Topic: Upgrade Suggestions Please

[Ryan Sims]

I desperately want to upgrade my camera (which, sadly, leaves my rig stagnant for a while).  Right now I have a Canon Powershot A520 (Flickr Page).  While it's alright for casual shots, it's terrible in low-light situations and the only way to get tolerable pictures in such times is to max out the ISO (400) and open the aperature as far as it will go (f/2.8 I think) and slow down the shutter to around 1/2 second.  And this makes it really necessary to have a tripod, when most of the time I will not.

I'm looking for a camera with which I can do some concert photography and that will also work for daytime landscape type shots.  I'm likely heading to study for about a month in Vienna this summer, that's sort of spurred this whole thing on.

Ideally I'd like to stay under $500, but because I want it so bad for my Vienna trip, I might be able to swing up to $700.  I would definitely like to go with a DSLR for versatility.  I've been eyeing this package with the 50mm f/1.8 lens I've seen recommended here.  But I'd really like some lower cost/better for me suggestions if anyone has them.

TIA.
Ryan

[adubphoto]

i would go with the new canon rebel they have an xti now, but either one. then the 50mm1.8 is the perfect choice. it's a great entry level lens for all types of photog especially concert shoots!.

[phanophish]

FWIW I recently picked up a Refurbished Nikon D50 body for $350 from buy.com.  I just looked at their site and they don't have it listed any more, but you might keep your eyes open.  The Canon is a great suggestion as well.  The D50 actually has better low light performance that the D70 and is pretty close to the Canons as far as hight ISO noise performance.  Either way starting with a 50/1.8 is a great way to go for concert shooting.   Another thing worth mentioning is have a look at Noiseware from Imagenomic.  It is amazing what it can do as far as NR in digital images.

[flintstone]

at the risk of repeating myself...

The Fujifilm F30 is great for low light situations.
Check out the review here:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf30/

I got one a few months ago and it has replaced my
Nikon digital SLR as my favorite walkaround camera.

The F30 has just been discontinued in favor of the F31fd,
so you can find it discounted to less than $250.

Flintstone

[Ryan Sims]

Thanks guys.  Does B&H pretty much have the best prices for an authorized retailer?  I've had nothing but great experiences with them in the past, but I'm really strapped for money and I'm looking to stretch my money as far as I can.

[phanophish]

B&H is always cost competetive and I've never heard of someone having a problem with ordering from them. They definetly won't rip you off.  There are instances like the refurb unit I bought I picked up at BuyDig.com had a much better price because B&H did not have the D50 refurbs and the transactions went great.  But B&H is hard to beat from a $$/service standpoint.  Have a look at resellerratings.com to check out other vendors you might consider.  MANY photography people won't buy from anyone else, if that tells you anything about B&H.     

[bhoy]

I just read the reviews of the Fuji F30.  Is it worth it to look for the F31, or will the F30 do the same job?  It looks like Amazon still has the F30 for around $268.  Is there another place you'd recommend getting it from?

Bill

[mmmatt]

Thanks guys.  Does B&H pretty much have the best prices for an authorized retailer?  I've had nothing but great experiences with them in the past, but I'm really strapped for money and I'm looking to stretch my money as far as I can.

I had problems with a product I purchased from b&h and they never even responded to me.  I just use pricegrabber.com now and buy the chepest.  If I'm going to have crap service I want the cheapest price.  I have bought from adorama.com and sigma4less.com recently and all went well.  I just bought a new lense from digitalfotoclub.com and they shipped quick.  Should be in my hands on Thursday.  I will report back when I get it, but it it was about $50 cheaper than b&h

my.o2

Matt

[stevetoney]

Ryan...I can't respond about the camera, but you mentioned that it's a possibility.  I have no idea if this is discretionary for you, but I am right now typing this email from Krsko in Slovenia, which is approximately four hours drive from Vienna.  I hope to visit Vienna soon, as it is just one of the cities on a list of cities that I wish to visit while I am over here.  Regardless, I can tell you by all means do your utmost to take advantage of the opportunity and go!  It's just a wonderful experience and I would even go so far as to recommend that if you have the opportunity to go by yourself.  I am over here alone and it has kinda forced me to rely on local people and interface more with local people.  It's a wonderful experience to learn how kind and thoughtful people all over the world can be.  I don't want to get political, but it sincerely teaches us that there is no difference between people no matter where they're from...we all want the same things in life and we're all basically the same.  I don't know if that causes me to accept or reject war in the world because there are two sides to every story, but I do know that it causes me to pause to reflect seriously on the role of the family and interpersonal relationships in the well-being of society and the world as a whole.  I find this to be just as valuable to my experience as being able to sightsee all of the great sights of this part of the world.  Anyway, by all means...go!!!

[Ryan Sims]

Thanks a lot.  I got confirmed last week, so it's all pretty much set in stone. 

Everything you said is exactly what I'm most looking forward to.  I really can't wait!

[Ed.]

If you're not looking to go the dSLR route, I'd also recommend the Fuji F30.  Its a very nice compact point and shoot camera.   I just got it as my second camera, as I wanted something I could carry with me at all times.  Its excellent and is easily rated one of the best p&s's on the market today.

The lens goes all the way down to f/2.8 and the ISO can go as high as 3200.  The quality at ISO3200 and ISO1600 isn't the best, but it still gets the job done, and the images look far better than any other camera that offers those high ISOs on the market today.

My only complaint is when the camera is set on full auto and uses a flash, it uses ISO800.  When using a flash, thats a bit high, but I've started using it more in the manual modes and this problem is easily fixed.

The F30 also has Image Stabilization to help with a shakey hand.  Unfortunately, you won't be getting all that great of shots from the back of the venue as it only has a 3x zoom, but for just about everything but concert photography 3x zoom is fine.

I just recently got mine, I tried to get it from http://www.digitalfotoclub.com/  as I've bought many camera items from them and their prices are the lowest I've seen on the net.  They had it listed for 249.99 with free shipping but at the time it was listed out of stock so I went through http://www.digital1234.com because they were lowest priced ($267) retailer that had it in stock.  I also picked up a 2gb Fuji Film xD card from digitalfotoclub for only $50.  With the camera set on its finest picture quality, that card will give me nearly 700 pictures.  I figured that would be enough to get me through even a longer vacation or those days when I get I get trigger happy and take a picture of everything.