Camera.

[Hannah87]

I wanna buy a new camera. My goal is to have one that zooms in and focuses on one thing and the rest is kinda blurry.. Like this for instance..



My friend works at best buy and she recommended this one:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1099394810083

She said the only bad thing about that one is that you have to look through the eye hole to take a picture and can view the pictures on the screen after the picture is shot.

I, personally found this one:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1158323379076

She said the bad thing about this camera is that you can't zoom in... and you'd have to buy all these different lenses. I don't want anything high tech or fancy. I just want to take regular pictures. Being able to focus in on one thing... like the picture above.

Anyone camera smart here? have either camera??

[Willowdared]

How much are you in to taking specialty shots?

I used to have an Olympic that had auto settings for portrait, and close focus, but it was pricey at the time.

Most of the new digital cameras are pretty flexible, but there is only so much you can push them to do - super close-up photos may not be fully acheivable.

Your best bet is to go to a "real" camera store and talk to someone there. Tell them what you want to do most with a camera, and they can make the best recommendation based on what you are willing to spend.

[Hannah87]

I'm not really into taking specialty shots. I just want to take a picture of someone, something and have that crisp nice looking picture. That's about it.

[mack]

I took my avatar pic with my camera, it's a Kodak Z812 IS 8 megapixels ( http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/d...sp?newsID=3204 ) I love it and have taken 1000's of pics with it so far. Nice zoom lens, 2.5 in view screen that does show the shot before you take it. The price is reasonable also. The one your friend recommended is an excellent camera, but there is another Canon Rebel with the 12 mega pixel that is much nicer and a little more costly. When I do upgrade, which won't be too far in the future, I want to get the 12 pixel Rebel minimum.

[MacLean]

Don't get too caught up in pixels, unless you are going to be editing the photos or printing them out large.

Focus on the lens and receptor quality.

http://www.dpreview.com/ is a good place to start.

If you are into taking macro shots, get a good digital SLR and buy a good macro lens.

Out of the two SLR's you posted, I personally will always lean towards the Canon. Accessories and lenses are more widely available.

[nestamarley]

I will take a shot at this post. Keep in mind I am no expert and only will share what I have learned. I recently bought a DSLR and have been reading and shooting like crazy. I bought the Canon 40D with the 28-135mm image stabilized zoom lens and am looking to buy a better zoom lens in the 200mm range. I have (2) 4 gb cards, (1) 2 gb card, (1) 1 gb card and a 512mb card.

What you want to achieve is called, "bokeh." This is captured with a large aperture or F-stop on a marco type lense. This effect is easily achieved using a DSLR camera with a pretty decent lense.

The lower the f-stop/larger aperture, the background will be out of focus and the subject your aiming at will only be in focus. The larger f-stop/smaller aperture, the whole picture will be in focus.

You can read a more in depth guide here: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...d.php?t=414088

I went from a Canon G6 point and shoot to my new Canon 40D. Huge jump in price and even greater jump in the learning curve. It's kind of like if you bought a Porsche for a newly licensed teenager. While it will look cool to have this awesome car with all this great stuff, if you can't drive it to its full potential, then why bother.

Whatever camera you decide on Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc... read, read and read again. Then shoot, shoot and shoot again. As I'm shooting I looking at my camera and making adjustments for my next photo changing the F-stop, ISO, shutter speed, White balance, etc... Out of several hundred photos I usually take with my family, I may only keep between 10-20. Try not to shoot using the auto settings and use the manual settings after you read up on them.

Good luck and I hope I helped.

[armsmaster270]

When I worked the Olympics in Los Angeles I was given tickets to the closing Ceremonies. I went to Sears and Bought a canon AE-1 camera, lenses and film just before getting on the bus to the Stadium. I got to my seat put the film in the camera and found out that the camera wouldn't wind film all the gears inside the top were rusted in place. Took it back after having many opportunities to shoot with a broken camera to find out it had been returned as defective and then restocked. Do you think I was Pissed? The replacement camera worked fine but that was a month later.

[narcodog]

My wife has a Canon Rebel and she takes a lot of photo's with it just what you want to do. It is very versatile with a lot of accessories for it . There are several models are available get the lowest price for about $450 I think. The place that has the best price is B&H Photo. Unless your friend can use her discount I don't think she came beat it.

I have an Olympus WP20 which is small and water proof and it also takes great pictures. I take it with me when I fish.