My Canon S1 IS shutter button broke with the zoom control which is on that same button. I can not get it to take a picture wihtout pressing hard and the adjustment for the zoom will not move. It hasn't been droped so I have no idea what happened. Is it worth trying to get it fixed or just buying a replacement? I wanted to buy a SLR but wasn't prepared right now to do it due to Christmas. Camera is only I guess 3 years old? Hmm.

Recommendations on cameras SLR and resonable priced places to purchase from?

 

You could call Canon and see what kind of repair price they quote you. It may not be worth repairing it. If you have your eye on an SLR, I'd hold out for that rather than buying another compact. If it's your only camera, you may not have a choice.

You could always buy a cheapy to hold you over through the holidays.

 

Well I have a SLR non-digital 35mm one I can use for now. I called RitzCamera they said $130 to fix the camera. I think thats a bit more than I want to spend on a old camera.

 

Especially when you could upgrade to the S2 for about double the repair cost...

 

I was able to check out a few cameras including the Canon 30D, Rebel XTi, Nikon D80 at Ritz today and I have decided to get the Canon 30D. The Rebel was cheaply built and it didn't feel as sturdy or comfortable in my hands. It also was slower on focusing the shot over the 30d. I just need to wait for a bit more funds unless some places have financing. I have a Alaska Cruise in June and I need a good camera and didn't expect my trusty P/S to die so soon.

It comes with those Canon lenses. Do you guys recommend those lenses? Ritz tried to offer me Quantaray lenses but I didn't like the quality of them that much. I have a old 35mm SLR Minolta with Sigma's and those are nicer quality. Anyways, let me know your ideas.

 

That's a little bit of an upgrade from an S1.

The XTi and 30D have the same autofocus sensors, so I'm not sure why the XTi felt slower. Anyhow, I won't argue with you about the build quality or ergonomics. There's a major difference between the two in that department.

As far as I know, there are only two kit lenses available with the 30D from Canon: the 18-55 and the 17-85. The 17-85 is the better of the two, but it might not be worth the extra money depending on what you want to shoot. I would think coming from a P&S with a long zoom range, you'd want a longer lens to add to the kit. In that case, you might want to go with the 18-55 and put the extra money into a longer telephoto. If you had a budget, I could make some more targeted recommendations on lenses.

 

$1500 is my planned Budget Dan. See what you can do with that. I have a SLR Minolta 35mm I haven't used in two years. Hehe. So its time for me to get myself a SLR in Digital because thats what I use most of the time now.

Thanks.

 

Then you should probably go with the 30D and the 17-85 since there's a double rebate on that combo. B&H has that kit for $1664.95 and there's a $230 MIR for a final bill of $1434.95. Grab a Sandisk 2GB Ultra II card and you've got a good kit for $1500.

 

I am looking for a kit that has both the long zoom and short zoom though. I need at least a 200x zoom as well with the shorter one.

 

200x? I assume you mean 200mm.

In that case, you'll have to bump your budget a bit and downgrade a little on the short lens.

Here's what I would do:
30D w/18-55 = $1219 - $200 MIR = $1019
70-200 F4L = $579 - $70 MIR = $509
2GB Sandisk Ultra II = ~$80
Total: $1608 after rebates

The 18-55 has pretty poor build quality, but optically, it's quite good. You can always upgrade it down the road if you want something a little more solid or better in low light. The 70-200 F4L will spoil you though.

 

Where did you get the prices from? Thanks.

 

Also I just thought of something. I wonder if my lenses I have for my Minolta would fit the Canon? Sigma lenses a long and short one. I foget the spec, but I would have to look tonight.

 

I can't believe how much cheaper that lens is in the US. Can Canadians cash in on that MIR?

 

200x would be a helluva zoom

 

Those were from B&H Photo.

 

Sorry, some lenses can use an adapter, but Minolta to EF is not going to work. They can't focus at infinity on an EF mount.

 

There is a Canadian rebate on right now, but you can't apply it to lenses bought in the US. Even though you can't use the rebate, it's still a lot cheaper just to buy from the states and import it.

 

You could do it if you had an EF-S 10-22mm and a Sigmonster 300-800mm with stacked 1.4x and 2x teleconverters.

10-2240mm (224x zoom) FTW!

 

Hmm I guess their prices went up. There about 200 more than what you showed on the body/lense.

 

As someone who's been on an Alaska cruise, let me set an expectation for you. Do not expect to get closeups of any wildlife. If you were eyeballing the 200mm range for that purpose on your Alaska trip, forget about it. Get a medium length zoom or telephoto that satisfies your other general needs and let your trip images fall where they may. I had a 100-400 zoom with me and found that to be significantly shorter than what I would have liked. You would probably need 600mm to do Alaskan fauna justice. Of course, that's a huge piece of equipment with a correspondingly huge price tag.

That's not to say medium length zooms/telephotos don't have uses in Alaska. They do. It's just not wildlife. Medium focal length zooms/telephotos can be used to isolate specific parts of a larger scene and/or compress the foreground and background of an image.