[Steve]

I have the desire to shed weight and go digital photography when backpacking. My current camera/lens combo is about 3 lbs. The problem is that I can not seem to be able to find a digital camera that meets my requirements. The camera I use now is an old Nikon F3 with a 28-105 lens. One thing I won't give up is the wide angle capability. It seem that dig cams are not much interested in wide angle beyond 35mm, unless I am missing something. I really like the HP 850 but 37mm doesn't cut it for me. Am I doomed to carry a tank with me or is there a digital alternative? PS although I like the idea of P&S cameras I don't think they have the quality or features I'm looking for (except for the Leica C3 possibly)

[Tom]

The ability of digitals to go extra wide has to do with the sensor size. The lenses have to be extra wide to project a "35mm" field of view on the tiny sensor. For example, the G2 lens is a true 7-21 mm lens, but only the portion of the image that can be projected on the sensor is used, effectively turning it into a 34-102 mm lens. Even digital SLRs like the 10D with large sensors have to "crop" a good portion of the image. The 10D crop factor is 1.6. In other words, if you put a 28mm lens on the 10D it becomes a lens with a 45mm "field of view". The Nikon D100 has a 1.5 crop factor. So in order to go extra wide on digital, you need an extra-extra wide lens (or pay $7K+ for a camera with a "full frame" sensor). Having said that, there are a few digital cameras that go out to 28 mm (Mintolta Dimage 7 and Nikon Coolpix 5000). In the rare case I need to go extra wide, I just use the photostitch feature, so for me it's a non-issue. One big advantage of digital for landscapes is that you have huge "depth of field" (since you are effectively shooting with extra wide lenses). Of course, this works to your disadvantage when you want to blur the background.

[Steve]

Granted I could always go for the digital equivalent of my F3, but then I probably would have a weight disadvantage when switching. I will check out the coolpix and the Minolta (although I am prejudiced against Minolta for no particular reason).