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View Full Version : Okay, so I need some advice from the photog's



ZMan2k2
07-03-2006, 08:59 PM
Hey all.

My wife and I are looking into getting a new digital camera. And with all the amazing shots that I've seen in the threads here, I'm kind of torn as to getting a DSLR or a "regular" digital camera.

I might as well start with what we're looking for, and we can go from there with suggestions.

- My wife likes to take close-ups of things like flowers, so a macro would be nice.
- Decent optical zoom capability. We have a camera with 3x optical right now, and we don't think it's enough.
- Obviously, the camera's available now have better MP's than what we have now, which is 3.2 MP.
- If possible, we would like to have something with a larger LCD screen than a 2". But it's not exactly necessary.
- Adjustable shutter speed, or quicker than what we have now.
- Good focus for things like group shots, scenery, still life, etc.
- Ability to switch between B/W and color.
- Good photo even in low light situation. Right now we get sort of a grey-yellow color on people w/ red-eye with our current camera.

Now, I'm thinking about getting into photograpy as a hobby, because you all seem to make the shots you take so fantastic just with the sharpness, detail and clarity.

What I have now is aCanon A70 (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_a70.asp) digital, and it has worked great for a few years, but now it's time to get something more. I've always been a fan of Canon so I've looked at some of the one's available now. I'm sort of down to two choices, but if there are other options, please let me know.

Canon PowerShot S3 IS (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_s3is.asp)

Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_eos350d.asp)

Thanks for taking the time to help out a newb in the camera world. This would also be used as our main family camera, so I guess that needs to be considered as well.

theken
07-03-2006, 09:36 PM
buy bens camera off of him, he has a fs thread, beautiful shots

AJL
07-03-2006, 09:40 PM
im in the same situation as you. Not sure wether to get a Canon S3 or go all out and either get a Nikon D50 or Canon Digital SLR.
And im upgrading from my old Canon A60.

Let us know what you decide on.

canadianx
07-03-2006, 11:17 PM
To be honest I think you should just bite the bullet. Looks like you have a lot to gain here because you have such a variety of things you want to do with it. A general purpose camera will be good but won't allow you to go that extra step when you want to

I dove in last week and it didn't hurt one bit (Rebel XT) Of course the Visa bill isn't here yet though :)

Ben
07-04-2006, 12:09 AM
Both cameras are good, so I wont go into detail about one versus the other except for this:

at less than 600, that Canon S3IS is hard to beat. The company I work for just picked one up, as did my good friend. It depends on what you're looking to do down the road.

Moving up to a DSLR is always nice, the creative side is limitless, if your bank account is, remember the cost of a good lens will run you the cost of the camera body and often more. You can get by on the basic lens' however as I mentioned, if you really want to get creative and max out the potential of your new camera, there is that after purchase cost to remember.

BerserkerCatSplat
07-04-2006, 01:22 AM
Originally posted by Ben
You can get by on the basic lens' however as I mentioned, if you really want to get creative and max out the potential of your new camera, there is that after purchase cost to remember.

Very true, but also keep in mind that many people suffer from NAS or L-Glass Syndrome - once they buy a DSLR, they tend to spend a lot more on accessories (that they may or may not actually use) than they originally expected. Not that it should deter you from buying a DSLR, far from it. Just remember that there's always going to be some gadget or lens that you'll want!

turboMiata
07-04-2006, 09:03 AM
you never mentioned anything about portability or size. if you don't mind carrrying a camera bag with 2-3 lenses everytime you go out, then get the SLR. otherwise, get the p&s.

benyl
07-04-2006, 09:43 AM
Originally posted by ZMan2k2

- My wife likes to take close-ups of things like flowers, so a macro would be nice.

Most p&s cameras have a macro mode. Dunno how good it is. For a DSLR you will either have to buy lens tubes or a macro specific lens.

Originally posted by ZMan2k2

- Decent optical zoom capability. We have a camera with 3x optical right now, and we don't think it's enough.

If you don't think that 3x optical is enough, be prepared to spend BIG $$$ if you buy a DSLR (either that or settle for a less quality lens).

Originally posted by ZMan2k2

- Obviously, the camera's available now have better MP's than what we have now, which is 3.2 MP.

For the most part, unless you are making posters, 3.2 MP is plenty for 4x5 prints. Don't get caught in the MP hype. It is just a way for manufacturers to sell cameras to people who don't know any better.

Originally posted by ZMan2k2

- If possible, we would like to have something with a larger LCD screen than a 2". But it's not exactly necessary.

If you want LCD, then don't buy a DSLR.

Originally posted by ZMan2k2

- Adjustable shutter speed, or quicker than what we have now.

Shutter speed has nothing to do with reaction time. I.e how long it take for the camera to take the photo after you press the release. Most p&s cameras are pretty instant these days... they have gotten a lot better.

Originally posted by ZMan2k2

- Good focus for things like group shots, scenery, still life, etc.

This is camera dependant and lens dependant. But mostly, it is user dependant.

Originally posted by ZMan2k2

- Ability to switch between B/W and color.

meh. Just use photo shop. That gives you the most options. Wouldn't it suck to take a photo in B&W and later wish you had the same photo in color?

Originally posted by ZMan2k2

- Good photo even in low light situation. Right now we get sort of a grey-yellow color on people w/ red-eye with our current camera.

This is sensor and lens dependant.

Originally posted by ZMan2k2

Now, I'm thinking about getting into photograpy as a hobby, because you all seem to make the shots you take so fantastic just with the sharpness, detail and clarity.


The quality of your photos from a objective point of view (clarity, pixels, noise, etc...) will come from the sensor and the lens.

The quality of your photos from a subjective poinf of view will be based on who is behind the lens.

ZMan2k2
07-04-2006, 07:45 PM
Alright. Thanks for the replys all. Very helpful information. The cost factor isn't that huge for me right now. So I'm really stuck on deciding just how far I want to go with this hobby. The answers really helped point me in the right direction though. Thanks again.

lint
07-04-2006, 08:11 PM
Originally posted by ZMan2k2
Alright. Thanks for the replys all. Very helpful information. The cost factor isn't that huge for me right now. So I'm really stuck on deciding just how far I want to go with this hobby. The answers really helped point me in the right direction though. Thanks again.

You don't have to buy new. There are great used deals out there. If you decide down the road that photography isn't what it was cracked up to be, if you've gone down the SLR route, your lenses if bought used can probably be sold for the same amount. Just think of it as a rental fee. You can't really go wrong either way.

Akagi Redsuns
07-04-2006, 08:11 PM
I currently own a Canon A70 and got to use a Canon S3 IS over the weekend. I am in the same situation as you, wondering if I should go with a DSLR or a capable Point&Shoot. There was a lot I liked about the S3 and a lot I didn't.



Originally posted by ZMan2k2
[B]snip........

- My wife likes to take close-ups of things like flowers, so a macro would be nice.


The S3 has a fanastic macro mode. Even has a super macro mode where you can focus in on objects touching the lens....impressive.


Originally posted by ZMan2k2
- Decent optical zoom capability. We have a camera with 3x optical right now, and we don't think it's enough.


The S3 has a IS 12x zoom lens. It has a lot of reach and I was framing shots I wouldn't dream of framing with my A70 or a friend's D50 w/standard lens kit.


Originally posted by ZMan2k2
- Obviously, the camera's available now have better MP's than what we have now, which is 3.2 MP.


Like someone mentioned, no need to be hung up on megapixels. The S3 has 6MP which is not bad, but I rather it took clearer pictures at lower resolution instead.


Originally posted by ZMan2k2
- If possible, we would like to have something with a larger LCD screen than a 2". But it's not exactly necessary.


The S2 has a 2inch LCD and I thought it was too small. It does swivel out and you can use it as a viewfinder instead of just changing settings. The swivel out LCD gives you a lot of freedom to frame shots that would be physically hard to do. Really low, high or something like a overhead shot of a bee on a flower that is a PITA using the viewfinder. Something you can't do on an DSLR unless it's one of those new Olympus E-330 cameras. And oh yeah, I hated the EVF on the S3. Low contrast, low resolution and it was hard to see through. In low light, it was also a little laggy. Not good. Nothing like a DSLR.


Originally posted by ZMan2k2
- Adjustable shutter speed, or quicker than what we have now.


The A70 has a max shutter rating 1/2000 sec. The S3 has a max of 1/3200 sec. So a little faster and gives you the similar controls as the A70. I find that the camera doesn't let in enough light to really take advantage of the higher shutter speeds.


Originally posted by ZMan2k2
- Good focus for things like group shots, scenery, still life, etc.


I find that the DIGICII on the S3 works a lot faster than the A70. Focus is fast, but a DSLR will beat it hands down. But still, not bad if you have it pre-focused, or did the focus-lock, it takes pictures very fast, almost instant. When using the 12x zoom and using the EVF, I had a very hard time determining if what I wanted to be focused was actually focused or not. Usually I had to look at the picture after it's taken and zooming in to make sure on the LCD.


Originally posted by ZMan2k2

- Ability to switch between B/W and color.
- Good photo even in low light situation. Right now we get sort of a grey-yellow color on people w/ red-eye with our current camera.



Like someone previously mentioned, PS would be a better way to get B&W pictures, but the A70 could also take B&W or Sepia or any of the RGB highlighted. The S3 takes it a step further by having a new color functions menu. You can swap colors, or take a B&W with only red objected colored in and etc. Interesting, but I rather just take the pic as normal and play around with PS.

As for the lowlight situation, this was the big downfall for me when using the S3 withouth the flash. Forcing the ISO down to a resonable level make the shutter speeds way too slow to get a real good picture without any blur. Higher ISOs help, but then the picture is way too grainy with noise. If you don't mind using the flash, I was actually impressed with the way the S3 throttles down the flash in the pictures. None of the test pictures I took looked like there was too much flash, unlike the A70 where the flash is way too bright in any picture I took in low light. With a DSLR, the pics at the higher ISOs are still decent and lack a lot of noise, especially the Nikon D50 which I have been considering to get.

You mentioned that this would the family camera. I should add that the S3 has a good movie mode. I just wish they didn't use a bloated encoding scheme that sucks down memory (how about MPEG4 Canon?), but you can have 640x480 at 30fps videos as long as 1GB, which equals to about 8.5 mins long. But it has stereo sound mics as well as the ability to zoom during movies. I used it a little bit and it was pretty slick.

Anyways, as you can tell, I had exposure to S3 and very limted exposure to the D50. I haven't decided which way to go either. I like the capabilities of the S3 but can't get over the shortfalls. Yet to move into a DSLR with stabilized 12x zoom lens would cost a lot of $$$ and I still have to decide if that is worth the cost over the S3. Fun fun.

Anyways, sorry if the post was a bit of ramble, but hope it helped you out. If you need to see of the artsy pics I took with the S3 to a see a bit of what it can do, shoot me a PM and I will send some.

benyl
07-04-2006, 08:42 PM
Originally posted by lint


You don't have to buy new.

Check my sig... that price is VERY obo right now... as in I haven't updated the thread in a while.

AJL
07-05-2006, 05:36 PM
I have made my decision and im going to be buying the Canon S3 IS before the end of the month, hopefully this week.

jdm_eg6
07-05-2006, 05:43 PM
I would go SLR they are verry versitile, but like said above lenses are an essential for all. If you want all those fancy shots you just need to know how to work your camera and what lenses to use. from Apature setting and timed opening and what not. The most important thing is lenses get the SLR with wideangle and maybe a lense for close shots, and get a telescopic converter it adds to your possibilities for clearer and much more in depth shots...

PS: buy both at Futureshop then you have 1 month to return either one!!! see which one fits you best!

-Good luck, Adam