The wife has been driving me mad for a new camera as her phone has been replaced with a phone that has a shoddy one. I spent my entire weekend buying cameras and taking them back, she currently has her 3rd one going back tomorrow.

I'm now in the process of buying a laptop for work and can get 12 month financing on a camera if I whack that on top but it's considerably more costly than the other cameras we looked at so wouldn't mind a some opinions on whether it's worth the money. Clicky to see it. One guy I spoke to said they didn't have Rebels in Norway but said this looked good enough for semi-pro which I assume would be good enough. Personally I'll stick with my camera phone as I'm possibly the worst photographer in the world so it's really up to the wife to figure it out. It would certainly be a camera that has to last a while though as $750 + tax is a chunk of change I'd rather spend elsewhere.

Advice will be appreciated though quite possibly not understood as I am a camera simpleton

In Europe I think that camera is called the EOS 500D and there are newer versions I believe, so the camera is a couple of years old or so.

http://www.digitalreview.ca/content/Can ... 500D.shtml

It's a pretty decent camera though and gets good reviews, I don't shoot Canon though so can't really comment... I would have expected it to be cheaper though given for what it sells for in the UK.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-Digital-C ... 433&sr=8-1

My mate has one and he really likes it, but one thing to remember is that the lenses that come with the DSLR's are generally not great, but still will be much better than the compact and cameraphones you've been used to. The zoom range on the one you've picked will be nowhere near what you're used to on your compact and it will take some getting used, a better lens would be something like an 18-135 but that's going to make it much more expensive.

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-can ... s/p1519909

It's a sin to leave it in Auto mode though and you won't get the most out of it, so you should really invest a bit of time learning how to use it in Aperture priority mode at the very least.

If you're not prepared to learn aperture mode and the basics of the exposure triangle, then just buy a good compact and pocket the change imo... (I can teach people the basics of the exposure triangle in less than 30 mins normally, it's not hard)

Hope this helps.

Ta. Despite it being a new toy it really is for the wife so she's the one that will have to learn to use it not me so all I can do is pass on words of wisdom. The fact that one of her pet hates is the girls she went to school with claiming to be professional photographers just because they bought a decent camera and photoshop makes me hopeful that she will put the effort in and learn how to use it properly.

Price wise it's not really much cheaper anywhere else around here, and with the exchange rate as it is it's still cheaper over here just maybe not as much as some other things.

I guess worst case scenario I could always learn to use it if she doesn't but as it's going to be her Mother's Day present she won't be getting anything else for a while if she just ignores it.

It arrived yesterday and whilst the wife seems a little overwhelmed by it all she's already saying how good the quality is so we have a keeper. It does take good pictures and no doubt they'll only get better once she figures it out.

That's good to know, make sure she learns how to get it out of Auto mode asap and into Aperture Priority.

And if her friends are claiming to be professional photographers, then presumably they're making an income from it then?

If it doesn't make you money, then technically it's a hobby imo

Photoshop is a bit overkill if you're learning, she'd get on better with LightRoom if she can find a copy

I don't think she's even put it into auto, she's too busy messing around with the various settings. She seems to prefer the sports setting to anything as it helps get a decent picture of the kids.

The sad thing is her friends probably are making money as once you've got the camera what are the other costs? They probably just dump the pictures on a CD and the people around here seem happy with anything if their grotty little kid is smiling. All they do is make a Facebook page and talk about shooting sessions or sittings and that's them off. Makes you wonder why 3 members of my family spent years at uni studying art and photography.

I got her Lightroom to play with so she should be entertained for the day at least.

That's astonishing, they must be very easily pleased, I do the odd bit of portrait photography for friends on a minimal set up and I'm using a reasonable camera, fast quality glass and a couple of strobes through umbrellas for remote lighting.... below is an example of a quick shot that I took at a friends BBQ for her with this setup, needs a little more post-processing yet though before it's ready to launch to the printers.


Isaac No Leg- by ASBO Allstar, on Flickr

I'm still very much an amateur. That said I don't always charge them depending on who they are and I charge them considerably less than what some of them have paid in the past as I horse trade them for skills that they have that I don't, which is a bargain when some of them have paid circa £1k for a pair of prints in some cases in the past from other photographers.

Make sure that she's shooting in RAW mode to get the most out of Lightroom, Sports mode is more or less the same as shutter priority, with preference being given to the shutter speed so as to reduce blur... it'll work best outdoors in lots of good light.

Isaac No Legs ... sounds like something from Monkey Island

Sound advice though, allthough for some reason I find myself back in Auto mode when going out with the kids for the day, makes it a lot easier to make those spur of the moment photos.

What I do Kuifje is if I'm going out with the kids, is fire the camera into Aperture priority and run it at f/4 if I want a close up portrait, everything else typically at f/8 of f/11 which is nice and sharp on my glass.

It's just what you get used to though I guess.

Im looking for a new digi cam myself .. Not looking for an SLR style as i got a 35mm for that more looking for a good allround pocket sized compact.

Been looking at a few and id appriciate some further input

I want good zoom, Panoramic and also the ability for close up.
I know im not gonna get the best best quality from a compact but its a compact im after.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20

Samsung WB650

erring towards the Samsung at the moment..

I did see this one but the price put me off

Leica M9

Might be worth trying the canon S95, it gets good reviews and I considered getting one myself, but in the end I went with the SONY NEX5 as it was on offer and was a great camera for me to go scouting ahead for proper panoramic photography.

All depends what you want to spend, but the G11 and S95 get reasonable reviews and friends I know that have the S90 like it but all the niggles they had are fixed in the S95.

Id Agree the S95 is a nice, the Canon ELPH 500 HS is a very good lower budget version, just food for thought,

http://snapsort.com/compare/Canon-ELPH-500HS-vs-Canon_PowerShot_S95
<< Good site to quickly compare the tech of the ones you look at.

That Cannon looks good and is more like what i wanted to spend on a pocket cam .. cheers Nat