Looking for a good, yet inexpensive digital camera

this is why I think you are an ideal candidate for the SLT-A33 or SLT-A55 series from Sony. I *almost* bought one. It's got the best video AF for a "dslr" and it has high frame rates. I had a Nikon D300S 7fps and used it infrequently.

Number Twenty Nine wrote:this is why I think you are an ideal candidate for the SLT-A33 or SLT-A55 series from Sony. I *almost* bought one. It's got the best video AF for a "dslr" and it has high frame rates. I had a Nikon D300S 7fps and used it infrequently.

If I'm still looking next year (and it's beginning to look like I might) it may make it into my price range.

I think I just brought down the B&H site

I hear ya about trying to capture that "action" moment in clear detail and focus. Like stopping time. I was so frustrated with my P&S's and I ended up getting into the "prosumer" camera market. The EOS 30D that I have is not a full frame, pro DSLR like the 1D and 5D series by Canon. It's a crop sensor and more than meets my needs to be honest. The rapid fire shot sequencing and amazing amount of control with the various settings was such a breath of fresh air. Whether it's kids running around, or out playing soccer... it's great to be able to get that special shot without blur and in focus.

The only problem is that I find I take a crap load of shots at an outing, way more than I really need to. I can easily come back with 300 shots from an event. Means I have to wade through a lot of images when putting together the "final" set.

I'm not sure if the newer, high end P&S's have addressed this "lag" issue and allow you to get those details in the burst mode or rapid fire mode. That's something to ask people that have them or have given them a try, and Number Twenty Nine seems to have a fair bit of experience in that area.

shabbs wrote:I hear ya about trying to capture that "action" moment in clear detail and focus. Like stopping time. I was so frustrated with my P&S's and I ended up getting into the "prosumer" camera market. The EOS 30D that I have is not a full frame, pro DSLR like the 1D and 5D series by Canon. It's a crop sensor and more than meets my needs to be honest. The rapid fire shot sequencing and amazing amount of control with the various settings was such a breath of fresh air. Whether it's kids running around, or out playing soccer... it's great to be able to get that special shot without blur and in focus.

The only problem is that I find I take a crap load of shots at an outing, way more than I really need to. I can easily come back with 300 shots from an event. Means I have to wade through a lot of images when putting together the "final" set.

I'm not sure if the newer, high end P&S's have addressed this "lag" issue and allow you to get those details in the burst mode or rapid fire mode. That's something to ask people that have them or have given them a try, and Number Twenty Nine seems to have a fair bit of experience in that area.

I'm just not sure how much experience -- recent experience -- Number Twenty Nine has in my price range, though

I'm going back and taking a second look at the DMC-FZ100.

What about the DHC forums? They should have some people to give input.

shabbs wrote:What about the DHC forums? They should have some people to give input.

I signed up for an account on dpreview.com. Quite a few FZ100-related threads there.

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:What about the DHC forums? They should have some people to give input.

I signed up for an account on dpreview.com. Quite a few FZ100-related threads there.

For sure. Huge user-base there. Not a fan of the forum structure though. If you're looking for Canon info, a good place is here:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum

If you want good user experiences, go to Flickr. In their groups there's probably a group for every known make and model....

There are quite a few FZ100 discussions on dpreview, and lots of pictures posted. Clicked through on one of them and got to Flickr. Didn't know they could have groups. Will have to check that out.

It appears that with the FZ100 you need to turn down the NR and turn up the sharpness, and then the pictures look very good. I think I'll go for this one.

Now, can I get a price match to the $375 I see at B&H?

Another question -- this one for the POIfriend site. When signing up, what is the difference between "Garmin" and "Garmin - direct"? Reading the FAQ, they say use the "direct" one to install smaller POI groups using the unit's own communicator s/w. So does that mean I don't need POILoader? How do I install, then?

Also, I typed in "Ottawa" in the search bar and one of the first ones that popped up was the hockey rink group. Sweet. I wasn't looking forward to entering all those arenas into my "Favorites" manually.

wprager wrote:It appears that with the FZ100 you need to turn down the NR and turn up the sharpness, and then the pictures look very good. I think I'll go for this one.

I assume you're talking in-camera settings? That's all stuff that you'll have to play with and see how it comes out to your liking. Some people like to crank the saturation and sharpness settings in-camera etc... a lot of that is subjective and you'll have to figure out what works best for you.

Not sure about the FZ100, but on my 30D, I have a number of custom profiles setup with various settings that I can switch between if needed.

For those looking, Costco.ca has a twin-pack of Garmin 1250s for $200, including shipping. Checking out shopbot.ca, the best price for *one* of them is $115 (newegg.com -- add $5 for ground UPS).

So if you're looking at getting one for yourself and your parents, for example, this is a pretty good offer. The 1250's features look to be very similar to the 265w I got, but it's a slimmer design.

Edit: I just noticed that the newegg deal is for the 1250T, which adds traffic. It may also come with free lifetime map updates (but I'm not sure about that; also not sure if the Costco one may have the same).

Yo! This is the camera thread...

shabbs wrote:

wprager wrote:It appears that with the FZ100 you need to turn down the NR and turn up the sharpness, and then the pictures look very good. I think I'll go for this one.

I assume you're talking in-camera settings? That's all stuff that you'll have to play with and see how it comes out to your liking. Some people like to crank the saturation and sharpness settings in-camera etc... a lot of that is subjective and you'll have to figure out what works best for you.

Not sure about the FZ100, but on my 30D, I have a number of custom profiles setup with various settings that I can switch between if needed.

The FZ100 has custom settings as well -- at least three, from one of the posts.

shabbs wrote:Yo! This is the camera thread...

Oops.

So now that I've settled on the camera (Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ100) I can't find it. B&H has the best price at $375 (plus $9.42 shipping and $1.46 "disbursement", and the 13% HST); Futureshop.ca used have it at $379.99 but it's now back up to the regular $519.99 price and sold out. I tried calling two stores in Ottawa and one in Dorion (visiting my parents tomorrow, driving right past that store) and they don't have it in stock (if they price matched from $520 to $375, 10% of the difference would add an extra $14 discount). I've got a $20 off for Henry's if I use PayPal, but their price is the same as FutureShop's current price, and I doubt they price match that much.

Anyone have any other suggestions? Would have been nice if I could pick it up today and take some shots while visiting my folks, but it looks like my only option is B&H on line.

You can try Vistek in Ottawa:

http://www.vistek.ca/about/contact.aspx