Beginner's slr camera

[cordwood]

Buzz, total beginner have been using compact up till now it's knackered so looking to move on to something "a bit bigger". A couple of mate's are right into photography and are pushing the whole dslr thing saying that you can obviously upgrade lenses etc as your skill's improve, and that these are good base model's to start with. Mostly i will be taking picture's of land scape's and nature and work related stuff , with the usual family one's, so i've asked mate's opinion's but i obviously wasn't that convinced with the dslr due to the bulk and weight issue's. After reading people's opinion's on here i'll probably get something less technical like a hi end compact or bridge. Plus on the work side there aint that much room in the Landy.

[rbtree]

It's "outdated" and no longer made, but the Canon Powershot Pro 1 is one of the best compact camera yet made. Mine was stolen, and I just got another on ebay. Here's a link to all currently offered...but that's the US ebay site...

http://photography.shop.ebay.com/items/Digital-Cameras__W0QQBrand3d75b67ZCanon3dde98fQQProductType42be380bZPointShoot290704d5QQMegapixels950ad1bfZ80to89MP3b42fb7fQQOpticalQ5Aoomf6c2bf3bZ7x721QQ_dmptZDigitalQ5fCamerasQQ_flnZ1QQ_mdoZCamerasQ2dPhotoQQ_pcatsZ625QQ_sacatZ31388QQ_ssovZ1QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em282

 

It offers raw shooting, has a Pro lens, and a nice 7-1 zoom...and is about as wide angle as the come.

 

Current offerings that are good, and in your range include the G-9 and G-10 Canons....and the SX-1, not available in the US, but will offer HD video and a really wide zoom range.

 

The SX-1 is an upgrade from the S-5, also a very good camera. All these offer full manual control, and most or all allow an external flash to be mounted.

 

As you can tell, I'm a Canon guy......they're number one for a reason....but Nikon is trying to catch up....at least in the SLR market....

 

The small cameras don't handle action that well, due to shutter lag and slow motor drive performance. They also aren't very good in low light. Their sensors, though smaller, have plenty of megapixels, even too many too close to together and so aren';t up to their SLR counterparts in overall quality...but will still produce great images.