Pondering... (1 Viewer)

[normjackson]

My subjects are all endangered species clinging to their last years of existance in (tiny) endangered habitats.

Blimey, put like that you should have been using a DSLR since yesterday :t:

 

[bkrownd]

That's the spirit!

 

[bkrownd]

Here's something I keep forgetting to ask. Right now I use a superzoom with a digital viewfinder, which can zoom the image and also compensate for the light level. That's quite handy for spying a poorly lit small distant critter. Would I actually be able to SEE the birds I'm trying to photograph well enough to check focus and monitor their movements using a DSLR with a big lens? That's a different kind of viewfinder than I'm used to.

An interesting use for my FZ-7 recently has been looking into caves. Pits and holes in the ground, really. They're all over the place here. I can see everything inside clearly through the FZ-7 viewfinder when my eyes aren't dark adjusted enough to see anything other than blackness.

I just discovered that Sigma does make a stabilized 400mm telephoto for Nikon and Canon. Oh my, that complicates the decision making. :/

 

[bkrownd]

I got to see someone's D50 today. Good lord, the body alone is FREAK'N HUGE! (yes, that's a technical term) It was like holding a lunchbox to my face. :/ Unfortunately, looking at various camera reviews I see that all DSLR's are similarly huge and clunky. Yow. I was prepared for big lenses, but I hadn't envisioned the bodies being so incredibly large! My FZ-7 is such a nice size, in comparison.

In fact, the build quality of my FZ-7 was obviously far better, as well.

 

[impotentspider]

bk

dont you remember me saying you would probably be best suited to the Olympus system.

Also Pentax have smaller models, my istD is tiny compared to the K10D, but sadly no shake reduction, the K100D is slightly smaller than its big brother but only 6mp (does have shake reduction though) and is quite affordable but nowhere near the spec of the K10D.

 

[bkrownd]

Actually, Olympus and Panasonic L1 bodies are about the same size and weight as other DSLRs, though some of the lenses do seem to be smaller. (I'm not too worried about an extra pound or two) I'd like to see 4/3 succeed, giving people a wider range of options. Time will tell... However, for my specific wants and needs I don't think they offer much. I don't think the smaller Pentaxes have the goodies the K10D does, and they really aren't smaller enough or cheaper enough to make that a selling point for me....if I ever do let go of my money.

 

[bkrownd]

I got to handle the K10D and D80 a bit over the last few days. In the end I had a lot more success with the D80's AF in the darker corners of the room. (They never have suitable things to take test photos of in the brightly lit camera store) I had the 80-400 VR and the ??-200 2.8 VR plus 2x teleconverter on the D80 and felt fine hand-holding it. Working the buttons on that oversized body while maintaining a firm grip was a challenge, though. And ugh, those price tags...!

 

[bkrownd]

Wow - now I know why DSLR are so expensive: deliberate scarcity. The only place I can find a D80 in stock is the big-box stores. Everywhere else you have to get on a wait list for them. The guy at the camera store said he didn't even know if it was realistic to get on the wait list for some of the popular lenses, they were so many months backordered. He said some lenses have been on perpetual backorder for years.

Well, at least I have been released from any moral obligation to buy from the brick-and-mortar chain store where I tried them out, since I won't be here long enough for them to find me one anyway.

 

[bkrownd]

OMFG...the resolution...I may faint...so many pixels...all resolved... eee