where there’s smoke there’s forum fire
I have seen some amazing shots taken with P&S .. In what way were your shots disappointing?
I took this with an old Nikon P5000
Some of my net friends photos from P&S
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs23/f/2007/329/2/5/112407_1_by_Lelleean.jpg
http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs23/f/2007/315/c/0/111107_2_by_Lelleean.jpg
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs15/i/2007/050/f/6/Marry_Me_by_Darksamu.jpg
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs14/f/2007/088/b/c/Up_and_Down_by_taramara.jpg
heartyfisher said:
I have seen some amazing shots taken with P&S .. In what way were your shots disappointing?
;) why I still back my recommendations I made. Essentially making the D5100 a P&S if need be...or I recommended a dSLR type P&S. I found when I first got my D5000 that the info button in the menus was helpful...I no longer use it, but at first it was nice.
Over half the pictures on my flickr page are with a P&S...I thought my Fuji S5200 did a great job. I just outgrew it and it didn't give me the control I wanted when taking pictures. I will say that if the OP was taking pictures with whatever type of camera and wasn't getting good results that just by buying a Nikon dSLR they won't automatically turn into great pictures. Bad technique with any camera will result in poor pictures. I thought I took good pictures with my P&S and now I think I take even better pictures with my dSLR, but it took some learning.
At 800 pixels wide, almost anything will look good (or equally bad), on a big monitor or large print, this is where the P&S or coolpix shots will show their limitations. Prior to shooting with a D700, I had been shooting almost 5 years with a Coolpix 8800 which was much better than the half dozen of P&S I have tried. Event at 800 pixels, it is fairly easy to tell the Coolpix and D700 daylight shots apart, but boy are the differences obvious on my 30 inch monitor or in low-light shots.
Despite being a good shot, I find hartyfisher P5000 shot very coolpix in mood.
That being said, someone that do not care about photos or is not willing to invest any effort is probably going to be more successfull with a decent coolpix-like than with the best DSLR available on the market.
I have many friends that shoot their vacation with P&S and out of thousands of shots, they may have 10 good one by pure luck and none in low-light. To me, trying to get good shots out of a P&S is a total waste of time, talent and money.
I have to disagree. It depends on the P&S and/or shooter. And no, we're not talking great as far as printing, but for decent web pictures and facebook (which is what most people want with their vacations), a good P&S can get you decent pictures. I guess it depends on your definition of "good". If you mean book or magazine quality, then sure, I agree with you. But if you dont mean that, you should be getting more than 10 out of 1000 if you are halfway decent. I wont argue the low light comment.
@heartyfisher: Nice shot you posted from the p5000! I have seriously tested P&S and owned a few high end ones. One was a Leica P&S. I must say that in as close to exact scene photos the P&Ss always pull up very short. The P&S I have tested cost about as much as some of the DSLRs I shot them against. The latest comparisons I shot were D3100 versus several $500 P&Ss. The results were once again way in favor of the D3100.
I totally WANT small, light, and packed with power. I still do not want to be at a spot that cost hundreds or thousands to get to and have photos compromised because I wanted a very small light but expensive camera. Where I am GOING to reduce my load is clothing and other gear. I primarily travel and move about even my own property with a primary goal of producing the best images I can. I do though feel FX like my D700 is not as important to me as it is to some. I believe that a small camera could record fantastic detail and quality. Therefore I still have a GREAT interest in P&S. It is better to be at the right place and time with a good enough camera. I still remain disappointed with P&Ss compared to say even a D40X. The D40X is NOT what I would buy now for any use. Unfortunately I do not see any P&S that I would trust to an important event or scene.
I'll agree with everyone who said 18-200. If I can only take one lens, that's the one I pick up. Yes it has it's limitation but everything does.
I use the 18-200VR lens the most of all Nikkor Lens. So andrewz has a good point there. However that lens is not inexpensive.
Not many people that have gotten in DSLR cameras with my help have gone that route. I use it so much as it does a lot very well.
Adding the 70-300VR which is a lower cost lens gives you so much speed, power, and relative quality that I believe covers almost everything well.
DaveyJ said:
I must say that in as close to exact scene photos the P&Ss always pull up very short.The P&S I have tested cost about as much as some of the DSLRs I shot them against.
The latest comparisons I shot were D3100 versus several $500 P&Ss. The results were once again way in favor of the D3100.
I totally WANT small, light, and packed with power.
I have slightly edited your words to match EXACTLY my own feelings. The very newest APS-C P&S cameras (and also CSC devices like the J1) are pretty damn close to entry level dSLR cameras now, but not better.
Just wait for 2012 models and we might just see them edge out the lowest of the low dSLR's...
To bjrichus: Keep us informed on your results as you may well see something it would take us weeks or months to discover. We are seeing a evolution in digital cameras that is quite amazing. In my case at 67 years old I do want as good a light camera as I can get as soon as possible. I photograph almost every day and use what is available so I am not dreaming of gear not yet available. When I think back to the weeks (sometimes) of waiting til film got developed, etc. the present DSLR are to me amazing and wonderful. JI photographers who visited our lake country this fall were shooting movies with all kinds of gear and the New Nikon 1 camera. Wow! Did they have a lot of other gear for such a tiny camera! Not the way I would do it....but interesting.
A point I do not miss is that in some places a smaller camera has some advantages and that is why I keep testing them. Although I have made very favorable comments on the Nikon D3100 I would still NOT buy that camera as I am used to having controls on my cameras that I regard as "must have" not nice to have. I do think say the D90 and the D7000 are truly amazing for what we pay for them. We truly are in an era that a beginning DSLR camera owner is getting an unbelievably good deal PROVIDING they get the right one!
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