Comments on: Not An Impulse Buy

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:57:14 +0000

Hey:

Kate saw your post and she thought I could make a recommendation. While I can’t recommend a specific camera, because all is relative and one person’s Kodak box camera photo is another’s Ansel Adams masterpiece, I can recommend shopping advise.

My current camera is a Canon PowerShot A610. I got the thing three years ago and it still works great. What led me to this camera was that I was reading someone’s blog site and saw some photos they had posted. I liked the quality of the shots. I then found out that it was a PowerShot A95. So I looked at the reviews at amazon.com and saw that not only did people love their A95, the PowerShot A610 and A620 were the successors to the A95.

So I then googled for reviews on the A610. You’d be amazed by the level of detailed reviews some photography sites go into. They will do all kinds of test photos and post them full size on the internet. They will go into all kinds of crazy details like the appearance of purple fringing, etc.

To sum up, if you see a particular photo on the internet that you like (like on flickr), and it’s an untouched photo (not been worked on with Photoshop, or gone through an HDRI process), find out the model, read some reviews on amazon, and then go google for some dizzying reviews.

If there’s anything specific details to watch out for (outside of liking the quality of the photo), then I’d say look out for whether you want automatic, manual, or some weird combination of the two. My camera is both auto and manual so I can control manual focusing and exposure. Another thing is how good the picture quality is at low lighting, like taking a moody picture in a dark bar, without a flash. Really expensive cameras are great at it, others demand that your hold real still for a few moments during the shot.

Hope that helps.

By: Bruce MacQueen

Bruce MacQueen — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:02:13 +0000

http://kenrockwell.com/

Hi Janna,

The website above will answer most of your questions. I use Nikon myself and would highly recommend Nikon. The new Nikon D90 also comes with video. I would suggest staying away from the D40 and D60 because your lens choices would be diminished. I had a D200 which was a lot of camera but will worth the price. Read through Rockwells site, he is very good.

By: janna

janna — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:10:53 +0000

You can always count on a fellow JannaBanana for sound advice ;)

I will keep you posted with the final decision. I’m curious about the D60 as well, which I’ve never seen in person. It’s supposedly lighter, which would be a nice bonus.

Time to head to the camera store, and to try hard to not impulse buy! I need an anti-impulse person there with me, perhaps.

By: Janna (canadian version)

Janna (canadian version) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:05:30 +0000

You are making the right move going for the DSLR as opposed to the point and shoot. You’ll never go back after :) As for your friends suggestion, buy the body with the lens of choice… I agree with that. I was looking at the D80 last year and the D70 before that and I was never impressed with the kit lens. When you try them in the store, kit lens vs. other lens of your choice – you will probably notice a sharpness difference. That said, the kit lens is not a bad lens – if you want to start with that package. You can upgrade your lenses as you go along and one day you’ll wonder how you collected so many :)

That said, the note that no one seems to have anything other than Canon or Nikon – seemingly true. However, I’ll just comment on some that I know my friends have. The Pentax is actually quite good value for the money. I’ve been impressed with some of the shots I’ve seen from it. The Sony – Hmm – people I know who have it – love it – but I haven’t been personally that impressed by it.

I’m totally hijacking your post – sorry – I didn’t mean to. But camera stuff — I’m a geek and have to comment! I look forward to seeing what you choose!