DSC H50 is not that great compared to panasonic FZ18. My choice would be FZ18.

Both Nikon D60 and Canon 1000D are good. Go for Canon 1000d and invest in a decent lens. If you are buying canon, do not buy the kit lens 18-55mm (without IS). Buy the body with 18-55 IS lens (this is new lens and is a bit expensive than the old 18-55mm non-IS lens).

In the ultra-zoom catatory, Canon recently released a 20x zoom 'Powershot S10 IS'. It would be a nice camera with lots of features. You can give it a try.

+1.... FZ18 is an amazing camera... very near to D-SLRs...

Umm no its very far from a DSLR. Its got a 1/2.3" sensor. A DSLR (like the Nikon D60/Canon 1000D) has a sensor almost 5 - 6 times bigger. Hence much better sensitivity to light and less noise on higher ISOs. Use even ISO 400 on the Panny FZ18 and you will see some noise in the darker regions of your picture.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying it is a bad camera at all. It has a fantastic zoom range and the lens is quite good (compared to competing cameras). But a DSLR it is not !

its like comparing oranges to apples..

what is ur BUDGET???

taking a DSLR is just tip of the iceberg..can u afford the external flashes the huge range(wide and tele..your taste)and budget lenses??diffusors etc??

are you totally new to photography???
if the answer is a HONEST yes i will simply advise to go towards the panasonic FZ18 even if your learning curve in DSLR is very high..but when you buy one for the next say two months you will click only with your kit lens which is rather funny..so IF you are totally NEW to photography save money and buy a prosumer..they dont give crappy images.

anvancy.

Thanks that helps... n yaah the answer is Yes.. i am vey new to photography...

then my very humble suggestion will be to save money in this recession and go and buy a prosumer..or the FZ18 that you want.but it will be a little difficult to get that panny now..just check it.

About Bokeh

hmmm jus wondering why nobody here have suggested the olympus SP 570 UZ which with the zoom ring and other options, is quite close to a dslr, not to mention the 20x op zoom.

Hey the olympus 570uz n nikon p80 dont have so great reviews, Panasonic Lumix fz18 stands top on the list, now fz28 has taken the rank.. next is sony dsc h50... lecia lens on the panny outshines almost everything else...

how will you define "close to DSLR"???

the last "close to Dslr" that i have seen are some from fuji and ricoh and sigma.

20x Optical Zoom and Zoom ring do not a SLR make.

Digi SLR is characterized by the following things
1. BIG HUGE SENSOR - good for awesome image quality (good per pixel sharpness/high Dynamic range/low noise) even at high ISO speeds like 800/1600/3200 where the regular point and shoots are more or less a uniform multicolored mush of noise

2. Interchangeable lenses, of which there is a huge range to suit from ultrawide angles to supertelephotos, to f/1 & f/1.2 sueprfast lenses for candle light photography with razor thin DOF.

3. Optical Viewfinder - very useful in action shooting because of the instantaneous response that ya can do - compared to the live view of the LCD's of the compacts and the superzooms that sometime have a lag.

4. Almost instantaneous shutter release (on the 2nd half press) - compared to the massive lag on compacts and superzooms - that practically prevents any decent action and sports photography.

5. Another impact of the larger sensor is the greater creative control over the Depth of Field - the area in front and behind the subject that is in focus - allowing for striking portraits with beautifully blurred backgrounds - though one needs fast lenses for that.

hi all,

Sorry if this is discussed Early.
Want information about Sony Cybershot H10.
Is this a good buy.

Cheers,
Josh!!!

Fast lens!! thats lots of money . Does any still use old MF lens from a SLR fitted on to a DSLR??.
Last week i checked Minolta SLR camera in Burma bazaar(chennai). I was just curious to buy that later i rejected due to tight aperture rings . It has a fast len f1.4 50mm Minolta Rokkor lens. This tempted me to buy for 1.5k
If i find Noctilux f1.0 i will jump on that instantaneously.

Go get it if there is no fungus. Its a deal. Throwaway the camera and use the lens over Sony/Minolta DSLR.

I use MF lens on my D40. Have also tried a veryyyyyy(1984 purchase date) old 24mm Nikkor lens on my D40. Worked but sucked at the same time.
Lenses now a days are far better than the ones in earlier days.

Its not only the specs of the lens i.e. fast or slow, its also the glass quality which makes Nikkor/Canon far more expensive than Sigma/Tamron.

Dont take me wrong. The older lens are higher quality than current crop of lenses. Especially these are designed for FF film camera, crop frame DSLR will be tack sharp even at the bigger aperture.
Some must MF lens to buy
Minolta Rokkor PG 58 mm f 1.2 (Bokeh king)
Helios 40 (No CA, no Pf)
Fuji EBC lens (absolute gem)
Zuiko lens

Inorder to use MF use need to install split screen. when i checked the SLR camera i was amazed by the use of split screen to fine focus the subject