Opinons from you Camera Buffs?

[GP012]

A couple of other questions have come up while searching:

1.) Canon and Nikon both make lenses with Image Stabilizate/Vibration Resistance built in as well as less expensive lenses without this feature it seems. Canon's acronym is IS and Nikons is VR. How important is this? I would assume it is rather important but most of kit lenses from Big Box stores seem to not have this feature.=

Depends on what you're using it for and what size lense it is. I have a 28-70 2.8L that I use as an "everyday" lens and I wouldn't have paid for the IS. On the other hand, if I was shooting wildlife, sports, etc with 100mm or 200mm L glass I would definitely spring for the IS.

Honestly, I'd only start to worry about getting IS/VR with anything above 100mm (telephoto). IMHO, it's not worth it under 100mm.

[Rogers72]

Thanks for all of the advice guys. After playing around with all of them, i liked the look, feel, and function of the Canon 50D with the 28-135mm lens the best and I found a great price on it at www.bhphotovideo.com and there was no tax or shipping so it beat the hell out Best Buy and Ritz. It is more than I wanted to spend but I think I will be much happier with it. I will post a cigar review with pics from it this week when it gets here!

[WYPirate]

Great! Looking forward to your input on the camera, and photos with your new life-moment capture device.

[Don Candido]

My wife always uses the Canon I bought. Half the time, I can't find it. Last night I decided it is now hers. I upgraded.

[Fuzz AI]

Thanks for all of the advice guys. After playing around with all of them, i liked the look, feel, and function of the Canon 50D with the 28-135mm lens the best and I found a great price on it at www.bhphotovideo.com and there was no tax or shipping so it beat the hell out Best Buy and Ritz. It is more than I wanted to spend but I think I will be much happier with it. I will post a cigar review with pics from it this week when it gets here!

I've purchased from B&H, they've got some good deals. Shipping to Oz was a worry, but when the dollar was high, I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Enjoy your new Canon and upload some pics when you can!

[asmith]

Thanks for all of the advice guys. After playing around with all of them, i liked the look, feel, and function of the Canon 50D with the 28-135mm lens the best and I found a great price on it at www.bhphotovideo.com and there was no tax or shipping so it beat the hell out Best Buy and Ritz. It is more than I wanted to spend but I think I will be much happier with it. I will post a cigar review with pics from it this week when it gets here!

Looking forward to the review and the pictures that will go with it.

[Claudius]

I picked up the Sony Alpha and dig it. The main reason for me choosing this camera over others (Nikon D40/D60 which I wanted more) is that the others have the "anti-shake" built into the lenses. This causes the lens to be incredibly expense.

I'd like a macro lens in addition to the regular lens. The 100 mm macro lens for the Canon costs $150 LESS than that for the Sony!

With the Sony, the anti-shake is built into the body, so old Minolta lens work just fine (I had a bunch from my old camera but you can find them on Ebay as well).

Yes, the body looks better. It has the anti-shake built in, 10 - 20% higher resolution than its Canon / Nikon counterparts (I'm talking about the A 350 here), and takes slightly better pictures telling from the reviews I've read. And all that for the same price!

[Jay Hemingway]

Thanks for all the input guys. I am definitely going to take a better look at Canon. Jay, I have that same Konica Minolta now. I have had it for about 3yrs and it has been great but my wife dropped it about 10' onto concrete.

that's is cool you have the Z1 as well.

being that you know the camera you can probably agree that it's stock auto settings are very weird. in these modes you have to be perfectly still and you will not get a good shot unless the white light locks. it sometimes seems the sun and the moon must align in order for that to happen. before i fully read the manual and studied a bit more about manual settings, this camera would drive me freakin nuts! unlike a regular camera (and if it is not set up correctly) this camera will not just snap and take a picture. like a disposable were all you have to do is view what you want to shoot and hit the button, snap,pictures taken. you can't do that with the camera on auto setting. i used to get mad that it was easier to snap a regular picture out of a $10 throw-away than it was out of this $599 camera! basicly i do not recomend the Z1 to a regular joe or if you are buying it to just take pic's at the family picnic or little timmy's birthdays.

however, if you know how to set up a cameras manual settings, you have experience with cameras and you plan on taking dedicated, artistic and heavily planned photo's, this camera can be very fulfilling and gives great satisfaction.

after i figured it out and found the cameras sweet spot, i have gotten some amazing shot's.

i have been thinking of sticking with KM, however, that camera that pugs has takes unbelievable pictures!

[Rogers72]

that's is cool you have the Z1 as well.

being that you know the camera you can probably agree that it's stock auto settings are very weird. in these modes you have to be perfectly still and you will not get a good shot unless the white light locks. it sometimes seems the sun and the moon must align in order for that to happen. before i fully read the manual and studied a bit more about manual settings, this camera would drive me freakin nuts! unlike a regular camera (and if it is not set up correctly) this camera will not just snap and take a picture. like a disposable were all you have to do is view what you want to shoot and hit the button, snap,pictures taken. you can't do that with the camera on auto setting. i used to get mad that it was easier to snap a regular picture out of a $10 throw-away than it was out of this $599 camera! basicly i do not recomend the Z1 to a regular joe or if you are buying it to just take pic's at the family picnic or little timmy's birthdays.

however, if you know how to set up a cameras manual settings, you have experience with cameras and you plan on taking dedicated, artistic and heavily planned photo's, this camera can be very fulfilling and gives great satisfaction.

after i figured it out and found the cameras sweet spot, i have gotten some amazing shot's.

i have been thinking of sticking with KM, however, that camera that pugs has takes unbelievable pictures!

Jay,

I definitely agree that Auto setting on that Camera is set up pretty weird. It sounds like you got to know yours alot better than I ever had the chance to know mine though. I could definitely take some sweet shots with it but also some pretty crummy ones. I really noticed this when trying to take Macro shots and no flash vs. macro shots with flash. Some would turn out like I expected but some would turn out crappy and I never could really find that sweet spot you speak of and keep any consistency with it. I used it primarily for "action" family shots and I don't like that way that it is set up for that in auto. I feel like the point of auto mode is that you should be able to hand the camera to anybody and they should be able to take good pictures (nothing fancy of course) without much lag. That camera never did that for me. But, like you said, if I could choreograph a shot or get someone to "pose" it could be pretty good. It's kinda hard to get a 1yr old to stop and pose while they are doing something that you want a shot of. I bet it works great for your cigar shots though since you have figured the thing out!

[n2advnture]

I'd like a macro lens in addition to the regular lens. The 100 mm macro lens for the Canon costs $150 LESS than that for the Sony!

Yes, the body looks better. It has the anti-shake built in, 10 - 20% higher resolution than its Canon / Nikon counterparts (I'm talking about the A 350 here), and takes slightly better pictures telling from the reviews I've read. And all that for the same price!

I never priced the 100 mm macro for the Sony. ($589?!)

[Claudius]

I never priced the 100 mm macro for the Sony. ($589?!)

Yep, $589 is the lowest the search engines spit out. $639 is more common.

[Jay Hemingway]

Jay,

I definitely agree that Auto setting on that Camera is set up pretty weird. It sounds like you got to know yours alot better than I ever had the chance to know mine though. I could definitely take some sweet shots with it but also some pretty crummy ones. I really noticed this when trying to take Macro shots and no flash vs. macro shots with flash. Some would turn out like I expected but some would turn out crappy and I never could really find that sweet spot you speak of and keep any consistency with it. I used it primarily for "action" family shots and I don't like that way that it is set up for that in auto. I feel like the point of auto mode is that you should be able to hand the camera to anybody and they should be able to take good pictures (nothing fancy of course) without much lag. That camera never did that for me. But, like you said, if I could choreograph a shot or get someone to "pose" it could be pretty good. It's kinda hard to get a 1yr old to stop and pose while they are doing something that you want a shot of. I bet it works great for your cigar shots though since you have figured the thing out!

i agree with this exactly!!

this is NOT a camera that you can hand off to anyone to snap a shot. like i said it is one of the reasons i would get so pissed off with this camera when i first got it. i asked my wife to marry me one christmas evening in a horse and buggy at rockefeller center. i asked the buggy driver to snap shots of us afterwards. the camera was on "auto" and i think 2 out of ten pictures weren't blurry!! oh i was pissed. we then walked over to the ice rink and stood behind the tree. handed off the camera to a bystander to snap some pics of us and they all sucked arse!!! if i had a $5 throw away i would have pictures from that day, instead i had a $599 camera and the pics sucked.

it is like i am the only one who can use my camera. but i feel that cameras should take shots no matter who holds them. not talking amazing artistic stuff but at least a regular shot of grandma rose hitting a bong or something.

the only upside, if you know this camera and you can find it's sweet spots, it will take amazing photo's.

[Ken Gargett]

have left them in the rain, drop them a couple times a week.....and they still show up for work.

much like the rest of your staff, then.

[Ken Gargett]

My wife always uses the Canon I bought. Half the time, I can't find it. Last night I decided it is now hers. I upgraded.

wife or camera?

[Mr. Japan]

I'm a bit out of the big names and was thinking to buy a camera for my wife, something light but good quality and decided for a RICOH Caplio GX100 , has someone used this camera?