roti_prata said:
dont even bother with prosumers, get a d50 instead for abt the same price. prosumers r nt tt better thn pns while lags behind dslr in many ways. the [mega zooms] r nt very useful as well since prosumers r nt fast enough to capture action. prosumers cant go very wide, wide zooms start at 28mm and ends at 100+, so u lose out on tele. mega zooms start at 35-38 so u lose out on wide. converters juz degrade the img. the puny sensors in prosumers giv very bad noise beyond iso400 generally.
a year or 2 ago, prosumers hav a market as they bridge the price gap between pns and dslr. now with dslrs approaching the $1000 mark, there're no real reasons to choose prosumers
I have to agree that years ago there is a market for Prosumer digicam, and that time has changed.
I picked up a KM 5D (with kit lens, 1GB CF, free tripod and bag) for my wife a few days ago for
$1160, and that's less than half the price of my 20D body! The noise produced by the 5D @ higher ISO is way less than any compact/Prosumer digicam, and the Anti-Shake really works.
Other than the fact that the compact/Prosumer digicams are less prone to (though NOT completely free from*) dust on sensor, DSLR is really a much more attractive image-making proposition. Yes, the lenses for DSLR will cost money, but current Prosumer with long lenses either don't have stabiliser or/and have high image noise (think Olympus and Panasonic FZs), or cost more than a DSLR and yet has fixed lenses of limited focal length (think Sony).
For me, the only mitigating factors are the variable-angle 'live' image preview and near-silent shutter of the Prosumer cams.
I do wonder where the market will lead to: at the lower end, compact digicam marketshare is pressured by camera phones, and the Prosumer marketshare is pressured by DSLR sales... :think:
(* My compact Fuji F10 had to be serviced because dust landed on the sensor)