thanks again. currently, i have spend the whole night checking with my
colleagues and we came with a few good ones which are... Kodak P880,
Pansasonic Lumix DMC -FZ30, Samsung Pro815, Canon Powershot Pro1... I was
told Canon 350D LCd is not big enough. I realise indeed, my purpose with a
digital camera is to take super good quality pictures and able to view them
immediately behind the camera LCD screen and then when storage card is full,
I can decide which is not good and delete them away. So, a Large LCD is a
must.

I realise another helping ASAAR mention about using AA battery is okay now.
My colleague also warn me about the speed it drain out as he also thought
that way and now he changed his digital camera to Canon Ixus. Maybe you are
right and maybe ASAAR is right. Battery is not my main concern. My main
concern, is a high mega pixel camera which can let me take picture of far
away things and able to view them very clearly on a large lcd behind the
camera. Of course, the camera must be realiable.

I called up havey Noman shop which is having the promotion in Singapore and
they say OlyMpus E500 is made in China, while Canon 350D is from japan. So I
should go for Japan. but Olympus E500 is giving me 2 len, 14-45  & 40-150
zuiko len.

I accidentally found this url http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare.asp
and actually did my research painfully the whole 13 hours at work. 2 other
colleague explore them with me, for themselves too... and none of us can
conclude. It is said that bets is I go to any shop by fate, pick a few
camera and if one of them feel right and price is reasonable, just take it.
I fear I have no choice. One even ask me to get a cam recorder instead as
video can be make into still picture. My head is going to explode. What
CMOS, what CCD, what others... I thought I can just find some professional
photo taker and they will all be using only one best type and same me the
trouble, beside the high price.

Samung Pro815 comes with 3.5 inch LCD but my colleage do not trust Samsung.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 comes with 12 X zoom I think but ... what is
SLR-like mean? The terms are greese to me. Or was it the price. But I will
take your suggestion and let God decide my fate. Either I am bless this life
to get a SLR or just a compact camera. Sigh..

Thanks

"Paul Saunders" <pvs1@wildwales.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:e5rqtn$nav$1@news.freedom2surf.net...
aNdY wrote:
> Wow Paul,
>
>        Thanks so much for the information given. Actually this
> morning, Singapore time, I saw that there is a promotion for Canon
> 350D and Olympus Camedia E-500. I was planning to get it tomrorow.
> But then I am shock you mention that even if I get 350D cannon, I
> still need a good len.

As I said, the one that comes with it is okay, but it's worth buying
something better.

> This make my decision difficult. Base upon all
> that you wrote to me, I believe I needed a camera with something like
> this...
>
> 1) Large LCD screen behind for me to view the picture
>
> 2) Picture must be of at least 8 Mega pixels.
>
> 3) Light weight , small but hopefully professional looking

Well the DSLRs aren't all that small or light.  The Canon G6 or Panasonic
LX1 may be a better choice.

> 4) Best if uses AA or AAA batteries.

Actually it isn't.  Cameras that use AAs run out of power very quickly, so
you'll have to carry lots of spare batteries.  The best cameras use
Lithium-ion batteries.  They're more expensive but they last much, much
longer.

> 5) Can zoom far and near.

As I said, the big advantage of DSLRs is that you can get different lenses
for them, ranging from incredibly wide (16mm equivalent) to incredibly long
(800mm equivalent or longer).  The lens that comes with the 350D is only
29-88mm equivalent.  Many digicams have lenses equivalent to 35-140mm.  If
you want a good range in a single lens, 28-200mm would be around the maximum
you could get, but the longer the range, the lower the quality.

There are a few 8MP digicams with 28-200mm zooms, Canon, Minolta and a few
others make them, Nikon, Olympus and Sony I think.  The Minolta I already
mentioned in my first post, that's the only one that has image
stabilisation.  The Canon is the Pro1
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_pro1.asp
Can't remember the others offhand, but I can try to find them if you want.

> 6) if one len is good for far and near image taking, one lend is all
> I need.

The 17-85mm lens I recommended is only equivalent to 27-136mm.  You can get
longer ones but the quality isn't so good.

> 7) Added features which I have yet know.

Get one with RAW mode, most of the best cameras have this.

> I will personally go check it out in the shop later. I hope they knew
> what I am saying too. Too complex for someone like em who knew
> nothing about digital camera but yet want a good one. Thanks for yuor
> help. If I did get the camera base upon your suggestion, I will be
> very grateful. Should yuo come to Singapore, I might even show you
> around. Thanks.

Thanks, but I'm not planning a holiday there any time soon.

Now.. wish me good luck. lol....

Okay, but don't buy the first camera you see, you might regret it later.
Compare all these different cameras first, read the reviews and decide which
features you really need most.  Like what range of lens do you want?  That's
very important.

Take a look at these pages to see what different focal lengths look like;
http://www.usa.canon.com/html/eflenses/lens101/focallength/index.html
http://www.wolfes.com/photo/lenses/guide.html

Remember when looking at lenses to look at the "equivalent" focal length
instead of the actual focal length.  A 28-200mm zoom on a 350D would
actually be equivalent to 45-320mm (multiply by 1.6).

Paul