My brother wants a 'good' P&S

He and his wife are parents with teens and toddlers - a son plays football. Their budget is about $350. No interest/time for learning anything but the very basics, but they want good pictures. Currently they have a $200 4-year old Kodak Easy share which will go to their daughter (that has probably never been off of "automatic"). Major complaint is red-eye with indoor pictures (in spite of the red beam), and inability for effective zoom on the field.

Do you have a suggestion -- to buy or to avoid? Thanks.

Hi Paula,

Being a huge Husker Fan I should not do this but what the heck we beat the Sooners this year.:D

I would recommend that you and your brother sit down and go to the various manufactures sites where you can compare what they offer. That way he can narrow down the multitude of offerings. Then go to a store and see what the ones he is interested in feel like when he uses it and there you go.

Personally I would go to www.canonusa.com :D but I am a big time Canon Fan also:D

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Originally Posted by Shebang

He and his wife are parents with teens and toddlers - a son plays football. Their budget is about $350. No interest/time for learning anything but the very basics, but they want good pictures. Currently they have a $200 4-year old Kodak Easy share which will go to their daughter (that has probably never been off of "automatic"). Major complaint is red-eye with indoor pictures (in spite of the red beam), and inability for effective zoom on the field.

Do you have a suggestion -- to buy or to avoid? Thanks.

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First have him write up a list of what he wishes. Here are some items to think about:
1) There are 10X zooms from various manufactures so the effective zoom will not be a problem but the cost may be the problem.
2) The red eye has to do with the distance between the flash and the camera lens. The camera with the most distance between the flash and the lens will have less red eye.
3) Low light photography - very unlikely to find in a PS camera.

There are a few web sites where you can compare camera, so here are two good site beside's this site:
http://www.dpreview.com/ and
http://www.steves-digicams.com/

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Originally Posted by w.slayman

Hi Paula,

Being a huge Husker Fan I should not do this but what the heck we beat the Sooners this year.:D ..... :D but I am a big time Canon Fan also:D

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Hi, w. s.

Awwww, we just didn't want ya to lose heart and quit is all......:D


I'm a Canon fan, too. But I'm only on my first DSLR - a Canon 40D -- which is way more camera than I am photographer.

More later.....

Hi Paula,

First, "LET US WIN"? :cryin: Did you know lying about football is a MAJOR, BIG TIME SIN!! :mad: Little RED, from Norman better get used to loosing to the REAL BIG RED. We are BACK!!! :incazzato: :ihih: :lol: :smilewinkgrin: :D at least I got to talk about a real rivalery rather than the Florida - Florida State - Alabama - LSU danged SEC! :wink: :lol:

Making a list of what your brother wants is a good idea. I would do that, then go to the websites and do the research, and encourage him to get the best that he can justify. You never know when you might want a little more camera.

As far as being on your first DSLR you are one ahead of me one the D but not on the SLR. :D, I understand and love Film, but the Digitals have too many Confusing Buttons and not enough "MAGIC". But then I still prefer to write letters with a real fountain pen on real paper and posted with a stamp, not a key stroke.

Good Luck (Except on the Grid Iron :D )

GRF: Thanks for your helpful advice. I did go to the dpreview site and used their side-by-side comparison which is going to be very helpful. However, can you (or anybody) help me understand the magnification thing? For example, their current camera says zoom tele 102mm (3x) as well as digital zoom (5x). What does that mean?

When looking at the zoom range on the camera, don't even look at digital zoom. All the digital zoom does is crop the image in the camera. You are looking lots of info. What you want to look for is optical zoom.

A camera with a 3x optical zoom means that the longest focal length is 3 times the widest focal length. So for a camera with a telephoto length of 102mm the lens would be the 35mm equivalent of 34-102mm. (34x3=102)

Thank you. Your simple explanation is very helpful. So what real purpose does a camera's digital zoom have? How does in-camera cropping help?

Hey Paula,

As you know I am a film guy, but from what I have been able to learn from reading the only use for a digital zoom is to allow cropping by some who will or cannot do any processing between pressing the shutter release, and pressing the print button. This is probably why I have not seen an advertisement for digital zoom on a serious interchangable lens DSLR.

Digital zoom is ok if you don't want decent prints that are terribly grainy. If you're only doing 3x5 its ok...Otherwise forget it.

Thanks, everybody, for your help. I did not know about digital vs. optical zoom. I love the internet.

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Originally Posted by w.slayman

Hi Paula,

First, "LET US WIN"? :cryin: Did you know lying about football is a MAJOR, BIG TIME SIN!! :mad: Little RED, from Norman better get used to loosing to the REAL BIG RED. We are BACK!!! :incazzato: :ihih: :lol: :smilewinkgrin: :D at least I got to talk about a real rivalery...! :wink: :lol:..(Except on the Grid Iron :D )

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Hi, Bill,

Now back to that rivalry :D .....Sooners would "have to get used to losing" to the Huskers, since the Huskers are the most familiar with that experience :cryin: I went to a Husker site and really enjoyed what I found:D !! It seems of the 85 games, Sooners have won 44 times compared to your Huskers 38 times -- and 3 tied games -- for a total of 1,669 to 1401 points!!!!!!!!! BOOMER SOONER!!

Seriously, i guess the rivalry is not as intense since the re-alignment. OU is having its troubles this year with Sam Bradford's injuries as well as some other key injuries. Truly, it is my sister and her family that are the OU FANatics. Her son, Jeremy Alexander was the kicker for OU from '94-'97. He held the longest field goal record in high school and was nominated for the Lou Grosman (spelling?) award in his sophomore year at OU. Unfortunately, we did not have Coach Stoops then :cryin: I had to go ask her all this info, cause though I'm always "for" OU, I don't keep up with it -- but I do so enjoy a little friendly banter.:D So, as I said -- BOOMER SOONER!http://http://www.huskerpedia.com/games/oklahoma.html

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Originally Posted by Shebang

GRF: Thanks for your helpful advice. I did go to the dpreview site and used their side-by-side comparison which is going to be very helpful. However, can you (or anybody) help me understand the magnification thing? For example, their current camera says zoom tele 102mm (3x) as well as digital zoom (5x). What does that mean?

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The digital zoom forget! You can do digital zoom post process, ie on your computer.

The 3X zoom means 34mm to 102mm equivalent focal length (35mm field of view). A 4x zoom would be 34mm to 136mm equivalent focal length. Basically a 10x zoom start at 28mm and the max would be 10 * 28 = 280mm (10x) equivalent focal length. Pay attention to the variation of the F stop especially on the 8-12x zoom. As for each doubling of the focal length you loss an F stop. This is very important in dim light at the longer focal lengths.

Thank you, GRF. Slowly but surely I understand a little more -- thanks to you and everyone for your patience and willingness to help us noobs!

I'm learning enough to be one as well -- not that I was a digital zoom fan -- I just didn't know much (okay, nothing) about either.

Hey Paula,

Have him buy a D1s Mark III and if he does not like it you could use it. hahahaha

Seriously, I think he should get a basic consumer entry level DSLR and use it as a P&S until he is ready for a little more camera, which he would already have, and then could learn a little more, and so on.

I saw a Rebel XS Kit advertised for $499.99 here, maybe he can get a simular deal in OK.

I know about the all time records, and the NCAA Sanctions, Sooners / Switzer =how many?? Huskers = None, Zip, Zero, Never = Clean Program. :LOL

At the risk of tooting my own horn, head on over to DigitalCamera-HQ.com and search by your budget. You'll see the top cameras. Then, I'd cruise over to Imaging-resource.com and click on image comparison. It takes images with each camera and compares them side by side under various conditions. Pay particular attention to the noise levels at higher ISOs. This will tell you how good the low light performance is.

My initial recommendations are Canon's SD line and the SX line. Pansonic makes some great cameras as well.

Thanks, James! Looks like helpful advice. (I missed this post until now.)

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Originally Posted by w.slayman

Hey Paula,

Have him buy a D1s Mark III and if he does not like it you could use it. hahahaha

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Now, THAT'S a great idea. :D

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Originally Posted by w.slayman

I know about the all time records, and the NCAA Sanctions, Sooners / Switzer =how many?? Huskers = None, Zip, Zero, Never = Clean Program. :LOL

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Well, lately around here the high school coaches/programs are getting busted right and left for dirty dealings :nono: :nono:
It seems decades ago, we were pretty rank in the sanctions violations. Bob Stoops has only one that I'm aware of, and it seems bogus to me, and was appealed, I guess. He seems to run a pretty tight ship and manages to win:thumbsup:

I know people can get pretty stupid when it comes to money, power and fame.

A quick peek seems to reveal that the Huskers, corporately anyway have kept it clean all this time - good for you:thumbsup:

BOOMER SOONER!!