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

I can't say enough good about the Dimage Z5. For me, the 12x optical zoom and great image stabilizer push it over the edge for best bang for buck for an outstanding all around cam. Oh yeah, then there's the MPEG video mode that saves the clips to the SD card so you can drag 'em straight to your computer....
Here's a review

The Canon Digital Rebels are cool if you want SLR, but the Z5 does everything I need in one unit.

I have a Canon digital SLR and it is absolutely incredible. However, once you go down that road you end up with a big camera bag of bodies, lenses, flashes and accesories. To go with it, you need a nice point and shoot digital camera for the times you can't carry your big bag around.

make sure you have a fast reaction time if you want to take sport shots. some cameras have very lazy shutters and you miss the subject while its making up its mind when to click. they are all good as far as quality is concerned. and if you are not going to make big prints you dont need a lot of megipixales.

Bernie

Make sure you need that many pixels. I got a Canon A85 that has 4mm pixels and it works excellent outside, and also inside which is kind of a challenge for a lot of digitals. I think it's excellent value for the $200 I paid.

I was huge into SLR cameras and resisted going digital for a long time. After doing a lot of research and evaluating my needs, I decided to get a Canon Power Shot A95. It has 5 megapixels and a ton of features. The print quality of the photos is amazing. Easily as good or better than my huge SLR camera and the bag of accessories that I carried around!

Unless you are thinking of steping up to the ""pro-sumer" level of cameras I would highly recommed the Canon. It is small, it has a ton of features and the quality is incredible. So far it has taken great pictures outside, inside and in nearly dark settings.

Thats my .02.

I've always been an SLR guy and just bought a Canon EOS Rebel with 6.3 Megathingies. I just wish my old lenses were interchangable but not luck. I've only had it a few days and like it very much. I bought a package deal and got a 75mm - 300mm zoom. Good deals at Sammy's Camera in So. Cal.
Cheers, Elliot

just scored an olympus evolt e-300 8.0 megapixel slr with 2 zoom lenses and really dig it. i had missed the feel of an slr and the ability to manipulate pictures that wasn't available in my point-shoot digi cam.

but like anthony says, cart the point-shoot around as well. i have a sony 5 megapixel for that purpose and it has been great.

I'm lovin my Olympus 4MP. All weather. 1/2 gig chip. Does video w/sound.
"Wish list" after buying this thing. Better flash range. that's a big one.... Faster trigger response... as noted above.

Best things about it. All weather, large capacity, great battery life, has LiIon batt and I always keep a backup, easy menu and remote control. I use half of the resolution capacity and still blow up pics to 8 1/2 by 11" and results are great.

Straight from Consumer reports...
Look for the CR Best Buy next to the names....

4-MEGAPIXEL MODELS
17 Kodak EasyShare DX6490 $380 14 16 60 2 10X • • • • •
18 Olympus C-765 Ultra Zoom $335 11 15 130 2 10X • • • •
19 Olympus C-770 Ultra Zoom $435 12 15 120 3 10X • • • •
20 Canon PowerShot SD300 $320 5 11 140 1 3X • •
21 Olympus Stylus 410 Digital $265 7 12 360 2 3X • •
22 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-L1 $245 5 7 260 2 3X • •
23 Kodak EasyShare CX7430 CR Best Buy $185 8 12 520 2 3X • •
24 Canon PowerShot S410 $280 8 11 380 2 3X • •
25 Kodak EasyShare LS743 $250 6 10 400 2 2.8X • •
26 Konica DiMAGE Z2 $320 14 10 280 3 10X • • • • •
27 Olympus D-580 Zoom CR Best Buy $190


6-MEGAPIXEL MODELS
64 Fujifilm FinePix E550 CR Best Buy $310 9 15 300 1 4X • • • • •
65 Fujifilm FinePix S7000 $515 21 28 60 2 6X • • • • •
66 Kodak EasyShare DX7630 $295 10 14 400 3 3X • • • •
67 Olympus C-60 Zoom CR Best Buy $280 8 11 400 2 3X • • •
68 Casio Exilim EX-P600 $430

8-MEGAPIXEL MODELS
74 Nikon Coolpix 8700 $640 19 13 140 3 8X • • • • •
75 Nikon Coolpix 8400 $700 17 20 180 5 3.5X • • • •
76 Canon PowerShot Pro1 $640 23 16 110 3 7x • • • • •
77 Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom $715 27 19 120 3 5X • • • • •
78 Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 $795 24 8 160 1 7X • • • • •
79 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 $830

ok, I'm going to weigh in on this one... I just bought a pseudo-SLR(Minolta Z1,can be a full SLR with a lens change from minolta) it has 10X optical, the bust and movie modes, and is all-in-all pretty nice... BUT I'm still learning to use it properly, and some pictures look like SirAndy's WORST! the reason for most of that is that with the high (10x) optical zoom, and the LACK of a stabilizing mechanism... you HAVE to use the tripod, which is just not always convienent... also, it's a lot more complicated to take some pictures, because it gives you all the SLR functionality... my old Canon powershot may not have taken AMAZING pictures, but it was VERY EASY to use for 99% of what I was doing... this one isn't... it's just not point and click, and I haven't had time to learn the tricks... I would recommend the Z1, but I would REALLY recommend the newer, stabilized control version much more

now I finally had to quit using my old (very old)Minotla SLR... it took great pics, but it took forever to set up for the lighting and everything(no built in light meter) and I'm thinking Digital SLRs are the same way... they take GREAT pictures, IF you know what you are doing and can take the time to set them up for the setting...

just my .02

see

http://www.dpreview.com/

http://www.steves-digicams.com/

Jim

SONY CYBER SHOT 5.0 TAKES GREAT PICS. AND DOES MOVIES WITH GREAT SOUND WITH MANY OPTIONS AND SIMPLE ENOUGH FOR THE NON GEEKS

Thanks, more food for thought . It seems like there so many choices, I am finding it difficult to make a selection. Maybe a point and shoot style is best to start off with. I have a Nikon film camera, but it's been collecting dust for many years. The digital really seems like the way to go. Instant gradification.. almost anyway .

QUOTE (tod914 @ Jun 21 2005, 02:49 PM)

Is it worth putting a few bucks more towards and SLR?  And if so... again what do you suggest? Thanks, Tod

I think the Nikon D70 is a great deal since the D70s came out. Opinions are mixed on the kit lense. A buddy of mine has the Canon Digital Rebel XT and thinks it's great... For budget minded dSLR those were the top two choices for me. The Canon had a higher MP CCD, but the Nikon won out because I already had access to Nikon glass.

The Fuji FinePix S5000 is a very good camera. (the new version is the S7000) Easy to use and well worth the price.

While we're on the subject...

last time I shopped for a d-camera (couple years ago) I noticed that the equivalent ISO of almost all of them was around 100!!!! That sucks! No wonder you need stabilization!!! Has this improved with the new cameras? I always see the flash going off on peoples d-cams even outdoors sometimes!

EDIT: I notice the above mentioned Dimage Z5 is up to 320. That's getting better but still pretty slow.

I'm a Nikon fan, so I'll recomend the Nikon camera. Having said that...Nikon makes a very affordable Digital SLR that I've recomended to a lot of people. Most of the absolutely love it. In full auto it'll make you look like a genius. In manual mode it's awesome and allows total creative freedom.

I've been recomending the D70. I have a D100 (it's half what I paid when they were first introduced). I see they have a new D50 as well.

Good Luck.

I love my Sony DSC-V1. The LCD is a little small but it has 4x zoom (good for its size) and takes absolutely stellar pictures. Plus it gives you some control over aperture and shutter speeds even though it's not an SLR. They are getting cheap now that the V3 is out.

For general point and shoot I like the Canon Powershot S410, S500 and SD series. Those cameras are TINY and take nice pics.

I always look for good macro performance in a digicam because I like to take pictures of small parts and not have them come out blurry like half the for sale ads you see.

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.

I agree with e'one's assessment of the various non-slr's. The current crop are all quite good. One area that is REAL important to me is how quickly the autofocus works. My first digicam (an Olympus) had very slow autofocus. I missed a lot of shots, and a lot were blurry.

You can get around that problem by pre-focussing.

One problem with the SLR's...eventually, the imager (CCD or CMOS) will get dirty. When you change lenses you provide an apportunity for dirt to enter thr camera. The cameras are designed with this in mind. Eventually, you must send the SLR to the MFG for cleaning. Not a big deal, but something to consider.

Other things to think about..what kind of batteries, what kind of battery life? As far as I can tell, Canon and Sony are tops in this area. I do not like cameras that use the AA battery format, but that's just me.

One camera I haven't seen recommended: Sonys. I have the DSC-F717, and have used it for 4 years. It has a 5x zoom (the newer DSC-F828 has 7x, and the newest DSC-H1 has 12X), a cool articulating lens, good performance and battery life. It's built like a tank. I recentlt dropped my 717 onto concrete from about chest level. The daylight filter cracked (it's expendable of course, and was there for lens protection). The lens cap jammed so hard that I had to destroy the cap to remove it. Yet the camera i FINE! No damage at all. Amazing.

I keep wanting to buy a digi rebel, as I have Canon lenses from my film cmaera. But the Sony keeps getting the job done.

Do look at the Sony's and the canon S2-IS. Alll have image stabilization. Unless you are dead set on a dSLR, and already own lenses, these are compelling cameras.

also..I really like Steves-digicams.com conclusion articles. I always read the conclusions FIRST

I would also recommend Ritz camera. Their prices are competitive, and they have the best protection plan I've seen. You can run over tha camera on they way out of the store, and Ritz will replace it

We just picked up the Canon Digital SLR Rebel XT last night.
Its pretty Fast will shoot 3 FPS and Burst mode up to 14 Frames

http://www.photo.net/equipment/canon/digital_rebel_xt/

I bought a Canon G5 about 2 years ago and it has been nothing be PERFECT.. I'm a shutterbug and have 5 SLR 35mm cameras, and wanted a digital camera to fill the void between convenience and the art of photography.

Unfortunately, I haven't touched my SLR's in about a year.

Canon's latest in the lineup is the G6.. The number corresponds to it's megapixel rating - although the G6 has some other improvements.

The G5 has been bulletproof, survives sliding around in the glovebox of my '73 VW THING, survives a lot of time at the garage, and is just as adept taking pix at a wedding for a friend or all of the incidental landscape and artsy stuff I do...

I would recommend the Canon offerings.

-greg-