Cameras

[Twoflower]

OK, I'd like a new camera. Used to have a SLR a long time ago and got lazy with my point and shoot. So here is my question can anyone recommend a good camera that i can do a bit of both with?

[BarriedaleNick]

I love my Nikon D90.  Auto mode for point and shoot.  Movie mode in HD (not full HD -720) and live view like a compact.  Loads of manual options for the more pro approach
Lots of lenses etc.

Not cheap if you want a couple of lenses and if you do then carrying the thing round is a pain!

What do you want it for?  Anything in particular..

[OllieC]

The Cannon G10. I have one, as do 4 of my friends. Bigger than most point & clicks but still small enough to always have with you. I think they're about £350 now... got mine for $400 in the US in May.

You can play with things as much or as little as you want (even manual focus...) and it is almost as good as an SLR in a lot of cases.

Google some reviews!

[Twoflower]

Not really , i used to like doing close up insect/flower pictures, playing with filters. Although i love my point and shoot sometimes i'd like to do more. I'll have to sweet talk my OH for christmas  

[laurieuk]

All the photos on my website are taken with my Kodak easyshare it has auto,close-up, portrait,text and many other modes. I find it easy to load to my PC ,edit and do most things.I have recently been taking photos of old photos so that I can email them to friends.Model is Z740.

[1066]

The Cannon G10. I have one, as do 4 of my friends. Bigger than most point & clicks but still small enough to always have with you. I think they're about £350 now... got mine for $400 in the US in May.

You can play with things as much or as little as you want (even manual focus...) and it is almost as good as an SLR in a lot of cases.

Google some reviews!

That's interesting. Planning on changing our SLR's in the new year. We used to buy 2nd hand bodies and get new lenses (Cannon). It will be a toughie cos I love B&W film and those cameras have been round the world a few times.
1066

[OllieC]

Black & White, you say? I love the "accent colour" function... B&W plus choose what to keep...

[1066]

oooo that looks fun! And the colour change funtion looks good as well 

[verminer]

i have nikon D40 and Nikon D70s and they are both excellent cameras and would probably suit your needs

[picman]

Recently changed from Fuji to Canon SX20 IS and getting lots of fun from it, you can do P-n-S or complicated stuff also you can customize it , my eyes need help but evf best I've looked at,  some of my results http://www.flickr.com/photos/pic-man/
 

[Steve.]

It all depends on what you want from your camera, or what you  really want to produce when all is said and done. If you want to control your camera and use it creatively then you will probably want to go down the DSLR route or at the very least a very good bridge camera. However if your happy to allow your camera to control you, then a point and shoot is definately for you and thats not a bad thing as they have come on in leaps and bounds in latter years.

One thing I always notice when looking at p&s or bridge cameras is lack of aperture, they will generally go from F2 to F8, some will deviate slightly either side but not many will go past F8. For those that dont know F8 is pretty much a standard aperture for most landscape work but for more creative shots its handy to go to F11 or F16 or some such...these higher apertures are generally only available in very good bridge cameras or DSLR's.

Some technical drivel

I use a canon DSLR myself and this has the ability to save photographs in a RAW format (Nikon have the same thing...theirs are called NEF) Both of these formats are uncompressed. When a digital camera take a photograph and you later view it on your computer as a jpeg...that jpeg has been super compressed and a lot of the photograph has been "thrown away" by the camera.

If I take a photograph in RAW it can be 10mb in size, the same photo in jpeg coould be 3-4mb, now you can see how much is discarded !

This of course wont affect or bother the fair majority of people as a 3-4mb jpeg can be good as is, but for those who want that little bit more control or finer work at larger print size or the control to process as you want, not as the camera determines then again..a DSLR is definately for you.

If you want me to expand on anything further than please ask.

Steve...

[Plot69]

Black & White, you say? I love the "accent colour" function... B&W plus choose what to keep...

There's an App for that... This was all done on an iPhone.



I also use a Canon EOS 400D Digital SLR.

[1066]

I love the detail on when and where the photo was taken Plot69 - 1.29km from home 

[Plot69]

I love the detail on when and where the photo was taken Plot69 - 1.29km from home 

That would be the iPhone's inbuilt GPS, the exact distance from home to my plot.

It's the total air miles all my fruit and veg do from the place they're grown to the table.

[Tee Gee]

This is what I have and I like it, why not read the review!

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz50/

[Poppy Mole]

I also am needing a new camera for next years holiday to Switzerland by train, I am currently being swayed towards the Panasonic Lumix DMC- FZ100 does anyone have any experience of this camera & what it can do. I am a little concerned about battery life especially as it does movies, which would hopefully mean one camera to carry instead of my smaller camera & a chunky (but good) camcorder.

[Tee Gee]

I am a little concerned about battery life especially as it does movies

My one does movies as well, not that I use it much for this.

Do as I do when I go on holiday; I have two batteries meaning I can have one in the camera while the other is on charge.

Each night (subject to needs) I charge them in my room/apartment each night and they are ready for the day ahead!

I read this review seems a good camera but a bit expensive!

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1007/10072108panasonicdmcfz100.asp

I like the reviews from this company!

[Poppy Mole]

Did lots of reading & finally ended up on Saturday with a Panasonic FZ38 - it appears to have all the things I am capable of using now that I have the time to play.

[BoardStupid]

Did lots of reading & finally ended up on Saturday with a Panasonic FZ38 - it appears to have all the things I am capable of using now that I have the time to play.

I hope you are having a good time with the Panasonic. I loved them when I worked at Jessops, just flew off the shelves once I'd shown people the zoom and quality of images. One of the best bridge cameras imo

[Ragdoll Lady]

The thing with camera's the technology changes so quickly. In the late 80's I bought a minolta 7000 SLR With a 50mm and a 70-210mm zoom lense added a wide angle lense and 2X converter. This I used and loved till 2002 when I bought the first generation minolta dimage-7 digital camera. Frankly I found it so hard to love this camera like i did the 7000 which was superb for nature shots and the motor racing pictures I took all through the 90's.  The dimage I feel was a bad experiment for a digital camera althogh I have taken some superb pictures with it.  If the money fairy visited me in the future I would probably buy the Nikon DSLR.