I posted earlier under "help with camera" and I am still split on "point and shoot" or DSLR but I think I may have found a solution.

While in the camera shop I took a picture across the street with the Coolpix which has a 36X lense and a picture with a Nikon 3000 with a 70-200mm (i think, I am sure about the 200) and by the viewfinder the coolpix took a better picture.

I guess I should have printed the photos to be sure but does anyone have any experience with this camera?

Jim

Jim,

There is NO point and shoot camera that can take better pictures than a DSL.

NONE whatsoever, regardless of what the adverts say.

Also, please remember that any optical zoom offered over about 18x is going to be VERY difficult to control. From both the stability view and picture quality.

Nikon makes extremely good SLR cameras, but, their point and shoot leave a lot to be desired. I have tried some of the better ones, and got disappointed with the results.

If you do not wish to carry an SLR, then my suggestion is that you go for one of the better quality, larger, point and shoot.

Try models from Canon, Sony and Panasonic.

My personal choice would the Panasonic FZ 45 or FZ 100.

Saeed, thank you very much for your suggestions. I will take a look at these cameras.

It may be true that a DSLR can take a better picture than a "point and shoot" but doesn't that assume the operator knows what he is doing?

That isn't so in my case

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Singleshot03:
Saeed, thank you very much for your suggestions. I will take a look at these cameras.

It may be true that a DSLR can take a better picture than a "point and shoot" but doesn't that assume the operator knows what he is doing?

That isn't so in my case

Jim

Not at all.

You can set your SLR on AUTO or PROGRAM and see teh results put every pocket camera to shame.

Even those which are supposed to be very good - which they are - like the 4/3 and so on.

But they are not good enough to better an SLR.

quote:

There is NO point and shoot camera that can take better pictures than a DSL.

NONE whatsoever, regardless of what the adverts say.

Also, please remember that any optical zoom offered over about 18x is going to be VERY difficult to control. From both the stability view and picture quality.

Nikon makes extremely good SLR cameras, but, their point and shoot leave a lot to be desired. I have tried some of the better ones, and got disappointed with the results.

Good (and familiar) comments, especially #1, which is what I was getting at in my other post. If you do end up with the DSLR, take Saeed's advice about the Program mode, the P on the dial. You will be able to control the flash much better that using the AUTO function, which isn;t smart enough to know when to use fill flash in the case you have a back-lit subject such as a lot of blur sky or sun etc. In P mode, the camera will do its best to take the picture without flash using natural light. You can always pop up the flash if you need. Another trick I have learned with my Canons. If more than about half the frame is very light; sky, the white side of a building etc, try to compensate the exposure -1/2 to -2/3 and you should get better looking pics. This trick works with ALL my canon cameras, both digital and film. Just the way their meters work. My old Pentax cameras do not do this. Not sure about Nikons.

You should also be able to make these adjustments with the cameras Saeed suggests as well, might have to hunt for them.

I forget when you said your hunt was, but when you get yer camera, shoot like crazy and get used to it. Feel free to ask more questions here and hopefully the collective knowledge here (of which mine is a speck) can help you out.

quote:

Originally posted by Singleshot03:
Saeed, thank you very much for your suggestions. I will take a look at these cameras.

It may be true that a DSLR can take a better picture than a "point and shoot" but doesn't that assume the operator knows what he is doing?

That isn't so in my case

Jim

There is one aspect of the average modern DSLR camera that enables you to know what you are doing. After you take each picture you will have an example of the image on the camera back's screen. You can set it up to have all of the data shown on the same screen. To make a long story short, you can see what you took immediately and have a graphic display of exposure and color balance. If you don't like what you got then it's pretty easy to fix it for the next photo.