Dilemma!

[emptythreat]

First of all, hi *waves* i'm new here I found out about this site because i was really curious about photography ever since i used my first DSLR/Prosumer a few weeks ago ( i didnt notice the brand, it was borrowed from my friend's school ) and i'm interested of going further than what a PnS can take me! :sticktong Don't think im THAT ready for a DSLR yet with all the high expense maintainence etc so i shall start with a prosumer first..

I go to music gigs quite often, so the cam has to be able to take decent shots in low light settings. I have shaky hands too, is image stabilization a must to prevent blurry shots? cause i get that from my samsung camera a lot! After some research, i feel that these 3 cams are in my fav picks : Canon S5 IS, Fujifilm 6500FD and Sony H3. However, i am still open to other recommendations by all you pros here :sweatsm:

 

[MarkTan89]

Do also consider the Panasonic DMC FZ-18. 18x optical zoom, 1 cm macro mode, wide-angle lens etc. The features on the FZ18 are very impressive. The Canon Powershot S5IS is also a good choice !

 

[night86mare]

I go to music gigs quite often, so the cam has to be able to take decent shots in low light settings. I have shaky hands too, is image stabilization a must to prevent blurry shots? cause i get that from my samsung camera a lot! After some research, i feel that these 3 cams are in my fav picks : Canon S5 IS, Fujifilm 6500FD and Sony H3. However, i am still open to other recommendations by all you pros here :sweatsm:

that would probably not be because of handshake purely

probably more of a combination of long shutter speed, and high iso, giving double damage

out of your picks there is no question if music gigs are your priority, 6500fd would give the best performance under low light , i think iso 800 usable even though the camera has no anti-shake.

alternatively, consider getting a entry-level dslr with a superzoom, or simply telephoto kit lens with normal kit lens. the image quality and functionality would be much higher than that of a prosumer in terms of concert photography - which requires a lot more in the field of stabilisation and iso rating than most other forms of photography.

 

[emptythreat]

Do also consider the Panasonic DMC FZ-18. 18x optical zoom, 1 cm macro mode, wide-angle lens etc. The features on the FZ18 are very impressive. The Canon Powershot S5IS is also a good choice !

heard that FZ-18 doesnt do very well in low light conditions. I love the colours that the canon S5 can take! really sharp and vibrant. dont' know how well it does in rock concert lightings though..

 

[emptythreat]

that would probably not be because of handshake purely

probably more of a combination of long shutter speed, and high iso, giving double damage

out of your picks there is no question if music gigs are your priority, 6500fd would give the best performance under low light , i think iso 800 usable even though the camera has no anti-shake.

alternatively, consider getting a entry-level dslr with a superzoom, or simply telephoto kit lens with normal kit lens. the image quality and functionality would be much higher than that of a prosumer in terms of concert photography - which requires a lot more in the field of stabilisation and iso rating than most other forms of photography.

i emailed Alan photo, the reply was that 6500FD is no longer in stock. A forumer told me that it was discontinued, so sad.

I dont think i can afford DSLR, i am a student with no job, haha. also, i am scared to invest in something that expensive and be 'bored' of it later. So i will start with a prosumer cam first to sort of 'test the waters'. haha.

 

[night86mare]

heard that FZ-18 doesnt do very well in low light conditions. I love the colours that the canon S5 can take! really sharp and vibrant. dont' know how well it does in rock concert lightings though..

all prosumers have the failling of having poor low light performance. fujifilm cameras probably have less of a problem but they cannot really compare to dslrs though, different category

there are a few factors

1) maximum aperture size, at longest zoom most prosumers maximum aperture would be about f/5.6. compare this to f/2.8

2) small sensor size leading to higher iso being generally unusable. my old sony h2 iso 80 images look noisier than my pentax k100d's iso 400, i'm serious

there is the disclaimer that of course, you will be looking at quality at less than web size. (about 600-800 pixels longest edge, in which case noise will play a much lesser factor)

i am an advocate for one to try out prosumers before going on to dslr, but i think one should also be informed to expect less from a prosumer.. that is after all a fact. this does not mean that one cannot achieve good pictures without a dslr though, as has been proven time and time again.

 

[night86mare]

i emailed Alan photo, the reply was that 6500FD is no longer in stock. A forumer told me that it was discontinued, so sad.

I dont think i can afford DSLR, i am a student with no job, haha. also, i am scared to invest in something that expensive and be 'bored' of it later. So i will start with a prosumer cam first to sort of 'test the waters'. haha.

look for a second hand option, it's not impossible because clubsnappers like to buy&dump. cheaper price too, just make sure you have valid warranty left and receipt just in case anything goes wrong and the deal goes sour on your end.

well, if there's a will, there's always a way.. i think prosumer is definitely one of the best ways to test the waters, no doubt. if you see other threads when people ask prosumer versus dslr i would usually tell them to go prosumer if they are unsure. but i also believe that both sides of the story must be presented.

actually how relevant a prosumer will be compared to a dslr would also depend on the ambient lighting of your gigs. not all gigs are extremely darkly lit, though er, most i have been to are quite bad.

 

[emptythreat]

look for a second hand option, it's not impossible because clubsnappers like to buy&dump. cheaper price too, just make sure you have valid warranty left and receipt just in case anything goes wrong and the deal goes sour on your end.

well, if there's a will, there's always a way.. i think prosumer is definitely one of the best ways to test the waters, no doubt. if you see other threads when people ask prosumer versus dslr i would usually tell them to go prosumer if they are unsure. but i also believe that both sides of the story must be presented.

actually how relevant a prosumer will be compared to a dslr would also depend on the ambient lighting of your gigs. not all gigs are extremely darkly lit, though er, most i have been to are quite bad.

yes i know, haha, thus my search for a decent low light prosumer cam! I'm not too sure of getting 2nd hand stuff myself to be honest, kinda scared of the consequences of having the deal going sour I would love to have canon G9 though, saw one of my friend's gig pictures on flickr and she took quite amazing night shots! But it's a tad on the expensive side :cry:

 

[night86mare]

yes i know, haha, thus my search for a decent low light prosumer cam! I'm not too sure of getting 2nd hand stuff myself to be honest, kinda scared of the consequences of having the deal going sour I would love to have canon G9 though, saw one of my friend's gig pictures on flickr and she took quite amazing night shots! But it's a tad on the expensive side :cry:

? if you find it too sensitive to post the link here, you can pm me the site and i can look at what sort of gig pictures you are thinking of taking. just for look, anyways.

essentially g9 's sensor is equivalent to most other pns/consumer/prosumer sensor size, so iso capabilities should be no different. so in some sense perhaps your idea of a gig picture is slightly different from mine already.

 

[emptythreat]

? if you find it too sensitive to post the link here, you can pm me the site and i can look at what sort of gig pictures you are thinking of taking. just for look, anyways.

essentially g9 's sensor is equivalent to most other pns/consumer/prosumer sensor size, so iso capabilities should be no different. so in some sense perhaps your idea of a gig picture is slightly different from mine already.

pm-ed you If their ISO capability is around the same, then i would go with the S5 cause G9 is out of my budget. Will the lack of RAW file make a lot of diff in picture quality? Tbh, i had no idea what ISO was until a few weeks ago, as well as aperture and focus etc etc. :bsmilie:

 

[night86mare]

pm-ed you If their ISO capability is around the same, then i would go with the S5 cause G9 is out of my budget. Will the lack of RAW file make a lot of diff in picture quality? Tbh, i had no idea what ISO was until a few weeks ago, as well as aperture and focus etc etc. :bsmilie:

we all start somewhere, i remember not too long ago i was still puzzled as to why aperture sizes seemed to go against the size of the hole, took a while for me to get used to the idea

have pmed you back, based on your requirements i think s5 might be sufficient

lack of raw file is not really a problem, if you ask me.. it all depends on what you wish to do with your photographs. like i mentioned in my reply pm , there are people who want to make large prints, there are people who want to make small prints, there are people who only want to post their stuff up on the internet. different people have different requirements.. so long as they are CLEAR what they want out of the camera, others can help them by sharing knowledge etc.

in the past i would recommend sony h series, but then based on the later releases to me they don't seem to be working the prosumer angle right already.. too caught up in the megapixel race and perhaps losing sight of practicality.

 

[emptythreat]

now i'm stuck between 2 choices actually. Canon S5 or SX100. tried these two today, really liked the grip of the SX100. Haven't seen pictures posted by SX100 users here though

 

[zaren]

First of all, hi *waves* i'm new here I found out about this site because i was really curious about photography ever since i used my first DSLR/Prosumer a few weeks ago ( i didnt notice the brand, it was borrowed from my friend's school ) and i'm interested of going further than what a PnS can take me! :sticktong Don't think im THAT ready for a DSLR yet with all the high expense maintainence etc so i shall start with a prosumer first..

I go to music gigs quite often, so the cam has to be able to take decent shots in low light settings. I have shaky hands too, is image stabilization a must to prevent blurry shots? cause i get that from my samsung camera a lot! After some research, i feel that these 3 cams are in my fav picks : Canon S5 IS, Fujifilm 6500FD and Sony H3. However, i am still open to other recommendations by all you pros here :sweatsm:

hi emptythreat,

if you are serious about photographing music gigs, i would recommend getting a 2nd hand dslr like the canon 350d ($500) together with a second hand 50mm/f1.8 prime lens ($100). this setup will give you; a) faster AF, minimal shutter lag, b) better high iso performance. c) much faster lens, i.e. higher shutter speed to freeze action as well as negate the effects of camera shake under low light conditions.