Todd, what digital camera do you have? Why'd ya get it?Date: October 2003Canon G2, $400. Love it, love it, love it. Big f/2.0 lens lets lots of light in for some of the best images in the industry. Superb power management--shoot all day and don't worry about having to recharge the battery. Compact Flash cards are dirt cheap, so you don't have to worry about cards. It's 3 generations old...and the $750 G5 that's just released is only more pixels--no more functionality. I have an EOS Elan 35mm camera that I love and the features are laid out very very similary. I can override whatever I want. I've used one for about 2 years now, and really enjoy it. It even shoots little movies with sound, and I even have clips of a live band playing with it...and the sound is even good. Nutty. More sample shots, that I shot for my friend's band recently. There was VERY little light at this joint, but with my knowelege of flash syncing and shutter priority modes allowing long shutter speeds to achieve a rich saturated coloration and some arty blur (and in some shots, some use of the flash to stop part of the action while allowing for arty blur....) sample pics from opal candy Here's the canonical Aug 2001 review from DPreview.com where they fawn all over the G2 and then go on to review G3, G4, G5 models saying "love em too." Why do I recommend a 2 year old camera? It's old, glorious, and a huge bang for the buck right now. Yeah the newer G3/4/5's are nicer, but the G3 adds $90 (18%) to the G2's $399 price tag, and really doesn't add much in the way of image quality for the casual user--just minor electronics tweaks. The G4 is incrementally more worthless. The newest (released in 2003) G5 is a big price jump and gets you to really a pointless 5.4MegaPixels that you don't need (unless you plan on printing billboards from things you shoot with your camera). There are accessories available for these cameras including screw on wide angle lenses, screw on telephoto lenses, close up lenses, and the like.
How to buyI got my G2 for $376 from buydig.com in Summer of 2003. They're on the up and up, and they have bumped that price up a little to $399 as of November 2003.
My testimonial on what to expect on buydig.com turnaround time:From: photo@toddh.net (Todd H.) Newsgroups: rec.photo.digital Subject: Success: Canon G2 purchase from buydig.com Date: 19 Aug 2003 13:36:42 -0500 Just "Another satisfied customer..." posting. I researched the best price/cust service for a Canon G2 I wanted to purchase (the 2nd I've bought). I was thrilled with the "what you see is what you get" of my buydig.com experience. The price was so aggressive on dpreview's price comparison that I was braced for some catch. No catch! I avoided the high markup accessories and kits, and got what I ordered. I got the G2 camera-only which included all the canon goodies that are supposed to come with the G2 (camera, 32Mb flash card, the charger, the remote, strap, USB and video out cables) along with that all important USA warranty card with a serial number that matches the camera for $376 plus 19.95 fedex ground shipping. No one called to upsell me on anything or scare me into buying accessories. The camera was ordered on the 12th or 13th, got ship notification on the 14th, and it arrived yesterday Aug 18th and works great. Best Regards, -- Todd H. http://www.toddh.net/---------------------------------------------------------------------- |