Need camera advice

revtowne

As I start to investigate what's out there for equipment, the choices seem staggering! I'm a beach wedding minister, and my wife wants to start offering a low cost photo option to my clients. She wants to take digital pics with a good quality camera, good resolution incase they want to blow up shots, offer some versatily with focal length so she doesn't have to get too close, have the raw format available, and not have a big learning curve, as she is "technologically challenged". She would like something that might work well under medium lighting conditions for sunset or sunrise weddings, and that is fast, ie powers up fast and has a decent shoot and store rate. It doesn't need to be a DSLR. Any suggestions? (Yeah, I know...that would be the ideal thing that probably nobody makes, but is there a good compromise?) Don

wxwax

Hi rev, welcome aboard! Since you don't mention price, you have lots of options available.

Some of the better cameras out there are the Canon G3 or G5. Also the Sony f828, or the Canon Pro1. Each of those offers a lot of camera, but if used properly, will give high quality images. I'm not as familiar with Nikon cameras, but they have comparable models.

If you want to go a step down in price, the Canon A80 is also a very nice camera.

Here's a way to start figuring out what you want.

Go to this link and begin entering some of the cameras I've named. They'll build a quickie side-by-side comparison for you.

Also, www.dpreview.com and www.stevesdigicams.com have excellent reviews. Steve's might be a little more user friendly.

Good luck, let us know what you're considering.

revtowne

Thanks! I think our price range will be a grand or less, but less is better! Leaves money for beer and nachos...

I'll check out those links this evening. We considered the Rebel, but for a little more, the Nikon D-70 looked good, but it looks kinda complex for my wife to manage without uttering words unfit for wedding situations. The new Canon DSLR looks good, but the price is way more than we want to spend. So I'm thinking a simple to use non SLR digital, with good megapixels, the right features, and good focal length range would be worth looking into. I really appreciate your help...Don

revtowne

Well, after reading reviews and features all day, it looks to me like the Canon 10d or the Nikon D-70 will be the last ones standing to choose from. The 20d is just too far out of the budget after getting lenses. Maybe a used 10d outfit in a few months after the 20d hits the stores...but the D-70 looks good, too. >sigh<

DavidTO

revtowne wrote:

Well, after reading reviews and features all day, it looks to me like the Canon 10d or the Nikon D-70 will be the last ones standing to choose from. The 20d is just too far out of the budget after getting lenses. Maybe a used 10d outfit in a few months after the 20d hits the stores...but the D-70 looks good, too. >sigh<

The Nikon's a good choice, but my question would be, given the needs and abilities you mentioned in your first post, why throw out the 300D? Same image quality as the 10D, fewer features. But the features you need are most likely there. What would you be missing?

revtowne

DavidTO wrote:

The Nikon's a good choice, but my question would be, given the needs and abilities you mentioned in your first post, why throw out the 300D? Same image quality as the 10D, fewer features. But the features you need are most likely there. What would you be missing?

If I can remember right, I read lots of user comments for all kinds of cameras, and there were some negatives concerning the Rebel that turned me off. I don't remember what they were, but it seemed that for a few bucks more, why not get a better piece of gear with more features. While nobody wants to spend more than they need to, I don't want to spend more than I want to. (If that makes sense!) We are budgeted for getting the right thing...it will be earning money for us. The D-70 or a 10D with a used lens or two will fit. I'll try to go review the reviews this weekend and recap the 300D issues that some folks complained about.

DavidTO

revtowne wrote:

If I can remember right, I read lots of user comments for all kinds of cameras, and there were some negatives concerning the Rebel that turned me off. I don't remember what they were, but it seemed that for a few bucks more, why not get a better piece of gear with more features. While nobody wants to spend more than they need to, I don't want to spend more than I want to. (If that makes sense!) We are budgeted for getting the right thing...it will be earning money for us. The D-70 or a 10D with a used lens or two will fit. I'll try to go review the reviews this weekend and recap the 300D issues that some folks complained about.

No doubt that feature-wise the 10D's a better camera. Image-wise they're the same, and for your use, I would wager that the 300D would be fine. I'm not pushing it, by any means. Get the better camera if you want. Just be aware that you might not notice the differences.