Research

I’ve already posted this at the forums I frequent but I’m going to post it here and see if I get any addition tips and suggestions from folks:

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[dr. nick]Hi everbody[/dr. nick]

A few days ago, my camera was stolen. But thanks to my awesome friend Ben (and an email he sent out to my impossibly generous coworkers), he ended up raising some $700 in donations.

[insert “Holy shit” here]

Yeah. Seriously.

So… it’s taken me until today to really wrap my head around all this, and to realize that I’ve got a good chunk of change to work with on buying a new camera.
I’ve spent part of today browsing around sites, and looked around on http://www.dpreview.com/ and http://www.steves-digicams.com/, as per the recommendation of several folks in several threads. After digging through a lot of the existing threads on 12S, I’m still trying to suss out whether or not I want to take that leap and get a digital SLR.

My overall intention is to take day-to-day pictures for the blog, with the occasional movie. I don’t own any lenses, or any other cameras. I have never printed out any of the photos I’ve taken, nor do I have a printer with which to do so.

Right now, I’m leaning towards the Canon PowerShot G5.

However, I’ve received a very strong recommendation from a friend about the Canon Digital Rebel, which I’ve seen mentioned several times in a few 12S threads as well.

So here are my questions:

1) What are the benefits of working with a digital SLR camera over a plain ole digital camera? I have little experience with real cameras, and never really utilized the features on my old digital camera. I have a vague understanding of F-stops and aperture settings, etc.

*waves hands in air*

My sense is that with a digital SLR, you have a lot more control over settings (and the ability to tweak them, on-the-fly).

2) Working with lenses: what are the pro’s and con’s here? I’m recalling a comment in a thead somewhere that recommended one purchase the most expensive camera body in their price range, and then gradually acquire lenses as time goes on.

For those with multiple lenses, do you have a lot? Or just a handful that you switch between, depending on occasion?

3) Is the digital SLR a better investment? Given my goals, the Canon PowerShot seems like a better choice. But I’m wondering if I should just pony up the additional money and get the Digital Rebel instead.

Part of me is thinking that, since I’m asking some of these basic questions… I should be opting for the PowerShot. My overall intent is for web delivery (for the blog)… but I’ve always wanted to take a bit more control over my shots, and move away from the presets.

At the root of things, the PowerShot makes more sense. What I guess I’m looking for though, are arguments for why a digital SLR (like the Canon Digital Rebel) might be a better choice.

Thanks for any thoughts/opinions/advice.