My two cents worth:.
Maybe a coincidence that I read this today. My first digicam was the predecessor to the S602Z - the S6900Z. I have since moved up to DSLRs. I'm taking a two-week tour to Italy in two weeks time. When I found that the temperatures have hit 100 degrees there, I made a decision that I don't want to be bogged down with my DSLR and a bag of lenses. I just want to relax and enjoy the tour.
It covers a 28-300mm range and uses both CF and xD cards. It also costs less than $ 400.00 athttp://www.buydig.com with no tax if you're not in New Jersey and free shipping. It's quite a bargain when I consider that I paid $800.00 for my S6900Z.My humble photo gallery: http://ntotrr.smugmug.com.
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Having started with a 602 myself, the S9100 was a natural progression and turned out to be a great choice. I moved on to the Canon Xti but keep the Fuji around as an excellent backup camera. It gives you most of the features of a fully loaded DSLR without the price. The only shortcoming as with all non DSLR cameras is that you have to accept some noise at higher ISO's and slower focusing speeds compared to DSLR's but at a fraction of the price these are small compromises to make..
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Mike.
Http://www.liquidartgallery.com.
'For every complex problem there is a solution that is obvious, simple..and wrong'..
And theres the Fuji S6000/6500 if you want a cheap alternative to the S9100 with arguably better image quality and lower noise. It unfortunately only uses xD cards, but (see below) that may be a bullet you have to bite. At the price of teh S6500 you choudl be able to get a good 1Gb xD card as well ( maybe even bundled )..
Non-Fujis ? I guess the Canon S3 would be worth a look..
For a non-superzoom try the Canon A570 IS ( SD cards )..
Your CF cards may not be useful. Remember than the S9100 churns out quite large 9Mp images. The JPEGs are about 4.5 Mb each and the RAW files are 14 Mb..
StephenG.
Fuji S9600Fuji S5200Fuji F30Fuji E900Canon A710ISPCLinuxOS..
Newfujiuser wrote:.
I am a casual photographer kids soccer/baseball games, familyevents, etc. so would probably want to buy a P&S (have looked atthe DSLRs, but would like to keep the price below $400). Anyrecommendations on a camera (doesn't have to be a Fuji - I receivedthis one as a gift) that will take CF cards, since I have so many;would hate to have to get rid of them and start with differentmemory cards, if I don't have to..
Given that you are using a Fuji, the S9000 (S9500), S9100 (S9600) and S6000fd (S6500) are all good choices. They S9x00 are just under $400, while the S6000fd is just over $300.
Others in that price range: Canon S3 IS, Sony H2, Panasonic FZ8, Kodak Z-somethings, if in-stock the monster from Samsung (Pro 815),..
By the time I press enter, a couple more cameras will probably drop below $400 .
Other ideas under $400: Nikon P5000, Panasonic LX2, Canon A570-IS,.
As far as memory cards, they are cheaper now, so you can get new ones, but you can still keep your CF cards for future use or as temporary storage or for other purposes..
If you prefer to use CF, there are also some older models from 1-3 years ago that do use CF, but they may be harder to find as brand new and they are older (eg Minolta A2, A200, Nikon 8800, Samsung Pro 815, etc)..
New blog: http://1001noisycameras.blogspot.comCurrent blog: http://photographyetc.livejournal.com..
Thanks to all of you for your recommendations and comments. Really appreciate the feedback, and I will go take a look at those cameras. In looking at the reviews on this site, it would appear that there are many in the Canon camp, so I was actually considering a splurge on the Rebel XT (not the XTi, just yet!) as an alternative and a move up. But I'm not the best photographer in the world, so a more expensive camera with more bells and whistles won't help me without a good photography class! smile..