Which Digital camera.

[oges]

I have the Fuji S5500, quite happy with that and has come down in price since I got mine

[Iain]

Fuji S7000, big and meaty for someone with big paws like me, manual, auto ability to accept external flash and match film speeds, not a dedicated flash.
Auto or manual focus, rapid fire/capture on all frames, first 5 or last 5 whyich I use for showjumping.
6X optical zoom and uses 4xAA batteries.
Xd card or microdrive up to 2gb, or run both and take piccys for a year, RAW format (at 18mb per piccy), onboard editing (which I never use) full exposure control, backlight control, 2 macro modes, 2 speed timer and heaps more which make for an excellent low cost cam.
Digital SLR which I prefer to optical SLR as you can see the result prior to shooting TTL.

[dan_tom]

I would not get any digital camera less than 5 megapixels, as the print quality of less than that is no good. We got a Nikon Coolpix 8900, great little camera and like you, had the Nikon F65 so the accessories we have for that (ie: flash shoe etc) are interchangeable (not the Tamron lenses though). Get a camera unit that comes with a charger and battery (like the Nikons) rather than having to duck down to the shops and keep buying replaceable batteries! Adds up over time!

I found this website helpful http://www.ccccamerahouse.com.au/sto...p?idCategory=3 which is where we ordered ours from (well we lived in Sydney at the time, so went on in!).

Think also of adding to the final price the following:
- camera case
- card reader
- a 1GB memory card
Ask if you could package it. Really don't need an extra battery unless you are thinking of camping for extended periods and don't have access to a charger. The 1 GB card takes around 800 shots, so you don't have to download that often.

You can print cheap prints at Big W, so I wouldn't worry about getting a printer. We did all that jazz and have photo paper sitting around... It's about 20c a print, so not worth the hassle!

Cheers
Dan

[Kev Y.]

I got my self a digital camera about 2 years ago, first thing I did was go pick the brains of the local camera guru.

I told him what I was planning on using it for, then asked for his recommendations.

He advised me to stick with a brand that was a proven maker of film cameras, and then sold me on a RICOH Caplio G3.

So far I have not been disappointed

[Grunt]

I wouldn't get carried away with a high MegaPixel count. A 6MP camera will print A4 size print. A 1.3 MP camera will do a nice job of a standard 6x4 print.
Large pixel counts use up large amounts of memory card space.
My camera is 6mp. I can get nearly 300 high quality jpeg pictures and about 130 RAW (6MB each).

[Greolt]

If you already have a Nikon SLR do you have many lenses?

If so it would make a lot of sense to get a DSLR body.

Check out this link as an example
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NIKON-D50-6-1...QQcmdZViewItem

Read up on compatability but almost all Nikon lenses ever made will work with this body or even look at the D70s

Because you have had a SLR you will find anything less to be very limiting IMO

Greolt

Edit: typo

[Greolt]

Read these links. This bloke carrys on a bit but has a lot of common sense too.

Worth looking through his site.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/2dig.htm

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm

And as has been said before, dpreview is a good source of reveiws, info etc.

Greolt

[Ianab]

I've got the older Lumix (2 mpix) and it's still a great camera. Prints are very good considering it's only 2 mpix. A4 comes out pretty good - some quality loss if you look close, but then the idea of printing A4 is that you dont have look close.
G/F has just got a 5mpix Lumix at her work, it's even nicer.
My old one still does what I want so I'm not upgrading, but I'd buy one of the new ones if I was.
Pixel count is only part of the equation, optics and sensor quality are probably more important but harder to measure. I'd still choose pics from my 2m Lumix over a cheap 4m plastic lens thing and the 12X zoom is realistically all you can use on handheld anyway.

Cheers

Ian

[Caliban]

Guys
(and you too Dan)
I think I've decided after reading everything available and poring over specs.
The dpreview site is a mine of info (read last 2 nights and every spare moment at lunchtime, also why I'm sitting here at this hour) The indepth review of the panasonic dmc-fz5 makes me think it's probably the beast for me. I think I saw one on the table at Midge's place, so who owns it? Come on, fess up.
I still have my f65 film camera which takes better photos on full auto than I ever got from fully manual cameras, so in extreme cases when I kid myself that I need a more capable camera than the panasonic, I'll still have the trusty nikon to fall back on. Probably will never happen, but that's what I'm telling myself at the moment.
Thanks for all your valued info, I've read each of your replies and have surfed for a review of every camera mentioned on this thread so if nothing else you've kept me busy.
Zed sent me a few samples of his photos and they are excellent and not at all ape ish.I hope the camera I buy that is toted as better than his will do as good a job as his did. Maybe it is ape skill.

[fxst]

Jim check this out its important info on digi camera probs. not sure if this info was passed to you
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0510/05...cdadvisory.asp
Pete

[MathewA]

I'm looking for a new DC and one of the things I will change on the new one is it has to take more than 2 AA batteries. I won't buy one with a proprietary batter or with only 2 AA. DC eat up the 2 AA far too quickly - especially the newer ones.

[jow104]

I love my fuji S5000 most probably would the upgrade to S5500 as well.

10 times optical zoom or 22 digital zoom (which is OK)

How could you consider anything else?

Batteries rechargeables last around 500 pics (4 batteries) and recharge within 2 hours (even off the cigar lighter in the car)

[Stuart]

I picked up a new Konica/Minolta Dynax D7 SLR today. Had ordered it a week ago. About $1600 with a 0.5 gig card.

Why Minolta? A long story, but the punchline is that I have a camera bag full of Minolta lenses. Minolta did the kind thing and made a digital SLR that will take its old film camera lenses.

I LOVE my 7D - awesome beast. BTW, just ordered the KM 11-18mm for it.

Don't forget to apply for the $300 rebate.

For those needing a good review site, I religiously use

www.steves-digicams.com

Best I've come across, not necessarily for the comments, but because you get all the stats, the full operating manual, and best of all, actual, full resolution photos taken on the camera- what better way of seeing the quality of the camera than that?

[Wongo]

Jim, take the money and run. Get yourself a cool jointer.

[scuttle]

Hello
We have a Sony Cyber shot which is incredible in that it takes good photos of landscapes but also equally good photos of the grain in Huon Pine.
They are reasonably priced and in my view good value for money. There is a site in Sydney called Gadgets.com.au I think which sometimes has them cheap.
Get a spare set of batteries with whatever you buy.

Regards

Scuttle