Cameras and Introductions

Hello. Canon Powershot A720 IS for me, and before that an A710.. It's a little old now and hard to get and I'm not enthused by the look of the replacement models, but I think once my latest one is drowned I might look for a second hand one.

Yip, that looks good. I think Optical zoom is probably better than the alternative,(digital zoom?), which basically just resizes and crops the image down, so not really zooming at all. The stabiliser is a nice option too.... I have it on one of my SLR lenses; helps with the shakes. Do you ever take a tripod of sorts with you? A small bean bag works really well instead of a tripod for big lenses in low light. Just when the light gets really good is when you need something to help out with the shakes.

Hi There. I use a Canon SLR plus small carbon fibre tripod and with assorted lenses, the whole mess weighs in excess of 4 kg. I must say I am getting a bit sick of the weight, on top of shelter, sleeping bag, clothes, food etc. I also use a small Canon S90 attached to the pack straps for photos whilst I am walking. Takes excellent photos but sensor is a bit small to do everything. The new Canon Powershot G1 X looks pretty good. Large sensor with fixed 28-112 zoom. Good for low light work therefore reduced need for a tripod. Weight ca 530 g - see http://www.dpreview.com/products/canon/compacts/canon_g1x/review Just another thought for anyone wanting to dump the SLR for longer trips. Alan

Not sure that my photos rate up there with some of the shots seen on this site but years ago i was talking to a professional photographer in Queenstown he was festooned with cameras and lenses with assistants carrying more gear.We looked out towards the Remarkable's and he ruefully shook his head pulled out a small 35mil that his daughter owned and took a shot. His view was that there was so much going on it was better than all his other cameras put together for outdoors New Zealand. So I'm Quite happy with my small Olympus mju and jpg technology i just shoot plenty of shots of anything that catches my eye and delete the horrible ones. Out of 2 or 300 shots i can fluke at least one that makes the grade :)

canon g1 x , just came out compact size, the sensor is 80% the size of an slr sensor, six to eight times larger than normal compact cameras. takes great photos, slr quality....

I hear you Paul :-) What is shutter delay like on those small cameras these days? I remember taking pictures with someone's small compact digital several years ago and there seemed to be a huge delay between the click and the pic. By the time the photo was taken everything except the mountains in the background had moved. The G1 X looks like an excellent alternative to carrying a fullon SLR, but it's dear as a second camera... A photographer friend of mine ul/s a small Leica compact film camera (yeah film, old school is cool). That little camera is awesome because it has all the functions of a full body SLR: A,T,M shooting modes, Bulb exposure etc. but built into a really small compact little body with a super fast Leica lense. @Alan - dpreview.com is a great website, you should also take a look at http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ he does really detailed in depth reviews of camera's and lenses; his reviews of all things Canon are brilliant.

Everything has improved these days and if you stick to known brands this shouldnt be an issue. My old camera was a Bell Pacific with 4meg resolution. It takes nice pictures but after useing it to take pictures at a car rally and getting lots of pictures of the same piece of empty road I decided time for an upgrade. Now have a cannon A490 delay is almost non existent. Despite haveing nearly 3x the resolution though Im not sure the pictures are that much better but I rarely print them

I've got a compact Panasonic Lumix ZS15 and am very happy with the result. 16x optical zoom, still got A,T,M though usually just leave it on auto pilot. Great Leica lens and extra wide angle as well. Just took it for 2 swims (note to self - take off hip belt when walking up /down rivers)and am happy to say that now it's dried out it's all working again.

After destorying one camera and almost stuffing another by trying to take photos in wet conditions I ended up with a Panasonic Lumix FT2, one of the tough/waterproof types. I follow the same system as bigpaul, take heaps of photos and usually there are a few good ones at the end worth keeping. Overall the photo quality is not as good as canon it replaced but I know I won't trash this one and because I can use it in any condition (including in snow where my old camera would need a little warming up before taking photos) I take a lot more photos and end up ahead at the end of a trip. I did chat with one guy I bumped in to carrying a DSLR who said that if he was buying a camera again he'd probably get one of the 4/3rds cameras simply for the convenience.