Digital or SLR camera (and) what kind???

[k2campbell]

This sucks, Eric played in a hockey tournament in BC over the weekend, he brought our camera to take pictures and someone stole it right from underneath him! He is upset to say the least, as am I – with our baby coming soon we don’t really have the $ to be spending on a new camera (but at the same time) we aren’t not going to have a camera for when the baby arrives!

Our camera was a Nikon Coolpix 5.1 Megapixel Digital. It was a decent camera, but we didn’t like a few of it’s features. We didn’t like the time it needed in between taking pictures (10-15 second delay), the video wasn’t great quality, and it had no automatic red-eye reduction or anything like that.

We are upset it was stolen but at the same time want to buy something a bit better now. We’ve heard not to buy anything unless it’s 6 megapixel or higher. We want something that can record quality videos, and longer than the normal 5 minute maximum (this way we won’t need to buy a camcorder). We’re not too picky on size, if we found a good camera with one of those big lenses you can add on (that are big & long) it would be ok…

Any suggestions? We definitely want something we can plug into the computer to download pics…

Thanks in advance,
Kelly 

[Moni]

I'm sorry that your camera got jacked.  That really suxes!!!  I just got a new Olympus SP 550uz from Jay for my bday.  It is a higher end point and shoot.  I was going to go with one of the new Canon Rebels... but I feel we just don't have enough to set aside for all the additional decent lenses that are required for an SLR camera.

My main selling point on the SP 550uz is the 18x zoom.  Granted I use a tripod and time delay when I use the zoom, but that's an issue with most zoom lenses.  I've only had it for about 2 weeks now, but I really like the quality of the pictures I've been getting with it.  It is a 7.1megapixel, which is a little low for the newere cameras, but I was reading up on a customer review site and it stated that most of the ones claiming 10..etc can't actually use the full megs because of the crystal quality or something? 

I have to run and get the kids off the bus, but here's my photo albumn with the pix I've taken with the new camera.
http://tinyurl.com/38ydbw

the "Birds" sub folder was taken with it as well when I was trying out the zoom without the time delay. 

[Moni]

Ok, other things that I didn't have time to write about earlier. 

It takes video until the card fills up or you hit stop.  The zoom works while recording, but only if the sound is turned off.  Otherwise you have to zoom before you start recording and then it is stationary.

It also has an additional lens that I'm going to get(wanted to make sure I liked the camera before getting accessories) that will double its 18x to 36x.  This is especially helpful for me since I live out in the boonies and would like to get shots of the kids & dogs from far away.... (I also secretly hope to get some nice wildlife shots as well )

It has a 28mm wide angle lens and it also has a supermacro button good for as close as 1cm. 

It has the auto red eye reduction, which I'd say works about 2x-4x better than any other cameras I've used.  I still get the occasional redeye, but not nearly as much as I used to.  Its also very important in our familiy since almost everyone has blue eyes!!! lol

It has an awesome 15 fps mode, but only usable in the mid-lower quality setting.     Otherwise its about 2.5fps, then you have to wait for it to load onto the memory  card. 

The downside is that it is kind of pricey and its very new on the market, it just came out the beginning of March, so there aren't many reviews out on it yet.

It has a lot of manual options as well, so that I can grow with it.  That was important to me, since I don't want to have to do everything on "auto".

As for other cameras, I really loved my old Canon PowerShot A80, but it was a 4meg and it only shot 3min of video at a time.  Their newer ones might have changed in that aspect though. 

Your best bet is to decide what you want the camera for mostly and start reading through customer reviews.  That's how I changed my mind from the Rebel to the Olympus.  I must say I also learned a lot from reading all the reviews, so as time consuming as it was, it was worth it. 

Good luck in finding the best for you! 

[k2campbell]

Moni,

Thank you SO much for all of your wonderful insight on the Olympus camera! We are going to start researching tonight online (reviews etc) and go camera shopping on the weekend I think. We plan on going to a very fancy camera store in Calgary that has EVERY camera you can think of. It’s pricey because they literally sell every camera you can buy on the market. We’ll test them out there, hold them, etc – then buy elsewhere for less money.

Thanks again – you are a wealth of knowledge! The pics of the pups and your kids are so nice, wow – that camera really does take excellent pictures! Maybe it's the photographer too though, hey?

Kelly

[ZooCrew]

I'm also in the market for a new camera.  I had planned on getting one right after Christmas, but after many unannounced vet bills, it will be holding off for a bit. 

I had looked at an Olympus as one of my options.  Not the one you mentioned as it sounds like that one just came out.  The one I had looked at had great zoom, but you couldn't do multishoot with it, you could only take one at a time.  Does your Olympus have multishoot?  I use that function alot.

So I had settled on the Sony H5.  I found an awesome website (don't ask me to find it, I came across it by accident) with one guy giving a step by step info on pretty much every camera out there, plus reviewing them from a professional standpoint.  A friend of mine has the Sony H2, but it has a much smaller viewfinder.  The H5 has all the same features, but a 3" screen (I think), which is really nice.  Pricey, but takes awesome pix.

if you're looking for a cheaper but good quality camera, I would go with a Canon.  My last camera was a Canon A85 and I loved it.  It met its end last fall when my dad dropped it in the dog's water bowl and left it there.      It did only take 3 min of video but I was happy with the picture quality.  I would still be getting a Canon if the screen wasn't so small.

[ZooCrew]

Okay I did some searching and managed to find the website I looked at which goes over every aspect of the camera.  Plus it shows sample shots and some other stuff over my head and explains about each function.

http://www.dcresource.com/

[mama23+pyrs2]

I am in desperate need of a new camera, we got ours before my almost 3 yr old was born and it's gone to crap. This post will help a lot. I think I want to go with a Canon too, can't spend a fortune but need something nicer (and faster) than what I've got, I hate it. This is a Kodak and only 3.2 mp, imagine my frustrations, I usually end up yelling at the camera at some point in my picture taking sessions. My Bday is coming up and I keep outrightly saying what I want but I doubt I'll get it.

[bigdogs@5501]

My Chirstmas present from the hubby was the Olympus Evolt 500. This camera is a SLR and is amazing. If you buy the entire kit, you will get 2 lenses. I am still not utilizing the full potential of this camera and really need to take time to read the manual. My brother who is a professional photographer and the head photographer for a major city in the NW, has told me that they use the Olympus Evolt 500 on a daily basis. It is an 8 mega pixel. We paid about 800.00 for the kit and I plan on buying a really cool extra lense for the camera that is now available. Prior to this camera I had an Olympus point and shoot that had a 4 mega pixel that produced some great pics and when I bought that one- about 5 years ago- it was around 350.00.
I am extremely stingy and rarely just haphazardly spend money-but when it comes to cameras, these are my memories that I am capturing, so I go the extra on the cameras.

[mama23+pyrs2]

My Bday is coming up and I keep outrightly saying what I want but I doubt I'll get it.

I emailed one to Rob yesterday.  I always email him good idea for pressies...HAH A!  And usually, I get them (or something cooler).  Rob told me once that most boys really want to know what you want since they have a hard time coming up with things.  Maybe you could try emailing?   

Money is just too tight right now for any major gift, I'll be lucky if I get a gift at all. Hubby is truly lousy at giving gifts for birthdays, if he gives them at all. This year is going to majorly depressing I'm afraid, I don't even want it to come in the first place.

[mama23+pyrs2]

Awww, Kristina, I know the feeling!  Dang it...well, when money loosens up, I highly recommend the email technique. Then they can't forget!   

Julie

Haha, okay.. it would help if he ever checked his email too. Maybe text message, lol. At least it's not only me he forgets (or ignores) it's everything, HA.

[Moni]

Ok, this might really be extreme overkill but I spent a while this morning getting comparison pictures.  I took my tripod out and from the same spot took shots with my Canon PowerShot A80 and the Olympus SP 550uz(don't mind the laundry mess in the LR lol).  I also didn't mess around with the settings on either, just put them both on Automatic so that they were at the same basic level.  I'm sure all the pictures on either camera could have come out a LOT better if I juggled settings, shutterspeed.. etc.

I put them both with their Optical Zooms focused all the way in(18x for Olym, 3x for Canon) and all the way out, I also did Highest and Lowest picture quality on a couple pictures.  It doesn't really seem to matter much for sharing pix online, but for printing its a big difference.  So to show it, I put actual pixel size clips of the different qualities up too.

Then for the Olympus, I showed the actual pixels of the same shot taken with on the Tripod, then handheld with its Image Stabilization On and Off.  Again, in a small version of the full sized version it would probably just soften the picture, but in larger ones or crops it makes a bit of a difference.

Canon Zoomed out highest quality:

[Moni]

Moni,

I've been looking, too, specifically for a camera that has great zoom for not a huge price. Looks like your camera has pretty good reviews!  The only "okay" reviews seem to be "slow" and "soft images".  Have you noticed this? Your's look pretty clear to me!

Julie

On regular auto settings the Olympus can be slow for action shots, but I'm still toying around with all the features and learning real photography "lingo" and what does what.     I have gotten some great action shots off it though when I find the right setting!  Mostly I just experiment and try to file away what works in my head.  lol  Battery life & quality seems to make a difference in this as well.  I like it a LOT more for indoor shots, and on the right settings outdoor ones come out amazing!  It still is a bit over my head, but that's what I wanted so that I could learn more. 

I have gotten soft shots as well, but that seems to be a hand steadiness combined with Zoom problem.  The further the Zoom, the more it picks up your little hand tremors.  So though I LOVE the 18x Zoom, I'm learning the joys of using a tripod because I have problems with shaky hands.  That might put a lot of people off though since its an additional thing to lug around.  I personally don't mind it though.  I can't WAIT until I get the adaptor lens that doubles the Zoom.  I could probably pick wildlife off the mountain while just looking out my window with it!  lol

I normally don't get birthday or christmas presents either,since I'd rather put that money towards the dogs.  However, every couple of years Jay lets me splurge around Income Tax return.    So far, I think it was worth the wait this year...

I hope that answered some of your questions, feel free to ask anything else and I'll try to answer as best as I can.  Best of luck!

[Stacey]

I know I am jumping in after the fact, but just in case anyone else is in the market for a new camera:

I have the Canon Rebel XTi and I absoutely love it!  Here are some of my pics with it: