Advise / WTB

Post by **Rold Gold** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:51 pm

OK-

So I'm trying my best to make my wifes dream of having a "good" camera come true..... I read through Brett's thread and have gone to a couple camera shops here in town to look around..... Today I saw the Sony Alpha a500..... At $850 it's a real chunk of change and investment into my wifes happiness...... Has some really cool features one of which is the tilting display.... Another is the "smile" feature. It's takes the pic as soon as the person in the finder smiles. GREAT for kids. However I'm not too sure we're ready for this kind of camera just yet. She's a real shutterbug... Last year alone she took over 10gigs of pix on our PNS sony.

Anybody have a camera that they might be into selling that might fit my needs alittle better.....I'd like to stay in the $300-$400 range for now.

Any info to shed some light is greatly appriciated.

Post by **joerg** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 3:38 am

I don´t know alot about cameras but i know that i´m happy with the one i bought when i worked in the US.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5 ... _k_a_.html

bretti_kivi · Post by **bretti_kivi** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:05 am

how much is a G11 over there?

Bret

Post by **stipud** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:03 am

bretti_kivi wrote:how much is a G11 over there?

Bret

x5 billion

A full SLR is probably not needed, unless you plan to spend a lot of time taking pictures, as in framing up every shot through a viewfinder, changing lenses out, working with filters, setting up tripods, bouncing flash, etc. They have amazing high end compacts nowadays. If you want to just take point and shoot snaps of your kids, or use the LCD screen to take pictures, these things are where its at!

The Canon G11 is my personal fave of these ones. They cost $450 though, so still a little out of your budget. Many options below that of course!

The ~$500 Rebel XS that Joerg suggested is also a great entry level compact SLR. Takes awesome pictures, but requires a bit more patience and talent than the more automatic G11-style cameras.

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:30 am

stipud wrote:The ~$500 Rebel XS that Joerg suggested is also a great entry level compact SLR. Takes awesome pictures, but requires a bit more patience and talent than the more automatic G11-style cameras.

I've got this camera, and it's great for an entry level SLR but unless you/your wife is ready to "setup" the camera and her shots and carry around something big and blocky, it's maybe not the right choice.

I don't bring my SLR to party time or just hanging with friends because it's too much for that. I use it on walks and when I have time to get some good shots. Of course, it's fun just to dink around with as well but I'm feeling the G11 recommendation...

bretti_kivi · Post by **bretti_kivi** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:53 pm

I've seen what a G11 can do and it simply rocks. There's not much on Pbase; this is the g9 - http://www.pbase.com/cameras/canon/powershot_g9 - and the G11 is an improvement on that.

Bret

Post by **Rold Gold** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:25 pm

Let me put it this way fellas......................

She takes photo's all day long.... Probly 25-75 some days.....

She'd also be taking lots of nature and scenic pix also..... Sunsets and night time shots........ You name it. She loves action shots of our kids too so that needs to be an option. Maybe not 5-8 frames per second but not a blurred pic.....

We'll have to go look at the G11.... from what I read, it's what were looking for. But I'm lost as to what is good and what isn't.....If it were a car or an amp I'd be OK.....

If I find a good deal on a used unit, what might I look for in the way of good or bad?

Post by **Rold Gold** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 4:50 pm

Well,
Today I pulled the trigger and bought her a Sony Alpha 230 package deal for $550 but she doesn't know it yet as it's her bday gift. Came with 2 batteries, a 2gig mem card, 2 lenses(18-55mm and 75-300mm) and a soft-case. Her mom is going in half with me so I can't complain about that deal. Did some research and have found a place here that sells older minolta glass for pretty cheap. I figure another $250 worth of glass should give her plenty of options.......

Post by **mr tibbs** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 6:25 pm

FuzzyHoNutz wrote:Well,
Today I pulled the trigger and bought her a Sony Alpha 230 package deal for $550 but she doesn't know it yet as it's her bday gift. Came with 2 batteries, a 2gig mem card, 2 lenses(18-55mm and 75-300mm) and a soft-case. Her mom is going in half with me so I can't complain about that deal. Did some research and have found a place here that sells older minolta glass for pretty cheap. I figure another $250 worth of glass should give her plenty of options.......

Nice!! If she hasn't taken any classes before to learn how to work the camera I would suggest at least a starter class. I know it helped me a TON on understanding the basics.

Post by **Rold Gold** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 2:27 pm

Can any of you recommend a website that has good tutorial's on the basics of how to take pictures.......

She gets her new "baby" tonight and I know she'll be wanting to learn how to use it asap.... But all the classes around here don't really work with her schedule at the moment.... So until we can get her into one, maybe watching afew vids will help her get started......