[Gigabomber]

My mother's birthday is coming up and she's been talking about a new camera, and I wouldn't mind going in on a good camera that I get to use extensively either

soooo.....

I'm deciding to look around the $400 mark and want the best I can get. Please recommend the good stuff along with any accessories I should get.

You might be interested to know that I enjoy having a lot of control over my cameras, have used a Nikon FE2 extensively, and my pet peeves at this point center around having to work around the automatic camera settings (the obvious lack of aperture settings come to mind) and various others along with painfully slow shutter speeds.

Thanks for helping me out, and please be gentle with your recommendations for I am on head-fi, and I have used an old school nikon that rocked, and I do appreciate really good, expensive gear.

 

[harkamus]

Guessing you wanna stay traditional and not be digital?

SLR cam or just a point and shoot zoom cam? My dad used to delve heavily into photography. My older brother still dabbles in it. A good friend of mine is extensive into photography as a hobby. We're also Nikon fans.

I'd say look into a used Nikon N90.

 

[MarcusL]

If you want a compact point and shoot, here's a short list after a lot of research last month in various photography forums especially dpreview:

Canon PowerShot SD800 IS
Canon PowerShot SD700 IS
Fuji Finepix F30
Panasonic FX01
Panasonic LX2
Canon PowerShot SD400 IS (discontinued and rare but argued to be the best of the canon morph series)
Canon PowerShot S80 (discontinued... good manual controls for a compact)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabomber You might be interested to know that I enjoy having a lot of control over my cameras,

These will be a bit bigger than the compacts but these will give you good manual controls (and some a bit steeper pricetag):

Canon G7 (exceptional)
Fuji Finepix E900
Sony R1
Canon A540 (as well as most of the A series)

I ended up with the Canon G7 and the compact SD700 SI and I highly recommend 'em. Do a lot of research around about these cameras as well as photography samples from them. The cool thing about DPreveiw is that they are like Head-Fi, too critical about the miniutest details so you'll get a lot of stuff to read and learn about. Lots of camparisons and photo samples as well. When you have it boiled down to a few number of cameras, pbase is a good site to check photos of the cameras you want.

Happy shopping!

 

[jpelg]

Marcus,

Do you like the G7? I've been thinking about one for myself. I had an SD600, but it is too small so my girlfriend has it now.

 

[vagarach]

You could wait for the rumoured Nikon D40

. Some of the Canon powershots have superb manual controls, however, such as the powershot A### series, which I have seen produce some stunning shots!

 

[MarcusL]

hi jpelg. I am quite impressed with the G7. Even during gloomy and overcast days, I get reasonably clear images outdoors. For clear and bright sunny shots, the colors are very accurate. I'm saying this coming from Olympus C-2000 and Pro1. If you also like macro shots, you'll fall in love with the G7. Canon did a good move with the Image Stability and Digic III. It is a very quick camera that I wouldnt mind my wife's shaky hands using this baby.

For those that dont wanna shed their money for a DSLR but still wanna play with manual conrols, the G7 is an amazing beast. My only small gripe is that I wish Canon didnt strip the RAW capability like the previews G units.

I have tons of stuff to rave about the G7 (as well as owners in the web). I'm one happy dog.

 

[Gigabomber]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harkamus Guessing you wanna stay traditional and not be digital?

Not particularly because I think digitals are getting much better.

I just mentioned the FE2 because I wanted you to know that I do enjoy having control over a camera (or at least reading instructions and learning how to) before advising me on a model.

 

[Gigabomber]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarcusL These will be a bit bigger than the compacts but these will give you good manual controls. I ended up with the Canon G7 and the compact SD700 SI and I highly recommend 'em. The cool thing about DPreview is that they are like Head-Fi, too critical about the minutest details so you'll get a lot of stuff to read and learn about. Lots of comparisons and photo samples as well. When you have it boiled down to a few number of cameras, pbase is a good site to check photos of the cameras you want. Happy shopping!

To clarify, feel free to recommend highly automated controls as long as they are top top notch and you think I won't end up hating them

Thanks bunches for the webpages!

 

[MarcusL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabomber To clarify, feel free to recommend highly automated controls as long as they are top top notch and you think I won't end up hating them

Seems to me that you have a very kool mom with photography. Depends on how you rate 'highly automated' and your usage, do check out the second group of my list. You're coming from Nikon quality and want highly automated controls, the Sony R1 would be difficult to hate (if your mom is into it

). The R1 has a large sensor but not so small pricetag. I owned this for two months (and loved it) but decided to let it go because of my PRO1. I'm not saying that the R1 is inferior. Its, imo, a jack of all trades non-dslr.

Have fun with the discussions in pdreview and you'll end up with something you'll love.

 

[Gigabomber]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarcusL Seems to me that you have a very kool mom with photography.

Yes...uh my *cough* mom *cough* thinks that closer to the 400 dollar range would be acceptable

 

[MarcusL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabomber Yes...uh my *cough* mom *cough* thinks that closer to the 400 dollar range would be acceptable

Fine. Research the first seven cams I posted above. The last two are harder to find though. The first two most recommended for novice point and shoot due to their Image Stability and Digic motors.

 

[majid]

In compact digicams, there is really only one game in town, the Fuji F30. It's a compact with limited manual controls, but it's also pretty much the only compact that has acceptable noise levels above ISO 100.

In DSLRs, Pentax models are significantly cheaper than Canon or Nikon because Pentax doesn't have either's market power. A K110D in a basic kit would be very close to your budget. A K110D with a 40mm f/2.8 Pancake lens is a very compact unit, smaller than many midrange models that have the bulk of a DSLR but the nasty noisy sensors pushed too far of compacts.

If you already have Nikon AF lenses, consider the D50, which is close to your budget (B&H sells it for $534, it will soon be replaced by the lighter and cheaper D40).

The DSLRs image quality will blow away any compact, or the half-fish half-fowl contraptions like the Sony R1. This isn't due to anything intrinsic to DSLRs, just to the fact only DSLRs have large, low-noise sensors and the enhanced electronics that make for a snappier camera.

 

[MarcusL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by majid In compact digicams, there is really only one game in town, the Fuji F30. It's a compact with limited manual controls, but it's also pretty much the only compact that has acceptable noise levels above ISO 100.

Yup. But I'd revise that into "acceptable levels above ISO400". The SD700 produces amazing pictures even upto ISO200. ISO400 is still slightly acceptable if you dont do a lot of blowing up and cropping for printing. I was attracted with the F30 honestly while doing my research. The reason why the SD700 won me over were the outdoor photo comparisons between the two. I use my point and shoot cam a lot outdoors. And the shutter speed of the Image Stability is sweet without any need for a tripod.

 

[pds6]

Gigabomber says:
Quote:

My mother's birthday is coming up ... I enjoy having a lot of control over my cameras. I'm deciding to look around the $400 mark ... I do appreciate really good, expensive gear.

Dear God!

 

[jdimitri]

DUN DUN DUNN!!!
D40 will be out very soon, at $499

*note the old smilies are back?*