newbie badly needs your advice!

[mattie]

dear all "old birds"

i'm interested in replacing my 35mm for a digicam (yes finally!) and needs your kind advice on what to buy.

after saving up for this for mths, i now have around 1000 bucks to work with and am specifically looking at sony cybershots. yes, i'm quite a "sony" person and am not deterred by the expensive MS. also, i'm not trying to work my way up to a pro so i dun think i'll ever get SLRs and all that.

after some preliminary recce, i'm thinking of getting the p72, p92 (coming soon), f505v(any advice on second hand here??). regrettably, f717 is out of my budget.

the p72 is kinda like my minimum benchmark, after reading some reviews on it, i'm quite impressed with its value for money, and its picture quality is supposed to be not bad. correct me if i'm wrong, but if i'm only interested in taking pictures of up to 4R, i dun really need more than 3 megapix? if so, then i will rule out the p92.

as i'm new to this, i wonder whether the so called manual controls of the f series actually warrant the extra price tag over the p series? i mean, i only have little knowledge of shutters and aperture controls and i'm not sure how the f series will make photos much better?

okie as you can see by now... besides knowing i need nothing more than 4R pictures, i'm pretty lost on the rest and am not sure whether my money will be well spent!

pls pardon my ignorance and tell me whatever you know is best for me! thank you all.

 

[mattie]

oh heard there's a f707 too? how does it compare with f717? is it within my budget? sorry for being such a "problem kid" ;p

 

[Joywalker]

Hey,you might want to check out this thread:

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=312767#post312767

 

[finkster]

My friend uses a 717, and after I have tried it for quite a number of occasions, to me, it is a very good pre-DSLR training digicam. The holding technique is very similar to an SLR. It's got lots of features too, manual functions aplenty. A very good cam overall.

You can try getting it used for around $1000-1100. Brand new is about $1300. A used 707 is probably $700-1000.

Your budget of $1000, does it include accessories? Need to factor in an external flash, MS sticks, spare batt... easily $300 plus more.

But most importantly is you need to know what you plan to shoot most. If you are looking for a P&S digicam, then the P series should do just fine.

BTW, your previous '35mm' usage means an SLR? If yes, then going from an SLR to a P-series cam might be a shock if you expect SLR features from it. A 707/717 might be a better choice.

Happy hunting!

 

[mattie]

Thank you joywalker and finkster.

joywalker, the URL you sent me is over my budget, but thanks for the thought anyway.

finkster, my budget is for the camera and its accessories ie.flash and case . for a newbie like me, i think all that lenses stuff will come later? i regard MS as variable cost ;p

i am quite fine with a P&S, but am thinking of going "semi-pro" if i may call it, with the flexibility of getting more manual controls. for instance, night shots, macro and moving shots are common problems with the P72 (according to some reviews) and i would hate to miss those shots!!!

what is the diff b/w 707 and 717? i heard the replacement for 717 is coming out soon... should i wait til then for the price of 717 to drop???

(actually if $700 for a 707 sounds pretty good... but am worried abt second hand lemons)

Anyone can offer more advice???

 

[ivan109]

If you do need a case, I've got a used case for the F7x7 series cams. I've got some books for those too. Selling it off cheap.

A new F717 will cost about $1200+.. so if you can, continue saving more, and get this. You won't regret it. It's a good cam, however, as with all consumer/prosumer digital cams, you have to work around the shutter lag problem. You have to learn to anticipate your shots.

Good Luck!
Ivan

 

[mattie]

Thank you ivan109.

I will definitely take a look at your sale but of course I'll have to decide on my camera first!

Yes I have heard good reviews about the f717, but even second hand ones are going for more than $1000, which I cannot afford (dun forget there's the tripod and flash and stuff which I'll need to get).

finkster mentioned something abt the f707 second hand going for abt $700... that might be a good starter for me but what exactly is the diff b/w the f707 and the f717?

Appreciate all you guys' effort. Many many many thanks.

 

[finkster]

Try this out. It's a direct comparison of the 707 & 717.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscf717/

Off hand, what I can recall is that the 707 has no hot shoe, just a dumb shoe for the flash. So you have to use Sony's flash with the cable (FH-1000); slower AF; non-selectable AF points; no histogram display; less white balance settings; plus quite a few others which make the 717 better than the 707.

BTW, $700 is right at the bottom of the price range of a used 707. You may or may not find one at this price. More likely could be selling about $800-900.

 

[mattie]

Thank you finkster.

Your URL was extremely helpful. But it has made me even more indecisive now becoz the f717 obviously deserves to be priced $400 more (but is out of my budget) while the f707 is more affordable (although that is depending on getting my hands on a good second hand set!).

seems like the "gains" of f717 over f707 does not matter that much to me... dun forget i'm only starting out (although quite seriously starting out )

okie i'll start scouting for f707 second hand now.

anyone wants to sell me a good f707 or f717??? meanwhile, anyone have anymore advice pls HELP!!!

 

[newuser]

For $1000, You can also consider the Fujifilm S602Z, last I heard brand new going for slightly higher than $1k. (Good contender, and using 'AA' batteries which are cheaper than Li-Ion ones)

If you are only considering a CYBERSHOT, then I feel the 717 is a camera worthy of a few hundread dollars more.

Unless you are a strictly Point & Shoot camera user, who does not want to bother himself with external flashes, manual settings and is satisfied with a 3.0x optical zoom on the other models like P72..etc.

The new SONY model, DSC-V1, which is also quite a good camera.
Quite similar to Canon's G3, or Olympus's C-5050.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Sony/sony_dscv1.asp

The Carl Zeiss lens on the 717 and 707, is a Vario-Sonnar 38mm-190mm lens with f/2.0-2.4.
Which is quite good for low light shoots.
It even has Night Shot features for taking photos in Total Darkness, via IR beams. (kind of like a night vision goggles, everything is green)

As you can see the F717 has significantly more features than the other CYBERSHOTS (except for the F707)

In the CYBERSHOT series (excluding the MAVICA), only the DSC-F707, DSC-F717 and DSC-V1 has flash mounts.

The F707 has a cold shoe, while the 717 and V1 has a hotshoe

 

[mattie]

Thank you newuser.

i've been comparing between the models and find the f series worth every cent more than the p series. will take a look at the v1 too. thanks for that tip.

i am new to serious photography but hope that with a good camera will be able to pick up fast. i'm not an idiot to photography but i guess working with shutter and apertures will take some experience. and i'm really looking forward to shooting better night shots and moving shots which previously i cant do w/o manual controls.

its hard to get a second hand f717 below $1000. and there arent any second hand f707s for sale at the moment, so its a pretty tough problem for me. when i first budgeted i really didnt expect things to go so far (of cse i was only looking at p72 then).

hope to wait for a while and see if second hand f707s come up, or maybe for some miraculous reason, prices of f717 will drop.

 

[Meanie]

Hello, no offence but I think you might be putting an unnecessary handicap on yourself by restricting yourself to only Sony. Just my 2 cents.

 

[mpenza]

perhaps you'll want to consider one of the Fujifilm S602Z put up for sale in the Buy and Sell section? It's a pretty good camera and one of the few bad points is difficulty in focussing under low-contrast conditions. Other than that, it could match most other prosumer cameras in terms of performance, optics, battery life, ease of use, flexibility in terms of expansion, etc.

 

[mattie]

thank you meanie and mpenza.

hmm.. okie.. seems like my problem only gets bigger... so far 2 votes for Fujifilm S602Z, looks like i should take a serious look at that too.

actually... if you'd read my previous post, i'm quite a sony person because of its ease of use and i really like its sleek design, its memory sticks, not forgetting sony digicams are the only ones that give you the option of long movies... other brands only give up to 90 seconds?

Thank you all nevertheless.

 

[Meanie]

602z can record video at 640 by 480 no cap(in theory) on the amount it can capture... Depends on the CF card or buffer or I don't know what liao... Lol, time to do more research on non-sony digicams...

Btw, add another vote for the 602z. It has my vote. Unfortunately I never had that kinda budget...

Also I think the G3 and the Olys around the price range all can consider.

 

[mattie]

oh does anyone know whether any of these camera brands offer international warranty? if yes, i might be able to get them cheaper elsewhere... i'm sure you guys know spore's not the cheapest place to buy them.

thanks a lot guys!

 

[Falcon]

Go for Sony 717. It is a great camera. Price has dropped quite a bit since it first launch. Wait for one more month. In the meantime, spread some rumours that 727 is coming out next mth. It will force pple to sell.

 

[mattie]

Thanks falcon!

Excellent idea!

 

[mpenza]

if there's no hurry, wait a while. many manufacturers (Sony, Fujifilm, etc) have not announced updates/replacements of their previous top-end prosumer digicams.

 

[mattie]

Thank you all!

I have benefited from all your contributions

Will continue to do my research and leave you guys in peace Meanwhile, maybe the prices of cameras will drop within my budget, fingers crossed. Hope to get my hands on a camera within a month... all this research is making me very "gian"! Of cse, more research means I'll probably be able to learn more abt photography too!

Will continue to monitor this thread nevertheless.

Thanks!!!