Greetings everyone!!

I'm a loooong time lurker of Steve's site but never really used the forums. This will change very soon. Basically, I shoot cars for a website (http://www.sportcompactmiami.com) and recent events have shown me the inadequacies of my current cam (SL300R). Some of the problems are just lack of additional settings that limit what I can do. I do like the camera for what it does though.

In light of this, I began searching new cameras and wanted the following:

-SD Card (or CF)
-5+MP
-At least 5x zoom
-Manual focus ability
-Hot shoe mount
-Approx. $500 price

This pretty much led me to the Minolta Z5 & Panasonic FZ20. I was more impressed with the FZ20 when I was over at Wolf's getting a feel for them. I also have a substantial investment in SD because my Digicam's, PDA's, MP3 players, flash drives, etc. all use it. My question for you guru's is this.

I recently discovered that they make an adapter for SD Cards that convert them to Compact Flash, so should I take that into account and expand my camera search? I have some Ultra II's that I'd rather not buy again in another format that I can only use in one device. Anyone care to recommend a CF Card camera that also meets my above requirements? Like maybe the 'Nolta A200 or Nik 5400?

TIA!!

TIA-

Certainly the well respected and much written about Canon S-2 IS is a possibility for you, as it uses CF cards. The camera has a full 12X of optical zoom, full manual controls, a low light level focusing lamp, and it supports add-on wide angle and telephoto lenses as well. It has a highly lauded video clip mode and does excellent close-up shots as well.

It also has the much sought after Image Stabilization System. All in all it is quite a digital camera. It average selling price on the internet is currently $439 (US).

Sarah Joyce

Hello! Thanks for the reply. I did test out the S2IS at Circuit City and I really liked everything about it "except" for the lack of a hot shoe mount for external flash. That is a show stopper for me as many of the car shows are held indoors in "club lighting" conditions. As a result, on-board flashes are just not powerful enough in many instances and many shots have to be abandoned.

This is why the FZ20 and Z5 were atop my list. I recently discovered the A200 and it looks very simlar feature wise to the FZ20 but I would like some input on it from anyone here that knows about it.

Thanks again!

Have you considered using a slave flash along with the Canon S2's built-in flash unit? It would extend your flash range out as far as 25 t0 28 feet. A slave unit would cost between $40 to $50.

Sarah Joyce

S2 uses SD not CF.

Have you had a look at the canon G6. Optical zoom is only 4x but it's a 7.1Mp and meets your other requirements.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/g6.html

or the dimage A200

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/a200.html
(oops, i see you already have)

cobrakon wrote: imo ... if you're taking promo pics of cars at a shows (not in motion) most of the time, a camera with a wider end than 38mm would do you much more good - something that starts in the 28mm or so. For interior shots you will have to go down even lower, 20mm or less - or you could try stitching or QTVR. CF cards are cheap enough I wouldn't make it an issue.

cobrakon wrote: With these criteria imo ...

1) lower than 35mm at the wide end would be great for indoors.

2) you might consider existing-light cameras (ie, less emphasis on flash) - either a Cannon /Nikon dSLR with high ISO capability, or even Olympus E-300with Noise reduction s/w - ESPECIALLY since you're mainly taking shots for web/online, high ISO on most all camera's fine. For P&S there's the Fuji F-10 with very usable high ISO, and perhaps the new Fuji's.

3) with flash, my suggestion would be: Olympus 7070 + FL-36/50 flash, then add the WCON-07C to get 19mm focal length at a later date. The external flash integration on Oly cameras are hard to beat, full TTL control and you can use both in-camera and external flash (bounce).