PaulaBrady wrote:
Ok, I'm 54 years old and my husband is two years away from retirement. ( He would make a great photo assistant ...

Paula - Age has nothing to do with it! Desire and determination have everything to do with it. Add to that self-decipline and self-motivation. Then just go for it.

I started a home business when I was 50 or so. At age 60 I took up dog training (having gotten 2 fun little dogs) and began a career in dog agility competition. Now, 15 years later, I am still putting agility championships on my dogs (some are gone now and my baby is nearly 3). I also compete in canine musical freestyle with them (dancing with your dog).

To answer your question, yes! You can do it!

Age has nothing to do with it! Desire and determination have everything to do with it. Add to that self-decipline and self motivation. Then just go for it.

I started a home business when I was 50 or so. At age 60 I took up dog training (having gotten 2 fun little dogs) and began a career in agility competition. Now, 15 years later, I am still putting agility championships on my dogs (some have gone and my baby is nearly 3). I also compete in canine musical freestyle with them.

To answer your question, yes! You can do it!

I have a Cavalier who looks just like Oscar, another one same color and a little different look, and another that is all the red color. Wonderful little babies. How do you manage to give Oscar back to mom?

As would Limbaugh and Hannity and their ilk.

Thank you for helping me understand this relationship. This makes very good sense to me now.

Thank you, Martin. I'm looking at the specs for the cameras you mentioned. I do keep coming back to the Canon G15 tho', as I really do like my G6.

I hadn't really understood that relationship before (thanks for your help) but surmised it had to be something like what you describe. I've also noticed the longer zoom cameras have the smaller sensor (at least in the compact arena). Is that done to keep the size of the camera compact? Or is there some technical reason for that?

Wow! Thanks. This is getting closer. I looked at the specs and will definitely take a close look tomorrow and see how i stacks up againstt the Sony DSC HX50V. The max aperture of 3.5 is somewhat troubing in both cameras. Many thanks for all your help, Kestrel1029.

I find myself revisiting again and again the SX50. It may be too big and heavy for my current needs, but it sure is a tempting camera.

Thanks so much for that suggestion. I've looked at the specs and that's a lot of camera and a Carl Zeiss lens to boot! I'd buy it in a heartbeat if it weren't so big and heavy. Being realistic with myself, whenever I go somewhere and need a camera, I grab the E900 because it handily slips into my purse.

Thanks - great idea. I have a sort of list with "must have" and "would be nice to have". My search has taught me a lot about the technicalities of digital cameras! What I don't need is video. I use my iTouch for that.

:-o :-o :-o :-o

Thank you, Kestrel1029. Yep! I'm hoping to find the perfect camera but realize it will be a compromise. I'd love to have one of the Sony NEXs but don't feel I'm good enough yet and don't really know where I'm headed, so I can't justify (to myself) that investment just yet. You went straight from your G6 to your Sony mirrorless. I take it you didn't find anything in between the two that suited your needs?

Thank you, Wilsondl2. Sounds like I could benefit from an upgrade. I'm trying to consider all the high end P&S and any bridge camera of a decent size and weight (not too big/heavy). Any suggestions other than those I've mentioned?

I am not a professional photographer but I love taking photos of my dogs, my flowers, landscapes, the cardinal in my tree, visitors, vacation shots, etc. What I love most is a good, sharp photo. I’ve been fooling around with bokeh and enjoy the experience. I do a lot of cropping, using a dog head from a group of dogs for a christmas card or a bird in the bush in my front yard, for example. I am searching for an upgrade mainly for better quality photos, but also a smaller size than the G6 but no smaller than the E900 which has a nice feel in my hands.

My question is, what will I gain by upgrading? Is 12 mp really better than 9? Is a CMOS sensor a lott better than a Super CCD? I currently own a Canon G6 (7mp, 4x zoom, aperature f2.0 wide, f8.0 narrow, 1/1.8 CCD sensor) and Fujifilm E900 (9 mp, 4x zoom, f2.8 wide, f8.0 narrow, 1/1.6 Super CCD sensor). Both camers are 7-8 years old, very old in digital terms. If I find I really enjoy photography, I will some day buy a mirrorless camera. But first I want to see if I can get really good...which could take years.

Features I feel are important are: image quality, hot shoe, more zoom than I have now (16-20x?), optical stabilization, macro, fast autofocus and shutter, manual focus, plus the usual light, exposure and auto focus settings, flash settings, PSAM, etc. Nice features to have are 16+ mp, viewfinder, articulating screen, RAW format, remote shutter. There may be important features that escape me at the moment. Feel free to mention them. $500-600 isn’t out of the question.

Cameras I’ve been looking at are Nikon P7700, Canon G15 (not much zoom in those two) Sony DSC-HX50V, Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS30, Lumix DMC-LX7 (not much zoom), Fujifilm x20. What I’m seeing is that with a decent zoom, the sensor size is decreased. The RX100 has no zoom, no remote, no hot shoe, little zoom, no viewfinder, no macro per se, but great image quality. Seems like I’m going to have to compromise but not so much as the RX 100 would require.

If you’ve made it this far, my question remains, what do I gain by upgrading? And if anyone has a camera suggestion that would meet my needs, please shout out!

Many thanks for taking the time to “listen” to my request.

I'm new here and trying to learn all I can about photography equipment. I own my own business doing graphic arts and typesetting for the printing trade (20 years). Prior work was in human resources management.
In my spare time I train and compete in agility and freestyle (dancing with your dog) with my 4 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, the loves of my life! Pictured with me is my special Bravo.

Me and Bravo


Bravo doing agility, coming down dogwalk