tech camera users... that and I'm pretty sure with a DSLR that they don't come with a lens initially do they?
Thanks for your input though on your thoughts between point and shoot and DSLR... but I really don't think I'm quite ready for / can afford it yet to take that big leap... (in my opinion, if I have to pay more than a month's worth of my rent for the camera, my priorities have shifted in a wrong way, lol...granted most of the prosumer camera's are a little above half my rent, but still...)
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Being the weekend now, hopefully I can get myself out of the house and down to a store to fiddle...
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Hope that's not too confusing of a question... my dad is pretty big on photography, he's self taught, so I'm not sure if he knows exactly what I do or don't need in a new camera. He wasn't really able to explain to me the exact difference between the two in terms of how it would affect me and my usage.
Help?
((p.s.- david_h: my dad says that when I do settle on getting one or another, we're probably going to take a trip into NYC and go to B&H or J&R--- we live like an hour to an hour and a half from the city ^_^.))
Plans for today are to head off to Riverhead and fiddle around at the Best Buy there though to get a feel for these different camera's.
Another P.S.- forgot to mention that my dad was letting me fiddle around with his Olympus E-10 today x.x that's a heavy clunker... still waiting for him to locate a card reader for me so I can see how the few trial shots I took w/ it came out--- dpreview calls that an SLR-like too... my dad has a DSLR, Nikon something or other... may or may not get to fiddle w/ that... more concerned w/ fiddling w/ the brands and such that we've been talking about on here...
Facebook: Friend / Fan || Twitter: @shimamizu || Google Plus
www.photo.net has some great articles in the "learn" section discussing camera techniques and features, though many of the articles are focused on 35mm film cameras. It would be worth spending some time reading there to learn more about technique and theory before getting too immersed in "4x zoom" and "7.2 megapixels." Research is free, cameras cost money.
For years people learned photography without auto everything cameras. The idea that you have to "work your way up" to an SLR is just silly. That's what puzzles me about your thinking on this. If you just want to "take pictures", that's one thing. But you've clearly stated that you want to learn photography.
Money...that's another issue altogether. What you can't afford, you can't afford. I understand very well "this is all I can afford". I have a 20D and about $3000 worth of quality third party lenses. Why? Because I can't afford a 1DsMkII and $10,000 worth of L class lenses.
I understood you wanting to upgrade to a better camera to "learn photography". To me that meant that you'd outgrown your current digi-cam.
Thus...I'd have you wait until you could afford an SLR and continue learning photography with your current camera.
BUT -- if your current camera is not meeting your current needs....and you can afford a better digi-cam but can't afford a DSLR...then go ahead and upgrade.
Lee
Here's a $400 used digital rebel on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43454&item=7518276914&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
Lee
Anyway, in other news, I'm going to upload the pics I took on the Olympus E-10 that my dad was letting me borrow and see how they actually came out, kind of hard to tell on just the preview screen...
EDIT: on that note, one of the features I'm wanting is a manual focus option x.x
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If I had enough money I would by all means be getting a DSLR... that's the main key problem I have...
The logic of it being a "stepping stone" was that there are tons of more manual features on the prosumers models... but mainly...it's affordable now...
If I can save up and end up with a dSLR that would be nice, but I have so many costs coming up in this last year of college that it's hard to predict if I'd be able to put all that aside at the moment...
If you find any other nice deals for dSLR's feel free to let me know though
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Forgot to mention- went to Best Buy today, they didn't have the Canon G6 in stock, but they did have the Sony V3.. fiddled around with it for a bit... wished I had remembered to bring a memory card w/ me to test the pictures, but oh well... it had a sturdy feel to it, and I fiddled with as many settings as I could to see how everything worked, I probably missed some more settings that are available within the menu's, but I tried my best...
...really wished they had the G6 to compare to...
...and I would have fiddled w/ some dSLR's but all of those were locked up in glass cases not easily accessable for testing purposes....
I have learned that the small camera store in town (within walking distance from my house if I felt inclined to walk)... is still open, the son evidently owns it now... so I'm going to stop by on Tuesday when stores are open again and see if he has digitals and such... it's a really small store, so it's hard to predice what he will have... (my town is tiny, you can drive through it in like 3 miles...)
Facebook: Friend / Fan || Twitter: @shimamizu || Google Plus
There's the gallery of pictures I took while fiddling around on the Olympus E-10 today (slr-like, not a true slr)... some came out good, some not so good (sometimes the flash is too close and overwhelming, but most times it behaved)... I enjoyed macro on it.. and I loved being able to switch between auto and manual focus by just clicking this one thing left or right...
I definitly enjoyed having more control over what I was working with... though I didn't have enough time to work with it, will have to recharge the battery for tomorrow...
Anyhoo, that's what happens when my dad gives me his Olympus E-10 and leaves it up to me to figure out the options--- on this note, if there are any options I've yet to find that you would all recommend I fiddle with, please let me know...
Thanks for all your continued help everyone, you're all being quite helpful.
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