Digital Camera

If you’re an intermediate level digital photographer, you might be looking for a good advanced digital camera. I know it’s very tough to decide on which one to buy - given that these models usually cost a bomb. A good advanced digital camera should be pretty rugged and also give you as much control over the photography process as possible. I’ve compiled a list of the top 10 advanced digital cameras that are selling like hotcakes in the market right now.

Canon EOS 20D

The Canon EOS-20D is one of the best digital cameras for the advanced user. With an 8.2 megapixel resolution and a bewildering range of manual modes, this digital SLR will deliver professional looking photos.

Canon PowerShot G6

The Canon PowerShot G6 has a 7.1 megapixel resolution, a 4x optical zoom, as well as a wide range of scene modes and manual controls. Even though it lacks a digital SLR body, the images shot with this camera are nothing short of outstanding. It’s also one of the cheapest advanced digital cameras out there.

Olympus C-7000

The Olympus C-7000 zoom offers a 7.1 megapixel resolution and 5x optical zoom. It also boasts 5 scene modes and full manual options. A very attractive buy, although the optional lenses are not allowed.

Nikon D70

The Nikon D70 is one of the best-selling entry level digital SLRs. It has a solid design, a bewildering range of options, powerful speed, as well as great photo quality. With its cheap price, this 6.1 megapixel SLR is one of the best value cameras for serious photographers looking to upgrade their camera.

Canon Digital Rebel

The 6.3 megapixel Canon Digital Rebel is a direct competitor to the Nikon D70. It targets photographers at the lower end of the advanced digital SLR market. Its low price, excellent image quality and speed give the Nikon D70 a run for its money.

Sony Cybershot Pro DSC-V3

The Sony Cybershot Pro DSC-V3 is a decent advanced camera which is light and easy to use. With its 7.2 megapixel resolution and 4x optical zoom, it’s a great buy. Do note the colors can be a bit poor in some shots.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

The Canon EOS-1D Mark II is a new digital SLR aimed at professional photographers who want excellent customization options, great photo quality and impressive speed. This 8 megapixel camera is high on my list of recommendations.

Olympus C-8080

With its 8 megapixels and a 5x optical zoom, the Olympus C-8080 represents great value for those hunting for a digital SLR. While it doesn’t sell as well as the Canon and Nikon SLRs, I think Olympus comes up with pretty decent advanced cameras too.

Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2

The Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 is a hot favorite amongst professionals. From a feature and function point of view, it’s one of the best digital SLRs I’ve seen. However, the build quality lacks that nice and heavy SLR feel.

Sony DSC-F828

Featuring a whopping 8 megapixel image resolution, the Sony DSC-F828 comes replete with a powerful 7X zoom lens and great camera optics. Very nice camera indeed.

Conclusion

There are lot of cameras suitable for the advanced digital photographer, but the list above covers some of my favorites. I particularly like the Nikon D70 and Minolta DiIMAGE A2. One shopping tip to remember is that the camera above tend to be more expensive than the average point-and-shoot model. So do consider carefully whether you need to features before buying the camera. If you’re just starting out in digital photography, you may want to try a simpler and cheaper model first.

About the Author
Gary Hendricks runs a hobby site at
http://www.basic-digital-photography.com
Read his tips on digital photography and learn to shoot better photos with your digicam.

This was emailed to me by a friend when I decided to buy a camera
Mrs. Vaidehi Ghag
http://www.davbindu.com

Everyone loves digital cameras and the ease of operating without film, but storing all the images can be an issue. At home I like to store them on my laptop and back them up to CDs.

If you are going on vacation for a week and plan on taking lots of pictures, you should know how many images you can you store on your laptop.

Most consumer shoot in compressed JPEG mode, and the images are between 250k bytes and perhaps 1.4M bytes. A 1 GB CF will hold as many as a thousand or more images. If you are like me it is easy these days to shoot a lot of pictures in a very short time. You could buy another CF or transfer the images to your laptop.

Laptops do not hold all that much data. How many gigs of disk capacity do you have left on your personal laptop? The newer ones will come with 40 or even 100 GB drives, but most people don’t have ones that new, and many also have a bunch of stuff loaded already. So, check out the size of your HD and see how much space is left for your photos. If your laptop has a CD burner bring extra blank CDs so you can burn the photos. A great little back tool is http://www.secondcopy.com. You could also back them up to your ISPs server.

Another option might be to buy a portable hard drive. You can find them the size of good-sized glasses case. You stick your CF in a slot, turn the gadget on, and dump the CF into the gadget’s storage. These range from 20GB to 60GB+ and are $100+.

Stand-alone burners can burn CDs & DVDs, and some will also play DVD movies, audio CDs, etc as well so you can bring your movies and music along while traveling.

If you have a new laptop it might have a fast firewire connection, if not you will need to use the USB connection to transfer the photos.

So, taking a few precautions and planning ahead a little will insure that you get to keep all the photos that you took as a reminder of that wonderful, long ago vacation.

David Perlmutter is the founder and CEO of UsedLaptops.com, Inc. ( http://www.usedlaptops.com ) His first portable was a Compaq Plus 20 years ago. UsedLaptops.com, Inc. has sold over 20,000 refurbished laptops to consumers and companies over the last ten years.