Keep Camera? New Camera? Better Skin Tone? People Camera?

[Silly]

Another new camera enthusiast here.

I have a 2 mega pixel Olympus camedia digital camera.

Its a prudent camera. But it doesn’t capture skin tone accurately. Its shutter speed is irritatingly slow. (Some times it takes so long by the time it flashes the person's lips struggle to reach a smile before its too late. )

I need a good camera that can capture a persons presence and substance (and skin tone accurately).

A quicker shutter speed would be nice too. Also I like the camcorder future on the power shot series but these features are not necessary. I did have a Power shot A70 but it broke, that camera was better but not quite perfect. I've tested out the Power Shot A75 its better but not quite good enough. I might be just a perfectionist I don't know. Any advice would greatly be appreciated?

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[Big Mike]

Welcome to the site.

This is my advice...go over budget and get an SLR digital camera. The Canon digital rebel or the Nikon D70. They are not too much more expensive than the compact digital camera but they will give you much, much higher quality images.

There are plenty of advantages to having a digital SLR over a point & shoot type camera. Not the least of which is that you can get more accessories as your interest in photography grows.

[Silly]

I’ve never seriously put so much money into a camera before. My family used to spend money like that on a new computer after the older computers became obsolete. Do digital cameras age and become obsolete the same way computers do?

Between what price ranges would you recommend?

[Big Mike]

I can understand you concerns about putting that much money into a camera. Especially if there will be a better model coming out any time soon.

Digital cameras, like computers, are evolving at a rapid pace. However, they do not really become obsolete, you can still use a Commodore 64 if you have one. The difference is that computer software is always evolving and you need newer computers to run the software.

Digital cameras just take pictures. That will not change over time. So unless what you need from your camera changes...it will still be completely useful for a long time. For example, most small digital cameras are fine for printing photos at 4x6. A better camera will give you great prints at a bigger size like 8x12 etc. So if you buy a camera that has enough resolution to print the biggest print you will ever want to print...it will last you for a long time.

There are a few things on a camera that might become obsolete, like the memory card type or the USB connection. There were digital cameras that used 3 1/2" floppy disks and new computers often don't have 3 1/2" drives anymore. But this should not really be an issue if you buy a current model camera.

The digital rebel is about as/or more expensive as the top end compact digital cameras but the price is dropping. Should be less than $1000 including a lens. And as I said, it is much, much better than any digital camera that is slightly lower in price. I say "go over budget" on this one.

Also, the Nikon D70 is pretty good as well. I think it's slightly more expensive than the D Rebel but has a few more options.