> Steve Desjardins wrote on 17.08.04 16:11: > > > There are many folks that have enough money to buy a DSLR but really > > don't want or need the advantages. For those folks the prosumer cams > > are a better choice. These cameras existed for film (remember those > > Olympus cameras?) but never really caught on. But with a big enough > > zoom, they are fine for digital work./ My friends that own things like > > the Nikon 5700 love them and would never go to an interchangeable lens > > model. They just want to take good quality images and not invest in a > > bunch of lenses. These cameras do exactly that. The big changes will > > be the improvements of the electronic viewfinders. Once they improve > > the reaction speed of the display and the color rendition, the SLR-style > > optical viewfinder will be a thing for enthusiasts and pros. IMHO, of > > course ;-) >
I agree with you! Fuji's line of prosumer cameras -- the 4900, 6900, S602, S7000, S20 -- seems to do well. Each model has a higher-resolution EVF than its predecessor, so apparently Fuji also sees that as the most important thing to change. I think all of those are still using the same lens. I enjoyed mine (6900) for a couple of years and my main frustration was the viewfinder, and the fact that I knew I had much better lenses in my cabinet than the one on that camera. But if I hadn't already had the collection of good Pentax glass, and if the little Fuji hadn't been broken, I might have never gone to the DSLR. A friend has the S7000 and is very happy with it; she has a Minolta SLR system and so no DSLR option for her existing lenses. Another friend is considering the S20 (successor to the S7000) because she doesn't want to worry about the potential for getting dust on the sensor when changing lenses. (She has Nikon lenses already, so may still go for a DSLR.) Someone else I know has upgraded from one Fuji camera (the S602) to an S7000, so I am guessing he is not feeling the need for an SLR. And I do see people using that style of camera, particularly the Fuji models, when I'm out and about. Earlier in the thread, I agreed that a hotshoe on the new Pentax 750Z would be a nice addition, but I've since seen a problem with that idea.It appears from the information already presented that the 750Z is about the same size as the 550/555. Looking at my 550, it really is too small for a shoe, and this model is special because of its *combination* of pocketability, versatility (manual control of most functions) and great image quality. ERN
