Relative Beginner Looking to Upgrade

Okay, you don't want to know what I killed my FinePix A800 and am now looking to upgrade to something significantly more sophisticated!! I don't even want to know that...what AM I thinking??

I bought my FinePix A800 when it was new on the market and have had fun with it but feel that I have pretty much reached the limit of what it can do. The load I find that it takes too long to actually take the photo (so I miss the moment I was trying to capture) or the load time between photos is too long. I changed batteries and it is the same deal. I'm also looking for something that I can manually focus and that has a higher optical optical zoom. Megapixals are not a huge priority for me as I don't intended to be blowing up the photos and certainly not more than 8 x 10 s and then very rarely. Right now my main subjects are my two children and my cats. I refuse, refuse to pose them so I need something that is good for capturing kids on the go. I do a lot of natural light "sessions" but it is nice to have something that works decently well at night (NOT the finepix A800 *lol*). I will be moving to a most magnificient area so I imagine that I will start taking photos of nature and wildlife. I'd like to eventually take some courses so something that would allow me to upgrade or give me enough functionality to do that. Unfortunately my price would pretty much be maximum 500 dollars...600 if I REALLY stretch it (especially since I just killed my last one).

Is there anything out there that fits my needs?

Are you thinking of getting a digital SLR now?
Or maybe a bridge camera as a step beyond a pocket camera, with manual controls.

You'll get some speed by using the camera differently.
The less work it has to do, the quicker it can take photos.
So set the exposure yourself, don't make it work it out each time.
Set the focus yourself if you can, so it doesn't need to work out the autofocus either.
Then putting in faster memory cards helps too, if you want to take the second photo sooner.

Thinking of graduating right to a digital SLR...not sure that I'll find much in my price range though.

Check out the used market. KEH and other reliable used equipment dealers have used entry level outfits that are in you price range.

I found this on my local craigslist. Any opinions on it for what I would like to do?

Pentax Ist DL 6mp DSLR with Pentax 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 sandisk extreme II 2gb card -300$

It seems to be a pretty decent deal. I'm liking that it's a Pentax but it's beginning to be an "older" model. Can someone let me know their thoughts on this camera and this deal (is it too good?)

I don't know much about this particular camera. But I like you like Pentax. You might try posting this over on the Pentax forum and see what they think about it.

Okay another question...

There's this one that I am looking at too...

Canon Rebel XS 10MP Camera
18-55mm Image Stabilizer (IS) Lens
50mm Lens
Lowepro Camera Bag

Was selling for 550....and the fellow will sell it to me for 470....again...seems like a good deal but I'm wondering why I'd need the 50mm Lens....that's his big selling point...well, you get that extra lens.

The 50mm lens is a prime lens, not a zoom.
It is better image quality than a zoom lens.
It's a very popular lens for indoor available light photography.

For the money, I'd go with the Canon, but I know nothing of Pentax. The Xs is a newer camera, and you'd get two lenses.

Can you find out how many actuations it has (how many times the shutter has been activated, sort of like checking the mileage).

Also, is the 18-55 f3-5.6 kit lens? You might want to compare reviews for this one and the Pentax.

There are some very good slr-like cameras out there,with manual options and less shutter lag. I still have my Canon S3. However, six months after I bought it, I was wishing I had held out for a DSLR. I'm just sayin' :smilewinkgrin:

HTH,

Cath

Yeah, the Canon is REALLY not used...the fellow bought it in October thinking he might get into photography. He's a student and he just never found the time and now he want to buy a computer or something.

The Pentax on the other hand has had MANY actuations (the fellow was not certain). He's a photojournalist and a photography student so the camera is well used but on the other hand well taken care of too.

Unfortunately, my husband is sitting in our second house refusing to buy himself a table and chair (I have ALL the furniture here and am moving out there sometime within the next 2 months) so I don't feel right going out and buying a camera though I do thing that the canon is a great deal (and the fellow did come down 70 dollars for me and throw in that second lens).