camera advice please
 

Hi there,

I know some of you are into your photography, so i'd like to ask your advice on cameras.

I'm after a small(ish) camera that will be good for taking shots of motor sport & wildlife.

Thanks in advance,
Arris :)

Re: camera advice please
 

Budget?
Something like this? or this

Re: camera advice please
 

This will be available in stores soon if not already.

Price is going to be around $450 or so in Canada preliminary reports from from photographers in Europe and Japan are quite favourable.

I'm waiting for some reviews from dpreview or Steve's Digicams and if they are as favourable as anything like what I've seen so far I will seriously consider selling my DSLR kit and getting one of these.

Re: camera advice please
 

24-840? There's got to be a catch.

Re: camera advice please
 

Blimey Steve, If it's that good I might have to think about it myself. I never upgraded my venerable EOS 300D and have been toying with a T2i or trying to get a deal on the 50D (which is being replaced by the 60D). If this thing is that good then ditching the DSLR might be worth it.

Re: camera advice please
 

Thanks very much for the help, these are the type we had in mind so we'll be taking a look at them.

Cheers,
Arris :)

Re: camera advice please
 

No, no catch. I'll see if I can dig up some sample shots.

It's two biggest problems appear to be chromatic aberration (purple fringing) and a slow burst mode but I think I can work with those.

Edit: I found two full sized images at full zoom 150mm (840mm, 35mm equivalent) warning very large images.

Note the detail in the eagle feathers and beak and in the satellite dish note the rain drops on the dish when full sized.

I was wrong on the price it seems in Calgary it's going to be somewhere between $460 and $480 in the U.S. its list price is $430.

Re: camera advice please
 

I'm still sceptical. a camera cheaper than a prime SLR lens with optics that have sharp enough focus so that it requires 14mp? across the entire zoom?

Re: camera advice please
 

If you can wade your way through these two threads perhaps it may convince you it's real.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=36369055

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=36474768

It's a thread by some guy who is a real pixel peeper and loves to compare. The primary comparison is the Panasonic FZ100, the Fugifilm Fine Pix HS10 and the new Canon SX30IS.

As I indicated earlier I'll wait until the real reviews but it does at least look promising.

Re: camera advice please
 

Hand hold an 840mm at f5.8, even with is the lighting would have to be pretty good or carry a tripod around with you.

Re: camera advice please
 

I'm not about to upgrade my 30D just yet. But I can see the attraction of not carrying around a bag of lens's. Especially when the biggest zoom I have is 100-300mm (and that's a crap lens which I never use for anything important). I'll keep an open mind - as I say, it's cheaper than a new lens!

Re: camera advice please
 

That's were I am at.

I have a 40d and just recently sold my 100-400L (which cost about 4 times what the SX30IS will cost) simply because it was too heavy to lug around.

I have the 28-135 IS and the 18-55 IS lenses, I think I'd still keep them all as well as the SX30IS (if I decide to get it) for focus speed and high ISO shots. The SLR still has many advantages I'm not sure I want to give up yet.