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[Sil Greene <Sil_greene AT unc.edu>]

Reported 04.03.09 20:04 from James Dasher:
.:
.:If you want more than your basic point-and-shoot with minimal zoon, I'd 
.:recommend saving your pennies and buying a digital body that will work 
.:with your SLR lenses - a Canon (the new Digital Rebel is now under 
.:$1000) if you use Canon/Sigma lenses, a Nikon for the Nikon/Nikkor (the 
.:Nikon body is tres expensive, IIRC), etc.

In this same vein, if you care about your image quality, make sure your 
camera allows you to turn any Digital Zoom feature *OFF*.  Digital zoom is 
pointless; Optical Zoom, using real lenses (like the ones for your SLR), 
is the only thing you want to use.

If you want proof, consider that Digital Zoom is done in software (or 
occasionally hardware -- circuitry -- which can be just as buggy as 
software, with the advantage of being harder to patch).  Ask yourself how 
often your commercial software works as advertised, every time.  

Optical zooms don't have that problem.  :)

--Sil

-- 
"If you put your supper dish to your ears you can hear the sounds
 of a restaurant."  --Snoopy    (Charles Schultz 02-12-2000 RIP)
Sil_Greene AT unc.edu