Originally Posted by Picturepro,Jul 22 2006, 06:48 AM

now go to Crystal cove and shoot something

Since 1980 in HS I have been shooting Nikon
FE2
8008
8008S
F100
F4s
D1x
5400
D2x
D200
Well I did spend 10 years with Hasselblad
503cxi
500
2 years with Mymiya
C330

Originally Posted by ayS,Jul 22 2006, 08:53 AM

nikon pro!

Originally Posted by EERock,Jul 21 2006, 11:34 PM

I'm not a professional but I've done photography for years. Here are a few pointers:

There are so many cameras out there that it can be daunting. I recommend doing some online research at cnet.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Digital_cameras/20...?tag=cnetfd.dir

Pick a price range you want and sort by editors' rating.

That will give you a good selection of recommended cameras.
For a novice almost any name brand will be just fine. You just need to narrow down your choices based on what features you like. Take your time an look at a lot of different cameras.

If you want to print your photos you should get at least a 5 megapixel camera to print up to 8 x 10 size. More megapixels if you want to print larger. (providing you care about quality)

If a zoom lens is important to you go by the Optical zoom number for how powerful a zoom you want. Digital zoom marketing is just a smokescreen for those who don't know better. You can digital zoom later on your computer with any photo program. So ignore any digital zoom features. If you are looking at a camera with a long zoom like a 10x it will help if the camera has some digital image stabilizer.

Also be aware of proprietary features. Like Sony cameras only use Memory Stick memory but no other brands do. (as far as I know anyway) Many others use SD so if you want to change camera's later you can still use you memory cards in other cameras. Kodak has some proprietary stuff as well I think but I'm not up on Kodak equipment. Same with batteries on a lot of cameras too. Usually the batteries are fine but sometimes it's nice in a pinch if you can just go to 7-11 and buy some AA batteries and keep shooting. So think about that stuff too.

That Fuji camera looks like it might be OK, but I have never used a Fuji so I can't say from experience.

I own or have owned Olympus, Panasonic, Sony and Casio digital cameras. No complaints on any of those.

Casio is a brand I had never thought about until a friend showed me his camera and it was great. I purchased a little tiny one for a pocket camera and I love it. Another friend got the larger EX-P700 and that thing is awesome.

I recently purchased a panasonic DMZ-FZ30 for more serious stuff. It's about the best I could find without going totaly over to a digital SLR camera with interchangeable lenses. I love it but it may be more than a novice needs.

If you want a good camera that you can grow into a little bit I recommend looking at that Casio EX-P700.

The best thing is to research and look for a little while and decide what you like best feature wise.

Hope that this helps a little.



Sorry for the long post if you already know all this stuff but... hey, I'm a nerd.

Originally Posted by geoff2005,Jul 22 2006, 01:36 AM

what i learnd is you can have a sucky arse camera but have great shots if you do it right and if ur photoshop skills are great. observing the gallery ive seen some bad pictures with slr cameras and ive seen some nice pictures with a regular on-the-go digital cameras.

Originally Posted by estukaye,Jul 23 2006, 02:48 AM

Its not the camera! Its all about lighting and the photographer!

I've seen some bad photographers shoot with 1DsMKIIs ($8k)