Need help??? Which 8 mp.

[omer_user]

I am upgrading to my old digital camera with a new 8 mp camera. I have narrowed the choice Canon pro1, Olympus 8080, Sony F828 or Minolta A2. I see advantages to each but would like some opinions.. Thanks!

[teletu]

I am upgrading to my old digital camera with a new 8 mp camera. I have narrowed the choice Canon pro1, Olympus 8080, Sony F828 or Minolta A2. I see advantages to each but would like some opinions.. Thanks!

Your problem is EXACTLY mine : I fell in love with the CANON PRO1 (small volume, good lens) but I refuse to buy it : I can't accept that its 8Mo makes it noisy at 100 ISO !.
So I spent 1 month visiting US and French specialized websites : technical specifications, reviews, photos analysis, I learned all of them...

First evidence : everyone must know that 8Mo pixels is a pure marketing argument, and a ruin for the owners of all these 8Mo APN, cause too much noise and many others annoyances!

Result of my hard quest :
the best machine, overpassing all the others is the genial MINOLTA Dimage A2... among all its advantages, its image stabilizer compensates the crazy 8Mo problems. I insist : every 8Mo APN should have a stabilizer (the CANON S1 IS has this and it is a perfect small APN, the best in its 500$ category !).

Now if you ask me if I already bought the Dimage A2? I'll answer "No" : I burn to do it ! but I wisely prefer to wait for the PHOTOKINA Fair coming in September... If CANON (you understand that I am a Canon lover) does not ameliorate its PRO1 (I like the compacity of this bridge), sure I'll buy the DIMAGE A2 : I don't like its big volume, and its ACL poor positions, but now I know : of all the bridges, it is the BEST one, it overpasses all of the 1000$ APN, without contest !

[castledude]

First question to ask is do you need 8MP, up to 8x10 it is will be pretty hard to see the difference between it and 5/6MP .. Even 3/4MP is pretty good at 8x10.

I need it but I wanted the crop space and ability to do some nice prints at 11x14 for portfolio work.


-------------------------------------
Well I just went through the same decision phase (and tossed in the Nikon D70 and Pentax *ist).

Here is what my final thoughts were:
D70 and *ist .. Decided to wait for 8MP before making the leap to SLR they are close and we will see who makes the best $1K DLSR in the next generation.

Olympus 8080 .. Nice but the low high end of the zoom. I couldn't find anything it did that the others won't do and I get a bigger zoom for free. If the price was $700 it would be a lot more tempting. But Oly has always (IMHO) overpriced their cameras.

Sony 828... The first out gets the most looks so I think it probably has been evaluated a little harder than is probably deserved. The pictures I have seen (like here on PBASE) are good. For me it was the size that turned me off, the thing is a monster.

Nikon 8700 .. Nicer than some reviews have said. The bigger zoom is nice for sports (but you do lose some of the wide angle). The thing I didn't like is the layout ,this is totally personal but, the layout of buttons did not feel right and I did not feel that it would be easy to memorize the buttons on it so I would be constantly needing to hunt for features. This can be really bad in a dark area.

Canon Pro 1 .. Darn good camera with a great feel. Probably the best pictures directly out of the camera. If you are the type that does not want to Photoshop then this is the best of the cameras (the Sony is a tie). The unprocessed output of this camera is really good. The controls are easy to use and even though the zoom is a little strange you can adjust to it. The built in ND filter is really a cool idea.

Minolta A2 .. For me this camera had a great feel, it probably has more buttons than are needed (some could have been made into menu options) but it fits my hands and I could figure out most of the options without consulting the manual. Has an external sync that is protected to high voltages (nice for studio lighting). The things that sold it for me were the following: 1) IS 2) The optional battery pack (holds 2 batteries or 6AA cells). 3) The ability to see/review pictures even when shooting in RAW mode. The auto switching between the EVF and Viewfinder is nice. Only bad thing is in RAW mode the pictures are BIG (14M) so you don't get much on even a 1G card.


--------------------------------------
I've had the A2 for about a week now and have shot about 1000pics with it so far so good.

Note by the time I was done I spent about $1400 total
Camera
External Battery Pack
Extra Battery
1GB Card
512M Card
Adapter from Minolta to Std Hotshoe
Circular Polarizer

Eventually I will need a new flash for it but I can use my old manual flash for a few weeks (months?) until I'm ready to spend the extra.

[bobtrips]

$1400 US?

The A2 sells for about $750 on several well rated sites.

The other feature of the A2 that makes it my favorite is its excellent EVF. Much better than the A1 (or any other digital as far as I know).

[cmanaginged]

Can't coment on the others, but I have used both the 828 and the Canon. I was very disappointed with the Sony. I used a 707 for two years and was a huge fan. I didn't see an improvement in pic quality with the 828 - nicest thing about the new model was the casing and the zoom mechanism.

Canon was sensational. Biggest problem I had was a MONSTROUS delay in the shutter release. This didn't just screw up action shots but I lost some candid moments, too. It was a test camera so I am giving the benefit of the doubt that it was not a common trait.

Hope this helps

[castledude]

$1400 US?

The A2 sells for about $750 on several well rated sites.

The price was for the total package that I gave above.

I paid $900 for the camera but I got it at Costco so I can return it for full credit up to 1 year. Which is worth a $100 premium as far as I'm concerned. The other stuff I got around my area (the battery pack and flash adapter are not normal stocked items).

The other feature of the A2 that makes it my favorite is its excellent EVF. Much better than the A1 (or any other digital as far as I know).

The EVF is great but I wish the LCD monitor was bigger and had the range of motion of the Canon. But so far it is a great camera