maloki

Can’t have too many cameras

I want three cameras: one compact, one enthusiast cam and one pro (and maybe throw in some lomos in there).

Compact

I had a pocket camera. It was a Canon Digital IXUS 700. I loved that camera! It was handed down to my lil bro and I think he’s enjoying it much (along with his Canon Powershot G9).

For a point-and-shoot camera, it had quite a feature list and worked quite well for me. I was able to get some great shots from it, even macro shots! Focusing at a specific point was just hard. What I did was to focus on one point and then adjust the camera to where I want it focused using that setting.

Right now, I settle with a phone cam, my Sony Ericcson K800i. Still, pretty good in my opinion. It’s a good 3.2 megapixel camera with a xenon flash bulb. Not bad at all!

Enthusiast

I had an enthusiast cam and moved on to another. It was a Canon Powershot G7 and then a Canon Powershot G9 not long after (main difference that tipped the scale being that the latter could use the RAW image format!).

The G9 brings a lot of other features into the picture: aperture priority, shutter speed priority, auto mode, manual mode, two custom presets, bracketing, manual focus, movies, and more. It’s almost like a DSLR and can shoot videos!

Aside from that, I could use the Canon LA-DC58H to use accessory lenses and filters. There also lens converters like wide angle and tele-converters. I don’t those and well, I don’t really them right now.

I have two main complaints my G9. One is that the lens casts shadows on the subject when I use the built-in flash especially when zoomed in (maybe I should get an external flash…). Two is that shots become noisy at upward 800 ISO. The rest are limitations of a non-SLR.

(I have one other minor complaint: there is some image distortion as I zoom in. Noticeable but tolerable.)

Pro

I’ve never had one of these. Right now though, there’s an old Nikon camera in my bedroom and uses film (maybe I should really get this fixed (if it does need fixing) & cleaned up) (pics are below). I don’t have darkroom though and manipulating film can be quite challenging. Maybe just get this fixed so it’s still at a usable state in case I or someone wants to pick it up again….

I’ve wanted two cameras before: the Nikon D80 and the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi. Then, maybe some Sigma lenses and some filters (IR is pretty awesome).

Now, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II enters! Check out the site, the specs are really neat!

Key Specifications:

New 21.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor with improved EOS Integrated Cleaning System (E.I.C.S.)

New Full HD 1080 resolution movie recording

3.9 frames per second continuous shooting

High performance DIGIC 4 providing superb image quality

Maximum 310 large JPEG images in a single burst with a UDMA card

3.0” VGA (920k dots) Clear View LCD

ISO 100-6400 (expansion from 50 up to 25,600)

9 AF points + 6 Assist AF points

Specs are drool-worthy and of course, come at a price. Migs & I talked about it for a while and thought $3500 isn’t that bad and in fact, gives you a lot of bang for your buck.

I doubt I’ll be getting this DSLR any time soon though (or maybe this exact one for that matter). This doesn’t really fit into my budget. What this does however is to know what to expect from upcoming cameras.

There are old but still good DSLRs out there. I’ll probably get one of those.

From what I’ve seen, a good camera can stand the test of time. A DSLR may be years old but if it was good before, it’ll still be good now (unless of course if it’s broken). A good camera with a good image sensor can be your friend for quite a long time.

Good cameras don’t get replaced. New ones are just added to the collection.

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