please help an old guy!

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alienburt

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dave
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Hi all - just joined the forums and have a problem thats driving me mad.
I am an-ex professional who has now moved down to France for my later years.

I currently have an eos 20d with numerous lenses and also a film body that I occassionaly use. I have started to realise that at my age I cannot be bothered to cart all this gear around any more and just use it for the occassional bit of work I get.

I have looked at stuff like the FZ100 and SX 30, also smaller cameras such as the Canon S95 but I am confused a bit as it is impossible to touch these cameras as there aren't many decent dealers here.

I still love my photography but want to enjoy it more with all features one body.

it would need a decent zoom (300mm) and possibly as wide as 28mm. I would also like to have a manual overide so I still can have full control. RAW would also be necessary.

I am not too concerned about video shooting.

If anyone out there could please help me with their thoughts it would be very much appreciated.
 
Hi Dave and welcome to TP

How about the Canon G12, still plenty of manual control with RAW capability, good build quality and about as close as you will get to a DSLR from a compact

Not as much at the tele end as you would like, but a 1.4x TC can be obtained for it which would boost it a bit more if required

Reckon a 300mm zoom on a compact or bridge is going to be less than great anyway, could you compromise a bit on that?

Cheers and enjoy your retirement, have had a few thoughts myself about France for the later years

Cheers
Rich
 
Thanks for your reply Rich - much appreciated.
Had a look at the specs on the G12 and looks very impressive.
Are these smaller cameras ok for keeping nice and steady - I have been so used to using larger cameras (started out in life using 5"x4" plate cameras!) that I wonder if try something with an exposure slower than a 60th it will get a bit of shake??
The lens on the G12 may not be quite long enough though. I live down the south-west of France and the beaches here have the world surf championships. To get a good shot of the 'rip curl' of the waves I reckon you need a 200mm min which is why I was drawn to the FZ100.
I am over in the UK in a couple of weeks and will get into a dealer to have a look and feel at these models.
My problem is that I want everything in my camera bag condensed down to something around pocket size!!
I want my cake - and eat it.
Thanks again
Dave
 
Hi again Dave

Might be wrong, but think the G12 has stabilisation built in, i've got an old Canon A720 and that definitely has, very effective it is too.

Must be loads of options and reckon your idea of trying them in a shop is the only way, hope you enjoy whatever you end up with

Cheers
Rich
 
Have a look at the Fuji HS10 @ 20, a dslr like body, light with x30 zoom
 
Hi Dave, What about a Nikon Coolpix P7000. It has ( I think) a 28 - 200mm stabilised zoom lens and will fit in a pocket of someone our age ;) Prices around £300.
I had one and my Dad ( also an ex Pro used to Nikon, Mamiya, Hassleblad Leica etc) was so impressed he bought one.
He also has a Panasonic Lumix FX38 which he says is so good he cant find anything to replace it. (He had an FZ100 for a while but sold it and kept the 38.) I think this was a 28mm wide end and 18X zoom, which is very useable. You'll see the anchor chain on a ship at anchor a few miles away! Prices are around £200 or so, if you can still get one. The FZ100 is also a good camera with a longer zoom, but, according to my Dad not quite as good as the older 38 although they both use Leica badged lenses..

I did think about the Canon G11/12 but the zoom range was too limiting.

Anyway, good luck with your choice

Allan
 
alienburt said:
Hi all - just joined the forums and have a problem thats driving me mad.
I am an-ex professional who has now moved down to France for my later years.

I currently have an eos 20d with numerous lenses and also a film body that I occassionaly use. I have started to realise that at my age I cannot be bothered to cart all this gear around any more and just use it for the occassional bit of work I get.

I have looked at stuff like the FZ100 and SX 30, also smaller cameras such as the Canon S95 but I am confused a bit as it is impossible to touch these cameras as there aren't many decent dealers here.

I still love my photography but want to enjoy it more with all features one body.

it would need a decent zoom (300mm) and possibly as wide as 28mm. I would also like to have a manual overide so I still can have full control. RAW would also be necessary.

I am not too concerned about video shooting.

If anyone out there could please help me with their thoughts it would be very much appreciated.
Click to expand...

I fancy a Canon G12 myself, though there are few similar high-end compacts around. Canon S95, Pano LX5, Olympus XZ-1 - check out the tests on www.dpreview.com - they've looked at all the main contenders recently.

I'll say one thing though, given what you've said. Compacts are not very good at long lens action. They're too laggy and slow, and if you're used to 5x4 then image quality might be an issue, especially at high ISO.

So I would also look at a MILC - mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. Panasonic, Olympus, Sony, Samsung, although when you put a big lens on one of those they're not much smaller than some DSLRs. There's no escaping that with a decent sized sensor.

As an aside, the thing that has made the biggest difference to my walkabout photography, is a sling-style Black Rapid R-Strap (quite a few posts on it here). Such a simple thing, but the way the camera hangs is a complete relief from a big shoulder bag. Camera on that with maybe an 18-200ish all-in-one zoom might be worth trying - you won't know it's there :thumbs:
 
many thanks John and Allan.
I think I have narrowed it down between an FZ100, SX30, Nikon P500, P7000, and a Fuji HS10.
Are all these pretty good or would you avoid any of them.
Again thanks for taking your time to advise.
regards
dave
 
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