digital SLR's and sangria

[vernacular_life]

I'm looking for input on two things (which together would be so much fun!)


-I need a good sangria recipe (fit for a party)...preferably without sprite/7-up/seltzer added.


-Any input on digital SLR's? I'm tempted....I would def be in the 'amateur' catagory, so don't need anything that would be used by photojournalists, etc. I'm just looking to have a 'fancy' addition to our point-and-shoot. This wouldn't be a this-week purchase -- more of something to look into over the next few months.... I've heard good things about the new Rebel

Comments

[tinksdust.livejournal.com]

I've been drooling over the Nikon D70 (as has onelargecat for a long time now. Have you looked at www.dpreview.com? They've got decent reviews that go into a lot of detail to help you compare.

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

I was wondering what camera she had!

I've been to dpreview.com before but forgot the address....I'm looking at steves-digicams.com, which also has a ton of reviews.


ooho the research!

[tinksdust.livejournal.com]

She doesn't have that camera but has been wanting it.

I'm still not sure if we'll go the SLR route when we get another camera or just upgrade from the *doesn't do anything, needs more optical zoom, needs more megapixels* we've got now with another point and shoot.

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

I think we'd always have a decent (not GOOD) point and shoot, esp because Judd hates taking pictures. Our current p & s has a tendency to overexpose a LOT, but thanks to corrective software, we can turn it down. I'm the photogeek in the family (since high school!!) so I've been saving my pennies for a DSLR for me!

(but I'd play nice and let him use it if he wants :P)

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

also, as Amanda said, I don't have the D70 yet but I am also lusting after it. our move is costing us more than we had expected so it's not even on my radar anymore. i'm going to have to hold off on the $1000+ toy purchases for a while. :/

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

what do you use now?

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

Now I use the Canon Powershot A60. It's a great camera--it's discontinued b/c it's old, but the rest in that series are really good, too, from what I know of them. I'd skip the S series, b/c I don't think they give you manual control (or at least, the SD200 doesn't, which is annoying).

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've got the s60 now, and you CAN do a lot manually, but you can't save settings, which it a PITA.

The new EOS 250 rebel is tempting me -- if only for the fact its got the same batteries/charger as our current camera!

Between Amazon reviews and the 2 big digicam review sites, I should be able to make a decision....hopefully :P

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

do you have any lenses already? that's the main reason I want the D70 over the Digital Rebel....I've already got several Nikon lenses, because I have a Nikon SLR film body.

I'm sure you can't go wrong with either one...both are fantastic cameras, and great lenses can be had for both of them.

I'm not sure what you mean about saving settings--the A60 remembers the last aperture/shutter speed I used, and what ISO setting I had it on last, and whether I had the flash on or off (which is always off, really), so when I turn the camera back on it's all set the same as the last time I used it. Is that what you mean? Or do you mean something with custom white balance settings or something like that (which I know nothing about and never adjust)?

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

The only lenses I have are a few nice Nikon (self focus) ones for a film SLR, so I guess I have no lenses!

The S60 won't save the custom white balance -- the flash has a tendency to overexpose in close settings (esp. making my black dog look all shiny and white?!)

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

Hmmm....yeah, I hate flash. I generally try not to use any flash at all, ever. It never looks pretty. (Random aside: the white balance thing, though, is not the flash--it's related to the overall color temperature of the photos, like daylight vs. incandescent lighting vs. florescent lighting.) I have trouble taking shots of my cat b/c he's so dark that I can rarely get fast enough shutter speeds without the flash.

[go-dawgs.livejournal.com]

So far, I love my Olympus, and it was a steal at $900. I think you can find them on sale for around $800, but Ken was impatient to get one, so he went ahead and got it full-price. I really haven't used it to its fullest, yet, but from what I've seen, I absolutely adore it. I got some digital photography magazines, so I'll do some research and see what I can find. What price range are you thinking about, if you don't mind me asking?

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking under $1k....$900 is perfect, so I can fit it out w/ a decent bag & big memory card.

There's just SO much out there about every one that it kind of makes my head hurt!

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

allrecipes.com had a good-looking sangria recipe that didn't use any soda water or 7-up or anything. (Classic sangria, or something--you can find it if you search, there were only like 7 sangria recipes there.) I didn't use that recipe b/c I wanted to use lemon-lime soda in mine to help make more sangria with less money, since I was making it for a big party.