Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Digital cameras
After much discussion and many e-mails with friends, it's clear that it's not at all clear. There are SO many good cameras out there but almost none that do precisely what I want. For starters, I want a 3" LCD display, a viewfinder for when the screen is hard to see because of bright light or position, image stabilization, a great metal lens, manual as well as auto focus, manually adjustable as well as auto white balance, an automatic fluorescent light compensation setting, digital and optical zoom that's easy to operate while shooting, a continuous-shot feature, controls and menus that are easy to understand and easy to operate, quick start-up and between-shots time, gorgeous picture quality, and raw uncompressed format. Oh, and I don't want a DSLR because I want to be able to carry it with me every day. Several of these combinations seem to be deal breakers. Plus, most of the camera sites are exceedingly unhelpful. On one of them that purports to help you by letting you select items that matter to you, I specifically chose Nikon, Canon, Sony and Panasonic as the brands I wanted to see . . . and it proceeded to show me Samsung and Fuji and a whole bunch more, as well. On another, one of the famous and well-regarded ones, I said 3" LCD and manual focus . . . and got none at all even though there are at least three with both.
I tried out the Panasonic TZ3 which is a dynamite camera with many of the features I want. But it lacks fluorescent compensation, manual anything, and raw. The Panasonic FZ8 seemed like the eureka moment until I saw that it has a 2.5" display. There are two new Sonys (T100 and w200) that have some of the features and got good reviews but they lack important things. Then, just when I was despairingly trying to decide which compromises I'd (have to) make, a colleague said that Canon has just announced the G9, successor to the G7 (why bother with 8 if you can skip directly to 9?). It does seem to have it all, and in a compact size and shape. I'm waiting for just one review confirming that its images are good, and I'd also like to get a teeny tiny price break below full market price, but it looks as if this may be the one. Even if it's not a Nikon.
And by the way, what's with all the letters? Z? X? W? P? etc. What the heck do they mean and why doesn't anyone explain them, even their own manufacturers?
I tried out the Panasonic TZ3 which is a dynamite camera with many of the features I want. But it lacks fluorescent compensation, manual anything, and raw. The Panasonic FZ8 seemed like the eureka moment until I saw that it has a 2.5" display. There are two new Sonys (T100 and w200) that have some of the features and got good reviews but they lack important things. Then, just when I was despairingly trying to decide which compromises I'd (have to) make, a colleague said that Canon has just announced the G9, successor to the G7 (why bother with 8 if you can skip directly to 9?). It does seem to have it all, and in a compact size and shape. I'm waiting for just one review confirming that its images are good, and I'd also like to get a teeny tiny price break below full market price, but it looks as if this may be the one. Even if it's not a Nikon.
And by the way, what's with all the letters? Z? X? W? P? etc. What the heck do they mean and why doesn't anyone explain them, even their own manufacturers?
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