Digi Cameras, what to get???? Options

[tod914]

I'm in the market for a digi camera. Was considering the new nikon s1, fuji f10 and 550. They all seem to have their pros and cons. What would you guys/gals suggest? Is it worth putting a few bucks more towards and SLR? And if so... again what do you suggest?

Thanks,

Tod

[ThinAir]

I purchased a Canon A75 and I've been very pleased. It has a 1.8" screen, fits my hand nicely, has great weight, and allows me to override the automatic stuff when I want.

My only complaint is that if I'm in bright sunlight I can't see the LCD screen to tell how my shot came out. I'm not sure if this is a problem common to many digital cameras, but this was one of the big reasons for going digital. I got tired of getting back from vacation only to find that the sky was blown out in an otherwise great shot of the Eiffel Tower.

I chose the A75 because of the features and because at 3.2 megapixels it would do just fine for up to 8x10" prints. I shoot everything at the highest resolution that the camera is capable of. What has surprised me is that this is a resolution of 140 pixels per inch. Since high-end brochure type printing requires 300 dpi, it's a little disappointing to have to use GIMP to up the resolution on photos. When I purchase again I'll be looking for something that will give me 300 dpi, but at the time I purchased I didn't even know about this stuff - I've been learning a lot about digital photo processing since my employer's photographer was laid off!

For most shots, I use the automatic or P setting (which lets me override the flash setting). I've been very impressed with Canon's ability to get the exposure right without intervention from me. I've read that this is in large part because of the incredible database of photos that Canon maintains just for the purpuse of scene analyzing so that their exposure computer will do the best job possible. In my experience they've succeeded very well and I would definitely purchase Canon as my prefered brand regardless of what type of digital camera I was seeking.