[lug] Camera recommendations

[dio2002 at indra.com]

i'll throw my two cents in.

without getting into all of the technical jargon, most digital cameras 
today, even a cheap one are going to be fine for 95% to probably 98% of 
folks out there.  in the past or even present, ask yourself, when have 
you ever gotten more than 4x6 prints?  maybe once in awhile you've 
gotten some 5x7s.  but most folks don't do 8x10.  (the advent of home 
photo printers has probably amped the move for the common joe to print 
8x10s and this creates all of the confusion and an inroad for marketing 
games by the mfgs).

from where i stand, unless folks want to waste their money or are 
seriously thinking about the creative features offered by more expensive 
cameras (and i imagine most don't) or must print 8x10 or larger, the 
cheap base digital cameras are probably all going to serve you well. 
this is mostly marketing hype by mfgs to get you to keep upping the 
ante.  and i'd say that even many of these cameras are capable of doing 
what "most" folks out there would think are 'acceptable' 8x10s

another point needs to be made.

good shots in many ways have nothing to do with the camera.  if you 
don't have an eye for the shot and light, a $3k camera isn't going to 
make you a good photograph.  vice versa, if you have a good eye and are 
creative, you can take a great shot with a cheap digital camera.

and of course there's always photoshop ;-)

your options may be limited by lighting (flash), action / low light 
(shutter speed) and of course decent lenses with non slr digitals but if 
you're learning about that stuff, you're past the average joe stage and 
moving towards the hobbyist that wants to do more professional shooting.

i'll throw out a question back to the presenter and the group.

my dilemna is this.  i shot nikon n80 35mm film before buying a 5mp 
cannon A95 3 years ago.  the A95 takes great shots for the most part. 
now the n80 sits there collecting dust.  haven't used it in 3 years. 
why would i?  i can shoot to my hearts content with the A95. i can take 
a boatload of pictures not worrying about shatty printing or spending a 
lot for printing period.  it forces me to be more creative within the 
limitations presented by the lack of camera features so it's a great 
challenge at times.  i'm not printing greater than 5x7 so it really 
works for me though 8x10s look pretty good.

however, if i had my way, i WOULD love to move my digital shooting to 
digital SLR.  i don't mind the weight  / size.  i've been waiting for 
prices to come down.  and although they have, they're still artificially 
inflated imho. maybe i don't truly understand the technology behind the 
scenes but it's hard for me to justify dropping $3k let alone 1.5K on a 
digital SLR.  if i travel to a third world country and want to take 
shots, i'm always worrying about the thing getting stolen.  the 
presenter mentioned that his camera was rock solid, but the thought of 
me dropping something on the ground that is the price of a used car 
seems sort of like a liability.  unless of course, some or these models 
are that bomb proof right now.

if anybody out there has already cut through the marketing jargon and 
the various rollouts of the entry level SLRs over the last couple of 
years and could just give me the digital equivalent recommendation to my 
film nikon n80, i'd be a happy man.

i say that based on what someone told me a couple of years ago which was 
  that the best digital camera sensor will never beat out even basic 
35mm slr *film* in terms of image quality.

would love to be able to use my existing lenses but from what i 
understood in the past, their was some flim flamming going on there 
where the aspect ratio and the autofocus features don't work on the 
newer digital bodies (nikon that is).  if not, want a single middle of 
the road autofocus lens or maybe a higher and lower pair (currently i 
have 28-80 and a 70-300).

something that provides good flash options (from a decent entry level up 
to a more sophistacted [read expensive] option).  sensor that provides 
higher resolution printed images, and higher shutter speeds / fps.

someone posted recently in this group that they do NOT read long emails. 
  they're probably not reading this post either.  hopefully someone else 
does :-)

thanks