Curse

VanDamselx · Nov 27, 2007, 01:39 PM // 13:39

I've been asking around a lot and have gotten no responses, so I will try here. I will be taking a digital photography class in the spring semester and I need a camera with two requirements:

At least 5.0MP
Manual Exposure

I'm having difficulty finding a camera that has full manual exposure that is actually a decent price. The 5.0MP thing is not a big deal. I'm only taking this as a gen ed, so I don't want anything too expensive since it will be most likely the only time I will need to use a camera of great quality. I would really like to spend around the $200 range, but if I have to spend closer to $300 I could try to pull some strings. I really don't have any preferences besides that I don't want to use AA batteries.

Any help can be greatly appreciated.

axe · Nov 27, 2007, 03:35 PM // 15:35

By manual exposure what exactly do you mean. You want control over shutter speeds? and ISO? Does that include manual focus. Or do you mean that you want to be able to hold the shutter open indefinately (I think they call that bulb mode)

Obviously I am no expert, but I just wanted to be on the same page with you.

I personally own a panasonic lumix (bought it about 5 years ago) it has been a good camera, but there are far better. Anyways I can focus manually, I can change shutter speads and aperature and all kinds of things, I CANNOT keep the shutter open as long as I want though.

All the panasonic lumix cameras have leica lenses and I have been very impressed by the lens. I believe today you can get various Panasonic Lumix cameras in the $250 price range and it may have all the features you are looking for. Its a good place to start with on google though.

Again I am definately not an expert, I got into photography a while back when I inherited an old 35mm SLR camera and I loved the control that I have with taking the pictures and I loved that there is NOTHING automatic about the camera. So when I decided to get a digital camera for convenience I wanted to have some of the same control to get better pictures. I found out though that I pretty much just point and shoot since its automatic so if I had to buy a digital again I would get something smaller and more practical.