I have questions about DSLR's and also for Sony Camera Owners About This Page:

[iamgrumpy]

Hi Everyone,

My mom asked what I wanted for Christmas and I gave the same answer I gave for my birthday which is a new camera. She would have gotten it for that but at the time I had no Idea which model or type I wanted.

Well she and I went to the local camera shop and went through ALL of the ones they had there. I know for sure i want a DSLR. I love my Point and shoot but I really really really love some of the features a dSLR would give me especially vs. my current Point and Shoot with how many shots I can take in a row.

So I narrowed it down to two choices and I kinda am leaning towards one more then the other but I wanted some opinions.

First option is the Canon Rebel Xti it has great speed from what I could see while testing it out but its considerably more money but seemed like a great camera. Its 10 mega pixels.

The second option is the Sony A100. (the 700 is way out of the price range and frankly its only 2 pixels higher and I was happy with the 100's shots) had fantastic speed and would be compatible with the lenses I have with my film SLR and my parents SLR camera because Sony bought out Konica Minolta .

I am leaning towards the Sony but I have no idea what their reputation is like? How well their products hold up? and what is the picture quality usually from Sony?

My other question is in regards to dSLR's in general how are battery lives on them?

Thanks only like 2.5 months to decide

[eawsmom]

We have an "old" Sony dSLR that we purchased in 2002, I believe. (Maybe it's not a true SLR because I can't change lenses, but it's got far more features than just a point-and-shoot so I consider it an SLR.) It's a 5 megapixel with 10x zoom. We absolutely LOVE it!!! I would post some shots here but since they have to be compressed so far to be posted, the quality suffers. If you want, I can PM you with a link to our family photo website and you can take a look at the pictures there. These are uncompressed so they show the quality of the pictures.

We have used this camera tons...even though it cost megabucks at the time, it was worth every penny. I just turned over 10,000 pictures on it in August! We've used it for family occasions, including weddings where my pictures turned out at least as well as the professional photographer's, and for Michael's company events--Christmas parties, summer picnics, retirement parties--and the company keeps asking me to take pictures each year so I guess they are satisfied with the quality.

I have only two complaints about the camera: 1) the lens is quite long and bulky, because it's the "old" technology, and this makes the camera heavy; and 2) the biggest memory stick it will take is 128mb--about 50 pictures. I didn't really want to lug it around Disney so I had been looking at compact digital cameras. Since I was used to the 10x zoom, though, I couldn't convince myself that I'd be happy with most of the compacts, which are generally just 3x optical zoom with 2x digital if you're lucky.

I did some hunting around and found the Sony DSC-H9 and was able to convince Michael to buy it for the trip. I love it too! It's an 8 megapixel camera with 15x zoom, which if you play with the combinations right you can make into a 30x zoom. Haven't figure that out just yet...Anyway, it's relatively lightweight and takes great photos, plus it has a bunch of features that a point-and-shoot doesn't have. The picture in my signature was taken with the new camera; again, because it had to be compressed, this isn't an accurate rendition of its quality.

The good thing is that it will take bigger memory sticks, so I ordered a 2 GB stick. And the even better thing is that it comes with an adapter so it will fit the older camera too, so I ordered a second one and now I have a 2 GB stick for both cameras!

As far as battery life, I was very happy with the battery life on the old camera; it would last for 250+ minutes without the flash, somewhat less when the flash was required. I'm not so impressed with the new batteries--they changed the size of them and they only last for 150 minutes according to the package. I've bought two of them and have both the regular charger and the travel charger. I'm hoping this will be enough to keep me going each day if they both start out fully charged.

I hope this helps! I certainly love our two Sony cameras and highly recommend them to anyone. The only "drawback" is that you do have to buy Sony's proprietary memory sticks and batteries, rather than using anything off the shelf, but I don't think that's all that big a deal. Of course, that could be because I only have Sony products!

[bau8]

My daughter received the Nikon D70 as a birthday/graduation gift and we took it to Disney in August. We took over 1000 pictures with it and only had to change the battery once. You want to buy a spare battery for your camera so that one is fully charged while the other one is in the camera. All DSLR's have about the same battery life. I took some awesome fireworks pictures with the camera. A point & shoot doesn't even come close.

A co-worker of mine only uses Canon and she swears by her camera. I was thinking about getting the Sony myself because I have Minolta lenses from a Maxxum I had. I have been warned though that not all Minolta lenses work on the camera. Some of them you would need to manually focus. I was told to actually take the lenses to the store and try them out on the camera before purchasing to determine if the lenses you have will actually work on the camera the way you think it will or expect it to. Being able to use the Minolta lenses significantly lowers the initial outlay.

Once you determine which camera you actually want, you might want to consider purchasing it online. Just make sure you check the BBB.org website first before ordering. Not all places are reputable.

[chezp]

My Sony is the one that's been taking the photos that you've probably seen in my trip reports for the last two years now. It's up to nearly 40,000 photos and it celebrates its second birthday at the end of this month, so I would say it holds up pretty well. Before that, I had another Sony camera and loved it and Mark also got a Sony for his birthday and he's very happy with his. I can thoroughly recommend Sony as a brand.

[eleventhletter]

We just got back from Disney and used the Sony T100 and it was a great camera. I had purchased a Kodak advanced point and shoot (I don't remember which one) but my fiance got me the Sony for Mother's day for our trip so I ended up selling the Koday to his mom and using the Sony. It did a great job especially during the day - I did have trouble with action shots and night shots but I think that was more what I was trying to take and what the camera is acutally cabable of doing. Camera flash, over zoom in the evenings, and shake - all common problems with point and shoot and evening photos.

So I had some extra money from finally selling my house and decided to upgrade to the Sony H7 so that we'd be able to work with the settings more and so far pictures we've taken around the house and outside in the evening and dusk just on the auto setting have been great. I've been reading the manual and a book I picked up at the library trying to understand all the different setting and what the camera is capable of doing so I'll be ready for the next trip.

I did think about upgrading all the way to DSLR but I really didn't feel ready for it and still wanted some of the point and shoot aspects.

I've posted the pictures we took on our last trip if you'd like to take a look

http://eleventhletter.shutterfly.com/action/

[DyanKJ130]

I'm having a affair with Sony products!! I have yet to be disappointed with one yet! We have 3 Sony digital cameras (not dSLR). Purchased the first one in August 2002, which still works great, but I felt the need for a new one to get all the new features DS' camera gets. He got his in May and it. I got a new one last month. We are very happy with them.

We also have a Sony video camera and 2 Sony Vaio laptops. them all!

[debsta922]

Amy, I have the Digital Rebel (although mine's only 8 megapixels) and I wouldn't trade it for anything! I love that fact that you can use the automatic features (much like those found on any point and shoots) but if you are really into photography, you can use the manual features. There is also no delay when snapping your pictures which is one of my favorite features. I now have 4 different lenses and a tripod, and use them all pretty equally, it just depends on where I'm taking the pictures.

I do agree that a SLR no matter which brand is pretty bulky, but to me, it's no different than carrying a purse on your shoulder... you just get use to it. Although I am thinking of getting a 10 megapixel point and shoot for Christmas, so I can bring it to Disney on our next trip.

[Tonichelle]

I have the Rebel XT... which I believe is the 8 megapixel version of the XTi...

and I love it...

I go with Canon just because I know I can trust them to make a quality product. It's what I was practically raised on. They are the BEST. period.

I've been the death of too many Sony products, and I hae no idea how I do it lol

I guess the question is - are you planning to shoot automatic, semi-auto, or full out manuel(which is what I do)... because really if you're looking for the camera to do it all for you, you don't need a DSLR, imho.

[Colexis Mom]

We have the Rebel XT (8 MP). DH had Canon cameras before, so wanted another Canon so he could use his lenses back and forth. It is bulky (well, bulkier than my Nikon) but it does take good pictures and we haven't had any issues with it

[Tonichelle]

See I find canon to be less bulky than Nikon. They fit my hand way better than the boxy nikon body...

thinking of that - that's probably the biggest thing you can look at. Actually go and hold different camera bodies. Whatever is most comfortable in your hand is the right one for you.

[whoSEZ]

Amy, this is too funny. My brother and SIL have the Rebel XT (8 MP). My sister and BIL have the Sony A100. Both rave about their cameras, and both have produced some amazing pictures! I was debating about which of the two I wanted to get before our cruise when my sister offered to loan me theirs so I can test it out before buying!

From what they both tell me, I think you'll be really happy with either one.

[BJ Wanlund]

I have my own question about DSLR's.

I've been a shutterbug for the last few months with my Kodak EasyShare C743 digicam, and I'm looking at another camera (the C743 will be used with a QuikPod when I get that).

I'm stuck between the Canon Digital Rebel XT and one of the Pentax cameras with shake reduction.

I'm a really shaky type of person, and I'd like to not have all my pics ruined because I moved the camera too much.

BJ

[abh218]

I have had my Nikon D50 since last Christmas! I've shot about 2000+pix so far (no vacations since then either!!!). I love it...I did not want another digital camera unless it was an SLR. I had a Nikon 35mm camera that I refused to part with! The D50 has been the best - the weight is slightly less than the 35mm but the 'feel' of it, the balance in holding it, etc. is comparable. The quality of the photos is unbeatable. When I was at WDW in '05, the PhotoPass photographers were using the Nikon D2000s...if you read reviews (try dpreview), lots of folks even compare the D2000s to the D50s in production quality!

I'm not big on the point and shoot digitals - if I get shaky it seems to show more holding a "little" camera - even with stabilizers. With that said, we bought my sister a Sony Cybershot last Christmas...I tested that one plus a Panasonic (which for me was way to small). My sister is more of a point and shoot "photographer" - and the Sony has been really simple for her to deal with - plus it takes decent pix!

[Tonichelle]

Originally Posted by BJ Wanlund

I'm stuck between the Canon Digital Rebel XT and one of the Pentax cameras with shake reduction.

I've not used a Pentax, but I asked around and a friend of mine who is a photographer for a couple of magazines tried one out during an event she was covering, and she didn't like it as it was too slow...

Go with Canon

[Angileyze1]

I have the Sony dsc H-5 And I'm in love with it. I couldn't be happier. The bulkiness doesn't matter to me because of the great quality of the pictures. I really look forward to getting another Sony when its time.