10,500 feet is way the heck up there!

I know, I know - it's way OT, but I'm about to spend significant money on a
digital camera, and it seems like the people in here may know more than any
advice I'm getting from friends. I posted over on alt.photography, but it is
a pretty quiet newsgroup.

So, here are some parameters:

$1,000, including enough memory to make the camera useful

10x or greater zoom for youth sports - soccer and basketball

ability to increase zoom for wildlife, nature photos - maybe attach to my
Kowa TSN 822 scope

use for pictures in my 182

What else should I be asking? Is this enough info to make a decision? I am
leaning toward the Fuji S-5000. Any opinions?

Thanks,

Michael

Canon just came out with a 6 megapixel "SLR" digital that will use all of
the Canon lenses from their 35mm line. This includes sever image stabilized
lenses/ I've seen it for $899 with a 55-80mm lens. That is slightly longer
than it would be on 35mm due to the imaging chip's size. You can have
something like 50 or 60 lenses to chose from. It's the Canon EOS-300D
Digital Rebel.

Look around for prices, but here's a link-if it comes through.

http://www.everyprice.com/cgi-bin/se...00D&Qualifier=
mike regish

"Michael 182" wrote in message
. net...
I know, I know - it's way OT, but I'm about to spend significant money on
a
digital camera, and it seems like the people in here may know more than
any
advice I'm getting from friends. I posted over on alt.photography, but it
is
a pretty quiet newsgroup.

So, here are some parameters:

$1,000, including enough memory to make the camera useful

10x or greater zoom for youth sports - soccer and basketball

ability to increase zoom for wildlife, nature photos - maybe attach to my
Kowa TSN 822 scope

use for pictures in my 182

What else should I be asking? Is this enough info to make a decision? I am
leaning toward the Fuji S-5000. Any opinions?

Thanks,

Michael

Canon just came out with a 6 megapixel "SLR" digital that will use all of
the Canon lenses from their 35mm line. This includes sever image
stabilized
lenses/ I've seen it for $899 with a 55-80mm lens. That is slightly longer
than it would be on 35mm due to the imaging chip's size. You can have
something like 50 or 60 lenses to chose from. It's the Canon EOS-300D
Digital Rebel.

That's a great deal, on a great sounding camera, but I want to throw
something in the mix he Convenience.

I used to own a Nikon SLR. All the bells and whistles, all the lenses. The
pictures it took were stunning.

I never used it.

Well, I shouldn't say "never" -- but it was so big and unwieldy that I never
caught that candid shot at the birthday party, or that image of the fall
colors on my way to work. It was just too danged big to be considered
"portable", and it was a major production to get it set up.

That's why we went with the Canon Elph a couple of years ago, even though
photographically there were superior choices. The danged little thing
actually, REALLY fits in your shirt pocket, has a useful little zoom lens,
easy to use controls, and takes pretty darned good pictures. (All the
pictures on our website were taken with it.)

Best of all, it's ALWAYS in my top pocket, or Mary's purse, waiting to be
used... When it breaks, I'm buying another one. (They've now got it up to
4 megapixels, I think...)

Just something else to consider.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Very good points. I just bought my first digital. It's a Canon Powershot
A70. While not as small as the Elph, it does fit in my pocket and I take it
just about everywhere. Portability is a bigger factor than most people
realize. But there are times when it just doesn't get quite as much as I'd
like it to. What really tempts me about the Rebel is the capability of using
an image stabilized lens. While not quite as good as a gyro platform, it's
got to be a great help. Have to find out more. And I think you'll find that
for aerial shots, the clearest days are also the bumpiest. It's the nature
of the beast. It's fairly rare, at least around here, to get a clear AND
calm day at the altitudes I like to shoot from. Another thing to consider is
that with a 6 meg camera set to highest resolution (why shoot anything
less?), you're going to need a big card. My CAP unit has a Kodak 6 meg
camera with a 1 gig card in it. I think it's good for about 300 shots, but I
don't know if that's at highest res. Didn't get to play with it much. Don't
know how much a 1 gig card goes for either.

mike regish

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:tKkjb.140986$%h1.140943@sccrnsc02...
Canon just came out with a 6 megapixel "SLR" digital that will use all
of
the Canon lenses from their 35mm line. This includes sever image
stabilized
lenses/ I've seen it for $899 with a 55-80mm lens. That is slightly
longer
than it would be on 35mm due to the imaging chip's size. You can have
something like 50 or 60 lenses to chose from. It's the Canon EOS-300D
Digital Rebel.

That's a great deal, on a great sounding camera, but I want to throw
something in the mix he Convenience.

I used to own a Nikon SLR. All the bells and whistles, all the lenses.
The
pictures it took were stunning.

I never used it.

Well, I shouldn't say "never" -- but it was so big and unwieldy that I
never
caught that candid shot at the birthday party, or that image of the fall
colors on my way to work. It was just too danged big to be considered
"portable", and it was a major production to get it set up.

That's why we went with the Canon Elph a couple of years ago, even though
photographically there were superior choices. The danged little thing
actually, REALLY fits in your shirt pocket, has a useful little zoom lens,
easy to use controls, and takes pretty darned good pictures. (All the
pictures on our website were taken with it.)

Best of all, it's ALWAYS in my top pocket, or Mary's purse, waiting to be
used... When it breaks, I'm buying another one. (They've now got it up
to
4 megapixels, I think...)

Just something else to consider.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" writes:

Well, I shouldn't say "never" -- but it was so big and unwieldy that I never
caught that candid shot at the birthday party, or that image of the fall
colors on my way to work. It was just too danged big to be considered
"portable", and it was a major production to get it set up.

That's why we went with the Canon Elph a couple of years ago, even though
photographically there were superior choices. The danged little thing
actually, REALLY fits in your shirt pocket, has a useful little zoom lens,
easy to use controls, and takes pretty darned good pictures. (All the
pictures on our website were taken with it.)

Exactly so. I got a Canon Powershot S10 3 years ago for that very
reason: the camera that you don't carry around won't take any pictures
at all. I've taken over 1000 pictures with the S10, so have easily
paid for it with savings on film. OK, maybe not, 'cause I wouldn't
have taken so many pix with film.

Some observations:

- I rarely print photos, viewing them on the computer instead. So
more pixels simply means you get to crop more of the original
picture. I'm still happy with 2.1 MP.

- More important to me now are faster startup time, faster time
between shots, more powerful optical zoom, better battery life.

- I usually don't use the LCD display 'cause it runs down the
battery. Get one with a good optical viewfinder too. I only
occasionally use the manual adjust for light quality or exposure. But
control over the flash is critical (force on/force off).

- I really like the panorama feature...this is where you take multiple
overlapping shots, aided by the camera, and software later stitches
them all together. Good fun.

"Michael 182" wrote in message
. net...
I know, I know - it's way OT, but I'm about to spend significant money on
a
digital camera, and it seems like the people in here may know more than
any
advice I'm getting from friends. I posted over on alt.photography, but it
is
a pretty quiet newsgroup.



Check out http://www.stevesdigicam.com
He has reviews, sample pics, etc from what seems like every digital camera
known to man! haha
Seriously though, give the website a shot...

Link doesn't work for me. I get redirected. Sure it's right?

mike regish

"Chuck" wrote in message
nk.net...

"Michael 182" wrote in message
. net...
I know, I know - it's way OT, but I'm about to spend significant money
on
a
digital camera, and it seems like the people in here may know more than
any
advice I'm getting from friends. I posted over on alt.photography, but
it
is
a pretty quiet newsgroup.



Check out http://www.stevesdigicam.com
He has reviews, sample pics, etc from what seems like every digital camera
known to man! haha
Seriously though, give the website a shot...

"mike regish" wrote in message
. net...
Link doesn't work for me. I get redirected. Sure it's right?




Sorry... try this...

http://www.steves-digicams.com/

If you want a pocket-sived camera with a 10X zoom, the Kodak DX6490
might be a good bet. Here is a URL (which will need cutting and
pasting:

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQueri...equestid=13807

I've found the earlier DX4900, when paired with an LCD viewer and
CrystalVue monocular, makes a good wildlife camera. I'd suspect that
the new Kodak would be even better for digiscoping.

Paul

Michael,
I've been researching digital cameras for the past year or so waiting for
the right combination of features, performance and price to replace my Canon
A2. The price of all the DSLRs ruled them out immediately. The
performance, mainly focus times and focus accuracy ruled out most of the
others. However, there have been a few new ones mentioned on
http://www.dpreview.com that have greatly improved the focus times, focus
accuracy, and startup times. I think I remember one of the newest ones
mentioned having a 10x zoom. For sports you really need one with fast focus
times and accurate focusing and maybe even continuous focusing. I thought
the Minolta DImage A1 would be the leading candidate for me but the focusing
was too slow and occasionally indicates focus on the subject but it would
actually focus somewhere else. It also eats batteries at an amazing rate!
Checkout the dpreview website, it has a ton of reviews and links to a large
amount of information on digital photography.

Rick Poole


"Michael 182" wrote in message
. net...
I know, I know - it's way OT, but I'm about to spend significant money on
a
digital camera, and it seems like the people in here may know more than
any
advice I'm getting from friends. I posted over on alt.photography, but it
is
a pretty quiet newsgroup.

So, here are some parameters:

$1,000, including enough memory to make the camera useful

10x or greater zoom for youth sports - soccer and basketball

ability to increase zoom for wildlife, nature photos - maybe attach to my
Kowa TSN 822 scope

use for pictures in my 182

What else should I be asking? Is this enough info to make a decision? I am
leaning toward the Fuji S-5000. Any opinions?

Thanks,

Michael