New Digital Camera

[liisawinkler]

please help me choose a really good camera guys all you photophiles out there....

i am thinking of uprgading from my current camera which is the ultracompact Ixus 950 8 Megapixels....and a friend suggested if i ever do upgrade not to waste any more moneys on compact cameras and go SLR ... but i dont have the budget yet for a Canon 40D LOL

i am stuck between Canon's S5IS or the 8 MP one which looks like a prosumer but is almost as heavy as the SLRs....and the Samsung 10 megapixel nv11....i dont know if u know it but its prosumer which is something between SLR and ultra compact....kinda like the Canon A640 or G7 ...

if u can suggest Canon then its good cause i like their pic quality and vibrance of the colors (kinda like the colors really jump at you from the picture!!!) too!!!

thanks handsumsss

[koykaeng]

Hi Salma,

The Canon looks like the best option from the two cameras you mentioned.

Alot more features and flexibility than the Samsung.

Cheers
Koykaeng

[Snick]

Take a look at the Canon 350D or 400D if you want to be a 'professional' these are the junior versions of the 20D and 30D
and have 95% of the features. They take 'real' Canon lenses unlike the other camera you mentioned.

me, I'm saving my Baht for the 40D

[dmlbl2001]

I would tend to lean towards canon. I have always felt that it is better to get a digital from a company that has experience making cameras. And then decided to get into the digital market. As opposed to an electronics company that has tried to get into the camera business. I have had a couple of consumer canon's and they have always been very reliable.

[Guest]

Canon is better, and it's also about double the price of Nikon, including its lens'.

I looked forever at the Nikon D200 and Canon 5D equivalent and in the end, Nikon was almost exactly 1/2 price when you included a decent lens.

If you have money, buy the Canon, but the D200 is an affordable, and '99% as good' as the Canon, and likely will last a very, very long time.

[liisawinkler]

(Snick @ Sep. 07 2007,08:09) Take a look at the Canon 350D or 400D if you want to be a 'professional' these are the junior versions of the 20D and 30D
and have 95% of the features. They take 'real' Canon lenses unlike the other camera you mentioned.

me, I'm saving my Baht for the 40D

yeah the 40D is out of the budget yet...

so is the Canon S5IS the winner as of now???

oh one last question....how would it be different from my ultra compact Ixus 950 since theyre only the same in Megapixels??? (8mp)

[liisawinkler]

(koykaeng @ Sep. 07 2007,07:15) Hi Salma,

The Canon looks like the best option from the two cameras you mentioned.

Alot more features and flexibility than the Samsung.

Cheers
Koykaeng

u are absolutely right...even an amateur like me could see the colors jump out of a Canon picture....lots of vibrance!!!

[Snick]

(liisawinkler @ Sep. 08 2007,14:28) so is the Canon S5IS the winner as of now???

If you want a camera with changeable lenses and more professional features go with the Canon Digital Rebel Line
300D, 350D or 400D.

300D is 'old', but it would still be a great first SLR camera -- you might get a good price if you can find one used.

p.s. Hong Kong is THE PLACE to buy cameras.Try Mongkok for used cameras.

[liisawinkler]

(Snick @ Sep. 09 2007,05:50)

(liisawinkler @ Sep. 08 2007,14:28) so is the Canon S5IS the winner as of now???

If you want a camera with changeable lenses and more professional features go with the Canon Digital Rebel Line
300D, 350D or 400D.

300D is 'old', but it would still be a great first SLR camera -- you might get a good price if you can find one used.

p.s. Hong Kong is THE PLACE to buy cameras.Try Mongkok for used cameras.

you are right...but i go to Broadway to buy electronics...sometimes deals out of the non-established stores there are shady and you may end up with a bad product from what i heard from HK friends...

400D is very promising...i checked on Dpreview.com and its 10 MP!!!

but about 35thousand in Phil. pesos....will check in Sim Lim Square later the price

[Guest]

The megapixels does not equate to quality. It helps, but is far from the only factor. One of the best (and newest) Nikon cameras is 5Mp. It's a total package that gives quality; granted more pixels does help, but don't you notice it's all the low end cameras coming out with more megapixels first, and the higher end ones, much, much later? That should tell you something.

The 300D is good, but it's casing feels like plastic, and scratches (damages?) easily.

I still think the Nikon D200 is the best option for you. You can change lens', it is reasonably priced, good quality. Search the net and you can see D200 vs Canon 5D were the 2 lower budget (but not very low!) cameras around.

If you wait 2 months, I'll sell you my D200 ! As the D300 is out, and coming in Thailand about October/November.

Might I add one more point. Check what kind of service Canon and Nikon provide in the area, in particular, can they do things in Cebu, or do they have to ship everything out?

I have 3 cameras. Nikon, Canon, Leica. I've had to service 2, significantly. The Leica took 7 months! Can you believe that?? I almost threw it over a bridge after that, and needless to say, I shall never buy anything from Leica for the rest of my living days. Nikon has a technical shop in town, and they did it all here, in a couple of days.

And, I do recommend you bring it to the shop about once a year or so for new firmware, and to re-adjust focus, exposure. They DO get out, as I've learned. You might think it's all ok and then u notice some shots that should have been ok, are not. If they ship it to bloody Japan, who knows when you get it back.

[rxpharm]

The Canon 5IS has a bigger optical zoom (12x) range than the Ixus 950 (4x) - very useful for those photos you want to take when you're far away. Optical zoom is superior to digital zoom as there is hardly any loss in image quality. Digital zoom degrades the image quality fairly quickly, especially in poor lighting situations.

The 5IS also has a more powerful built in flash, and a facility to attach an external flash - very useful for taking photos in low light situations where you need to freeze the action, need greater flash range or need more vibrant colors in a low light setting. Of course it also has full manual controls so you can explore more creative photo taking options.

The drawback is the size - I know that after taking my Minolta 5D digital SLR around last summer, I sometimes wished for a smaller one to take around just for the snapshots, however, for the more "serious" photos it just couldn't be matched for some fantastic pictures. I ended up buying a Panasonic TZ3 (10x optical zoom) for my "snapshot" camera in the middle of August.

Later when you consider getting a DSLR have a look at the new Sony range as well. They bought out Minolta and are further developing the system - the new A700 dSLR looks pretty good.

One final word of advice, don't get caught up in the megapixels craze especially in the smaller sensor cameras. While they do offer higher resolution (bigger pictures), it comes at a cost - which is noise especially at higher ISO (sensitivities). If you need to use higher ISOs for low light situations or where faster shutter speed is required, then the image begins to degrade because of the "noise".

Here is a good discussion about the issue: More megapixels, better photos fact or fiction?

Happy camera shopping!

[liisawinkler]

(ziggystardust @ Sep. 09 2007,06:37) The megapixels does not equate to quality. It helps, but is far from the only factor. One of the best (and newest) Nikon cameras is 5Mp. It's a total package that gives quality; granted more pixels does help, but don't you notice it's all the low end cameras coming out with more megapixels first, and the higher end ones, much, much later? That should tell you something.

The 300D is good, but it's casing feels like plastic, and scratches (damages?) easily.

I still think the Nikon D200 is the best option for you. You can change lens', it is reasonably priced, good quality. Search the net and you can see D200 vs Canon 5D were the 2 lower budget (but not very low!) cameras around.

If you wait 2 months, I'll sell you my D200 ! As the D300 is out, and coming in Thailand about October/November.

Might I add one more point. Check what kind of service Canon and Nikon provide in the area, in particular, can they do things in Cebu, or do they have to ship everything out?

I have 3 cameras. Nikon, Canon, Leica. I've had to service 2, significantly. The Leica took 7 months! Can you believe that?? I almost threw it over a bridge after that, and needless to say, I shall never buy anything from Leica for the rest of my living days. Nikon has a technical shop in town, and they did it all here, in a couple of days.

And, I do recommend you bring it to the shop about once a year or so for new firmware, and to re-adjust focus, exposure. They DO get out, as I've learned. You might think it's all ok and then u notice some shots that should have been ok, are not. If they ship it to bloody Japan, who knows when you get it back.

oh my God...the Canon service center in Cebu was just like a sales center...a distributor...they actually had to ship my Ixus 70 when i found it was defective even before the month ended upon initial purchase...LOL and they said they had to ship it to manila for a month which was bad timing cause my HK - Sing June trip was just around the bend...so while in HK i SMSed my bitch of a Mom to storm their office for the camera cause they were still giving me shit about the update on its fixing and my Mom got me a new unit because of her sheer power of persuasion...
Cebu is never the best place to purchase electronics...the retailers strip the initial product of its freebies and resell them and then they have to ship the unit to areas which have the actual laboratories for the cam! so horrible...

well yeah i know the Megapixel meter doesnt necessarily translate into better pictures because it is the Canon S5IS i am eyeing on now and to think it has the same resolution as my camera now....

[stogie bear]

Interesting debate this... but (if you're interested - and I don't blame you if you're not!) I reckon you should buy a cheap Canon 5 megapixal camera and work more on the poses and pics rather than the science of the camera itself.

It's not what you've got - it's what you do with it that matters!

These days there's no such thing as a bad camera. The biggest factor in my decision making process now is the size of the view finder!

[Torurot]

I second Rxpharm's opinion. Get the new Sony 700 (12 Mp). Out in a month (announced last week). You cannot beat Sony (was Minolta) DSLR colour. Huge range of lenses, second hand can be picked up at a reasonable price. Prices on the Previous Sony Alpha have dropped in anticipation of the new Alpha 700. Sony manufactuers the sensor on the new Nikon 300 and is also using it in the new Alpha 700. If you can find a second hand Konica-Minolta 5d (6 Mp) you can't go wrong.

[Guest]

I got a Canon EOS 400D With 18-55 & 55-200 lense and it also came with a power grip.

I like it very much.