Thank you CK, Flowers, landscapes and family are my favorite subjects.
Tony

Hi everyone, especially Tony B from Aussie, we share a similar title, hope we don't get mixed up, I am from deepest Cornwall, UK. I am sending a picture of a lily from my garden (well its my wifes garden really, she does all the work in it).

Lily after rain

Thank you all for the welcoming messages and sensible advice given. I have decided on another Fuji, this time the X10, mainly because it sounds a great camera to learn and practice the 'art' of photography. It has a 4X zoom lens that opens from F2 to F2.8, and comes with manual controls as well as full auto. From all accounts the images are excellent, and even better, it feels top quality in the hand. I know its not an SLR, but its as near to a range-finder Leica as you can get. A great step up which should last me a long time. I'll post some photos to the gallery when I get it, (its my big 80th birthday next month and I've been dropping hints).

My wife and great granddaughter

The SX40 will focus from 0cm (touching the lens) out to 1'6" at wide angle when in macro mode. So switch to macro and all should be well. I agree that the later shots seem to be focused about 6" beyond the flower and the grass stems are well in focus. So all I can advise is to keep trying and forget all about the political correctness that has spoiled your enjoyment. A lot of those comments remind me of 'Prime Ministers Question time' when our MP's act like school children.

Thanks Erv, I agree and tried out some models at our local camera store. The Sony A77 was the most comfortable in hand, but too expensive and the Canons felt wrong somehow but I liked the Nikons and the buttons seemed to be in the right place.
But for now I will continue with the Fuji which takes very satisfactory pictures although I still have a lot to learn about composition.
Tony

I agree with you Harvey. My cousin said to learn with a Kodak Brownie before buying a Hasselblad and what was good for film also applies to Digital. My main problems with the Bridge are a] the lens only has two stops at each focal length. b] No thread on lens for using filters and c]quite a delay between pressing shutter and the camera taking picture. I think I will keep my Fiji and look around for a second-hand Nikon D5100 for learning on
Tony

Hello everybody, I am a keen beginner who has just joined my local Camera Club. I use a bridge camera (Finepix S2500) and have found that the club is equally divided between Nikon DSLR's and Canon DSLR's. But I am still reasonably happy with my Fuji.
We have monthly themed competitions and weekly themed critiques and the other members are very helpful (except when asking 'What camera should I buy? '