Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Sounds like a good fit. DP made most of its money by links from people buying from Amazon (and other sites) after reading a review. Shrewd move.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I'm having great fun with my D40x and getting some great results. And it's reasonably priced.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Do you have (or have access to) any existing lenses?

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

well i went to uk digital and got the s5700 £139 (with two years warranty ).i think i will take out three years with fuji then if i break it they will fix it . i tried to get some free bits and bobs ,but no joy at the shop. so i went on ebay got 12 fujicell rechargeables 2700 for £9.99 a 2gb fuji sd for£12.99 plus a case for £4.99 .so i am all set to try out this camera.
thanks dw for pointing me towards uk digital ,i have registered the camera with fuji .
thanks Frank

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

no I don't.

Thats why I was going for the S9600 as it is a fixed lenses but sounds like it has a really impressive range on it.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

That's a great saving over the £200 I paid for mine last month (though it did come with a case, xD card and batteries). I've posted a few shots from the S5700 here http://www.flickr.com/photos/7944055@N08/ (the ones dated 2007-05-03)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Here's my take:

The entry-level SLRs are certainly getting attractive. Their price is dropping all the time and it's ever more difficult to see the advantages of a bridge camera like the S9600. However, to my mind, the S9600 still has some tricks up its sleeve and the argument is certainly not lost yet.

Advantages of an SLR:
1) Bigger sensor. As a traditional film user, I found that one of the first things to get my head around with digital was that you can change the 'film' speed at the touch of a button. This is handy, of course, for moving between outdoors and a low-light situation. With film we expect to see grain in a faster film and with digital this appears as coloured dots or noise. It's not immediately apparent but, this noise depends on the area of each pixel on the sensor - the larger the area, the more light the sensor collects and the less noise there will be in the final picture. Think of a small area pixel as like turning up the volume to hear a weak signal on an AM radio. SLRs generally have a larger sensor than bridge cameras allowing them to shoot at, for example, ISO 3200 with barely visible noise. There's always an exception, of course, and the Sony DSC-R1 has a fixed lens but a large, APS-sized, sensor.
2) Picture quality. It's certainly possible to get a better quality picture out of an SLR - but only if you pay for a good quality lens. If you're going to fit one of these super-zoom lenses to get the same sort of range as a bridge camera then you're going to get the same sort of quality too.
3) Variety of lenses available. Manufacturers like Canon and Nikon offer just about any lens you could ever want - at a price. If you run out of zoom range on a bridge camera you're stuck. Well almost! You can extend the range of many using a converter. For example, Fujifilm offer a x0.8 converter (WL-FXS6) but expect to see more purple fringing. And to extend the zoom at the other end remember you can always crop the photograph but remember you're losing pixels.
4) Quality of lenses available. There are some stunning lenses available but again - at a price. Are you really going to take this option or will you be content with that single 18-200 super-zoom?
5) Optical viewfinder. Whilst the 230k pixels of my electronic viewfinder offer a good view of the whole frame, it's not really up to the detail required for manual focussing.

Advantages of a bridge camera:
1) Features. Bridge cameras generally abound with features - some more useful than others. Whereas, entry-level SLRs are cut to the bone. Few offer those little extras like a cable shutter release or a PC flash socket that can be really useful when you need them. The entry-level SLR is designed to pull consumers into the manufacturer's camp without, at the same time, undercutting their more expensive models.
2) Live LCD. Few SLRs allow you to preview the frame on the LCD on the back of the camera - handy for overhead, waist-level or ground shots. The exception are the four-thirds cameras offered by Olympus and Panasonic that have a semi-silvered mirror to allow the viewfinder and sensor to work simultaneously.
3) Movie mode. I'm not aware of any SLRs that offer movie mode. This can be a handy little feature if you want one occasionally. But if you're really into movies, get a video cam.
4) Size & weight. A bridge camera with its single, fixed lens is always going to be smaller, lighter and easier to use than an SLR with a range of lenses.
5) No dust. If you can take the lens off the front of your camera then dust can get in and sit on the sensor. This was never an issue with film because it moved after each exposure. IMHO this advantage is often overplayed. It won't happen often and it's not that much of a hardship to clean the sensor anyway.
6) Price. You certainly get a lot of camera - and lens - for the money.

Remember, with an SLR you're not just buying a camera but you're buying into a system. Each manufacturer has their own, propriatary, lens mount. And deliberately so! Once they have you as a customer, they will do everything and anything to stop you moving to another camp.

Also check out the cost of those little extras like flash card and spare battery(s) that never come with the camera. I travel a lot away from mains power and the fact that the S9500 takes ordinary AAs instead of some proprietary lithium-ion battery was a primary consideration.

As for me, I'm more than happy shooting at 5 megapixels on my S9500 and waiting until there's a Pentax that lights my fire at a reasonable price to go with the collection of K-mount glassware that we already have.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Thanks for the great post there. I think I am going to go for the 9600 just now and in a year or two see how things go before gtting a full SLR.

You are right about the movie mode its handy to have just in case.

Also I am more keen on having the fixed lens. It does do 28-300mm which is pretty good. Not that I will possibly need the full zoom.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

The prices of introduction dSLRs are falling all the time, might be a good choice to see how you get on the 9600, but never count out the D40(x) etc. IT will do all what the 9600 can do with knobs on and the manual side of SLR on top.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I'd recommend that you seriously consider forgetting the whole idea. To even consider shooting a wedding on a point & shoot is ludicrous. More to the point you're not doing the bride & groom any favours.

As for price, that doesn't even come close to even buying a decent flash gun for christ's sake. The last lens I bought cost £950, you read it right just for the lens.

How are you going to proof and print them, don't please say you're going to use your £50 ink jet....

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I would agree so some point, I would be very worried if my wedding photographer had an 9600, to the point of asking if they knew what they were doing. But no one in the right mind should be thinking of spending that amount (4 figures) unless they are enthusiasts or know exactly what they are doing (or simple just loaded).

To be a wedding photographer you need to know exactly what you are doing, and point and clickers can only do so much.

I went for a D40x to see if photography is for me without spending stupid amounts to gamble on if I like it or not (or could learn) Even though after all the bits and bobs I didn't have much change from about £700. I'd rather have something to learn with than a point and clicker and feel like I have some control over what I want, then I can have the satisfaction knowing what I have is my own doing to some extent.

For an introduction to photography a mid price dSLR these days are a good investment to start with, to start thinking about making money (weddings etc) you need to be sure and very experienced and you can't get that from a point and clicker.

(Saying that, I took a 'candid' shot of my friends wedding and they actually used that (blown up and black and white) as their main wedding pic, and this was a bog standard digi cam 3 years ago. Pure luck).

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Dpreview has recently put up an excellent article on the effects of sensor size on high-ISO images:

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/compactcamerahighiso/

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I would not recommend any camera with a fixed lens for any pro work. You will extremely quickly regret buying it when faced with your first challenging task. You will also never get image quality as sharp from a small form camera with fixed lens.

The sensors on most D-SLRs or high-end copmpact such as the one you're talking about are mostly excellent, but the lens quality is what counts. My camera comes with a kit lens, and it's not bad, but when I put my £900 lens on it takes the quality of the image to a whole new level that you would never even have thought possible on the same camera.

These are the main reasons that I have not yet met a proper professional tog that uses a high-end compact or bridge camera for pro work.

You can upgrade you lenses when funds allow, but there's no point in having to upgrade the camera at the same time.

It's your choice of course, but I would again (as a professional photographer myself) strongly advise you against it. If you're planning on doing any sort of photography when you're in front of the public (weddings / portraits / etc) then you will get some very bright sparks who know a bit about cameras piping up to criticise...and reputation is everything in this business. Up to you - we can live without the competition!

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I just like taking photos and want to move up from what I have. A full SLR and Lens system is a bit out of my price range just now and I think the 9600 will give me a start due to the options that it has.

I did suggest to my friend that they book a proper Wedding photographer as I'm not that great, but apparently it was his woman who suggested asking me after seeing some of my stuff.

Hokkers if I was to proof them it would be on my printer which did cost a bit more than the £50 inkjet you think I have. But I would take them somewhere to get printed properly.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Like I said...it's up to you. But I'll bet you a fiver that you'll regret it.