Need Camera Buying Advice Please.....

Tim Kirkwood

Hello all!

I have been in the DSLR camp for some time now so I have lost touch with the point and shooters. My brother is looking to buy his first digital and asked for some advice. I have been shopping around and there are alot of P&S's out there these days. His requirments are making for a little bit of a challange. Below is a few things that he is looking for. Seems I can find ones that meet most of his needs but not all of his needs and still get good reviews. So If you all could help me out and maybe suggest some cameras to look into, Thanks!!

Looking for a smaller but not ultra compact form factor,
would like to have as much optical zoom as possible,
wants it to have a Lith-ion battery (does not want to have to keep buying AA's),
Optical "IS" would be nice but I think digital "IS" may cut it but optical is prefered,
Trusted brand
and of course all the usual requirements such as good image quality, min fringing ect...

As far as features I dont think that he really would ever use man. controls so thats not a issue. Other features like picta bridge also would not get used so......:dunno



Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can offer!

Tim

ziggy53

How much night time and low-light photography? (High-ISO)

"... would like to have as much optical zoom as possible ...", is this to be used for sports? If so, are we talking night and indoor sports? If not sports, what application?

How much wide angle do they need? Vista landscapes?

Shooting performance? (Startup speed, continuous mode, etc.?)

You are probably getting the idea that "how" one wishes to use the camera should help determine "what" camera they purchase. We need more information in order to make a more informed recommendation.

Tim Kirkwood

Hi Ziggy, Thanks for the reply.

Low light is not a major issue but there will be alot of indoor shooting. Not as much night time landscapes or anything. He is a youth pastor and will be using it mostly to document his teens at their activities.

Not alot of high speed action as of yet but his two year old may change that soon lol.

I really dont think he is going to notice startup time and shutter lag the same way that we might, so its not a major concern. My brother is not into techno stuff near as much as I.

So we are really looking for good image quality with alot of zoom to get shots of kids on stage from the back of the small church and he seems to be set on Lith-ion. I have found several cameras that meet all the needs but then I find that they run on AA's and he just does not want to deal with that.

Thanks again for any info you can help with, any more questions I can try to answer lol!


Tim

Seymore

I know he specifically is asking for LION batteries... but AA's come as NiMH these days, and work quite well. The DW has a Nikon L10 that uses them and a new set should last quite some time, although she's not yet gotten her feet really wet with this cam yet. But I did just replace my 3yo AA sets for my 3 studio SB-28 flashes. It was that time for these sets and I expect he could expect that type of life with the cam below...

With that said, Sony makes some really good cams. This one may be an option?
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=67933

ziggy53

Tim Kirkwood wrote:

Hi Ziggy, Thanks for the reply.

Low light is not a major issue but there will be alot of indoor shooting. Not as much night time landscapes or anything. He is a youth pastor and will be using it mostly to document his teens at their activities.

Not alot of high speed action as of yet but his two year old may change that soon lol.

I really dont think he is going to notice startup time and shutter lag the same way that we might, so its not a major concern. My brother is not into techno stuff near as much as I.

So we are really looking for good image quality with alot of zoom to get shots of kids on stage from the back of the small church and he seems to be set on Lith-ion. I have found several cameras that meet all the needs but then I find that they run on AA's and he just does not want to deal with that.

Thanks again for any info you can help with, any more questions I can try to answer lol!


Tim

I think a very good camera, with all of the qualities mentioned, (super zoom, L-ion battery, decent indoor performance, compact but not tiny, OIS, great lens, etc.), is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8.

Zoom lens from (35mm equivalent) 36mm-432mm Leica lens (12x, OIS, f2.8-f3.1) I reiterate, 432mm and f3.1 Wow!
7 MPix, plenty for any typical application
No manual mode, but 20 shooting modes.
7 white balance modes, should be enough.
7 flash modes, more than enough.
SD/MMC/SDHC cards.

Reviews:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz8/
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_reviews/fz8.html

dad3*3

Not sure what his budget will allow but the Canon G7 should fit nicely. The High ISO performance would be great for the indoor stuff in poorly lit rooms coupled with the IS.

Now if they could only get rid of shutter lag!

Tim Kirkwood

ziggy53 wrote:

I think a very good camera, .........is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8.

That fit the bill!! Thanks Ziggy! he ordered from us1camera.com and could not be happier! he loves it so far, thanks for pointing the way.


Tim

ziggy53

Tim Kirkwood wrote:

That fit the bill!! Thanks Ziggy! he ordered from us1camera.com and could not be happier! he loves it so far, thanks for pointing the way.


Tim

Glad I could help. Be sure to point him toawrds this forum so he can share some images and insight into the new camera.