I just bought the latest Panasonic Lumix 8MP DMC-FZ30 with the 12X zoom. It's amazing what you can do with it.With a SD memory card of 1 Gb you can take 280 pictures in the highest grade.With the battery you can take at least 200 pictures and it charges in 2 hours.I am still learning all the different features to be prepared when we come to the states for our Southeast tour.You can check out the different camera reviews done by experts on this site www.dresource.com Paul

nytraveler, you've received a lot of great advice here! :)

I hesitated for a long time before making the switch from film to digital, for many of the reasons you state, but I am glad I did.

I'm sure you know there will be a bit of a learning curve moving to a digital camera. One thing to know (which has been explained by other posters) is that a digital camera picks up a lot of detail for which a film camera would require a zoom lens. A related concept is that it's generally better to underexpose a shot than overexpose; because the camera picks up so much detail, there is a good chance you can edit the photo to reveal detail in a darkened area (whereas an overexposed area has no detail to reveal). It's similar to using a darkroom for film, but less messy! ;)

If you have the time and/or interest, I highly recommend taking a digital imaging class. I did so this past spring after owning my (point and shoot) digital for over a year, and it made a huge difference with my images! I have a much better understanding of the pros and cons of different file types (jpeg, raw, etc.), and even just doing a quick color balance can vastly improve my photos and is something I wouldn't have known how to do before.

The class I took is called Digital Imaging 1 at The New School. The class addressed camera types, format types and other basics at the beginning of the term, then spent the rest of the semester using PhotoShop specifically for photography. School of Visual Arts has a similar class.

My last suggestion is that if it's at all possible, borrow a digital camera for a few days and play around with it. Even a point-and-shoot will give you a sense of the types of photos you'll be taking, what the pixel quality is like, etc.

Yes, good idea to borrow a digital camera for a few days. I also suggest printing a few of the images you take - or even printing images from someone else's camera. And by printing, I mean go to your local photo lab/Costco/wherever and have some enlargements made. you can get an 8x12 print at Costco for only about $2.00 now! (Many digital photographers have photo printers at home, but I don't myself.)

In fact, if you get a memory card first, you can even take it into a camera store, shoot a few pictures in the store, and then have them enlarged so you can see for yourself how good the final prints will look. Costco has the cameras and the print facility; no doubt they would let you take a few pics with their memory cards and go right over and have a few printed (maybe even for free). Of course, Costco has a great return policy - you could always try a camera and return it if you hate it.

Andrew

Good idea about purchasing your own memory card first. If you do so, keep in mind that not all cameras use the same type of memory. (The worst offender is Sony, as their proprietary Memory Stick isn't supported by other camera manufacturers.) I don't know the Panasonic, and it may well be that it takes the same type of memory as the Canon...

Even worse than Sony's Memory Stick is the xD cards used by Olympus and Fuji. Even more expensive, >1GB cards are hard to find, and have two types (M and H).

Stick with cameras that use SD or Compact Flash.

NYTraveler,

Lots of good information here. I recommend a trip to B&H where the sales staff is very knowledgable.

Since you are transitioning from film, it may help you to know that as with the type of film you use (e.g. Kodachrome versus 1000 ASA negative color), the quality setting on the camera will determine both the quality of the image file saved as well as its size.

On one of my Nikons, for example, a professional model, a 512 card will usually hold 285 images in normal JPEG quality. (This is the quality at which most newspaper images are made.)

On the other hand, you could drop down to basic and then your card will hold 550 images.

Fine holds 145.

Raw holds 49

And if you go to Tiff, then only 27. But Tiff is the best digital analogy to Kodachrome.

By the way, while some cameras may make nice 8 x 10s, as with film, if you crop the image, you need better quality.

Some good sources for information are the Technology Section at www.nytimes.com as well as Cnet.com.

Note well, that digital cameras don't work quite the same way as film ones. There will be a little learning curve.

Yes, going to B&H is a great idea!

FYI, it's not actually a "quality setting" - what Aileron is talking about is the file type, which in turn affects print quality. Different file types are good/appropriate for different purposes. For most of us, JPEGs are fine and thus this is the default in most digicams. These days, professional photographers who know they will want to touch up their images shoot RAW (or RAW plus JPEG); since RAW captures all the data possible, it's the most complete format on which to make edits and modifications. Online images require much smaller file size, so JPEGs, GIFs and "basic" files are preferred.

...I hope this isn't info overload!!... Good luck!

Green, you are right but I used the term "quality" since that is the word Nikon chose to print on the dial which controls "file type."

I think "quality" covers it quite well and is what my camera refers to also.

The Canon S2 & S3 (in addition to having a n equivalent of 36 mm to 432 mm lens - 12X) have available wide angle converters (~.75) and a 1.5 extender.

Keith

PS, unless you spend a great deal of money, currently the cameras with greater than 6 mega pixels rarely take a better picture than the 6 mp. They are squeezing a lot of sensors into a tiny space.

Keith

I agree that 6MP is kind of overkill if you are only going for 4x6 snapshots. But more megapixels helps if you hope to make enlargements and/or want to crop your pictures. Say you want to make a print of just 1/4 of the actual picture, because you couldn't get close enough to zoom in or something. Now your 6MP picture becomes 1.5MP. It will still look OK at 4x6 but not much higher.

Andrew

That same ability to crop also helps with photography at dusk or indoors. When you zoom in, the amount of light getting to your sensors drops and photo quality degrades.

Leaving the lens wide, then cropping to the image you want will give you better photos in low light.

Keith

Last year prior to my trip to Santorini, I purchased a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX7 as my first digital camera. For the trip I also purchased 2 512 SD cards and 2 batteries. This allowed me to take over a 1000 pics on the highest quality mode and also never to run out of juice until I got back to the hotel to recharge. I love the size of the camera, how easy it is to use and the quality of pictures. This site gave me lots of good info on this camera.
http://www.megapixel.net/cgi-bin/fs_...x7-review.html

Again, thanks for all the info. I think I will need to go into the camera shop with a list of what I can get for free for points and see what matches.

Since I do have specific requirements:

Equivalent of 35mm won't do it - I used 28mm all the time for travel and didn;t like 35

I'm not doing 4 X 6 snaps but will blow up all photos that I have printed to 8 X 10 or bigger

Definitely need to see the photo as I'm shooting it

Have a MAC - and don;t know how this will affect what I do - but don;t have sohpisticated software (photoshop) and don;t want to deal with learning all that

The idea of a class is good - but frankly I don;t have the time - and want this to work like a car (buy, take 15 minutes to find the gadgets and set the radio, drive and never think about it again) - any more than that is too much trouble given everything else I have to do

Thanks again for all the help.

Hi Fellow Mac user. The Mac will do everything you need; however, the iPhoto program has limitations for editing. Highly recomment adding Adobe Photo Elements 4.0 for only about $80. It gives you a whole lot of serious editing tools for modest price and you can switch back & forth between iPhoto & APE in the iPhoto preferences window. Either the Canon or Panosonic will more than meet your needs. Just a note on the memory card supplied with almost all digital cameras. At 16 MB they are useless except for a few sample photos. Go large, 1GB, and use the faster cards if you plan on using the movie or fast burst capabilities (great for fast action shots). With 12X telephoto and image stabilization, your results will be great. At the higher 'quality' settings, you can easily crop to get the effects of another 2-4X and still print great at 8x10 or better. Enjoy the digital world!

nytraveler, you can definitely get up to speed on a new camera "like a car" (that's the analogy I always use for new technology! :) ). I used my digicam for a couple of years before I decided I wanted to learn more about manipulating the photos. iPhoto will be fine for things like removing red eye, and Adobe Photo Elements would be a good addition without needing to learn a ton of new software rules.

nytraveler, I think you may have misunderstood what I meant by "Equivalent of 35mm" in one of my posts. I was talking about 35mm film, not the lens itself. Some of the digital SLRs have what is called a "focal length multiplier" - which means that the camera's sensor can't see all of the lens - it "zooms" in a bit. My digital rebel zooms everything by 1.6X. That means my 28mm lens that is "full frame" on my film camera is effectively a 44mm lens on my Rebel. Canon has compensated for this by making a few good, basic lenses for digital cameras only that are very wide angle (but not fisheye). The Rebel comes standard with an 18mm-55mm zoom lens, but you have to multiply those numbers by 1.6X when comparing it to your film camera. The 18mm on my Rebel is about the same as a 28mm lens on my film camera.

I don't know if that made any sense - sorry! Suffice to say, if you could get a camera like a Digital Rebel with the 18mm-55mm zoom lens, it would be like having a film camera with a 28mm-88mm zoom.

Andrew

topping for Pat2003.

Andrew - thanks for the info.

But it is distinctly above my head. I'm a technophobe - and am willing to learn only the absolute minimum to get done what I need. (Since my profession is extremely demanding of time/energy - think 80 hour weeks plus travel - I have to simplify other places). And unfortunatly the camera you mentioned is not on my free list from AMEX.

I think I may simply go into the Mac store (my laptop needs new software and a fluff and buff) and bring my list with me. I hope that whoever helps me can give me the correct info on what has to fit where (have never seen a memory card and don;t know how to get it into the computer) and can help me select from my list of cameras.

Thanks for all the help anyway.