[Robcat]

So I've decided it's already time to upgrade my camera. The Fuji A200 I have is a great camera for taking snapshots at the bar, but need something with an optical zoom, and better resolution. Ultimately, I want to do landscapes and wildlife. I am trying to decide if I want to go with a tiny point and shooter with a zoom, & 4-5MP, of if I wanna go nuts and get the Canon Eos Digi-Rebel. I really like the idea of a digital SLR,(changable lenses, filters) but I have to think about how much camera gear I want to haul, as well as how much money I'll end up dumping into accessories, memory cards, lenses, filters, etc, etc... I'll be making payments on this purchace either way. Any opionions? BTW, what's everyone here using? R

[MCaver]

Olympus E-10 4mp digital SLR. Used it for over 3 years and my only complaint is lack of interchangeable lenses. It's suited 99% of my needs, though.

[Slugman]

Olympus C-3000 Zoom. 3.3 megapixel, 3X optical zoom, 2 1/2 yrs old, under $500. Great camera, excellent software, no problems. But take that with a grain of salt in that I'm no expert and have tried only a few other cameras. I did check out another Olympus, a C-750, that had a 10X optical zoom and was somewhat smaller and lighter than mine, and now costs about the same as mine did back then. Here it is. Very nice.

[Tom]

Go for the Minolta S414 on sale for $199 this week at Ritz Camera. Good resolution (4MP), good zoom (4x), and won't break the bank. Free shipping. No sales tax. 14 day return policy. With 256 MB compact flash and rechargeable batteries you're still under $275. Reviews: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/s414_pg5.html http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/S414/S414A12.HTM

[Bushwacker]

EOS 300D Digital. At Tom's recommendation, I looked at several others before making the decision. The determining factor was that I already had various lenses that I used with my Canon 35mm. I've had it for several months and I'm real happy with the performance. IMO, it was money well spent. BW

[hikermike]

I've used the Olympus C-3030 for a number of years, (When I got it on special for$799, now you can get it for about $400.) Really like it but digital has it's limitations and in spite some mags claiming that in 5 years there will be no more film, I think film will be around for a number of years. If you really like interchangeble lenses I'd wait a year as Olympus has just released a new digital which supports a new format for lens mounting so that in the future you can mix lenses from different brands. Others are supposed to be releasing their versions soon. Also, get one with one of the physically larger ccd's, and I'm not talking pixels, I'm talking inches. (actually fractions of an inch.) The tiny ccd's they use now result in wide angle lenses with more distortion than with film sized camers. (Note the pincushionig on those wide angles), That's because when you buy a digital lens that's supposed to give you the coverage of a 24mm lens for a film camera, it's actually a 16mm. This is because of the change in the focal length. It's also why at the opposite spectrum the telephoto is cheaper, cuz a 300mm for a film camera would be about a 500mm for the digital. Another problem with my digital is durability, it's certainly not going to survive a fall out of my pack or use in a driving rain. Digitals EAT up batteries, I use 12 rechareables on a 3 day trip, and that is with NOT reviewing any pix, which really eats them up or using the flash, another problem with digitals.Getting decent flash pix is hard. You'd like to use RAW if possible and that is a memory hog. See if you can use the memory for something else (like my MP-3 player) and also that it's not some oddball betemax type thing that will disappear in 3 years leaving you with a camera system you can't use. Another problem with digitals in the mountain is lens flare can be severe because of the lens design mentioned above. I like using filters and that has proven problamatic as each lens or adaptor has a different size hence need for a different ring and for some, such as my wide angle adaptor, they don't even have one available, so no polaroid for my landscapes! Watch what comes with the camera, for instance the difference between the C-3000 and the C-3030 was only the software that comes with the camera, I allready had Photoshop so opted for the 3000, why would I want Photoshop LE? One HUGE advantage of digital is it's light weight. My digital, batteries, flash, "lenses" (They're really adaptors, another problem as they introduce another air/glass interface, hence loss of quallity) light meter, etc is 1#9 oz. My OM-1 and all it's accessories comes out to 9+ # and all that extra space, i.e., doesn't fit in my pocket.