Thursday, September 29, 2005

Camera shopping, need help

After saying R.I.P. to my Sony P-100, I think it’s time to think about moving on, to a new camera that is. It’s been a pang lately to have come by good photo opportunities and let them slip by and the itch to shoot something (via photos) is ever prevalent and gnawing on my mind. Though the cash to get one is still not forthcoming since my back dated scholarship payment has not been banked in yet, still I’m going to shop for prices and camera models. So I need suggestions and opinions. For now I’ve been a loyal customer to Sony for my first two camera, a P-9 and the P-100. I’m hinging for a P-200 now but from the looks of the specifications there has not been much improvement in Sony products lately for the P series, notably the only difference from the P-100 and P-200 is a different processor as well as a not so useful pixel increase from 5.1 to 7.

Thus even as I’m contemplating on a Sony, I’m not closing my mind to other camera, but I am choosy and from what I’ve read and recommendations by friends I’m going only for three other camera brands, notably Canon, Panasonic and Nikon, sorry to all the Minolta, Olympus, Fuji and Kodak users out there ok. I think I’m going to stick to a point and shoot for now for two reasons; the first is that I’ve no income to spare to go for a true pro camera such as the Nikon D-70 or the Canon EOS350 though prices have gone down remarkably. The second fact is though I’m inclined to go for a professional camera to get the shots I want, my work brings me to some quite remote places and a bulky camera would be hard to take along and also hard to use in social gatherings thus a more compact camera will do wonders. So I’m going for cameras within the price range of RM2k and below at this time.

Though I’m interested in the specs I’m looking more for quality shots, the Sony P series has been good, giving me crisp pictures with minimal problems though there are still complains. Mega pixels have been on the increase though this isn’t in my consideration since a 5 mega pixel camera is more than enough for the current needs. My consideration has thus focused on a few models; Sony P-200, Panasonic DMC-FZ30, Canon Ixus 55 and Canon Powershot S80. Anyone out there using these camera and able to give some advise on which to choose from? What are the pros and cons of each, what do you find excellent in the models and more importantly what problems have you experienced with them. Appreciations beforehand.

1 comment:

Adrian said...

Yes, I concur. I missed that one out. It doesn't look great though. Ugly camera.