What are your favorite cameras out there and what do they cost? What accessories would you recommend? Let's hear your recommendations and reviews for:

1. a point and shoot camera

2. an amateur photographer looking for a relatively inexpensive camera with options

3. a good camera for learning photography on a budget

4. a very good camera for the enthusiast which will allow expansion

5. an excellent camera for professional and semi professional use.

 

I will start off my own survey by saying that the Cannon SD450 is an excellent point and shoot camera. I use it frequently for my work (real estate appraisal) due to its compact size and very quick speed. I spent about $400 when it came out but I see them in the $300 to $350 range now.

As far as a relatively inexpensive camera with options, I love my Fuji S5000. It has several functions and takes excellent photos for the price - relatively inexpensive (new on ebay for $250 +/- now.) The drawback is that it is fairly slow. During the MOALA dyno day, a photographer from Mini World was covering it. After realizing that his $5,000 camera wasn't working, he broke out his trusty S5000 and finished the photo shoot, which tells me that it is a pretty good camera in the right hands.

I am looking to upgrade now, which is the reason for the questions. I've been looking at the Cannon Rebel SLRs in the $1,000 +/- range but I don't know enough about lenses and options to make an educated decision. I will use the camera almost exclusively for shooting photos of cars - still and some action shots. I want something that is easy for a newbe to learn.

 

Go to http://www.dpreview.com/ They have far more info than most of us can handle.

 

Check out the Panasonic DMC line. The ones with the 12X zooms (for the money spent vs picture quality vs features they can't be beat). I bought one a year ago (4mp for around $350ish) & it is an amazing camera. As close as you can get to an SLR camera at a non-SLR price. It is bigger than most but it is worth it for the zoom & high quality lens & it takes amazingly professional looking pictures. I plan to take a photography class so I can learn to utilize & understand all it's features. I bought mine online for over $100 less than they sell it at circuit city (but beware when buying online, there are some shady storefront dealers located in NY that sell cheap then ship w/a Japanese instruction manual & try to charge you another $100 for an English manual & many other bait-n-switch horrors.) I am used to just buying stuff online without a 2nd tought but I learned in my camera research that there are a lot of shady camera & video online retailers I bought my camera at www.beachcamera.com they had a great price & had a good reputation. I did a lot of research on both cameras & online retailers before I ordered my Panasonic. A good place to research the online retailers is http://www.resellerratings.com (go there & search for the camera you want. They will list all the retailers & prices & then you can see & read detailed reviews of each seller). It is worth buying a camera online because the savings are incredible but you must research the retailers as I learned there are a lot of shady camera & video online retailers

I agree that www.dpreview.com is an excellent source for unbiased reviews but also check out www.imaging-resource.com . I think imaging resource (one of those 2) will let you select 2 cameras & look at the exact same photo taken by each camera for a side-by-side comparison.

(oh yeah & two more things I like about my Panasonic is it is fully automatic or you can set it to be fully manual--so I felt like there was lots of room to grow with it once I take a photography class & it has an anti-shake feature which is a must on a zoom camera)

 

Does anyone have experience with the Sony DSC-P200? Sam's has it for $238. It is a 7.2 MP point and shoot. I want a smaller camera, and my old Sony (DSC-S85) is starting to make some funny sounds...it has been to Ireland twice with me (lots of rain) and on many a field trip (I'm a geology student). I have look at dpreview and steve's digicams and it has good reviews, but there is nothing like hearing from someone who has the camera.

I'd like to stick with Sony because I already have a bunch of Memory Sticks, but would be willing to check out other brands, too.

 

I'm a fan of Canon's Powershots. IMO they rule the compact segment. The only thing I don't like about them is the fact that Canon changed from using cf to sd media cards. With the way card prices are falling that's not a big deal.

Don't fret Nikonians, I love Nikon DSLR's.

 

Nikon is doing the same with a few of their Coolpix models.
Their newest P4 even comes with Vibration Reduction!

 

So Rick, what did you end up buying? I want to get a new camera before Mini in the Mountains...

Definitely a point & shoot. I've read the postings here, so I'm curious what you bought!

Thanks!
Lynn

 

I am totally in LOVE with my Fuji S5000.

I was into Nikon SLR for years and chose the Fuji 5k because...well...it was black and it felt comfortable like an slr in my hands.

The only complaint I have is the shutter lag you mentioned. I've gotten around it by shooting action shots, like the dog jumping in the air for his tennis ball, by using the continuous mode.

Check out the stuff in my gallery if you want to see what this camera can do. A couple of the shots are kind of soft, but that's because I inadvertantly shot at 1 megapix. The really pretty stuff, like the landscapes, were all shot at 3.

The 5000 is now the 5200. I guess the biggest upgrade is from 3 to 5 megapix. But unless I plan on doing 11x14 or 16x20 enlargements, that's not an issue.

I saw it at Target for $349, but under $300 anywhere on the iNet.