Cannon EOS Series ?

[mountainhouse]

Keep in mind that your 28-200 will act on a 36-300 on the Nikon DSLR. There's 1.5x magnification factor. That's why many folks end up with the 18-70mm lens that can be purchased with the camera. This effectively works out to the equivalent of a 27-105 on a 35mm.

 

Good shooting,

[jukeboxy]

Before going on my Alaska cruise May 04 I talked myselfe into a digital Rebel. I used mostly the auto or "P" setting and got great pictures. I had my laptop which had over four gig of space left so I figured that I had lots of storage room. I had over one gig of flash cards also. I ran out of space on both after five days of a twelve day cruise.

I went into full panic mode and bought two more 256 cards at the next port. I filled them the next day and was no better off than before. Then a fellow passenger came to my rescue. He had a storage device called a FLASHTRAX which reads and stores pictures right off of the flash card and then you can erase them and your back in business. He also had his computer and could burn CD's which he did for me each day the rest of the cruise. I took over 3,000 pictures on that cruise and at the highest jpg level of storage. So user beware you can think you have lots of space but you may get the shock of your life if you don't plan well.

I now own my own FLASHTRAX and have used it on two cruises since. It has 40 gig storage and a viewer so you can see what pictures are on it. I currently have 10 gig of pictures on it which is the sum total of three cruises.

 

The FLASHTRAX can be seen or bought on line at http://www.smartdisk.com for about $500 it was the best investment I have made.

[KansasScrapper]

So it just stores the photos or does it burn it to a disk for you? Any here in the us?

 

 

Thanks.

[jukeboxy]

So it just stores the photos or does it burn it to a disk for you? Any here in the us?

 

 

Thanks.

 

It is a storage and viewer only when plugged into your computer it show up as an external hard drive. You can do all the functions on it that you can on a hard drive.

 

There are many stores like Good-Guys that stock it but you can always go to the website in my earlier post.

[Singinman]

Check out the Alaska pictures (Diamond Princess, May '04) on this forum posted by Singinman. These were taken with a Panasonic Lumix FZ-10 Digital w/a 12X optical zoom Leica lens with lens stabilization which eliminates the shakes at higher zoom. This is a 4.1MP camera. Most of the pictures were taken in the point and shoot mode. The current model in the FZ-20 which retails at $600.

 

We bougt the camera in April for our May cruise.

[cruzegirl]

Prophotogirl,

How I'd love to rack your brain....I have the Canon digital rebel and love it. But need to learn more....the special stuff...I have filters but not sure what's used for what.... plan to practice more..... you have such knowledge......

Darchibald,

If you are going to buy a digital camera I highly recommend the canon digital rebel.... a girlfriend of mine who knows more than myself, has taken amazing shots..I have one and love it.... It can be a little overwhelming at first (I've had 35 mm cameras before) but it's so good. Great pictures....Look at my photo album.... I took 95% of the photos with it....And I can recommend the place to buy it... I got the camera body w/books, cables, battery and flashcard, a regular lens, the 70-300 zoom lens, (2) set of filters, (3) camera bags, (2) tri pods, lens cleaning kit for $1100.00 and it came with a $100 rebate... here's the link for the site for package deals.....Can't beat it.... No store can beat, i.e. circuit city or best buy....... http://www.47stphoto.com/

It's great for packages.... it was excellent for the cruise... I could immediately delete the ones I didn't want....take a look at my photo album and you'll see......Hope it was helpful....good luck......

 

You've Got Pictures I hope this works.......

[prophotogirl]

cruzegirl - you can email me hdl_bear@sbcglobal.net with questions

[KansasScrapper]

Do you remember or could you caheck, to see how much the cruise charged for the port photos? Thanks!

[zackiedawg]

Not to discourage you from buying the Digital Rebel or any other DSLR camera...they are wonderful. But I wanted to clarify at least one option you may not be considering.

 

If you are not yet a 'photographer', you haven't been using SLRs or DSLRs, and haven't yet learned or mastered aperature, shutter, exposure bias, ISO, etc...the Automatic or Program modes of a DSLR will almost always take a good picture for you. You may not know why it chose the settings it did, or what effect changes to the settings have, but the shot will still come out great.

 

However, you could use another type of digital camera as a wonderful training tool, still get wonderful pictures and gorgeous prints up to 8x10, and have a cheaper, more portable, and less-maintenance-prone package.

 

Consider this: for around $500, you can get a Panasonic FZ20 (5 megapixels - clean 8x10 prints, and an excellent 12x Leica 38-420mm equivalent image-stabilized lens built in) or a Sony F717 (5MP, 5x Carl Zeiss lens on swivel mount). For around $900, you can get a Sony 828 (8mp, 7x lens), Nikon 8800 (8mp, 10x image stabilized lens), Konica Minolta DiMage Z5 (5mp, 12x image-stabilized lens) and others.

 

The advantages of each of these cameras over a DSLR for a beginner?

 

1. One package, sealed, with very long and flexible zoom range. No additional lenses to buy. This makes it more portable and doesn't require a camera bag and all the kit.

 

2. No cleaning of the mirror and dust problems on the sensors (DSLRs have an open body, and regular cleaning is required as well as care not to let too much dust or dirt inside). Dust on your mirror equals spots in your pictures, and dust on the sensor can block out information causing spots, blank areas, hot pixels, etc in your shot.

 

3. Live preview and histogram - on a DSLR, the LCD screen cannot show you what you are shooting...it can only display the shot after you take it. With the Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) Prosumer cams above you can have live preview, allowing you to see onscreen in real time what effect every adjustment to aperature, ISO, shutter, etc have on the shot. They also have a live histogram to help you properly meter your shot before you take it.

 

4. Price - of course, they are generally cheaper...even if the price is the same for a DSLR body versus the EVF, you still have to get a lens and a flash...and if you want to match the long zooms of the EVF cameras, you have to get a big lens or additional lenses. EVF cameras have built in flashes (usable for most basic situations) plus a hotshoe for additional external flashes.

 

5. LCD flexibility - Often these EVF cameras have either a swivel body or a swivel or flexible LCD which can be tilted, angled, or swung around. Need to shoot over people's heads? Just flip the LCD or camera body down, and you can still line up and frame your shot.

 

Now - please note I am not trying to put down DSLRs...they are fantastic cameras and worthy of growing with. I am looking to get one in my future. I have shot with SLRs for years...but I entered the digital fray with a Sony DSC-F717, which has been an excellent and flexible camera far more convenient to travel with than my Canon EOS-IX or Pentax ME Super SLRs and all their extra lenses and equipment. I have printed gorgeous film-quality 8x10s with it, and find myself leanring more about photography than I ever did in years of owning SLRs...because of that ability to make an adjustment and see the change on screen, live, before shooting! At a cost of $800 for the whole camera package, it was a bargain compared to the thousands I have spent on body and lenses for my SLR! Plus, it has all the same manual controls as an SLR, has a 58mm threaded lens to accept filters as well as add-on lenses (wide angle, telephoto extenders, etc), and can use the same flash as my Canon and Pentax with the hotshoe (but also has its own flash onboard for those closer portrait shots).

 

Plus, even when I get a DSLR, I still see the EVF camera filling an important place in the lineup - there will always be times when you want to take nice photography, but bringing the whole DSLR kit or limiting yourself to one lens just isn't practical; or maybe the weather is not so great, and you don't want to risk the nice DSLR. Getting an EVF camera now will allow you to take brilliant photos, learn all the manual aspects of photography to imrpove your skill and make it easier to take manual shots NOW without being a pro, plus still be useful and great to have when you decide to purchase a DSLR and build a collection of lenses if the photo bug really bites you.

 

Feel free to look at my gallery from my November Celebrity Summit cruise - all pictures in the gallery are taken with the 717:

 

http://www.funtigo.com/zackiedawg?b=88124&c=177495&p=start

 

Just another thing to consider! You can't go wrong either way...the Canon Digital Rebel, Nikon D1, Pentax *ist, Olympus E-Volt, etc. are all excellent DSLR cameras, and the EVF selections from Panasonic, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, and others are all excellent as well!

[idssms]

Wendy:

 

I have had Nikon's for years and have never been let down. When I bought my first Coolpix 5000 yrs back,,, it was the state of the art. I just can't believe how many digi P&S cameras are on the market now. Some offer 12 megapixels (sure) for $600. It seems every camera manufacturer has a new twist on a P&S.

 

I get real fed up with the fakeness of the Point and Shoot, especially the "fake" click to mimic a SLR clicking. After I couldnt take it anymore, I sold the P&S camera and bought the D100. Of course I am more than enamored with it. I have 10,000 plus pics under my belt on the camera and I still love it!!!!

 

Here are some pictures taken on it. When I printed some of these they were perfect!! If anyone wants to check out the real quality of a SLR, email me because these "webshot" sites lower the pixels considerably. For the real unaltered pic to be seen, it must be emailed.

 

Thanks for your comments,, re: Nikon ... I dont work for them or am I affiliated....

 

Don

 

Nikon D100 Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/user/irwind101

[mountainhouse]

Darchibald,

If you are going to buy a digital camera I highly recommend the canon digital rebel.... a girlfriend of mine who knows more than myself, has taken amazing shots..

 

I think there's a belief that if you spend enough on a camera, or get the right one, your photos will be good. I used to get annoyed when I showed photos, and people would say, "Wow, that's a really good camera." Now, I just chuckle to myself. It's not the camera, it's the photographer. If Ansel Adams were alive today, I think you'd be surprised what he could do with a $100 digital P&S.

[zackiedawg]

Quite true Frank. An average camera in the hands of a great photographer can yield very good results. A good camera in the hands of a great phtographer can yield great results. And a great camera in the hands of a great photographer is stunning.

 

At the same time, an average camera in the hands of an average photographer will almost never yield better than average results. A great camera in the hands of an average photographer? Still average results. And any camera in the hands of a bad photographer will almost always produce bad results.

 

There were always people who bought more camera than their ability, and it has only increased since the advent and growth in popularity of digital cameras. Ironically, many of these people might actually take BETTER pictures with a lesser camera! Without understanding the effect of the myriad controls on the outcome of the shot, even in 'automatic' mode, a lesser skilled person is often incapable of knowing how to improve a shot...or if the 'automatic' mode isn't yielding the hoped-for shot, they often don't know how to change the outcome. Not to mention basic photography rules and skills...otherwise known as having the 'eye'. Without the user understanding composition, shadowplay, contrast, rule of thirds, motion control, etc., even the best camera can yield very average pictures.

 

It is of course the American way to enjoy freedom of choice, and to strive for the best of everything. If someone wants to go buy the best, most expensive camera despite their lack of knowledge, that is their right. I certainly have been guilty of it myself in the past, whether it was buying a powerful, fast car that I probably couldn't wring more than 50% of its abilities from, or buying a computer capable of running the U.S. Government, and using it to go to a message board or run a slideshow!

 

I just wanted to point out that there are other options of very good cameras which are not only cheaper, but can probably yield the same or better results in the hands of a novice or amateur...and at the same time provide a learning experience that may help to improve skill and make a person a better photographer!

[zackiedawg]

By the way Frank...I looked at your gallery. What a great camera! ;)

 

Nice work...good composition, nice lighting, good storytelling.

[mountainhouse]

Thanks for the kinda words, Justin. I really enjoyed your Caribbean photos also! Very nicely done. You have a good eye. I forwarded it to my folks who are doing a similar cruise in October. I'm sure they'll enjoy the tease. Take care and good shooting,