Hoping someone can help me with regards to buying a new camera for use on our next trip to morocco and europe in may. At the moment I am using an Olympus compact digital camera but would like to upgrade to something a bit more advanced. Any recommendations would be most welcome.I have been thinking of the Canon EOS digital rebel XT,Nikon D70s and the more expensive Canon EOS 400D. Is it worthwhile spending the extra money as I so far have only been a point and shoot photographer although very keen to learn and improve. All advice would be very welcome.

Thanks,
Norma

Hi Norma,


If you purchase an EOS camera by Canon you'll also have to be well informed about a good all round lens to suit. The more expensive cameras can be fiited with a whole series of lenses all of which serve a different purpose and also deliver different qualities. From the way you're talking its my belief that you would not be buying any lens in the Canon range that's L rated...top of range. Check out the link I've added to see more on this topic from one of the best camera shops in the world.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

Good luck with what ever you decide

Norma

The Canon EOS digital camera is beautiful, but I'm not sure that you need something that sophisticated. I would suggest you look at the Canon S3IS. It's a 'compact' camera, which can be used as a 'point and shoot', but you can get almost as complex as an SLR - if you so choose.

Norma, go and visit Plaza Digital in Plaza Arcade or visit a couple of the better camera shops in Perth. Even though I am from Melbourne, any time in Perth, I go to Plaza Digital, and a good camera loving friend in Perth swears by them.
Discuss with the staff what you want to do with your photos after shooting (do you just want to print a few 4" x 6" shots, get many enlargements done, dvd slideshows with music, etc, handle the cameras and see which one of their recommendations feels best in your hands. Discuss the choice of lens available, whether you should also purchase a flash, types of memory cards, etc. Have a look at www.dpreview.com for camera reviews. Another thing to consider is what type of photography do want to cover mainly, such as general scenes, people, gardens, sport, etc, and also consider what you will want to continue photographing into the future. Also consider visiting your local camera club. Have a look here http://www.a-p-s.org.au/wa.html to find the club closest to you.
Main thing afterwards is to enjoy whatever you purchase and use it often.

Cat’s touched on a good point there; when deciding what you will buy totally ignore the claims for “digital zoom”. Optical zoom is the only one you should consider, you can digital zoom as much as you like on your computer.

The disadvantages of an SLR is that it is in general a bit bigger (and you are tempted to take along extra lenses) and is more complicated to use than a point-and-shoot camera. It is not really that much more complicated, but has more functions and you can start wondering whether you should not use some of them - and if you don't know what you are doing, you can make mistakes.

Although the quality of digital point-and-shoot cameras is surprisingly good, the quality of a SLR will always be better (just look at the difference in glass of the lenses), but more importantly, the performance of an SLR at higher ISO values is significantly better than a compact camera. This is very important when touring as you can't really use a tripod and you often have to take photos under low light conditions, shooting at ISO 800 or 1600.

One other thing, although CANON's L-lenses are normally better than non-L lenses, the quality of most (if not all) lenses is really good. L-lenses also tend to be big and heavy, as a result they normally do not make good travel lenses. I have for instance changed my travel kit to lighter non-L lenses.

I'm using the Canon G6 which is a compromise between their SLR digital and a compact point/shoot digital. It has all the manual controls a non-pro photographer would want. Since it's 2 years old, it doesn't have stabilization control which the newer models have.

Features I like having are the swivel LED screen which means I don't have to tilt my head back for shots of the beautiful ceilings and domes or duck down as low to get shots from the ground perspective. It also makes it much easier catching candid shots of people who usually go into "pose mode" when they see both you and your camera focusing on them.

I also like the size which is NOT small because it sits well in my hand and the controls are not too small for fingers that are increasingly arthritic.

The batteries last reasonably long and replacements were cheap on eBay.

If you are going to get an SLR camera I recommend you take some lessons. It's not worth the money if you're not going to use the features.

And, whatever you do end up buying, practise with it before your trip - LOTS! And take the manual with you. If you get stuck and don't know how to work something, another tour member will be able to help you figure it out with the manual as a reference.

A few things to keep in mind when you do make your purchase...