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SLR-Like Cameras

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David Kirlew

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Well after getting myself a job I now have about $600. I want to get a slr-like camera mainly for photographing animals, people, and nature. At this point and time I'm thinking of saving a few more hundred dollars and getting either the

Nikon Coolpix 5700
Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom
Olympus C-2100 Zoom (in ?)
Minolta Dimage 7i

Which of these cameras would best suit what I'm going to if i'm mainly photographing animals
 
David Kirlew said:
Well after getting myself a job I now have about $600. I want to
get a slr-like camera mainly for photographing animals, people, and
nature. At this point and time I'm thinking of saving a few more
hundred dollars and getting either the

Nikon Coolpix 5700
Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom
Olympus C-2100 Zoom (in ?)
Minolta Dimage 7i

Which of these cameras would best suit what I'm going to if i'm
mainly photographing animals
Click to expand...
Hi David

I use a Dimage 7i and have found it a great camera. Though I don't use it exclusively for animal photos I find it handles it pretty well.

I have some shots on my 7i site from Newquay zoo (not exactly wild but...) see what you think. Also some deer in 'Wollaton Hall' and a frog in 'macro 2'.
--
Russell
D5 http://homepage.ntlworld.com/russell.whyman1
D7i http://www.russellwhyman.co.uk
 
David Kirlew said:
Well after getting myself a job I now have about $600. I want to
get a slr-like camera mainly for photographing animals, people, and
nature. At this point and time I'm thinking of saving a few more
hundred dollars and getting either the

Nikon Coolpix 5700
Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom
Olympus C-2100 Zoom (in ?)
Minolta Dimage 7i
Click to expand...
I suspect if you want to buy now, the only choice is the C-2100UZ (~ $500 at CompUSA). I believe all of the other cameras are out of your budget range (though the Dimage's little brother, the Dimage 5 should be in the range).

That being said, the C-2100UZ (nicknamed the UZI) is a fun camera. You might want to browse the Olympus forum where most of us hang out.
David Kirlew said:
Which of these cameras would best suit what I'm going to if i'm
mainly photographing animals
Click to expand...
If you are wanting to photograph animals far away, many people add on tele-extenders, such as the TCON-14 to the C-2100UZ to make it 14.5x optical zoom.
 
David Kirlew said:
Well after getting myself a job I now have about $600. I want to
get a slr-like camera mainly for photographing animals, people, and
nature. At this point and time I'm thinking of saving a few more
hundred dollars and getting either the

Nikon Coolpix 5700
Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom
Olympus C-2100 Zoom (in ?)
Minolta Dimage 7i

Which of these cameras would best suit what I'm going to if i'm
mainly photographing animals
Click to expand...
I'm not sure you could get any of them for $600, perhaps the dated Olympus. You haven't included the Fuji 2800. You could definitely get it for that and have money left over for memory cards, etc. It would serve you nearly as well as any of those too, perhaps better than the Olympus and the Minolta.
--
Dave Lewis
 
David Kirlew said:
Nikon Coolpix 5700
Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom
Olympus C-2100 Zoom (in ?)
Minolta Dimage 7i
Click to expand...
Whichever you choose, make sure you can get some hands-on experience at first. Some people like the EVF, but I personally don't. (I had my eye on a Dimage 7 when it came out, but a simple tryout in the store made me realise EVFs are not for me :-)).

That being said, it might be interesting to consider the possibilities of add-on-zoom lenses for your purpose.

Jörg
 
Dave Lewis said:
I'm not sure you could get any of them for $600, perhaps the dated
Olympus. You haven't included the Fuji 2800. You could definitely
get it for that and have money left over for memory cards, etc. It
would serve you nearly as well as any of those too, perhaps better
than the Olympus and the Minolta.
Click to expand...
I know it is all personal opinion, but I would think either the Olympus C-2100UZ or Minolta 7i/7/5 would be a much better camera than the 2800, particularly if you ever want more than just a point and shoot. Both the Oly and the Minolta have extensive manual controls (ISO speeds, aperture and shutter control, etc.), manual focusing, external flash support, really good lenses, low light support, etc.

However, it is somewhat of an apples and oranges comparison, the Fuji was designed as a $400-500 point and shoot camera, while the Minolta and Olympus cameras where designed as $1000 cameras targeting the pro-sumer market and so include more bells and whistles.
 
Any of those cameras would be a good choice, and you might want to add the Sony F707 to your list. Your decision may depend on how much you want to spend overall. If price were no object, the Nikon might be my first choice, but I suspect you're going to have to double your available money (to about $1200) to get that one.

If price is a factor, then the Fuji looks to be a good value. It's a well-balanced camera that can be purchased for under $700 if you shop around.

The Minolta is somewhat notorious for its short battery life. Still, many like it. The Olympus could be a good choice if you can get it cheaply. I'd be careful not to pay too much for a 2mp camera, though. The Sony is an excellent camera, though a bit awkward to carry and use, and you can sometimes get Sears to price match a webstore to get the price down (see the Sony forum for more details).

Don't forget to budget for memory, batteries, and charger.
David Kirlew said:
Well after getting myself a job I now have about $600. I want to
get a slr-like camera mainly for photographing animals, people, and
nature. At this point and time I'm thinking of saving a few more
hundred dollars and getting either the

Nikon Coolpix 5700
Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom
Olympus C-2100 Zoom (in ?)
Minolta Dimage 7i

Which of these cameras would best suit what I'm going to if i'm
mainly photographing animals
Click to expand...
 
David Kirlew said:
David Kirlew wrote:
Click to expand...
hardsuit said:
Nikon Coolpix 5700
Click to expand...
not till summer end or fall , projected $1200
David Kirlew said:
Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom
Click to expand...
waiting to get some, about $800
David Kirlew said:
Olympus C-2100 Zoom (in ?)
Click to expand...
still valid camera, about $500, its got a brother C-700 $500
David Kirlew said:
Minolta Dimage 7i
Click to expand...
preformance problems, $1100
David Kirlew said:
Which of these cameras would best suit what I'm going to if i'm
mainly photographing animals?
Click to expand...
my pick the fuji 6900 or newer F602, great lens and metering.
manual focus ring! for shooting through fences and posts.

' lets see what's out there.....engage'
 
Michael Meissner said:
However, it is somewhat of an apples and oranges comparison, the
Fuji was designed as a $400-500 point and shoot camera, while the
Minolta and Olympus cameras where designed as $1000 cameras
targeting the pro-sumer market and so include more bells and
whistles.
Click to expand...
And the original poster was looking for something under $600, yet his list included all models over that figure. That is why I suggested the 2800. Seems a logical choice to me. He isn't going to use the manual controls. Actually I wonder if any of us do. Wading through menus and trying to remember sequnces to change things in consumer digitals is like programming VCR's. I have to get out the manual every time I want to change something deep within my Nikon 950, yet can do most everything I want with my Canon D30. Everything is in reverse with digitals. The high end consumer models are a never ending puzzle while the pro models are simple as Jane.
--
Dave Lewis
 
David Kirlew said:
Well after getting myself a job I now have about $600. I want to
get a slr-like camera mainly for photographing animals, people, and
nature. At this point and time I'm thinking of saving a few more
hundred dollars and getting either the

Nikon Coolpix 5700
Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom
Olympus C-2100 Zoom (in ?)
Minolta Dimage 7i

Which of these cameras would best suit what I'm going to if i'm
mainly photographing animals
Click to expand...
--
Richard

Try the Sony DCS7076
 
Dave Lewis said:
He isn't going
to use the manual controls. Actually I wonder if any of us do.
Click to expand...
If he gets a D7/D7i he will. It's very easy; a lot simpler than on my old Nikon SLR.

I agree that on most digicams it's a hassle, but definitely not on all. The D7i is an excellent SLR style digicam.

--
Jesper
 
I been waiting on this camera for about a month. reading previews
and reading threads on this camera.
at my local shop they just recieved shipment and opened a new box.
as expected the body was again plastic not metal as I hoped for.
added were the mic for sound and speaker for audio clips.
we inserted pre-conditioned dimage 7 upgrade batterys.
have worked ok on D7. but not long enough.
good startup, however as we began going over the controls and taking
some test images the camera got very warm, later hot .
eventually the camera shutdown indicating battery exhaustion.
also durring test I experinced two cases where camera freezes and
cannot change functions unless I removed battery and shutdown camera.
that was enough ....I'm going with S602.
--
' lets see what's out there.....engage'
 
hardsuit01 said:
I been waiting on this camera for about a month. reading previews
and reading threads on this camera.
at my local shop they just recieved shipment and opened a new box.
as expected the body was again plastic not metal as I hoped for.
Click to expand...
The body has always been metal. The problem is that most people mistake light alloys for plastic. Anyways, IMO choosing a camera just because it has a metal body is rather pointless. Being metal doesn't necessarily mean it'll be more durable or functional.
hardsuit01 said:
added were the mic for sound and speaker for audio clips.
we inserted pre-conditioned dimage 7 upgrade batterys.
have worked ok on D7. but not long enough.
good startup, however as we began going over the controls and taking
some test images the camera got very warm, later hot .
eventually the camera shutdown indicating battery exhaustion.
also durring test I experinced two cases where camera freezes and
cannot change functions unless I removed battery and shutdown camera.
that was enough ....I'm going with S602.
Click to expand...
My dealer mentioned very high return rates for the D7 with abnormally high failure rates of new cameras out of the box. He's not taking any chances and most likely will not be bringing in the D7i.
 
hardsuit01 said:
as expected the body was again plastic not metal as I hoped for.
Click to expand...
The body is metal. Parts of it are covered with plastic, but the chassis and skin are metal.
hardsuit01 said:
good startup, however as we began going over the controls and taking
some test images the camera got very warm, later hot .
Click to expand...
My camera also gets warm, but not really hot - and that is with a 1GB MicroDrive.
hardsuit01 said:
eventually the camera shutdown indicating battery exhaustion.
Click to expand...
Eventually it will, yes. I get between 1 and 2 hours continuous playing around on one set of batteries. I have two sets of batteries and they usually last me a full day of shooting. If I were to do a roadtrip with lots of photographing I'd get a set more.

If you got less than 1 hour from 1600+ mAh NiMH's you can suspect something is wrong, either with the camera or the batteries.
hardsuit01 said:
also durring test I experinced two cases where camera freezes and
cannot change functions unless I removed battery and shutdown camera.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a busted camera. I haven't had mine freeze up a single time over 500+ pictures, and I mess with the controls on it a lot.

I'd recommend looking at a second sample - these sound like problems with that particular cam, it's not something that all D7i's exhibit.
hardsuit01 said:
that was enough ....I'm going with S602.
Click to expand...
Good luck with your new digicam.

--
Jesper
 
Richard Ullakko said:
David Kirlew said:
Well after getting myself a job I now have about $600. I want to
get a slr-like camera mainly for photographing animals, people, and
nature. At this point and time I'm thinking of saving a few more
hundred dollars and getting either the

Nikon Coolpix 5700
Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom
Olympus C-2100 Zoom (in ?)
Minolta Dimage 7i

Which of these cameras would best suit what I'm going to if i'm
mainly photographing animals
Click to expand...
--
Richard

Try the Sony DCS7076
Click to expand...
You might also consider an HP 912/Pentax EI2000. Its a bit older, but is rather user friendly. As a plus, it has a real TTL viewfinder instead of a crappy mini-LCD.
 
The Olympus C2100 will be the best for what you need. None of the others suggested will come close. ( The Olympus E-100rs would) It will also be the least expensive. None of the others have the 10x lens except the c2100UZ and the e-100rs. You will need all the zoom you can get for shooting wildlife It also has image stabilization and a fast focussing system. It is a very versatile camera.

Everyone wants you to purchase what they have instead of the camera that you would need. For wildlife/animals/nature and people ,especially in the $600.00 or less price range the c2100UZ is simply unbeatable!
You can take that to the bank.
PS,( I have a Sony 707)
John
Michael Meissner said:
David Kirlew said:
Well after getting myself a job I now have about $600. I want to
get a slr-like camera mainly for photographing animals, people, and
nature. At this point and time I'm thinking of saving a few more
hundred dollars and getting either the

Nikon Coolpix 5700
Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom
Olympus C-2100 Zoom (in ?)
Minolta Dimage 7i
Click to expand...
I suspect if you want to buy now, the only choice is the C-2100UZ
(~ $500 at CompUSA). I believe all of the other cameras are out of
your budget range (though the Dimage's little brother, the Dimage 5
should be in the range).

That being said, the C-2100UZ (nicknamed the UZI) is a fun camera.
You might want to browse the Olympus forum where most of us hang
out.
Michael Meissner said:
Which of these cameras would best suit what I'm going to if i'm
mainly photographing animals
Click to expand...
If you are wanting to photograph animals far away, many people add
on tele-extenders, such as the TCON-14 to the C-2100UZ to make it
14.5x optical zoom.
Click to expand...
--
Seabee MCPO (ret)
 
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