What to buy... - DPChallenge Forums

06/27/2006 11:54:40 PM · #1

I'm starting to feel quite a bit held back by my trusty little PowerShot SD200, so I'm thinking of upgrading in the near future to a prosumer type camera. I probably won't be able to afford anything more than $400 american.

I'm looking for something with a decent amount of megapixels, and a good optical zoom, my current 3x is just not cutting it. I also want something without the noise issues I have with the SD200. I kind of also would prefer to stick to Canon.

Any suggestions?

Olympus 12-45mm f/4.0 Pro

06/28/2006 04:13:31 PM · #2

Bumpity bump bump..

OdysseyF22

Panasonic DC-G9

06/28/2006 04:15:30 PM · #3

DPReview, if I remember right, lets you search for models by brand, features, price max, etc, and then you can compare them and read the reviews.

Canon EOS-20D

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

06/28/2006 04:17:38 PM · #4

Perhaps the S3 IS?

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

06/28/2006 04:36:21 PM · #5

Originally posted by mk:

Perhaps the S3 IS?

I like the looks of that, although it is a little pricey, though I might be able to find it cheaper here.

SamDoe1

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

06/28/2006 06:36:12 PM · #6

The S3 IS is the only Canon one with a big zoom. Your other options include Sony's H line and Panasonic's FZ line. I'm not going to recommend Sony because you would have to switch all of your media over to Memory Stick and that's just too much money to have to do. Canon and Panasonic both use SD cards in their cameras and I'm pretty sure your existing camera does as well. Both Canon and Panasonic make excellent cameras. I think the Panasonic FZ7 goes for about $400 new. The Canon is the same price. The Panasonic FZ30, however, goes for about $530 or so. The FZ30 adds a hot shoe, mechanical (twist the lens) zoom, and manual focus ring among other things. I would highly recommend the Panasonic line, but the S3 IS is an excellent camera as well.

trnqlty

Nikon D90

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

06/28/2006 06:40:43 PM · #7

How about the Fuji S7000? It's definetly a little old now but it is a fantastic camera that can be had for 350 new. I had it before my D70 and had great results from it. It has a 6x zoom which isn't shabby and a high megapixel. It has a nice solid feel and its macro feature is absolutely AMAZING. It blows away any other camera for that amount. You can focus 1cm away from your subject. Just a thought.

MadMan2k

Sony Alpha a6400

Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD

06/28/2006 06:49:18 PM · #8

You could get the Canon G5 for probably $200 or so; add a little money for a CF card and spare battery, and maybe a teleconverter, and you'd still have enough money to buy an external flash for lighting. It has a hotshoe, so you can get a shoemount flash or a handlemount and use a hotshoe-PC adapter. One light source probably isn't enough for portraits, but it's a start and you can get a diffuser that will help some for simple setups.

It doesn't have a particularly long lens, and the teleconverter won't do much for image quality, but it's a pretty decent camera as far as control goes. Although the noise is pretty bad after like ISO 100... no worse than my SD400 was though. And the lens is pretty fast.. f/2.0 on the wide end and 4.0 on the long end IIRC.

06/30/2006 01:57:40 PM · #9

Originally posted by trnqlty:

That sounds really good. Whereabouts would you get it for $350? The pricegrabber link for DPC has it at $699.

superdave