Digital Cameras?

[jamie]

Currently i am looking at buying a digital camera. Im sick of not having one but was wanting the inside word on which one to buy. Ideally id like to get a canon because i could then use all of mum and dads lenses. It would be mostly used for taking pictures of the weather.
At the moment im looking at the canon EOS 450d. I have seen some awesome photos from a few people on here. I know the old saying of its not the camera, its the operator but what cameras do alot of you have?

[David]

Well, I have a Sony Cyber-shot camera, 7.2 megapixel and zoom up to 6x (only optical zoom up to 3x so zoom over 3x is digital and loses picture quality). I have been happy with the ease of use and the picture quality.

[spwill]

I have a Canon EOS 400 D for storm photography, gathering dust at the moment.

[NZstorm]

Both Canon and Nikon are the cameras of choice for storm chasers I think. And DSLR is obviously the way to go for lightning photography.

[Storm Struck]

I have a Cannon EOS 350D which i find great for storm chasing and the really close up photo's.
I am still getting my way through all the gadgets it has and ive had it for about 2 years.
I also use a Nikon 3700 smaller digital camera which is great to have floating around in the day bag when out and about and you see something in the sky to snap of.
Lastly my Sony Handycam which is ok for recording storms, but i am thinking of getting a DVD or disc video camera as i have heard the quality is better.
Plus the fact that Tapes and VCR's are on the way out this year, no longer will places make VCR's and sell the tapes because of the evolution of technology and DVD's.
Knowing my luck i will get a DVD one and a new form will come out even better in a Memory Stick .
Cheers
Jason.

[tgsnoopy]

If you are considering buying a new camcorder, consider buying a HD one, look for 1920x1080 resolution. 1080p sometimes is specified but not always.

You can buy a reasonable one from around $1100 upwards now. Check pricespy.

[GraemeWi]

The best camera is the one you have with you when you need it! I have a 400D with a wide angle lens as my 'good' camera, and a smaller Cannon powershot model that goes in my pocket - both take great images, but the main thing is to be used to using the camera - know by instinct where the important settings are, and how to navigate to them. There is nothing worse than being in a prime spot trying to find an obscure menu setting you need to get 'that' shot. Easy menus are a requirement.

[Tornado Tim]

I have a Fujifilm Z20fd, Small compact and good quality photos being at 10 Mega-pixels.
You can choose to put it into manual mode which i use and you can pick the ISO, Exposure and other things.
Next camera I will get will be a Fujifilm S model, or Canon.
Nikon is another brand that is also worth checking out.

[tgsnoopy]

People I know who are serious about photography seem to have swung from Nikon to Canon in the last couple of years. I'm staying Fujifilm for the moment, but every trip to Au I make I look carefully at the duty free pricing of the Canons.

Couldn't agree more about the familarity comment though. It's caused me greif on more than one occasion.

[Lacertae]

I have a Canon Powershot SX100 IS and so far I am very satisfied. It has 8Mpixels, 10x optical zoom (equivalent to a 36 - 360mm) and 40x digital zoom, a very good macro mode (camera still focusing at less than 1 cm from the subject), user-friendly manual mode, stabilizer (which I don't use), etc ...
A problem is the noisy CCD at more than 200 ISO (but though I am a picky guy about noise, astrophotography influence ...).

I've seen Canon recently released the Powershot SX10 with a 20x optical zoom (equivalent to a 36 - 460mm) and if the quality of the optics is OK, it sounds great !

[iomkiwi]

I've seen Canon recently released the Powershot SX10 with a 20x optical zoom (equivalent to a 36 - 460mm) and if the quality of the optics is OK, it sounds great !

I'll let you know - have ordered mine and expect it in about 10 days when Canon have some more stock.
My last camera was a Sony MVCFD91, probably THE ugliest camera ever made but with 14x optical (and I have put a 1.5x adapter on it) it has served me well

[tgsnoopy]

Hmm, I never said what I'm using these days. I bought a Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd. Cost was about Au$280 duty free in Sydney, May 08. It's 18x optical zoom (27-486mm equivalent) 8 Megapixels. I'm a little dissapointed in it's low light performance, pictures get noisy fast! Video is 640x480 30fps, not bad, have used it to record video a bit and it's quite usable, audio recording is fantastic albeit mono.

[jamie]

Whats the difference between canon 400D and 40D?

[Willoughby]

Whats the difference between canon 400D and 40D?

Canon 40D has a bigger body (great grip in the hands), larger viewfinder, shooting frame rate to 6.5fps rather than the 400D's 3.0fps so really good for sports. Live view also - really good for getting the focusing right. There's more but those are the basics.

Right choice of lenses are much much much more important.

[Tornado Tim]

And also remember a great set of lenses will hold there value the camera wont.

[jamie]

Just got a quote from the local harvey norman here. Its the best for here so far. AU$1537 NZ$1900 for a Canon EOS 450D (400 out of date now) with a 18-55 and 55-250 stablised lense, extended warranty (not sure if its really needed on cameras??? its $120 so not too sure.. i tend stay well clear of them on other electronic things), 4GB mem stick with super fast upload 300mb/s or somthing, and an awesome carry bag that would be perfect for the video camera also. I managed to get AU$300 off aswell so normally it would be $1800. Mum and dad have an excess of lenses so im not too fussed about what lense i have right now.

I think i might wait till i get back though

[jamie]

best deal i can get here is from heathcote appliances for 2100 with everything exactly the same. This is because they are the only ones (at the base in hamilton) that actually sell the camera as a twin lense package that has no gap from 55 to 75. All the other places leave that gap so you are forced to buy a 3rd lense off them.

the camera would have nice today with the awesome clouds.

[Lacertae]

I've seen Canon recently released the Powershot SX10 with a 20x optical zoom (equivalent to a 36 - 460mm) and if the quality of the optics is OK, it sounds great !

I'll let you know - have ordered mine and expect it in about 10 days when Canon have some more stock.

So, how's the SX10 ?! I've got a bit of money and I hesitate between buying a bird watching scope or a SX10 ...

[iomkiwi]

So far I like it a lot, still getting used to all the settings I now have!
Takes heaps better photos than my previous - but remember my previous was a whopping 0.8 mega pixel and the memory card was a floppy disc!

[Lacertae]

Did you have an opportunity to try the 20x optical zoom ? And at wide angle, do you have any vignetting, funny colours or field deformations on the edges of the image ?

[iomkiwi]

I have used the max zoom quite a bit (also has 4x Digital which I don't use), haven't noticed anything unusual.
Let me know what type of pics may show it and I will look for some or take some.

here are some pics I took today, if you see one you want to look closer at let me know and I will upload a full res copy somewhere for you.

http://www.radioyachting.com/www/www/Earthrace/

Also a couple of videos

OK here's the vids, first one just as leaving the dock, the music you hear is coming off the boat - but drowned out by the sound of summer in NZ, cicadas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCfbBca88WU


The next as she is passing the marina a few miles down river, probably only doing a third to half speed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTqhsh2K_CY

The quality of the vids is a lot worse on youtube than off the original

[Lacertae]

One interesting picture would be the blue sky at widest angle. It should show the vignetting, if any.

Where is the Rammstein music coming from on the first video ? Weird to hear "Du hast" with the cicadas ...

[03Stormchaser]

Went in today to buy the Canon G10, was unlucky they sold out this morning!! And now im being told the price of them might go up in there next order

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong10/

[iomkiwi]

One interesting picture would be the blue sky at widest angle. It should show the vignetting, if any.

Where is the Rammstein music coming from on the first video ? Weird to hear "Du hast" with the cicadas ...

The music is coming off the boat - which was about 100m away from where I was. I don't think it is an exceptionally good pair of microphones on the camera, more to do with the 5000W sound system on the boat!

[Lacertae]

I had a closer look at your pics and so far I can't see anything wrong with the camera.

If you don't mind, an other shot which would be interesting apart from the blue sky at wide angle would be one of birds (any of them ...) at both max optical zoom and max digital zoom. As it would be my main use of the SX10 I'm very very interested to see how it goes !