Thanks to all who chimed in on this thread. I've made a decision, so if
you're interested in something that is probably completely irrelevant to
you day, read on.
As I said at the start of this thread, I am interested in getting a
digital camera that will be a true starter camera for me, but I want
something fairly current, not too expensive, and I expect to explore all
of its features on the way, presumably, to eventual ownership of a body
in the E-(x) line. I had narrowed things down to the C-5060 and C-8080.
What moved me about these two cameras is that they both are a little
wider than normal (about 28mm in 35mm terms), and both are reputed to
have superb image quality (with some qualifications). But with the
C-8080's larger sensor and 8MP capability, I wondered if it were more
than I want in my first sophisticated digital camera -- in fact, a
departure not on the way to a E-(x) but down a parallel course.
The price of the C-8080 ($850-1000USD) is really beyond starter range
for me too. But as long as I was considering it and the price range,
Winsor's suggestion (thanks Winsor) to look at the Digital Rebel knocked
me off my pins for a while. It ultimately came down to whether I could
use the D-Rebel for the stuff I originally had in mind: my desire is to
have a unit small enough to carry around most of the time and store
inconspicuously in my work shoulder bag. The idea is to replace some
color negative with digital. For the D-Rebel to do that, I would need
the standard 18-55 lens for it, but that lens would not go as wide as I
had hoped, plus I found out it is regarded as just so-so and to get the
range of even the C-5060 would require a commitment to Canon glass that
I would never be willing to make now or in the future. So there will be
no 58mm filters in my immediate future.
The other choices that seemed interesting to me were the Dimage A(x).
The A2 looks good but really falls into the same neighborhood as the
C-8080. Too much dough for this camera at this time. A used A1 would
be cool, but I think I want a warranty on my first digicam with a
thousand new features to learn and discern.
So I ordered a C-5060 from B&H this morning. It will probably arrive on
Thursday and the next phase of my education will begin. I wish that it
had some of the features of the Dimages -- IS and a longer reach on the
lens -- and of the two I am sure the longer reach would be more
significant for me for this camera. That's the only lingering doubt.
But there's no doubt that I want the wide lens, so that's that. I guess
one of my learning points will be to find out how significant the slow
RAW write time is going to be to me. Should this have an impact on the
kind of "digital film" I buy?
Thanks again to all who responded.
Joel W.
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