My Agfa 1280 was just stolen and the insurance man is going to pay for a new digital. Being familiar with what a good camera can do, I've narrowed down my next choice to the OLY 620 or the Canon PS 70. Does anyone have any experience with either of these that would help me decide which one to buy. Price really isn't an object - simple question. Which is the camera that will give the best pictures with reasonable ease of use. I'm not a professional photographer by any stretch, but I have money and I love damn good pictures.

Sean

-- Sean Wiebe (rcss1@intergate.bc.ca), January 23, 1999

Answers

The "which camera is best" questions are really pretty impossible to answer for someone else (although, I invite all and sundry to weigh in here with their opinions). The problem is that everyone will have a different set of preferences for what they like in a picture. As it happens, the Oly 620 and Canon Pro70 take very different pictures. Both are very high resolution and *excellent* cameras, but the Oly tends toward much brighter, more contrasty, and saturated colors, while the Canon is more subdued. (Kinda like Kodak vs Fuji film in the old days, before Kodak increased the color saturation of their films.) My best advice would be to look at the sample images associated with the reviews of each camera here, and see which you like. Chances are you'll find yourself with a strong preference for one or the other. You may also want to look at operational differences: The Canon is a bit more flexible in its exposure modes, but the Oly has a huge RAM buffer in it so you can shoot up to 5 pictures lickety-split, much more like a film camera. The Oly is also an SLR, whereas the Canon is a rangefinder. The Canon has super integration with the Canon dedicated flash units. Etc, etc... Hope this helps!

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), January 24, 1999.

Sean, I have a question for you. How can you tell a digital camera takes damn good pictures? Is it by the 1.8" display on the camera, the display on your PC monitor or do you have to print a photo. If it's the latter, how good a printer do you have or would you recommend.

The reason I ask is because I'm looking for a good dye sub photo printer that does more than a 3x5 or 4x6 prints.

-- Peter J. Sayers (psayers@northrock.bm), February 05, 1999.