help with buying a digital camera!

[polkaisrad!]

As much i may not like it i have noticed a lot of schools are switching over to all digital. Anyway I plan on transfering over to an arts school for photography and I wanted to find a nice digital camera. I still want a lot of manual exposure options and something fairly versatile. Somewhere around the 500 dollar range is where im at right now as far as my budget. Any suggestions?

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Canon 300D can be found used + kit lens for about 550. Your safest bet.

 

[Walt]

I know it's a few bucks more but I just managed to get an Olympus E-300 with a lense for $795 Canadian at Future Shop. Not bad for 8mg, brand new with warranty!

 

[tygersclaw]

I have a Panasonic FZ20 which can now be had, new, in the USA for under $500. It comes with a Leica lens, Manual settings, ISO from 80 to 400, shoots in TIFF, JPEG Fine, and JPEG Standard. As well there is some basic Auto modes as well for like Party, Nightscapes etc. There is also a hotshoe for a external flash.

Nice camera. And good value.

There is also the FZ30 which has the ability to shoot in RAW. Bit more dollars but also nice.

 

[damian5000]

My GF was looking for a camera right around that range, and after a bit of research we chose the Panny FZ20(we paid $408 through the net).

Important features for her were the 12x optical, image stabilization, and manual focus ring. It has a hotshoe for adding a larger flash in the future too.

Personally I didn't find the I.S. to help much with telephoto shots, but when using it hand held for longer exposure times, it was amazing. We took some shots with the shutter open for 5 seconds in dim lighting and had great results. You can manually set the white balance with this camera also.

If I.S. or megazoom isn't important to you...Check out the Canon G5 or G6...The G6 is arguably the best digital camera (assuming you aren't interested in I.S. or megazoom) before you move up into the DSLR's. If you can spend more..check out the Nikon D50..

 

[Big Mike]

I would suggest a digital SLR camera...like the 350D mentioned above. The Nikon D50 is a very good, entry level DSLR as well.

It may be slightly above your budget, but a DSLR will be 10 times the camera...of any non-DSLR. The size of the image sensor is much bigger, which makes a big difference...much more than the pixel count.

For example, ISO 400 on a digi-cam will produce lots of digital noise. But a newer DSLR will produce better, cleaner images up to ISO 1600.

 

[damian5000]

Big Mike is right...Of course if you can afford it move up into the DSLR's (the nikon D50 with 3x is $660, the Panny FZ20 is $410). It's all about what you can afford...

- Damian