From what you 've described, you need an affordable DSLR, such as Canon Rebel, which is now below $1,000. Of course, the price will be slightly higher than your budget. But, there are many advantages coming along for the camera in the next few years.
1. Later you can place the additional flash to the camera in case of insufficient lighting.
2. The CMOS censor size is so much bigger than the compact camera; hence, the lower noise and better picture quality.
3. You can choose for more and proper lenses in many different shooting aspect, becoming a professional.
4. You will grow and able to test more features, such as wider aperture range & shutter speed, light sensitivity, and lighting.
Nonetheless, the disadvantages will be
1. More money to be spent on the lenses and accessories.
2. Heavy to carry the camera and lenses.
I've been taking pictures for nearly a decade and still love the picture quality of SLR and DSLR camera. It's like an investment if you really want to get started. Good luck.
Hello,
I was wondering if those of you more knowledgable than myself could help me with my next camera purchase.
I currently have a Canon A70 with Wide-Angle and Telephoto adapters. I do mostly cityscape and landscape photography, so I use a lot of wide-angle, but I do increasing amounts of zooming to get interesting details and views. I'm also starting to experiment with macro, still life, and portrait photography. I don't care about sports/high action photography. I use a Bogen tripod.
My current negative issues with the A70, which I generally like and find highly expandable, are several. I find a good amount of distortion at higher zoom, and would like additional digital image stabilization for times the tripod can't fully deal with the truck rumbling by or the wind. I also don't like how the lens adapter blocks the flash, and there is no flash addition possible. My screen/trim scratches very easily despite obscessive care, and I find the screen too small to really see what I'm doing and there is no auto image bracketing to compensate. I'd also like more megapixels to do quality 8X10 and greater printing of my photography for walls and allow me to crop more. The A70 also can't shoot RAW images.
Here are the features I'd like:
4 megapixels or greater
Ability to accept additional flashes in the future
Histogram/pictogram features
Auto bracketing of photos of +1 and -1 exposures
RAW capability
Manual zoom control if possible (the A70 jumps too much)
A tripod attachment on a side, if such a thing exists
Wide-angle adapter lens
High quality construction
One camera I was thinking of is the Minolta DiMage A2, which I think seems to fit these requirements nicely (does it do auto bracketing?). I was wondering if everyone agreed and what other models you folks would recommend that would be good for my needs and help me grow as a photographer in the years to come. The other option, of course, is just getting a new A95 which gives me more megapixels and allows me to use my existing adapters for much less money, but doesn't allow me to grow in these other areas. I know digital SLR's are options, but I just don't want to spend the $1600+ this would need once you have all the lenses. I'd like to keep things between 600-800$ max.
Ideas? Thanks to all you experts!
- Bret

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