Powershot Pro 1 Replacement Ideas?

swaaye · Dec 8, 2005

We take hundreds of photos a week of fine antique furniture we sell in our store. We've been using a Canon Powershot Pro 1 for awhile now and it's getting a bit worn out, and I know it isn't probably the best cam for the job.

Photography of our furniture takes place under less than ideal lighting, because we don't have room anywhere for a proper studio. So color correction features are nice because of the darned flourescent lighting. And, of course, adequate lighting amount is a problem too. We usually use the ISO 400 mode to help take photos where the tripod can't be used. So a cam that doesn't degrade too much with this setting would be a plus.

Points:
-Resolution is not a big concern, believe it or not. We usually use normal quality and a size of 1024x768 because the photos go directly to our web page. Resizing them on the comp adds another step to the process. An option for progressive JPEGs would be cool.

-Excellent autofocusing is obviously a plus. In fact, autofocusing is absolutely the biggest concern I think. If it's really good it would be a tremendous effort saver. Macro mode is essential as well. The Pro1's super-macro mode is quite nice.

-The flash is unimportant.

-We have a collection of CF cards now from using the Pro1 so reusing those is a priority if possible.

-Price of around $800-1000 I suppose.

-Would ideally like to stick with Canon because everyone here is used to their functionality.

http://www.harpgallery.com/ <- Our store online. Maybe seeing the photos will help?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

Rob · Dec 8, 2005

EOS350D

Big Mike · Dec 8, 2005

Welcome to the forum.

Check out http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/ for a full listing and reviews of Canon digital cameras.

For point & shoot style cameras, the S2 IS looks pretty good. It has image stabilizing, which helps get better shots in low light.

However, I always recommend a Digital SLR over any P&S digi-cam. The Rebel XT is the entry level DSLR from Canon. The image quality is outstanding and the performance at higher ISO is much, much better than any of the P&S cameras. The XT is probably better at ISO 1600 than your camera at ISO 400.

Also, you would have the option to get different lenses to suit your need.

The down side is that DSLRs do not have macro mode...although you can get a macro lens or something like that. The image quality is quite good, so you could get as close as possible (quite close with kit lens) and then crop the image.

swaaye · Dec 9, 2005

Hmmm. What would be the best possible camera in this range that has Macro mode? I'm not sure the photographers want to go without that. Extra lenses may be too much for them too.

RebelXT sounds fantastic in every other way though! Hard decisions!

Rob · Dec 9, 2005

IMO you don't want a macro lens for furniture photography unless you are going to include a shot of the wood grain up close. If you do, there's a Sigma lens people rave about that would do the job.

Rob

swaaye · Dec 9, 2005

Should I just stick with the stock lens or buy a body only model and grab a lens? (which lens would you guys go with for photographing furniture?)

Big Mike · Dec 9, 2005

I'd stick with the kit lens to start with. It's the least expensive way to get a semi-wide view...which might be what you need for furniture. You may even want a wider lens at some point.

I don't know what kind of photos you are looking to shoot. If you could give us some examples, we could give some recommendations.