For the rebuttal on the Panasonic
I have read a number of reviews lately (in the market myself)
and the Panasonic has had bad reviews in that department
but I was under the impression that it was at the
fastest settings of the camera where the noise starts
Which I have found to be the norm in digital when it comes to low
Light
Anyways I’m not trying to market this particular camera
It was just a suggestion
Sony Nikon Canon and a few others ,make there own version
Of what Panasonic has offered in this price range
Which is IMHO is the root of Andys question
How much bang can I get for my buck
To put the name calling aside
And talk just of the important features
Image sensor
Although we not using film the same rule applies
The bigger the sensor (film) the better the reproduction To paper
35mm compared to the Large format film 8x10 in.,…….. no comparison
The lens sharpness ……(and there’s a fight out there about being too sharp)
This is a price setter here
Get the widest range you can And macro is really nice for the
close ups in a tight fit or just for the detail
The speed of the lens……. 2.8 is pretty sexy
Good for low light and it will give you a better depth of field
(but remember the saying that the center of the lens is the sharpest
So f 6.7 or f 8 is preferred when ever you can
The speed and power of the processor and the buffer size (rapid or continuous shooting)
(which Is why for some stuff I use film)
Film Captures the image when light waves burn
thru the silver-halide crystals coated on the plastic film strip
……….(it’s much more complex obviously)
Digital has to (in short) think about it
And most ,including my 3000.00 US Canon D30
Don’t do it as well in low light and the Hot spots around the source
of Light like lamps in the house or highly reflective surfaces
Always was disappointed with that
It’s on board light source , Flash
How close it is to the lens……….. the father the better
Less chance for the added light to be reflected back into the camera
Or off the retina in the eye resulting in pictures of people
With demon eyes
Some digitals have a hot shoe in the top to allow the use of
Off camera flash (really helpful in unlit areas in cockpits and such.
(the vivatar 283 and 285hv were the flash to have back in the day
Of .,F8 and be there
The shutter speed
Just try to get the widest range
1/2000 is sufficient but faster is always better
And then all the other stuff they put in the box
Video capability memory chip type ….SD is probably the most popular
I just bought a SCAN disk 1 gig SD gold card for under 50.00 US
Sony is still hugging the Beta max tree ie you pay more for the memory stick
And then all the stuff I NEVER use
Settings to make pictures funky, black and white ,pink and orange
Whatever ,…… for crying out loud, I thought that’s what the
photo shop type programs were for
Well I’ve probably over spoke but just wanted to share a few things I’ve
Picked up which is really very common knowledge
But its good to go over them they are the basic elements to capturing images
It’s still just a box with a hole in it. Focus on it rudimentary workings
And go from there
All the Best in your search
Joe
