Digital Cameras

[Krynn72]

Hey all, ive got a question. I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ2 point and shoot camera right now, and I am wondering if I should make an upgrade. I would probably use it mostly for textures and reference images for my 3D work. For this, my cheap little point and shoot camera does ok, but the textures usually come out a bit blurry since I cant manually focus, the camera just does it. Its really crisp and pretty nice in sunny weather, but on overcast days it can get really out of focus, which is a pain since thats when its best to take texture photos.

While thats what ill probably use it for, i havent totally convinced myself that its worth an upgrade. I would also use it for personal photos and taking pictures when i go on trips and such.

I was thinking of taking the next step up to a digital SLR camera, so I can change lenses... but ive never worked one of them before, and I dont know how much benefit I can get out of them. Are there lenses that would help in taking nice textures (maybe by changing how much light/ what kind of light gets in?). And also, I sometimes find myself quite limited by the optical zoom on my camera. Its 6x, which is better than the garden variety point and shoots, but sometimes its really just not enough for me. What kind of zoom lenses are there? And... now a really dumb question i think, can zoom lenses be "zoomed" like in a digital camera? I would imagine they're just like binoculars, and they are at a set magnitude, but like I said, Ive never even used one before.

Also, if you do think I should go for a upgrade, please note that I am on a pretty tight budget. I could probably sell my camera for 100 bucks or so, and Ive got some computer hardware ive been planning to sell... but I cant be buying any of those $800+ behemoths.

 

[Maxi]

Tight budget = no DSLR.

IF you don't want to get into digital photography DO NOT buy a DSLR. It's only for people who either know that it's not called zoom, that a "6x zoom" isn't anything more than marketing terms and that you can't change "what kind of light comes in" or for the people who want to learn that. If you only want your camera to be able to take texture shots, get a more expensive P&S, stay away from DSLRs unless you want to learn photography. They are NOT "point and shoot", there's much, much more involved.

And 800$ isn't a behemoth in the DSLR world, it's a bargain. 6-7 000 is a behemoth =)

 

[Krynn72]

K, so what are your favorite point and shoots?

 

[Qonfused]

My Canon S3 IS comes Thursday. I'll tell you how I like it then.

 

[Krynn72]

My Canon S3 IS comes Thursday. I'll tell you how I like it then.

Cool. I checked out some info about it and that one sounds nice. I read that it isnt a huge step over the last version (S2), so if you say that one is nice then I will probably find an S2 somewhere since it wont cost me a boat load of money.

I think I was actually looking at the S2s when I bought my current camera, but I couldnt afford them.

 

[FieryGoose]

I just got my Sony Cybershot t-100 in black and it looks sleek and takes awesome pictures, check out these reviews, best in it's class as far as ultra compacts go. I highly recommend it. Quite a few features for a camera it's size.
Cnet Review