Looking for a good, yet inexpensive digital camera

shabbs wrote:Have you guys seen that commercial showing a "hockey Mom" using a Canon DSLR and being amazed at the video/picture quality? I think it's for the new Canon T2i. Anyway, they show her using this camera with a series of different lenses. Total up the cost of all those lenses and you're in to the thousands of dollars territory for the lenses alone. One of those lenses is a Canon "L" series lens, their top of the line glass.

Yes, cuz "soccer Mom" is gonna drop that amount of coin on a DSLR.

Nope.

Which one was it -- soccer mom or hockey mom? Because there are significant differences. Registration, team-fees four tournaments, hotel stay for out-of-town tournaments, skate sharpening and, of course, the equipment can easily pay for a very good extra lens.

shabbs wrote:The 18-55 lens is a basic kit lens (I'm assuming it's the "IS" version). Not a great quality lens, but a good starter lens. The 75-300 zoom lens is also a "cheap" zoom lens. Check the reviews here:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/reviews/canon-ef-s-18-55mm-f-3.5-5.6-is-lens-review.aspx

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/reviews/canon-ef-75-300mm-f-4-5.6-iii-usm-lens-review.aspx

As for the "zoom factor", you're right, the zoom range of those lenses is calculated by dividing the longest focal length by the smallest focal length. So, 55/18 (3x) and 300/75 (4x).

What may be more meaningful is the magnification factor, which takes into account the crop factor of the sensor.

The Canon XS has a crop factor of 1.6x (ie: 1.6 times smaller than standard 35mm). To calculate the magnification factor, multiply the crop factor by the maximum focal length and divide by 50.

So, for the 18-55, that's 1.6x55/50 = 1.76

For the 75-300, that's 1.6x300/50 = 9.6

This is the magnification factor when compared to looking at things with the naked eye.

I don't think this is the camera you want as it does not meet your needs.

I agree it's not the one for me (I *need* the video ability, and I *really want* the tilt LCD). But $500 for an entry-level dSLR with two lenses is a good deal for some.

I guess I'm having second thoughts about the HS10, though. I can get it for $367 at Amazon.ca, and I assuming FS price matches, that 10% of the difference would bring it down $364 (yippee) plus I'd get it right away. Add a 16 GB SDHC card for $35 (I think that's the Boxing Day sale price) and I'm off to the races.

I *know* I'll get better image quality than I'm getting now, so maybe that should be enough -- the feature set is certainly staggeringly good. You can click-hold-pan for a panoramic shot -- no need to "stitch" photos together either in-camera or using post-software; you can shoot at 10 fps in the "best shot" mode where it keeps the last 7 shots (so keep tracking your kid on that breakaway until he scores and then choose the best shot of the last 7); you can take high-speed video at up to 1000 fps (although to be fair, the resolution is good up to 240 fps and gets very jaggy at 480 and up); there is a shooting mode that removes moving objects (obviously it would have to be tripod-mounted for that); excellent HD video (1080p @ 30 fps); and, of course, that 30x zoom.

Heh. Hockey Mom it was.

The Fuji HS10 looks good, as does the Canon PowerShot G12. I don't think you can go wrong with either of those.

I have a Canon A2100 IS and love it. Relatively cheap and extremely easy to use. The quality of pictures is excellent too for a point and shoot.

shabbs wrote:

dawg's wife wrote:My Opinion..I'm not a camera guy, but talked to the guys who take pictures for the NHL....they pointed me to this one saying it's the best "pocket" camera and the price is very good as well...

camera link

ordered it and got it 2 days later...

Canon PowerShot SD4000IS - impressive - f/2.0 lens (@ 28mm).

How come nobody - except for Shabbs - is talking about this little gem from Dawg's Wife?

CockRoche wrote:

shabbs wrote:

dawg's wife wrote:My Opinion..I'm not a camera guy, but talked to the guys who take pictures for the NHL....they pointed me to this one saying it's the best "pocket" camera and the price is very good as well...

camera link

ordered it and got it 2 days later...

Canon PowerShot SD4000IS - impressive - f/2.0 lens (@ 28mm).

How come nobody - except for Shabbs - is talking about this little gem from Dawg's Wife?

I think because he's looking for more zoom range on his camera and a bit more flexibility with options. That one has 3.8x optical. It does seem to suffer as far as sharpness is concerned. It seems to be very good with macro shots but has difficulty with landscape shots.

shabbs wrote:

CockRoche wrote:

shabbs wrote:

dawg's wife wrote:My Opinion..I'm not a camera guy, but talked to the guys who take pictures for the NHL....they pointed me to this one saying it's the best "pocket" camera and the price is very good as well...

camera link

ordered it and got it 2 days later...

Canon PowerShot SD4000IS - impressive - f/2.0 lens (@ 28mm).

How come nobody - except for Shabbs - is talking about this little gem from Dawg's Wife?

I think because he's looking for more zoom range on his camera and a bit more flexibility with options. That one has 3.8x optical. It does seem to suffer as far as sharpness is concerned. It seems to be very good with macro shots but has difficulty with landscape shots.

Fair enough. I really didn't get to involved in this thread and really just skimmed page one and saw that only you acknowledged what seemed to be a good post from Dawg's Wife.

I appreciate all comments and I checked out all recommendations. As Shabbs pointed out, the pocket camera that DW brought to my attention is a very good camera, but not what I'm looking for.

Got another possibility. A bit more pricey than the Fuji HS10, but it's a Lumix and has all the "gadgety" things I wanted (and a bit more):

Panasonic Lumix DMCFZ100K available for $460 online:
- 24x zoom (vs. 30z for the Fuji, but this one is a Leica)
- super-speed video is 240 fps max (Fuji is 1000 fps but the resolution above 240 is almost unwatchable; 240 fps is still very good)
- swing-out LCD (Fuji's only pops out and tilts -- not a full swing-out)

There are some features the Fuji has that the Panny doesn't -- for example, the option to take a still photo with moving elements removed (e.g. capture the building but take out all the pedestrians) but I'd read reviews that said those features tend to be gimmicky but don't work very well.

Anyhow, this is not a full review or comparison by any stretch.

One review I read was not very complimentary on the image sharpness, saying that fine detail (like hair/fur) becomes mushy even at ISO 100 (in that review they mention the Fuji HS10 as having better image detail). However I also saw a firmware update in late November that addressed motion blur -- could that be related?

Ooh, and another one -- Henry's has the G11 for only $400 ($170 off). It's not a super-zoom by any stretch, but 5x is certainly a bit better than the 3x you'd find on the high-end compacts. There's no HD video here, though (640x480 @ 30 fps), but the pictures will be better.

Oh, the choices.

And the G12 can be had for just $449 from B&H.

Quick question for those who have used B&H in the past. The camera ships from the US -- does this mean I would have to pay some import duties?

This camera is just like the G11 but with 720p video, front control dial, hybrid image stabilization, multi-aspect shooting, High Dynamic Range mode, electronic level, SDXC cards and optional lens filter adapter.

The 5x (versus 24x or 30x) I can live with. The high-speed video would be nice (e.g. to analyze my kid's skating stride or slapshot). The 4.2 fps burst mode on the G-series is not as good as the HS10's 10 fps (a burst of 7, or a continuous burst of the last 7 frames).

Man, why can't they combine the best of both and still keep the price under $500? I guess they are just trying to subsidize the lost revenue from selling film and the greatly reduced processing costs (use to spend about $20 for a roll of 24 including processing; now, when I take 24 pictures I'm likely to print out maybe 6 of them, at $.30 each (less if I'm willing to wait an hour).

B&H will charge close to $10 for shipping and then $62 and change for "tax and duties". Adding up the price of the camera and the shipping fee, and then multiplying by 0.13, still comes up a couple bucks short of the $62+ charge they mention, so perhaps there is a *very* small duty applied? Weird, but I should be able to get a price-match at FS/BB.

So, it comes down to these three: PowerShot G12, Lumix DMC FZ100K or the FinePix HS10.

And of course all the others

Head to a Henry's and give them a feel man... when you feel it, you'll know.

*that's what she said*

Boom.

wprager wrote:B&H will charge close to $10 for shipping and then $62 and change for "tax and duties". Adding up the price of the camera and the shipping fee, and then multiplying by 0.13, still comes up a couple bucks short of the $62+ charge they mention, so perhaps there is a *very* small duty applied? Weird, but I should be able to get a price-match at FS/BB.

So, it comes down to these three: PowerShot G12, Lumix DMC FZ100K or the FinePix HS10.

And of course all the others

if you're considering the G12, take a look at the S95 - essentially the same for less

shabbs wrote:Head to a Henry's and give them a feel man... when you feel it, you'll know.

*that's what she said*

Boom.

I "feel" better when price matching is involved, and I "feel" badly to go to a place just to "test-drive" with no intention of picking it up.

Does Henry's price match?

On the other hand, as a consumer, all I can do is offer a fair deal to Henry's -- match the price and I'll gladly buy it there.

Number Twenty Nine wrote:

wprager wrote:B&H will charge close to $10 for shipping and then $62 and change for "tax and duties". Adding up the price of the camera and the shipping fee, and then multiplying by 0.13, still comes up a couple bucks short of the $62+ charge they mention, so perhaps there is a *very* small duty applied? Weird, but I should be able to get a price-match at FS/BB.

So, it comes down to these three: PowerShot G12, Lumix DMC FZ100K or the FinePix HS10.

And of course all the others

if you're considering the G12, take a look at the S95 - essentially the same for less

Not quite. The S95 is a compact. It doesn't have the swing-out LCD, it also doesn't do 4.2 fps continuous mode shooting (maxes out at 1.9). No hotshoe. Those three items are pretty well needed for me (well, depending on what the built-in flash is like, I might not need the hotshoe so much).

I'm telling you you need to look at the PowerShot SD4000IS.

Dawg bought if for me and it's great. Amazon is almost 100.00 cheaper than anywhere else and I got it 2 days after it was ordered. used it today and was really impressed, and while I don't know what the number mean it's 3.7 FPS at full resolution.

As far as a point and click goes, it's the best camera I've ever had and the price can't be beat...under 300.00

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