Bigger and more flexible might be better.
I was fishing on the Crystal river in Florida a couple weeks ago and
put the little Canon A530 on the roof of the car when I was loading
fishing gear on the trunk. Even in the case it's a small package.
Back on the 45mph road next to the park a thump was heard.
"What was that?!" my wife says.
"Just my tackle box shifting in the trunk." I said.
A few seconds later, "Where's the camera?!" my wife says.
I was silent for a bit. Thinking.
"Where's the camera?! Where's the camera?! Did you leave it on the
roof?!" I saw you put it on the roof!"
She was getting overcome by panic.
So I took charge, me being a man of clear thinking and a veteran of
the Armed Forces.
"SHUT UP!" I said.
I needed to turn around and she wasn't helping.
Luckily there wasn't much traffic, and about a half mile back I
spotted the camera on the opposite shoulder, still halfway in the
case.
Ran out and got it. Looked good to go, just a gouge on the plastic,
so I gave it to the wife with some pride.
"Here. Everything will be all right now."
Turned the car around and got a bit down the road, and she calmly
says, "The shutter button is gone, It doesn't work."
No way I could find that button, since I didn't mark in my head where
I found the camera, so I just kept driving and thought up a new plan.
"Here's the plan," I said. " We'll go to Walmart and buy a new
camera." And that's what we did.
But it was no different than putting a $160 in bills on the roof of
the car to blow away. That camera was perfectly fine, and the AS1100
I bought to replace it seems no better, but uses twice the space for a
pic, being 12 megapix vs 5.
Still no aperture, focus and shutter speed at the fingertips.
I've rejected fixing my film Minolta 102 and made the digital
transition in my head, but I need a low light, focusable camera.
My wife took some low light evening landscape shots with the new
camera that I could have caught beautifully with my Minolta.
Not worth looking at.
And I like a lightmeter needle in the viewfinder.
Anybody got recommendations for a digital SLR with the manual
adjustments mentioned? Body and a quality 50-200 zoom lens
for less than a grand?
Bigger the better. Little cameras are not good for fat fingers, and
get left on car roofs.
Yeah, I could find info elsewhere, but I'll trust boaters first.
Lots of gearheads.

--Vic

On Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:52:25 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

Anybody got recommendations for a digital SLR with the manual
adjustments mentioned? Body and a quality 50-200 zoom lens
for less than a grand?

Depends on how much you want to spend. A base DSLR with a decent lens
will run you in the vicinity of $500/700 depending on what you can
afford or want to lay out.

Prosumer cameras (professional level consumer cameras) are about a
grand or thereabouts.

Any one of the majors is good - Nikon, Canon or Olympus. Panasonic
makes a very nice prosumer camera in 4/3rds format.

What I would suggest is that you might want to visit Big Buy and look
at the different choices. Olympus might not be to your liking -
4/3rds format is a technicians delight and takes some wonderful
images, but you really have to have some technical chops to get the
best out of the camera in low light situations.

It really depends on what you want to do with the camera. There are
DSLR "type" cameras with fixed lenses that will allow for aperature
and shutter speed adjustments, but nothing beats a full DSLR.

Having said all that, having been a film guy for a while, you will
have to get used to the way DSLRs work. They do not work the same way
as film cameras - there will be a transition period and it will be
frustrating.

Again, the best way to do this is to visit a big box retailer and find
the camera that (1) you want to buy based on your requirements (2) go
online to buy it from Adaroma, National Camera or 47th Street.

You might also want to contact one of our posters here who is a Nikon
type and does some very good work. I'll be glad to send along his
email address - email me at first name last name at swsports dot org.

On Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:52:25 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

Bigger and more flexible might be better.
I was fishing on the Crystal river in Florida a couple weeks ago and
put the little Canon A530 on the roof of the car when I was loading
fishing gear on the trunk. Even in the case it's a small package.
Back on the 45mph road next to the park a thump was heard.
"What was that?!" my wife says.
"Just my tackle box shifting in the trunk." I said.
A few seconds later, "Where's the camera?!" my wife says.
I was silent for a bit. Thinking.
"Where's the camera?! Where's the camera?! Did you leave it on the
roof?!" I saw you put it on the roof!"
She was getting overcome by panic.
So I took charge, me being a man of clear thinking and a veteran of
the Armed Forces.
"SHUT UP!" I said.
I needed to turn around and she wasn't helping.
Luckily there wasn't much traffic, and about a half mile back I
spotted the camera on the opposite shoulder, still halfway in the
case.
Ran out and got it. Looked good to go, just a gouge on the plastic,
so I gave it to the wife with some pride.
"Here. Everything will be all right now."
Turned the car around and got a bit down the road, and she calmly
says, "The shutter button is gone, It doesn't work."
No way I could find that button, since I didn't mark in my head where
I found the camera, so I just kept driving and thought up a new plan.
"Here's the plan," I said. " We'll go to Walmart and buy a new
camera." And that's what we did.
But it was no different than putting a $160 in bills on the roof of
the car to blow away. That camera was perfectly fine, and the AS1100
I bought to replace it seems no better, but uses twice the space for a
pic, being 12 megapix vs 5.
Still no aperture, focus and shutter speed at the fingertips.
I've rejected fixing my film Minolta 102 and made the digital
transition in my head, but I need a low light, focusable camera.
My wife took some low light evening landscape shots with the new
camera that I could have caught beautifully with my Minolta.
Not worth looking at.
And I like a lightmeter needle in the viewfinder.
Anybody got recommendations for a digital SLR with the manual
adjustments mentioned? Body and a quality 50-200 zoom lens
for less than a grand?
Bigger the better. Little cameras are not good for fat fingers, and
get left on car roofs.
Yeah, I could find info elsewhere, but I'll trust boaters first.
Lots of gearheads.


This should do the trick if you put it into manual mode:

http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-D60-Digital-18-55mm-55-200mm/dp/B00155137S/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1254950285&s r=8-16

or

http://tinyurl.com/y8wvkb9

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:52:25 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

Anybody got recommendations for a digital SLR with the manual
adjustments mentioned? Body and a quality 50-200 zoom lens
for less than a grand?

Depends on how much you want to spend. A base DSLR with a decent lens
will run you in the vicinity of $500/700 depending on what you can
afford or want to lay out.

Prosumer cameras (professional level consumer cameras) are about a
grand or thereabouts.

Any one of the majors is good - Nikon, Canon or Olympus. Panasonic
makes a very nice prosumer camera in 4/3rds format.

What I would suggest is that you might want to visit Big Buy and look
at the different choices. Olympus might not be to your liking -
4/3rds format is a technicians delight and takes some wonderful
images, but you really have to have some technical chops to get the
best out of the camera in low light situations.

It really depends on what you want to do with the camera. There are
DSLR "type" cameras with fixed lenses that will allow for aperature
and shutter speed adjustments, but nothing beats a full DSLR.

Having said all that, having been a film guy for a while, you will
have to get used to the way DSLRs work. They do not work the same way
as film cameras - there will be a transition period and it will be
frustrating.

Again, the best way to do this is to visit a big box retailer and find
the camera that (1) you want to buy based on your requirements (2) go
online to buy it from Adaroma, National Camera or 47th Street.

You might also want to contact one of our posters here who is a Nikon
type and does some very good work. I'll be glad to send along his
email address - email me at first name last name at swsports dot org.

I was talking to a local guy this morning about this very subject.
He has a local site dedicated to the dogs that visit a local park...his
Springer Spaniel is a younger brother to my Springer...same parents a year
apart.
Anyway, he was using an older Sony point & shoot with good results but may
step up to a DSLR. He's doing his homework now.

On Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:52:25 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

Bigger and more flexible might be better.
I was fishing on the Crystal river in Florida a couple weeks ago and
put the little Canon A530 on the roof of the car when I was loading
fishing gear on the trunk. Even in the case it's a small package.
Back on the 45mph road next to the park a thump was heard.
"What was that?!" my wife says.
"Just my tackle box shifting in the trunk." I said.
A few seconds later, "Where's the camera?!" my wife says.
I was silent for a bit. Thinking.
"Where's the camera?! Where's the camera?! Did you leave it on the
roof?!" I saw you put it on the roof!"
She was getting overcome by panic.
So I took charge, me being a man of clear thinking and a veteran of
the Armed Forces.
"SHUT UP!" I said.
I needed to turn around and she wasn't helping.
Luckily there wasn't much traffic, and about a half mile back I
spotted the camera on the opposite shoulder, still halfway in the
case.
Ran out and got it. Looked good to go, just a gouge on the plastic,
so I gave it to the wife with some pride.
"Here. Everything will be all right now."
Turned the car around and got a bit down the road, and she calmly
says, "The shutter button is gone, It doesn't work."
No way I could find that button, since I didn't mark in my head where
I found the camera, so I just kept driving and thought up a new plan.
"Here's the plan," I said. " We'll go to Walmart and buy a new
camera." And that's what we did.
But it was no different than putting a $160 in bills on the roof of
the car to blow away. That camera was perfectly fine, and the AS1100
I bought to replace it seems no better, but uses twice the space for a
pic, being 12 megapix vs 5.
Still no aperture, focus and shutter speed at the fingertips.
I've rejected fixing my film Minolta 102 and made the digital
transition in my head, but I need a low light, focusable camera.
My wife took some low light evening landscape shots with the new
camera that I could have caught beautifully with my Minolta.
Not worth looking at.
And I like a lightmeter needle in the viewfinder.
Anybody got recommendations for a digital SLR with the manual
adjustments mentioned? Body and a quality 50-200 zoom lens
for less than a grand?
Bigger the better. Little cameras are not good for fat fingers, and
get left on car roofs.
Yeah, I could find info elsewhere, but I'll trust boaters first.
Lots of gearheads.

--Vic

Get a used Nikon D200 and learn how to do everything manually. I love
mine. Some folks are moving up to the newer Nikons, so a used one
should be around. Or, look at the D40. Not too expensive, and you can
set everything manually. It just takes a little more work.

On Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:06:24 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:55:04 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:



You might also want to contact one of our posters here who is a Nikon
type and does some very good work. I'll be glad to send along his
email address - email me at first name last name at swsports dot org.

Thanks. But I don't want to devote a lot of time to it. I was pretty
good with my Minolta and know the basics. Don't intend to be a pro.
But the snap and shoots are just inadequate.
Just wanted some suggestions and a place to start.
Good idea about going to the big box store and getting my hands on
them. I'll do that once I narrow them down.
I'll look into the specs of what Wayne and John recommended.
Really liked the Minolta match pointer light meter in the viewfinder.
Took the guesswork out of exposure unless I was doing time lapse.
I'll see if I can find similar.
Buying used might be an option, but I'm a bit leery of that.
I've heard that sensors go kaput, so a warranty might be in order.
Okay, I'm away to Google!!

--Vic

Best of luck!

On Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:55:04 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:



You might also want to contact one of our posters here who is a Nikon
type and does some very good work. I'll be glad to send along his
email address - email me at first name last name at swsports dot org.

Thanks. But I don't want to devote a lot of time to it. I was pretty
good with my Minolta and know the basics. Don't intend to be a pro.
But the snap and shoots are just inadequate.
Just wanted some suggestions and a place to start.
Good idea about going to the big box store and getting my hands on
them. I'll do that once I narrow them down.
I'll look into the specs of what Wayne and John recommended.
Really liked the Minolta match pointer light meter in the viewfinder.
Took the guesswork out of exposure unless I was doing time lapse.
I'll see if I can find similar.
Buying used might be an option, but I'm a bit leery of that.
I've heard that sensors go kaput, so a warranty might be in order.
Okay, I'm away to Google!!

--Vic

Anybody got recommendations for a digital SLR with the manual
adjustments mentioned? Body and a quality 50-200 zoom lens
for less than a grand?

Sony DSCH1 ( the one with 20x optical)
Nikon D40x package w/2 lenses, and 10mp
Nikon D60
Nikon D90
Nikon D90 Coolpix
Lumix DMC GH1
Pentax X70


Just a few.

"JR North" wrote in message
diainc...
I love my Canon Powershot G2. Cost $600 in '03. completely auto, or every
manual adjustment a top of the line 35mm SLR has. And then some. You can
pick them up on Ebay for under $100 used. Also, any camera you can't adjust
the compression on is junk, in my NSHO.
JR



You got a G2?
I'm still getting used to my G10. My pictures look super on the brilliant
3" screen but not so great when I use the adaptor cable to project onto a
32" HDTV screen...
Someone else said they also find the Canon photos a bit grainy when blown up
on a computer screen.
I guess they were right when the critics said 14.7 mega pixels were too much
for the small sensor.
I see the G11, out this year, has dropped back to 10 mega pixels and a
slightly smaller screen that swivels out like a camcorder.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0908/09081908canong11.asp

"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 7 Oct 2009 17:24:50 -0600, "SteveB"
wrote:




Anybody got recommendations for a digital SLR with the manual
adjustments mentioned? Body and a quality 50-200 zoom lens
for less than a grand?

Sony DSCH1 ( the one with 20x optical)
Nikon D40x package w/2 lenses, and 10mp
Nikon D60
Nikon D90
Nikon D90 Coolpix
Lumix DMC GH1
Pentax X70

Thanks. Found out how DSLR's do auto light metering and focusing so
it's just a question of looking at specs, deciding how much I want to
spend, and getting the camera in my hands.

--Vic

Go to www.stevesdigicams.com for a lot of info on a LOT of cameras. They
don't sell there, just evaluate. IIRC, that is.

Steve