Family/hobby camera on a budget

[digiburnout]

I'm hoping to get some help from experienced photographers. I'm looking for a camera for family pics but would also like to get back into photography as a hobby (mostly street photograph and a good share being black and white). Image quality, image stablization and the camera being relatively fast are all important. I'd also like to be able to get some macro close ups but that's not quite as important as my other requests. Due to the budget I'd like to stick to, I've had a difficult time narrowing down which camera would best suit my needs.


Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks



Budget

* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.

-$400. Will be shopping around for deals once I'd decided on one or two, so the average street price could be a little more than that.


Size

* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?
- not big on compact, but if one has what I need...

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?
-would like 7 or more, but image quality is most imortant

* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify)
-would like ultra or be able to add lens

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)
-10

Do you care for manual controls?
-yes, some

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?
-family photos and street photograph

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?
-yes

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
-yes

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?
-yes

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate?
- no


Are there particular models you already have in mind?
I like that some cameras allow me to add additional lens and have a hotshoe which I would like, but not a necessary


(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)
-Image stabization
-would like hotshoe
-----------------------------------------

[SpecialK]

Check the Canon A710 in the buyer's guide. Digicams are not good for sports/action or low light. Not many digicams with hotshoes. No ultrazooms for under $400 I that I know of.

If you get a Nikon D40 or Pentax K100D, it will probably do most of those things better (flash or lowlight), though you'll need an additional lens for sports action. You'd be up to about $800 or so.

[John_Reed]

You're looking for such a wide range of features, it seems like no one camera will cover all your needs.
I'm hoping to get some help from experienced photographers. I'm looking for a camera for family pics but would also like to get back into photography as a hobby (mostly street photograph and a good share being black and white). Image quality, image stablization and the camera being relatively fast are all important. I'd also like to be able to get some macro close ups but that's not quite as important as my other requests. Due to the budget I'd like to stick to, I've had a difficult time narrowing down which camera would best suit my needs.


Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks



Budget

* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.

-$400. Will be shopping around for deals once I'd decided on one or two, so the average street price could be a little more than that.


Size

* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?
- not big on compact, but if one has what I need...

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?
-would like 7 or more, but image quality is most imortant

* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify)
-would like ultra or be able to add lens
Fuji s6000fd or s9100; Panasonic FZ7 or FZ50; Canon S3 IS; Sony H5. All are "ultra zooms;" Fuji has 28mm wideangle end, 300mm tele end. Others generally range from 35-420mm. Here you need to decide what you'll be using the "ultrazoom" for, and how much range you need.

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)
-10

Do you care for manual controls?
-yes, some
All of the above cameras have some manual controls; check reviews for details.

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?
-family photos and street photograph
All of the above work for those, the Fuji probably better indoors.

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?
-yes

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
-yes
If you're shooting from a tripod, the Fuji will win; without, you'll likely need image stabilization, and the Fuji uniquely doesn't provide that

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?
-yes
There the longer ultrazoom ranges will win out over the Fuji's shorter reach.
Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate?
- no


Are there particular models you already have in mind?
I like that some cameras allow me to add additional lens and have a hotshoe which I would like, but not a necessary
Not gonna find a compact with a hotshoe. For adding on lenses, I think the Panasonic FZ50 makes it easiest, needing no adapters to screw lenses and/or filters into its 55mm filter threads mounted on the non-extending lens

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)
-Image stabization
-would like hotshoe
Of those I mentioned, the Panasonic FZ50 has a hotshoe, the Fuji S9100 has one. None of them are weatherproof.
-----------------------------------------
See what I mean? No one camera will suit all your needs. If you want to blow away the ultra-zoom and hotshoe requirements, you might want to start with a Fuji F30; leave them in, and I'm partial to the Panasonic FZ50.

[pdxmatts]

What about the Canon A710IS. It has great pic quality, 6x optical zoom 7mp and image stabiliztion and manual controls as well as auto. It is not to big either and runs on 2 AA, that you can buy rechargables for. Right now you can get it on sale at Staples for $352.00 and they will match any coupons. I saw that Office Depot had 50.00 off coupon online. $300.00 is a great price. I bought one for my Hubby for Xmas and after looking at the sample pics at 100%, I wish that I would have got it for me instead.;)