Looking for a new camera.

[JimD]

Any suggestions out there for a point and shoot with excellent macro ability? Examples would be appreciated. Thanks!

[dshawls]

i have a cybershot h2. i absolutly love it. i went out and bought a telephoto lens for it and wow! it takes awesome pictures with the lens. macro shots are frickin sweet also. when i get a chace, ill upload the ones on my camera and post them for you to see. if you want more, you can check out the cybershot h5 or h8

[erikharrison]

Jim if you got about 1500 to kick around get a dslr. We have a Nikon D80.

[tony]

canon s3-is hands down

[Ram_Puppy]

Jim,

I was just reading a magazine article (CPU (Computer Power User)) that was talking about how Nikon is apparently initiating a price war w/ their lower end Digital SLR's, and some of their nicer models are allready dropping into the sub 1K range, and the entry level 'pr-sumer' models are expected to enter point and click price ranges within the year...

in other words, waiting a little while might be a good idea, If I could get a Nikon D80 for 3 or 400$ I would wait, wait, and wait some more.

A good DSLR w/ the right lense on it can operate as a point and click w/ much much better results.

Also, there is a new imaging chip coming out soon called mystic which takes your picture on 4 or 5 different spectrums, so it can see through shadows etc, the idea being that if you get a picture that is washed out in the visible spectrum, or lost in shadows, that when you go into photoshop, there will been enough visual data from the other spectrums to reconstruct the photo... obviously that is pretty high end, but all of this points to point and click prices falling drastically in the near future... maybe. ;)

[RayAllen]

you guys talking DSLR when he said point and shoot. DSLRs are alot more expensive and more difficult to use. Jim as dshawls said above ive heard a lot of good things about Sony Cybershots.

[tony]

agreed

an slr camera is not something you just jump into. sure, you can get a body cheap but decent glass aint cheap.

however comma i will respectfully disagree on the recomendation of the cybershots :D

[Ram_Puppy]

but all of this points to point and click prices falling drastically in the near future...


I am actually talking BOTH. but DSLR price points effect Point and Click price points.

I was not trying to convince Jim to buy a DSLR, but to WAIT until the price adjustment comes later this year if he wants to get the maximum bang for his buck.

personally, my company goes through digital cameras like crazy because we have a ton of insurance adjusters in the field that treat their equipment poorly. We have had a high failure rate on almost every brand EXCEPT Nikon. we now only purchase Nikon cameras, currently we are only purchasing the S7.

however, I think everyone who wants to take pictures of their reefs should know that a severe limiting factor in photography is your lense, not your mega pixels, and you get better lenses with a dslr. A cheap entry level DSLR will cost as much, maybe a little more than a high quality point and click and give you infinitely better results.

If you don't want a DSLR, thats fine, I don't want to push anyone into one, but there is no beating a 70 - 200 mm telephoto lense paired up w/ a good macro lense, a low end DSLR of any brand will knock the socks off a high end point and click any day of the week.

MY POINT however, is that DSLR's are going to cause a price drop, and imaging technology is going to go through a major shift according to what I have been reading, (and it is my industry (IT)) so just like I would not advise you to buy a computer in the middle of the xp/vista migration gulf, I would not advise buying a camera right now unless you just don't care that much.

If your going to get a point and click, don't get one that is shaped like a deck of cards that has no telescopic lense, get a thicker model w/ a lense that comes out when turned on.

for instance, buy a Coolpix L12 before you get a Coolpix S7C.

if you are willing to use a DSLR as a point and click (they do operate this way) and pay a hundred or so more... then go w/ the dslr.

right now, this minute, that is not a valid option as there is a 400$ price difference, but if the industry gets involved in a price war, we all win. :)

I have been waiting to buy a D200 for about 6 months, and I will wait 6 more months now to see how this 'price war' effects it.

[Ram_Puppy]

oh, and Jim, my current camera is a coolpix 4300, i bought some cheap macro lense add ons for it on ebay... so far i am less than impressed... seems all the add on lenses generate a mild fish eye effect if you don't have the focal length correct.


but, if you really want to do macro shots...

just get a camera w/ a decent lense (longer and wider the lense the better) and of course if you can get a 'zeis' lense, that is awesome...

then go for huge megapixels and crop the ever lovin daylights out of it...

a 7.1 mp shot for instance, I think, I could be wrong, but is probably about the size of a couple poster boards put IRL.

[JimD]

Great information guys, I appreciate the feedback. Ram, I see where youre going as far as price war goes and it may be worth it to wait a while, if I could find a decent slr for 3-4 hundred bucks Id probably go for it. I have an older Canon AE-1 program so Im fairly familiar with slr's. I was considering a good point and shoot hopefully to avoid the $1500 price tag since Im not going to use it professionaly and all I really want are decent macro shots, so Im still kind of in the clouds, some say the canons are good others say theyre not, I guess the best way to make a decision would be to see some examples .... (hint hint).

[tony]

I guess the best way to make a decision would be to see some examples .... (hint hint).

if you are going to the meeting sunday i can even bring my s2-is for you to play with if you want

[Ram_Puppy]

i have a friend here at the office that is a professional photographer, and here theory is the following.

Cannon was ahead in digital technology, but everyone has caught up. back in the SLR days, Nikon made the sturdiest body, Cannon and Minolta the best lenses...

however, practically everyone now day has their lenses ground by a computer, and the optical glass and coatings are formulated by the same group of labs, so on and so forth...

so essentially, it's a level playing field in pro-sumer products. (If your a pro your obviously going to go for the monster lenses that cost more than most people earn in a year) but if your not, then an everyday pro-sumer lense is great, and hobbyist lenses are not far behind.

Sigma lenses used to be scoffed at, now not so much. I do know that Nikon lenses have better motors in them, and their glass is better than sigma's glass (according my knowledgable friend and what I have read.) the Nikons lenses can focus much faster.

There is also a new class of lense out in the last year or so called a 'super zoom' these are telephoto lenses that are usually between 70 to 200 mm and this one lenses replaces 4 or 5 from an earlier day... i.e. it's practically a point and click.

the good news is you can probably get a good dslr w/ a macro lense package on it cheaper than a super zoom... so that may be worth investigating. I dfound a D40 online w/ an 18 - 40 mm lense for 548... thats not bad, but it will get better according to the article.