Any time I went to take pictures at Yellowstone, along with all the other people that stopped to take pictures, I felt like a total noob. Also known as someone inexperienced or doing something for the first time.
Everyone else had these nice cameras with lenses that were even more expensive (and usually bigger) than the camera body itself. Many of them looked like they had professional equipment to take these beautiful pictures of wildlife, landscapes, and natural wonders. While here I am with this little 7 year old pocket PowerShot A75 that only has a 3x optical zoom and takes pictures at 3.2 mega pixel. I felt like a one-legged man showing up an Olympic race. So it was a big slap in the face that told me that I really need a newer camera, especially when trying to get pictures of wildlife and the animals are so far away that my dinky zoom hardly does anything.
Well this weekend I attended a Digital Photo Expo with experts from Nikon & Canon, the two top brands for professional photo equipment. The presentation that was most beneficial to me was the one on all the new PowerShot cameras. Sure I attended the one on the new Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR and how it compares to their previous models, but after attending both of those sessions and seeing what they both have to offer (including prices), I decided that I may not be ready for all that SLR has to offer. I still have much to learn about photography like aperture, composition, lighting, shutter speeds, ISO settings, etc. And for the price of the SLRs ranging from several hundred to a few thousand on average (the 50D MSRP is $1399 for example while the Rebel Xsi is $800) I'm not sure I can justify that right now without generating some income from it.
While I would really like many of the features of the SLRs, I think it might be too much for my limited experience and funds right now. Besides, I still want something a little smaller that's easier to carry around. After listening to the presentation about all the PowerShot cameras, the one that impressed me the most was the SX10 IS because it has a 20x optical zoom and yet can do the 28mm wide shots as well. That gives it a 35mm film equivalent: 28-560mm which is a huge range for any camera. That means for example you can have a range demonstrated by the following example:
That doesn't even count the additional 4x digital zoom and up to 10 Mega Pixels. This also has Canon's newest Digic 4 Image Processor for high-performance face & motion detection with faster & quieter image processing than the Digic 3. This also means that you'll be able to take more shots with the same amount of battery life than before. 340 shots (AA-size Alkaline Battery), approx. 600 shots (AA-size Ni-MH Battery). They've also gone from recording movies in .avi to .mov which means the movie size is smaller giving way to longer videos with the same amount of space previously.
You can read all about it via the link I provided above or other review sites but those are some of the highlights that grabbed me and made it stand out from other cameras. That and the fact that the price range for it is in the $350 range +/- $25 or so depending on where you look.
By the way, some of the reasons I chose Canon over anyone else was because I've liked my current PowerShot for the time I've had it, my Dad & brother has had some great results with their Digital Rebel, if I get an SLR I can swap lenses with them, and most importantly...if you go to a professional sporting event you'll see 50 private individual photographers taking pictures with one of them using Nikon and the rest using Canon. (*source Jim Dececco- Professional photographer and Canon educator.)
2 comments:
very .. very... interest..ing...zz zzz. ....zzzz ..zzz....
Get a DSLR. You won't regret it. Since I picked up a Nikon D40, I've not used my Canon point and shoot for anything other than a quick movie.
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