Because of the Japan trip, I've been thinking it's finally time to buy a digital camera. I've been visiting http://www.dpreview.com/ to read up on reviews and features and stuff. Plus I've talked to a few people with cameras. A Cannon Digital Elph seemed like the best bet. I'd used a friend's Elph 100 and liked it, but I wanted to compare it to the Elph 300. Wolf was the only place that had the 300, so I ended up there checking out the two. The 300 has 3x zoom vs 2x, plus did movies. Otherwise the same, really. Therefore there really wasn't a reason for me to get the 300 over the 100.

When it came time to commit I started thinking about the types of things I take pictures of, and how well suited the digital camera is. The vast majority of my recent pictures have been cars - mostly at the race track. Digital cameras suck for that - there's no decent zoom to get the action way on the other side, there's a nasty delay between pressing the shutter button and the actual picture being taken. When I hold the camera steady for a picture of a car going by, I usually end up only getting the rear half of the car in the frame, or no car at all - it's a pain to time things correctly. I also do a lot of camping. The sort of macro and telephoto photography I like to do isn't a strong suit for digitals.

I like the idea of digital cameras, of not worrying about wasting film, of easily downloading to a computer to share with friends. But for the price, the picture quality and features suck when compared to a 35mm SLR. To get what I really want I'd have to get one of the pro digital SLRs for like three grand.

So I asked the guy - show me what you have in 35mm SLRs for a similar price. Basically, I ended up buying a Nikon N65 with two Sigma zoom lenses - a 28-80mm, and a 70-300mm. That package was actually cheaper than the Elph 300. No doubt I could have gotten it cheaper elsewhere, but searching wasn't worth my time. It's a simple, inexpensive setup that gives me all the features I'd ever need. Plus with free processing for six months, I can have the film developed to CD-ROM without any hassle.

In conclusion - I'll revisit the digital camera market in a few years, but for the moment I'll just borrow somebody else's.

 

I use both. I have a Olympus Stylus and a Sony Mavica.

I use my Mavica when I want quick pictures. For instance if I go meet up with some other S2000s or something. Thus, I can just disregard some of the pics I don't want. (Sometimes I get camera happy and take unnecessary pics) It also has a 16x Zoom. Also has mpeg capabilities. I really love this function.

I use my 35mm when I want quality pics. I also like keeping the 4x6 picture in a picture album.
I'm kinda "old school".

 

Looks like you did your research. Both have their place, but unless your ready to shell out big bucks for a pro digital, you made the better choice. Personally I would have opted for Nikon glass but I don't think it will make that big a difference.
I actually sold all my pro film (6X7) and darkroom equipment recently to make the digital move. It was a very difficult decision. I'm very happy with the choice though. The pics are fabulous and I get to decide when I take it if it's a keeper or not. Plus with a 1 gig hard drive in the camera I can shoot all I want. The down side is I have to have a laptop with me on extended shoots to dump the hard drive.

 

Already having Standard Film cameras in both 35mm and 6x6 (2.25" square) formats, I decided a year ago to go digital. Since I use my cameras in pretty much a manual mode (Adjusting Aperture amd Shutter speed to gain the desired affect) I wanted a digital wich I could "control". I ended up with a Nikon Cool Pix 990, which is placed between the big buck Professional cameras and the Affordable consumer models.

Since I do have a good amount of control over the camera, I can shoot just about any type of photograph I desire. WHat I did find to be most significant in whether I choose a digital of film format was what was I going to do with the output. Digital cameras are excelant for capturing the full tonal range of a subject and the presenting them on screen (web page, whatever). Due to the limitations of affordable color printers, digital originals tend to be less than desirable when printed usually loosing fine tonal gradiation in the shadow reagions.

Film on the other hand is the exact opposite. Due to the limited tonal range of scanners, you can never digitize a film based image to accurately represent the photograph you took. When you try, you usually end up with blacked out shadows, or blocked up highlights. Since photographic paper has a similar tonal range to film it reproduces nearly everytrhing that the negative captures when exposed.

Forgive my verbosity, hop this helps when you are ready to "go digital"

 

I am looking for a APS camera myself. I like having the digital one, but sometime I need regular photos. I used to have a small cam, but it ended up the property of my ex. I do have a FD95 which has 20x digital zoom and with my additional 2x zoom lens I can get 40x zoom.

 

well, Personally, I like 35mm more.... but I gotta say Digital camera is much easier to use.... I have the Canoon EOS-1N with power driver and 28~70 2.8L and 70~200 2.8L .... I gotta tell you, digital camera won't do the quality as the original camera.. But, once you are used to digital camera... it will be hard for you to use regular camera... well!! maybe I should try 120 then!!

 

SloPoke:
How do you like that 990? I recently recommended the 995 to a friend because it received such a good review. Lots of control and excellent pic quality.
I am also faced with upgrading my printer to produce better prints. I'm going with an Epson 870 or 1270.
So far I've been pleased with the digital world. The 6X7 was so cumbersome, processing was expensive and time consuming.
Now I have so much more time available to use the images without the need to digitize.
Yes, I agree there is a trade off in detail, grainularity and saturation, but all I can live with it, given the advantages.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by wirejock
[B]SloPoke:
How do you like that 990? I recently recommended the 995 to a friend because it received such a good review. Lots of control and excellent pic quality.

 

I spent many long nights in the B&W darkroom myself, in search of Ansel perfection. Gota love black and white.
I'm gonna miss the 6X7 negatives, but only until I pull out that digital camera and bang away without worrying about processing costs.
I'm looking at buying an Epson 870 or 1270 too. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

At first I thought you wre talking about 35mm CINEMA cameras!!!
Like, you were going to buy some heavy-duty dead-serious professional filming equipment instead of a digital camcorder...
maybe because in french the word camera is only used for film ca