Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Hope you packed your butties and a few tins of Stella, not much in the way of in-flight catering service on those freighters :)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Good lens that one, I have one myself. I also have the 24-105L with IS...which is something special too!

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

There's a nice little extension for Firefox that lets you view the EXIF data of a photo. Just right click on it and choose Properties, the EXIF data is included.

You can get it here.

Doesn't work on forum attachments but it's fine for image hosting sites...

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Excellent stuff :tu: L lenses well worth the price difference imho. Was looking at that 24-105 you've got but went for the EF17-40 F4L for the extra width

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Freeware Photo recovery tool:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

"PhotoRec is file data recovery software designed to recover lost files including video, documents and archives from Hard Disks and CDRom and lost pictures (thus, its 'Photo Recovery' name) from digital camera memory. PhotoRec ignores the filesystem and goes after the underlying data, so it will still work even if your media's filesystem has been severely damaged or re-formatted."

DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

i wouldnt know. never been on a plane lol. :td:

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Loved the OM10 and OM1 that I bought second hand, then those plus the lenses, flash everything stolen. Onto an EOS10 (not a digital one) and been a Canon convert ever since. Sad really Olympus didn't embrace the digital era quick enough.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Loved the OM10, lusted after the OM1 but couldn't afford it at the time. Now I have two OM10 bodies and three lenses (wide, standard and zoom) not to mention two flash units probably worth next to nothing.

DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

A few macro shots taken with my 75-300 lens at the weekend. Taken without a tripod.

http://www.finmereairsoft.co.uk/modu...l_IMG_1969.jpg

http://www.finmereairsoft.co.uk/modu...l_IMG_1978.jpg

http://www.finmereairsoft.co.uk/modu...l_IMG_1992.jpg

Sorry for the dull subject matter, I was amazed at just how little wildlife there was there!

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Okay, I bite. What's the last one?

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

My guess is a cigarette lighter

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Airsoft M203 grenade.
Fires a cloud of bb's (not sure how many are in that one, but mine does 165 in one go).
Fits in those grenade launchers that go under the gun's forgrip.
Great for clearing rooms, not much use at a woodland site.
Powered by propane normally, hence the filling valve at the front.
There's a chamber inside which holds the gas, on the base is valve kept in place by steel ball bearings and a plunger.
When the plunger is pushed from behind, the steel ball bearings retract into it, which allows the valve to open and the propane escapes into the bottom of the bb channels, which then pushes the bb's out.
Makes a nice bang and gives a good cloud, but they're not very accurate due to the bb spread, and take ages to load.
If you don't reset the valve properly, when you go to fill them with gas, it leaks and ends up puffing the bb's out, wasting them and time it took to load.

Just filled with gas they make great fly swats.
Would make an interesting lighter...

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Tie that onto this thing and you could have some fun. :D

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/23/u...home-security/


DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Another example of why Americans should lose the right to bear arms! Cool though!

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I've been to Jessops this morning and got a Fuji Finepix s6500fd.

Now, let the learning curve commence(hope it's not too steep!).

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

You can leave it on auto until you get the hang of it, I do like the ability to switch between the LCD screen and the viewfinder. You'll have to tell us how good the face recognition is and is it useful.

Spill the beans, how much did you pay? :D

Good review here:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/digita...Pix-S6500fd/p1

I might have bought one myself if I hadn't gone for the S5700.


DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

£200

I liked the idea of manual zoom and a few other things that the s6500 can do.

It was a tough decision between the S6500 and the Panasonic DMC-FZ7.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I hope you're not banking on that manual focus - IMHO it's a pile of poo.

At least it is on my S9500 and yours has the same lens (manufactured by Tamron BTW). It's fly-by-wire - nothing inherantly wrong with that but the implementation is simply atrocious. You have to turn the ring so slowly it's virtually unusable. IMO, this is by far the worst part of my camera. The rest is nice though :)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I've tried the manual focus, and have to agree that it's rubbish.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Nice camera for the price and decent optics :tu:

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Well I've taken the plunge and gone for the D40x with a 55mm and a 200mm max len(s).

I know very little about photography as a whole but I needed to something to learn and to keep myself occupied, so I thought sod it.

Anyway, had the camera for just over 2 hours running now and all I can say is "wow".

Anyway, here's one lucky shot so far of my cat 'Pip'.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

And yes she was born with no teeth and just recently had an abscess and had to have her only 'other' back tooth out. :(

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Nice photo, just look at the detail in the fur and on the tongue.

Mind you, if I'd got that close to my old moggie there'd be claw marks on the camera (and my hand).

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Some of mine that i've taken over the past week with my Fuji s6500fd: http://www.flickr.com/photos/m1cbh/

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I'd agree, but I was a good few metres away from her at the time thank god.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Love the sunset, I'm a sucker for them.

Here are a few of mine from the old Ricoh RR30, not had much time to use the new one in earnest yet.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7944055@N08/

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Nice photos !

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Looks like I've a lot to learn yet, I'd love to take a decent macro/sunset image. I can't take anything manually at the mo. All good fun. I think I now have about 2000 pics of my cat, lol.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Here's a panorama stitched together from two shots off the new camera, before and after a bit of Photobrush manipulation. :)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

That's where digital scores over film, you're free to shoot as much as you want without the cost of processing. You can get decent sunrise/sunset shots with the auto setting, both of these were taken that way.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

hello i am new to this forum and i am thinking of getting the fujis5700 ,the shop in chester wants £188 and told me to steer clear of on line shops .I have seen the camera for £144 at purelygadjets and was wondering if any members had any dealings with them.It looks a cracking bit of kit going from what delta whiskey says .tia .frank

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Welcome to the forum :welcome:

I've not dealt with PurelyGadgets. If you use a credit card (not a debit card) you will be covered by the card issuer if there is a problem on any purchase over £100. Try haggling at the local shop to see if they will throw in some extras.

http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/digital/cameras/s5700/

If you order on-line make sure they have the camera in stock and can ship immediately, a lot of on-line retailers only order stock when they have a firm sale.

Amazon - £178.33
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fuji-FinePix...269676-2659803

UK Digital - £139.00
http://www.ukdigital.co.uk/fuji_finepix_s5700.htm

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Thanks DW ukdigital looks ok i have printed off the page to show them ,i like the two year warrenty the shop said only one year. thanks frank

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

£188 seems a lot.

Jessops have the S6500 for £179 and that is a better camera.

http://www.jessops.com/Store/s36159/...)/details.aspx

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Good luck. My friend haggles all the time in computer/camera shops, it's amazing what extras he can wheedle out of them. It's why I take him along when I want to buy anything. :D

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I currently have the Kodak DX6490 and its a great camera with some good manual settings but after 3 years I want bigger and better.

Am about to upgrade to the Fuji S9600 as I have read such good things about it.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fuji-FinePix...246228&sr=1-12

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

It's a nice camera, apart from the RAW facility (which I'd never use) I can't see where it's better than the cheaper S5700.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Over all the features are better and its got most of the features of some SLR cameras.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

We'll have to agree to differ. :D
I think the S5700 is over all the better camera, but I would say that as I just bought one. :)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I'm glad you are happy with your S5700 but it's not in the same league as the S9600. The CCD is inferior, the zoom is powered, there is no hotshoe, PC socket or cable release.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

The S5700 doesn't have the manual focus and zoom either.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Perhaps I should have said the S5700 is overall the better camera for me.

The S9600 is obviously the better specified camera, but it's too large and too heavy for me to carry on a daily basis in my backpack. I've always carried a camera with me even if it was a small compact, I was looking for something to replace my Ricoh RR30. The S5700 fits the bill for me for the sort of photography I'm interested in. I have a friend who bought the Nikon D80, I think he's taken it out once and shot a half a dozen images because it's too bulky to carry around with him. So it sits there waiting for him to take it on a dedicated photography shoot. What a waste of money.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/altissa/temp/sml_3752.jpg

That's me on the top of Snowdon after having climbed Direct Route on Y Lliwedd. My S9500 is easily accessible just in front of my chest. And here I am while skitouring in the Queyras earlier this year.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/altisuk/temp/med_5261.jpg

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Thats why I am going to keep hold of my DX6490 as its easier to carry round. However I am now getting into photography in a more professional sense and feel the S9600 fits my needs. Photo shoots for bands and also at gigs.

Attached are a couple from a shoot taken on my DX6490

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Band shoots are a good earner, I did a bit over 20 odd years ago for some local bands which was good experience of low level lighting. Ilford XP1 Black & White film became available around that time, you could push it to 1600ASA with no grain problems.

Eeee, them were the days... :D

---------- Post added at 15:43 ---------- Previous post was at 15:38 ----------

I would suspect you don't carry your camera around with you like that all the time, which was the point I was making.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I'd go for the S6500fd, it's somewhere between the S5700 and the S9600 on features and performance.

You can get the S6500fd for around £150, which get's you manual zoom(manual focus option as well, but it's useless), biggger LCD screenand RAW caapability if you want to use it.

Also read the fuji section of the forum(and also the in-depth reviews) on www.dpreview.com. There are a lot of people on there who have the opion that when compared to the S6500 is the better camera for the money.

I can only comment from the fact that i'e got the S6500 and think it great, i came from a simple fuji point and shoot and have found the my new camera an absolute joy to use.

BTW, the S9600 seems to get attract really bad posts on photography forums about image sharpness/focus.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

It started as a favor for the band and since last year I've done a few shoots for them, and recently a friend who organise nights in a few bars round Glasgow has asked me to come to a few of the gigs and take photos.

She is also going to make me some business cards and pass them round :)

The Singer from the band in the photos has even asked me to do the photos for his Wedding next year. So I guess I need a good pro looking camera.:D

So far all the things I have read on the S9600 have been great. I would possibly consider the S9500 from last year also.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I see that Amazon.com have acquired Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com), hope it doesn't affect the independence of their reviews. http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7271

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

It is a good camera. But if you're wanting to become a professional it is not the camera for you.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

For the price its a start. :)

What would you recommend?

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.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Sorry, to bring this thread back but I thought it was better than starting a new one. I never went for the S9600 but am still looking for a similar camera.

I have come across this Panasonic one and it seems to have really good reviews. Any one use it before?

Most places have it at about £400 but amazon has it for £289.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DM...bs_ce_title_11

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Not that particular model but I've tried a couple of the older Lumix's and they're excellent with nice Leica optics. I would have one of those over a Sony or a Fuji any day for eg. It looks like a good choice of bridge camera but bearing in mind the size of the thing I'm guessing that you're after more of an SLR type feel/features so would you not consider going for a Nikon D40?

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I'm not ready yet for a full SLR and all the additional costs involved. I would like a camera that I can try out some of the manual features that SLR cameras give, without out having all the separate lenses until I am more confident with photography.

I did enter a Photography contest at work for a 2008 calender and managed to win a place on the calender :)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I would certainly rethink your DSLR position for the following reasons:

1. Buying a DSLR which comes with a kit lens (the Canon EF-S 18-55 is the one that springs to mind) will be likely to deliver better quality than the fixed lens of most mid-ranged bridge cameras. The EF-S, as kit lenses go, is actually very good, pretty sharp and doesn't really suffer from barrel distortion.

2. You have all the same settings, including automatic 'point-and-shoot' on the consumer DSLRs (such as the Canon EOS 400D), so in theory should should be able to get the same results if not better out of it than you would a bridge camera.

3. The viewfinder is 'through-the-lens' which means that you take a picture of what the lens actually sees. Most bridge camera will have a duplicate LCD screen, albiet very small, as the viewfinder, in addition to the large one that many people use to compose their shot. Through the lens is always better.

4. If you break the lens on your DSLR, and people do, you can throw it away and pick up another one on eBay for less than 50 quid. You can't do that if it's fixed to the camera on a bridge.

5. When/if you do feel limited by the lens/lenses you've got - there are literally thousands of replacements to suit whatever types of photography you're doing. From a wonderful 50mm lens that costs about 60 quid and if brilliant for portraits with an outstanding blurred background right up to an 800mm lens that will set you back thousands and is ideal for wildlife and sports photography. And of course everything in between...such as fisheye, tilt/shift lenses for photos of buildings that are of correct perspective, image stabilised lenses for low-light shots, etc etc. And you can get one lens for a couple of hundred quid that will cover 200% greater focal lengths than most bridge cameras, easily. Which means you can take full-frame photos of things 200% bigger, or 200% further away.

6. If you ever want to do studio photography, with proper studio lighting, you'll be unlikely on most bridge cameras to be able to make it work properly...all Canons and Nikons and most of the others, work out of the box in a studio - which opens up another world of creativity to you.

Obviously the decision is yours - lots of other factors need to be considered too - and undoubtedly many tasks are performed very well by bridge cameras - but there's nothing a bridge camera can do that a DSLR cannot - but the opposite is not the case.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Nicely put Andygrif.

As posted by myself in another photography thread is also now apt here.

I thought about a compact but then I thought about thinking ahead a bit further. It all depends on if you just want to take snaps or experiment and play around a bit. I wanted to try a bit of manual photography, nothing serious but a bit of achievement and see some different results than what a compact can do.

Ok you can't carry a dSLR around with you all the time but I wouldn't want to carry a compact around with me all the time either. But if I know I'm going somewhere where I might need the camera then it's no problem at the end of the day.

Besides I wouldn't trade in a 200mm lens now for anything.

I now have some (so I've been told) some very good pictures hanging on my walls that I have taken, that I'm sure I wouldn't have bothered to take or have gone out of my way to take using a compact and to me, that's the difference, as with dSLRs you see things just that slightly differently because you can.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Thanks for the advice guys. I wouldn't call it a compact though as the body is about the size of an SLR, and it has manual focus and zoom using rings on the barrel which is like an SLR.

I am looking at that Panasonic as it will allow me to get shots on a decent focal range and not have to change lenses or anything. Once I am more confident and if I ever tried to get more proffessional with my photography then I will of course get an SLR but I don't feel ready yet.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

If you go down the SLR route you can pick up the D40 for around the same price as the Panasonic right now. The 400D is a tad more expensive but will offer you a greater choice of lenses on the upgrade path and as andygrif says the EF-S kit lens you get with the camera is very good and you can pick up Canon's own f1.8 50mm lens for £60-80 which gives you a walkabout lens with great low light capability.

I already had an EOS5 35mm and some L lenses so decided to go for the 400D when I went digital. I mainly do motorsport and aviation and there are situations when subjects get too close for say a 100-400 and changing lenses would be very impractical so I usually keep a compact to hand for these situations rather than lose the shot.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

It might be worth picking up a copy of What Digital Camera, the Jan 2008 issue dropped through the letterbox this morning so it should be in the shops on Monday.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Going down the Canon dSLR route if you fancy a bit of optical zoom B&H are currently showing a used Canon EF1200 in stock

.... for $99,000 ;)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Anyone consdering the S9600 may be advised to hang on a bit. It looks like Fujifilm are about to anounce it's successor, the S100Pro. If you prefer the S9600 then prices should plumet soon otherwise hang on for the new camera. However, it looks as if it might be pricey - $799!

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/9800/82bybh5vk7.jpg

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...hread=26282015