Ok I need a new camera, and I'm thinking about maybe taking photography a bit more seriously. I've been considering this for quite a while but I've never really been able to afford a decent cam. In fact, I haven't been able to afford a bad one before either :laugh:
I actually took a photography class a couple of years ago and learn a few basics and stuff, I've forgotten a lot of it since I didn't have a cam to practice with but I know that I really enjoy taking pics and yeah...
So... it seems that an SLR camera is the way to go for anybody considering taking this seriously. But they are quite an investment. Sooooo I need tips sconfused
Should I just throw out the money and get one? Or should I start with something more basic first and wait till I get a bit better before I buy something more expensive?
I've been looking at the Canon SX110IS, which is a little bit of a hybrid between a compact camera and a SLR. You can't change lenses, so what you see is what you get. But it has quite a few of manual settings, is cheaper than an SLR and seems to have gotten quite good reviews. Would this be a good beginners cam? Or should I just get a cheapish SLR and forget about this one?

Thoughts? shappy

Hiya Harold,

I've been in the same position as you for a few months now and still can't make my mind up as what or when to buy something. I know that if I buy a camera it will be a Nikon or Canon because in my opinion these are better than any other makes on the market but of course this is just my opinion and not always correct stongue

I've always been of the opinion that when buying something new you should spend as much as you can afford and nothing more rather than going over budget or buying something cheap to start with and then spending more later. With that in mind once you have a budget you can narrow it down by choosing cameras in your price range and then comparing to see what features suit your needs. I know Khalidibn will be able to give you some good advice when it comes to buying a new camera as he has lots of knowledge in this particular field I'm sure.

Let us know what you decide anyway and I will do the same _cheesygrin::

Quote:Hiya Harold,

I've been in the same position as you for a few months now and still can't make my mind up as what or when to buy something. I know that if I buy a camera it will be a Nikon or Canon because in my opinion these are better than any other makes on the market but of course this is just my opinion and not always correct stongue

Yeah Nikon and Canon seem to be the dominant brands

Quote:I've always been of the opinion that when buying something new you should spend as much as you can afford and nothing more rather than going over budget or buying something cheap to start with and then spending more later. With that in mind once you have a budget you can narrow it down by choosing cameras in your price range and then comparing to see what features suit your needs. I know Khalidibn will be able to give you some good advice when it comes to buying a new camera as he has lots of knowledge in this particular field I'm sure.

Let us know what you decide anyway and I will do the same _cheesygrin::

Yeah you're right, I'm really not sure how much I'm willing to spend. I should probably make my mind up about that, which will narrow down the choices a bit as you said.
I've been asking around on a photography forum too and most people seem to think that I should forget about the SX110 and go directly for a DSLR. It doesn't have to be all that expensive, the Nikon D40 seems to have a pretty reasonable price for example. So I'll probably end up getting something like that
I'm going to wait a bit and do my homework before I come to any definite decision though scool

Have you been considering any specific model John? Have you been looking around alot?

If you buy a Nikon I will slay you...with...a spikey flail, get a Canon. Nikon's seem to have a rep for being heavy which does make a difference when you're trying to get a shot and your arms get tired.

Canon PowerShot are good. I've been looking at the Lumix G1 for a backup camera lately, it's smaller than a regular SLR and has the added bonus that you can change the lens. Check it out, I swear by Canon if you need any halpz, pm or emailz me sierra117[at]live.co.uk

Harold-L Wrote:Have you been considering any specific model John? Have you been looking around alot?

I've not been looking too much yet Harold but yesterday I decided to have a look around one of the major electronic stores here in Moscow and spotted a really nice looking camera - it's the Canon Powershot G10. I've not had much chance to read up about it yet but going on looks alone I like it. I'm not worried about being able to change lenses etc because I know I won't get time to get into it in such a big way but this particular model appears to have lots of functions that a dslr has. I'd be interested to here your opinion khalidibn.

Okie I'm reading up on the G10's specs now, I've seen the G10 before and was considering it as a backup camera, but then I just went and upgraded my DSLR to a EOS 40D and used my 400D as the backup.

The G10 has a 28mm lens which means it's fairly wide angle, but not too wide (ultra wide useful for underwater/skateboarding etc). This lens can zoom to 140mm which is damn good for a point and shoot camera.

It has an aperture of f/2.8 which means it would allow in lot of light and be ideal for low-light or portraits, lower aperture numbers would give you the ability to control your depth of field (keeping the subject in focus while bluring the background)

It has a DIGIC 4 processor, this is the latest processor from Canon I believe, it will give you outstanding performance in low-light situations (even my EOS 40D only has DIGIC 3). Also with this processor you can expect low-noise even at higher ISO settings (boosting speed and low-light shooting) and very rich and accurate colour reproduction.

RAW Recording, Basically when most digital cameras save, they save to JPG this means that it has to take a fraction of the information gathered by the sensor and save it to the image file. This means that some quality is lost along the way, but also the ability to alter white-balance and the images ability to withstand post-processing in photoshop etc. RAW files save ALL information gathered by the sensor giving you the maximum quality but sacrificing storage space, I found that roughly RAW files were larger to a factor of x3, a 3mb JPG would be roughly 10mb when saved with RAW.

The G10 also comes with a Servo AI autofocus much like a DSLR which means that the autofocus can track what your looking it, be it car, person or animal to keep it nearly always in focus even if it's moving.

Face detection tech - being honest I find this tech useless, unless your shooting yourself some high angle myspace style pics lol.

i-Contrast - The cameta trys to boost contrast in dark areas to retain detail...apparently, I've never seen this in action but it sounds like some sort of high dynamic range style function.

It also comes with various shooting modes including my favourite, Manual!

As for accessories, you can buy a 1.4x Teleconverter which will boost your focal length upto a 40mm at the wide angle and 200mm on the telephoto range.

Thats what I can see of this camera from a galance. I'd recommend it for someone that doesn't want to go gung-ho and buy a full DSLR

sorry, but can someone translate that into english please, cos i got lost after the first paragraph. not all of us are semi pro!! I want to get a decent camera, however i am strapped for cash, and keep finding complicated reviews!! putting it into basic english would help, alot!

Translation

Good lens for group shots and decent zoom

Good for night or shots without flash

Good quality/sharp images even at night

Uses lots of memory if you set it up wrong

Good auto-focus

You can increase the zoom with expensive accessories

Thanks for the replies Khalid, sorry if it seems like I ignored the thread stongue
I've decided to wait a bit before I buy anything though, so yeah. I bought a cheapish camera today to bring on my holidays, and I'll leave any more serious purchase for later.

Quote:if you need any halpz, pm or emailz me sierra117[at]live.co.uk

I'll take you up on that once I start looking for an SLR again stongue

Quote:If you buy a Nikon I will slay you...with...a spikey flail

I....bought a Nikon

let me know how it turns out harold!