www.CostaRicaTicas.com

For what it is worth, I have a pretty strong photographic background.

I have found that the Cannon Powershot Series performs pretty well in low lighting conditions. Yes they are point and shot. I have used mine pretty effectively in large gatherings in night time conditions and I have been pretty happy with the results. I have been able to get professional quality candids out it. I have the 10 megapixal version and it does very well at distances upto about 15 feet. How much more range do you really need?

The trick with using flash and digital is not necessarily how big your flash is, the trick is to take photos that the subject and the background are pretty close to being on the same plane. When you have subject matter and background at varying distances you are going to loose a lot regardless of your equipment (unless you are using multiple lighting sources).

My wingman is a career professional portrait photographer with thousands of dollars of equipment and he is frequently blown way with the quality that I get from that little camera. For quality candids, there is no reason to use anything other than a point and shoot.

When you are talking about Portrait type photography, what you are talking about is managing lmultiple lighting sources that are independant of your camera, with stands and stuff. You just don't need that sort of capability.

If you want to step up from point and shoot, it is hard to go wrong with the cannon rebel series. In the digital world, they make better lenses than Nikon. Cannon makes great digital , always rated high on cnet.com (another great resource for shopping) and you really can't go wrong with them.

Actually, if you want to get a high powered flash with a tilt so that you can bounce the light of a ceiling, that is the one thing you can not do with a point and shoot. This technique will produce an even lighting over varying ranges. Short of multiple lighting sources, this is the only way to move beyond the limitations of a point and shoot.

Be advised however, bouncing light off the ceiling in the Rey and the ZB bar won't work because of the high ceilings............

So why bother?????? Get a point and shoot.

Hey Pacifica...

Give HolaB a shout and see what he thinks works best.

I could be wrong but for some reason it is my belief that he knows quite a bit about cameras...

Good luck and it was a blast knowing you and learning about your escapades.

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Respectfully,

Muff

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Pacifica actually has his new camera...and I can assure you, he's got some GREAT shots.

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The only thing that matters is happiness in all it forms...

Good.... let's see them!

_________________
Respectfully,

Muff

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I think you'll be more than pleased with your Canon digital. I purchase several digital cameras a year as a part of my job. After shooting magazine photos for 20+ years with Nikon film cameras, I switched to Canon for digital. I probably bought 60 or more early consumer model digitals, back when digital SLRs were up over $10k each, but they were all just limited-application snapshot cameras.
When Canon came out with its first digital Rebel for under a thousand bucks, I went and bought two of them. I soon bought three more for my staff and bought one for myself for personal use.
I'm usually hard on cameras. I've broken and worn out a lot of high-dollar Nikon bodies and lenses. But I'm still using my first Canon Rebel digital after more than three years at work, and my personal one for more than two years.
The models that succeeded the Rebel, including yours, have each added some nice features. When my original Rebel bites the dirt, I'll definitely buy another Canon. They are definitely the best bargains around for digital SLRs.
The sharpness of the "kit" lens you referred to is amazingly good. I rarely ever install my telephoto lens because that little lens that came with the body does most everything I need.

I have used a Pentax 5.0 point and shoot for the last 4 years and had been very happy with it. When I lost it when my pick up was stolen (in Miami), I replaced it with a Canon A710, and I am delighted with the camera and Canon. When I travel I make time to read the instructions and learn new things the camera can do. Their elf series are more compact, but this one is a good size and a great point and shoot. It's biggest shortcomings compared to SLR are lack of wide angle and recovery time on flash.

More in answer to the question regarding flash shots, I have a wireless slave flash smaller than the camera that goes off when sensing the camera's flash. This makes for better lighting opportunities, shadow elimination, etc. I bought it from Porters.com