I used a Sony digital for years. Great and easy to use. Dealt with contrast very well and it was easy to put in my pocket or bag and have ready.
Now I have a Nikon D50 with interchangeable lenses. It is relatively new to me, but I'm getting used to it. Deals with contrast well, is beautifully clear (on fine) but I don't think it is as good as the Sony in dealing with skies - especially bright ones!
Obviously it is not as good or convenient as the Sony in carrying it around.
So I would say it depends how much you want to carry something around with you (re interchangeable lenses varieties) or whether you just want something handy to use.
Kate - the lower end Nikon's use Sony sensors so they should achieve comparable results. The problems you are having with skies is more likely an issue with the light metering in your shot, easily fixed by either taking a meter reading in a brighter area or fixing a graduated neutral density filter or circular polariser to your lens to darken and boost the contrast in the skies.
Thanks &philcUK - I had come to the same conclusion and a polariser will be used (when I next see bright skies!). Strange though that I never seemed to have the problem with my old Sony. Perhaps I was more careful.
Kate
well - compact cameras often do lots of jiggery pokery (that’s the official technical term for it) to your images with their internal software that may compensate for metering whereas DSLR's tend to lean more towards user input either at the shooting stage or in post work. That’s why I always think it quite funny when I see posted images that say no manipulation on them when lots has probably been done to it - often unbeknown to the photographer :-)
Well, that's a fair comment!
I go back to the days of old Pentax bodies and good second hand lenses (wonderful place on Baker Street London in the 1970s). I've done the printing in black and white - and worked hard to get good initial shots - in the old days!
I think you are right - my Sony digital probably has made me lazy and complacent - and my new Nikon is a wake up call!
actually, i kind of like him. yes, he's smug and arrogant. true, but when he does like something, he'll say so as well. and face it, if it were just randy jackson and paula abdul fawning over this one and that one (yawn) that show would've bit the dust along time ago.
hmmm, so it wasn't you that responded to his comment, and then kept going in the direction of the tangent? in the last three posts you haven't redirected the thread, so might wanna tone down the finger pointing...
My personal fave is the Panasonic Lumix. It "feels" like an old 35mm, the 12X optical zoom is great for nature photography, exposure bracketing is easy, the Leica lens is SHARP, and the image stabilizer actually works (most of the time). The "down side" is the relatively short life of the rechargeable "proprietary" battery (carry several spares for an all-day shoot)!
we were off topic, which our off topicness (new word?) lead to the creation of a new topic and he posted something about cameras which, in tur, made him to become off-topic...My brain hurts..