Peccadilloes in Nippon and in Nipponese with a Quixotic Perspective. Coming at you from Yokohama, near Tokyo.
February 20, 2007
Should I splurge?
Should I get a cheap, small camera like the Pentax A10, or a big, expensive one like the Nikon D40? Which is better for shooting movies? I hope to decide by the time I make it to the Nagasaki lantern festival.
I was faced with pretty much the same situation this summer, and ended up favoring the first choice, but now I am regretting the fact that I was dumb enough to not drop a short entry entitled "should I splurge?"... s
It depends on what you are using it for. Consumer "point and shoots" like the Pentax A10 are good for carrying around all of the time. But, you are limited if you intend to compose a shot. There are a basic set of controls in the average point and shoot camera, like variable shutter speed and exposure control.
The Nikon D40 has different lenses to use, but the question is do you intend to buy these leneses? It's not the camera body that's expensive - It's the extra lenses enthusiasts buy, although you can get the kit lens with it, and then a 70mm-300mm lens for another $150.
I really like my Nikon D40. But, I'm not using it to capture sudden moments. Instead, I'm using it to go out and actually find the moments.
So, if you are using it casually - Pentax. If you are going to put time into it - Nikon.
I am sad that my current "in between" model is no longer produced. I was using a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z1 (though I think they came out all the way to Z5 or 6) and loved it. It had a 10x optical zoom, and tons of manual options. It's dying now, so I will soon be faced with the same decision. But I think that I tend to be more like Alex in the comment above. I am active in photography most of the time, not passive. I'd kind of like to grab a camera for sudden spur-of-the-moment stuff, but I pursue most of it on purpose. But I digress - maybe there is a midrange camera you could shoot for? Something not quite Digital SLR and not quite consumer-level point and shoot?
PS - You know you want to be my Wii friend. You know it's true. Don't deny it.
The Nikon D40 is the smallest DSLR on the market at the moment, but that doesn't mean it's a compact camera. It won't fit in your pocket, that's for sure. I'm investing in a backpack for mine, so my hands are free when I'm walking around mountainsides.
You could buy a small, non-adjustable lens like a 35mm to make the Nikon more compact-like, but I think the cheapest one on the market is $300, so add that to the price of the $600 D40 and you now have a $900 setup.
Like I said before, if you really want to get seriously into photography, go for the D40. But you can still take great shots with a point and shoot. You can capture majesty! Check out this image someone took with a fujifilm finepix point and shoot: http://helen.aminus3.com/image/2007-02-17.html
Excellent shot.
Oh, and don't be fooled by salesman gimmicks - anything over 5 or 6 megapixels is pointless, and expensive. At 5 megapixels scaled at normal size, humans can't detect any sort of quality loss. Plus, consider that consumer printers can't even print the full quality of a 5 megapixel shot. More megapixels does not mean higher quality photos.
that was a pretty convincing shot. Thank you. Much as I'd like to be a cool camera sports star, I can't deny I'm just in it for memories and blogging, so it looks like little will be my friend. Though I wish I had the option to buy other lenses.
I got your sister the HP photosmart M425 for Christmas and it is a 5.0 megapizel. It could fit in her pocket if she didn't wear such tight pants...I digress. Anyway. It takes excellent pics. Mine is a little less than hers and I was able to take close up shots of berries in the wilderness before I ate them, In case I died I wanted people to know what killed me. I was able to get it for $85 because your cousin works for HP. Shipping to Japan would make it pricy. Christine always has her camera with her and is forever playing with her pics on the computer, and if she dropped it and broke it she would have to give me her right arm for a new one! The video's I sent you last year were taken with my little camera, I thought they were pretty good. Hope this helps.
Just do it! Splurging, that is...
ReplyDeleteI was faced with pretty much the same situation this summer, and ended up favoring the first choice, but now I am regretting the fact that I was dumb enough to not drop a short entry entitled "should I splurge?"... s
It depends on what you are using it for. Consumer "point and shoots" like the Pentax A10 are good for carrying around all of the time. But, you are limited if you intend to compose a shot. There are a basic set of controls in the average point and shoot camera, like variable shutter speed and exposure control.
ReplyDeleteThe Nikon D40 has different lenses to use, but the question is do you intend to buy these leneses? It's not the camera body that's expensive - It's the extra lenses enthusiasts buy, although you can get the kit lens with it, and then a 70mm-300mm lens for another $150.
I really like my Nikon D40. But, I'm not using it to capture sudden moments. Instead, I'm using it to go out and actually find the moments.
So, if you are using it casually - Pentax.
If you are going to put time into it - Nikon.
I hope this helps you with your decision.
usually, I just want moments, but I often want to capture the magesty and epicness of landscapes I find myself in too...
ReplyDeleteI am sad that my current "in between" model is no longer produced. I was using a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z1 (though I think they came out all the way to Z5 or 6) and loved it. It had a 10x optical zoom, and tons of manual options. It's dying now, so I will soon be faced with the same decision. But I think that I tend to be more like Alex in the comment above. I am active in photography most of the time, not passive. I'd kind of like to grab a camera for sudden spur-of-the-moment stuff, but I pursue most of it on purpose. But I digress - maybe there is a midrange camera you could shoot for? Something not quite Digital SLR and not quite consumer-level point and shoot?
ReplyDeletePS - You know you want to be my Wii friend. You know it's true. Don't deny it.
The Nikon D40 is the smallest DSLR on the market at the moment, but that doesn't mean it's a compact camera. It won't fit in your pocket, that's for sure. I'm investing in a backpack for mine, so my hands are free when I'm walking around mountainsides.
ReplyDeleteYou could buy a small, non-adjustable lens like a 35mm to make the Nikon more compact-like, but I think the cheapest one on the market is $300, so add that to the price of the $600 D40 and you now have a $900 setup.
Like I said before, if you really want to get seriously into photography, go for the D40. But you can still take great shots with a point and shoot. You can capture majesty! Check out this image someone took with a fujifilm finepix point and shoot: http://helen.aminus3.com/image/2007-02-17.html
Excellent shot.
Oh, and don't be fooled by salesman gimmicks - anything over 5 or 6 megapixels is pointless, and expensive. At 5 megapixels scaled at normal size, humans can't detect any sort of quality loss. Plus, consider that consumer printers can't even print the full quality of a 5 megapixel shot. More megapixels does not mean higher quality photos.
that was a pretty convincing shot. Thank you. Much as I'd like to be a cool camera sports star, I can't deny I'm just in it for memories and blogging, so it looks like little will be my friend. Though I wish I had the option to buy other lenses.
ReplyDeleteI got your sister the HP photosmart M425 for Christmas and it is a 5.0 megapizel. It could fit in her pocket if she didn't wear such tight pants...I digress. Anyway. It takes excellent pics. Mine is a little less than hers and I was able to take close up shots of berries in the wilderness before I ate them, In case I died I wanted people to know what killed me. I was able to get it for $85 because your cousin works for HP. Shipping to Japan would make it pricy. Christine always has her camera with her and is forever playing with her pics on the computer, and if she dropped it and broke it she would have to give me her right arm for a new one! The video's I sent you last year were taken with my little camera, I thought they were pretty good. Hope this helps.
ReplyDelete