Disapointed????

[julianne]

hi

i had my heart set on the Pentax k100, for a while now and have been saving my money to get it but now unforeseen circumstance have made this purchase impossible for now.

i have not even looked at the P&S at all because of this. is there one out there that will make me happy. or should i just start saving AGAIN.

my budget is 500$ range. i mainly photograph myactive kids. pets and horse shows. for the most part i have no problem with a P&S. except for indoor horse show h

help me please

[rfortson]

Assuming you're in the US, you can get the Pentax K110D (no shake reduction) for ~$460 with the kit lens, or the Pentax K100D (with shake reduction) for ~$560 with a kit lens. I'd recommend the K100D as the shake reduction is really nice for low light or long zoom shots. However, the K110D is a very nice camera especially for the price, and lots of people use cameras without shake reduction.

If you want a dSLR, buy a dSLR. You'll wind up doing it eventually anyway, and the money you spend on a point&shoot won't be available for buying the dSLR.

Russ

[slipe]

rfortson wrote:

If you want a dSLR, buy a dSLR. You'll wind up doing it eventually anyway, and the money you spend on a point&shoot won't be available for buying the dSLR.

I agree. But the kit lens gives basically only a long normal at full zoom. Nothing you could call telephoto. So if you need a longer zoom than 82mm equivalent you are going to considerably exceed your budget. Rather than miss the photos altogether it might be prudent to compromise.

You can get a Fuji S6000 for $372 including shipping with no tax from Butterfly, which is reliable. It would be perfect for kids and the horse shows where you have to capture motion. It does extremely well at high ISO for a wide angle to long zoom camera.

There are some things I don't like about it. But stabilization is useless for subject motion and it is the only camera I can think of that might fit. For general photography I find a wide angle as important as telephoto. 28 – 300mm equivalent zoom plus the high ISO should do better than anything else I can think of for your stated needs.

[JohnG]

slipe wrote:

You can get a Fuji S6000 for $372 including shipping with no tax from Butterfly, which is reliable. It would be perfect for kids and the horse shows where you have to capture motion.

Slipe, do you have some indoor action shots you can share? I see a lot of claims to this affect based upon how the camera handles people posing 5 feet in front of it, but that's a far cry from capturing action - especially low light action (which often requires 2.8 or FASTER lenses).

Please don't take this the wrong way - not saying the camera isn't capable just saying I haven't seen any photo evidence to date and based on specs, the lens would be very, very iffy for capturing low light action. Can't judge from specs how fast and accurate the autofocus is in low light either.

[slipe]

JohnG: Indoor horse shows aren't usually in "low light". The light is just too low to capture action with most non-DSLR cameras. What would you guess the max f-stop would be on the camera at around 140mm – maybe f4 or so? ISO 1600 and f4 should be OK at an indoor horse show. And the camera seems to do very well at 1600 if you shoot raw.

I don't have one. There are some things I really don't like about it like higher than average contrast with no way to lower it. But if I needed a camera for the specified purpose and wasn't going to get a DSLR it is probably what I would end up with.

Someone with a S6000 might chime in with some indoor action shots. Reviews say the focus is pretty fast throughout the range, and it has a manual focus ring.

[JohnG]

Slipe,

My old 300d rebel with 28-135 took great photos too - even at ISO 1600, but it fell apart when I tried to shoot low light action. It couldn't achieve a good enough focus. Now, I still use my 28-135 lens on my 20d and love it - and you would never know by the specs that it would perform so poorly - but it did. The proof is always in the pudding. It may be that the 6000 does an admiral job. But until someone has some actual photos, it's all just speculation.

Now, I agree whole heartedly that it may be the best non-dslr option - but it still may not be able to perform for that one need. Most purchases are a compromise and there is often something we wish we could do with a limited budget - but sometimes that isn't in the cards. I just don't like to set people up for disappointment - if no one has sample photos that are of a similar nature to what the op wants to use the camera for - it may be best to go into the purchase with the notion it may not cut the mustard in this one area - but be great in all the other areas. If it turns out to work for the horse shows - great. If not, at least there is no false expectation of success.

Also, keep in mind 140mm isn't very long at all - to have good success with high ISO pictures you need to have your subject framed tightly. 140mm may only give you about 40 feet of reach for a horse and rider to fill 2/3 of the frame and provide a sharp crop. So success will also depend on whether the OP can get that close to the action.

[julianne]

thank everybody !!!! i decided to wait and get it when i can. made the decision when i had to go take photos for a advertisement with my mother in laws brand new P&S.

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"i will definitely have to compromise on lens for a while . i think the kit lens will have to do for now. hopefully it will keep me happy for a little while. plus it will give me a chance to figure out what other lens will work for me.

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"for the kids, i am sure it will be OK for a while.

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"the horse shows we will see. i can get pretty close to the horses most of the time. as most places i work on the grounds. and yes light at indoor horse show are usually fine not perfect but fine.

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"i really want the shake reduction as i HATE tripods. i have to use one with the camera i have now a lot. i have learned to keep my hands very still. when i am to lazy to bring it.

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"i live in Canada and did find a dealer in my area who said he would match any sale on it, i found in Canada soooo...... I'm off to surf the net

sorry about the funky English i am french ( thank goodness for spell check )

[whitesun]

Check out this price!
http://www.expresscameras.com/Prodet...00&start=1
whitesun

[rfortson]

whitesun wrote:

Check out this price!
http://www.expresscameras.com/Prodet...00&start=1
whitesun

Check out their rating on www.resellerratings.com. They have the lowest rating I think I've ever seen, less than 1 out of 10! I couldn't run away fast enough from this scam shop. If it seems too good, it usually is.

About the only positive thing I can say about that place is apparently they don't post fake positive feedback on themselves. :lol:

Russ