Hi all,
I'm an amateur photographer. I usually take outdoor photos of architecture, people, and nature using a Fujifilm Finepix S5000.
I've been reading around about DSLR, and it sounds pretty sweet. Fast startup times and "instant" shooting sounds ideal.
In terms of how I use my camera, I like to point-and-shoot, especially for shooting people. I often just walk around the streets and capture people as I see fit. If it looks like a good shot, I just raise my camera, point, and shoot. I wouldn't call any of these action shots, but they're very spur-of-the-moment shots. I always use the auto settings. I've never tried any manual stuff.
One thing I also tend to rely on and make use of is zoom. I specifically bought this camera because of its 10x optical zoom.
I know next to nothing about lenses. From doing a bit of reading, I guess there are zoom lenses, but am I right to assume that non-zoom lenses produce better pictures?
And for that matter, how much "zoom" does a still lens produce? Is there a way to tell based on a lens' specs? I don't know what the millimetre sizes mean, nor anything about f-floating numbers.
So, I guess an DSLR body sounds right for me, but I'm concerned with the whole lens ordeal. Is there a lens that is "zoomed in" as much as a 10x optical? Or better yet, even more than that? As I can't always get in too close to my subjects, I'd rather have a longer fixed zoom than a shorter one. 10x zoom was just the best in a digital camera I could find at the the time.
And if there is a lens that would suit my needs, what camera would you recommend? I was looking at flickr's camera finder and the models shown there seem to be fairly popular, especially having read that other members of this board use them.
So, if you would please enlighten me regarding lenses, zoom, millimetres, the "f" system, and/or DSLR bodies, I'd greatly appreciate it; thanks in advance. Oh, and feel free to ask me to clarify anything!