hopinet

New Camera

15th April 2009

After much debating I have at last decided and bought my new camera. I did have two cameras a film SLR and a fairly old digital compact. I decided I wanted a proper digital camera so I can upload to my computer, flickr, this site, facebook, etc. I looked through all the compacts but for what features I wanted the only option was DSLR, I think I looked at every camera out there in my price range, then I looked again until finally deciding.

After reading many reviews and getting my hands on most of my major contenders I came up with the shortlist which was the Nixon D60, Canon EOS 1000d and Panasonic Lumix G1. A couple of quick notes before I continue.

Web reviews
Firstly you will never buy anything if you read all the web reviews out there and don’t use your own knowledge. Someone will always rate a product badly even if it’s the best thing in the world, normally it’s the reviewers problem not the product. You use the reviews on the web to get a general consensus of a opinion or any major product problems. I’ve read peoples reviews who rate a DSLR badly because it’s big – obviously it’s a fairly bulky camera it’s an SLR!

Megapixels and Sensor size
Megapixels are not the be all and end all, the best example I can think is a camera in a mobile phone, having a so called 8MP sensor is not necessarily better if the sensor size is so small, cramming all those pixels on the little sensor is not good for the overall image quality. The great thing with a DSLR is the sensor size, it is miles bigger than a digital compact sensor and so image quality is increased.

Any way back to the cameras themselves……….

Panasonic lumix G1
I initial liked the G1 as it was supposed to be more compact than a standard DSLR which was something I was interested in, it had a good feature list but in the end I decided against it. In reality I didn’t feel it it was much smaller than full size DSLR I would have still needed to carry it in a shoulder case so it didn’t make much difference. I wasn’t completely sure about the digital viewfinder, although it was good it was too unnatural compare with my current camera, the battery life was worse than standard DSLR and it seems slightly pricey for what you actually get.

Nikon D60
The Nikon was in the running as my favourite for a while but it let itself down in 2 ways. It only has a 3 point auto focus and it doesn’t have live view. Live view is when you use the screen rather than the view finder to take the picture. This feature is standard on digital compacts so it may seem strange not to be there on DSLR but it’s because of the way the DSLR actually works it’s not as simple to add in. I don’t see myself using it much but I would like it there as this will be my only camera and it may occasionally come in useful.

Canon EOS 1000d – The chosen one!
The Canon came out on top in the end, a couple of my friends have previous models and I have been impressed with the quality of images taken. Canon have been in the Digital camera business for a while and have a solid reputation. The 1000d is a fairly small DSLR, it’s big compared with a compact but not huge compared with an ultra zoom compact. The 1000d also has live view as well as all the other features I was looking for, a couple of people complained it’s missing certain features compared with previous models but in my eyes the addition of live view and the use of SD cards rather than compact flash was more important than the couple of minor features lost. I also decided that the next model up the 450d wasn’t worth the extra £100 for what I would get.

So am I pleased?
Canon cameras seem to be in short supply in the UK and they have recently put their prices up, I am pleased to say I managed to find one available and at a pretty good price, just under £350. I’m really pleased with the images so far, it’s really easy to use and it has so many features I’m going to have fun playing for ages. The occasional negative review have said it feels a little cheap in the hand, I have to say it feels light but solidly built and although the kit lens isn’t perfect it does the job fairly well. The only negative is they seem to have hidden the Live view option away, I’ve got round it by just added it to my custom menu.

As well as the camera I’ve bought a lovely Crumpler case to keep it in. It is solidly made and I like it a little more than the standard lowpro cases everyone seems to buy (and for only a few more pennies). I’m really looking forward to using it more over the holidays and getting chance to explore all the features and experiment.