Digi camera suggestions.

[erikharrison]

Mike, the other thing you have to remember with a DSLR is the fact that when you wink an eye to look through the finder, you are not using both eyes. That eye could be slightly out of focus, so what you think may look clear through that one eye may look different once both of your eyes are viewing it. That has always been my problem.

[caferacermike]

It's not that it's "out of focus". It's that it is a computer generated image that I am not used to seeing in a viewfinder. Sure I expect that on an LCD view screen, but not in the viewfinder. My ol Kodak used to look through the lens as a "naked eye". Meaning, NO PIXELS. I'm sure I can get used to it but it was weird seeing that the first time. Heck for all I know the person before me had "tweaked" the settings and maybe it was more noticeable because of that.

Office Max has the S3 on sale for $299 plus the guy working there said he'd give me another 20% off if I bought it next Friday. So I'm thinking $255 out the door is pretty sweet. Just hoping that I won't be missing out not getting the S5. The S3 is 6.0 and the S5 is 8.0. Tony says it's the same processor so both are really the same camera.....

[caferacermike]

Oh, and hey everyone, Thanks for the replies. I know only enough about these cameras to buy the "wrong" one. I had my heart set on a Canon this time and it looks like most of you agree. Knowing I should be satisfied with the S3 will save me some bucks I need for my storage building I'm getting ready to start. It's down to the battle between S3 or S5.

[kaiser]

I have the Olympus SP-550UZ, if you want you can come out and play with it for a while and see if you like it.

[caferacermike]

Ok I think tomorrow is the day. I made an offer on a Nikon D80 with 2 lenses but haven't heard back yet.

I'm leaning towards the S3 to save a buck but only if they are still on clearance at OfficeMax. If not I'll just get the S5

BUT.... And there always is right?

So while looking around I've decided that $549 might not be to much for the Canon EOS XT 8.0MP. That would give me a nice entry level DSLR with the ability to change lenses or add filters for taking tricky fish tank shots.

Tony want to add to that? I kinda like the EOS, but I kinda like having some coin in the pockets as well. I'd like to think that the EOS would stay "current" longer than the S3 or S5 with the ability to adapt.

[tony]

IMO the XT would suit you well for a long time also.