Holiday to New Zealand

Hi there,.

I've booked a holiday to New Zealand for three weeks in January and have been going around in circles as to what camera to take with me. I really hope you can point me in the right direction..

The holiday is mostly going to be horse back trekking and so I want a camera that can handle those landscape shots really well. Also, it's going to be the height of NZ's summer so I'm after a camera that will produce minimal clipping of highlights. Im not necessarily going to want a large zoom though this would be a secondary bonus..

I have owned a kodak DX6340 for a number of years now. I feel like I'm ready to take a step up in terms of more manual options and hope to spend a fair bit of time before the holiday practising so I'm not necessarily after a simple point and shoot..

My budget is around 230. I had been considering stretching this to buy the Nikon D40 since I've read so many good write-ups - only problem is that it doesn't take video footage which is a big negative since I'll be wanting to make use of this - DSL's are pretty much out then!.

I've come to realise that I'm not going to get a fantastic camera for my budget, so I'd like to pick the best one at that level (and it's been driving me crazy; I want to make the right decision since this is a holiday of a lifetime!)..

I'm pretty good with the basics of Photoshop when it comes to lighting - I'm likely to make some changes to some of the photos if necessary but the less changes I have to make the better..

Please Help...

Comments (5)

One other thing to add, I've invested in a few SD cards and so I'm preferably looking for a camera that uses these...

Comment #1

I've done some more research and think the PowerShot A640 may be suitable - what do you think?..

Comment #2

The A640 has a good rep and reviews..

Consider the A650 IS also. It's very close to a Canon G9 ( we're told ) without some bells and whistles. As far as I know the same lens and sensor, reasonable noise and decent zoom with IS. Certainly one to checkout..

The FZ-18 would be a possibility, especially if you plan to shoot in good light mostly ( not great in low light )..

If you were willing to forgo the SD cards and IS the Fuji S6500 would be a good choice, but perhaps not ideal..

If you can stretch to it consider the Pentax K100D ( in camera IS ) or K110D ( no IS ). There is just no comparison on image quality, even with a basic 19-55 kit lens, IMO. They will use your SD cards too and you could shoot RAW if you want to..

StephenG.

Pentax K100DFuji S5200Fuji E900PCLinuxOS..

Comment #3

Thanks very much for the advice..

I've compared the stats of the A650 IS to the A640. The attractive advantages are the extra 70mm zoom range with image stabalization. Also the jump from {F2.8 - F4.1} to {F2.8 - F-4.8}. Whilst there is no in-depth reviews on this website, I've looked around and decided if I'm to get a canon, it will be A650 IS (even though it stretches the budget somewhat)..

The FinePix S6500 looks really good as well. Little spherical distortion at the widest angle 28mm setting - good for me since I want to take a lot of wide angle shots. Also a better zoom than the canon. 104 cheaper as well. I'm not sure how the menu system matches in the canon, but this one seems to have loads of options..

The Pentax cameras are a little too expensive. Being an SLR, I don't think the K110D is able to take video footage which is going to be an essential element in my choice..

So I'm currently trying to decide between the A650 IS and the FinePix S6500. Hmmm...

Comment #4

The disadvantage with the FinePix S6500 of course is that I already have around five SD cards that I would not have to factor into accessory costs...

Comment #5

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This question was taken from a support group/message board and re-posted here so others can learn from it.

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This question was taken from a support group/message board and re-posted here so others can learn from it.