Re: Advice on what digital camera set-up to buy?

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2012/8/1 10:48:05

Hi Steve: I was a fairly late convert to digital cameras and in fact still use film cameras fairly regularly, primarily an old Pentax Spotmatic for which I had amassed an extensive array of lenses over the years. I travel extensively, usually by ship, and was quite used to packing 40 or more rolls of film - that didn't seem like much of an inconvenience and certainly the Pentax and quality film produced superb images. I also used a small Leica with zoom lens and built-in flash, nearly a shirt-pocket size film camers.

But occasions arose, more and more frequently when someone wanted a detail photo of something on one of the cars and that usually required a delay for me to finish a roll of film before I could scan and post. I surveyed the digital camera field quite thoroughly a couple of years ago - and it's a staggering array of possibilities. I started by thinking what kind of camera I wanted and that meant what kind of pictures and what versatility was needed; I narrowed to something with interchangeable lens but without the weight and bulk of a DLSR. It's a bit over your budget but I finally settled on an Olympus PEN PL-1 and I must say I find it quite an excellent camera, though not without disadvantages over the film SLRs. It's not quite pocket-size due to the lens and lens mount, but it's reasonably compact and handy. A few negatives; it doesn't have a thru-the-lens viewfinder so you must rely on the display screen which is nearly useless in bright sunlight. The view screen doesn't permit you to easily see depth-of-field or the effects like those of a polarizing filter. If you're more into snapshots and not serious photography, these shortcomings won't be important to you. The camera has many features I seldom use, most ordinary shots are in "auto" format and quite excellent. Depending on how you set the resolution, about 400 pictures can be held on the standard memory card and a single battery charge usually lasts that long as well.

I never did install the Olympus software, I just connect the camera to my USB port and download to a folder, and use Photoshop for whatever manipulations are required. Downloading is seamless - I run Windows XP.

I guess I've rambled on a bit too long. But the short is that you should first think of what kind of situations you'll be taking pictures in, how much versatility in focal lengths and deviations from "auto" format that you're likely to want, and what quality pictures you want. For photos suitable for national publication you'll want at least 14 megapixel.

I'm not sure how much help this has been - happy hunting. And if you haven't there are hundred of websites and publications that can be helpful in narrowing down the choices.