Dan, everything you say is true.

But...

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Image stabilization is a nice feature, but for you, have a look at a tripod. They're cheap, they work with most any camera (save the smallest point-and-shoot models), and they stabilize the camera perfectly. What they don't do is stabilize the subject (damn people moving all on their own!).


I guess that for his shooting situation, a tripod is viable, although he did say they were trying to avoid that. That idea hadn't entered my head becaue it doesn't match my shooting style. It's enough work just to carry the camera around, never mind a tripod and a bag full of lenses. You're right, though, under his circusmstances, a tripod is a poor-mans IS system!

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If you've, in fact, decided to go with Pentax, then the lenses I'd look at buying (with rounded prices given from B&H's web site):

Pentax 50mm f/1.4: $195 (after rebate)
Sigma 30mm f/1.4: $429


Ummm... you need to add another lens or two to the list, I think. Remember, he said he'd be shooting at quite a range of distances (
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Oh, and I don't know how far from the subject the camera will be. I'm guessing from 3 feet to 50 feet (many rows back in a small lecture room)
) and a 50mm lens isn't going to do it. At 50 feet he'll need at least 200mm, maybe more. Now we're talking the big bucks!

Sidebar: With a DSLR, do the lens focal lengths refer to the actual focal length of the lens, or is it like the P&S cameras, where the numbers refer to 35mm equivalents?

I know what I would do in his situation, but I'm not he, and don't claim that my way would be best for him. I'd use a P&S camera with at least 5 megapixels, a 6:1 zoom, and a hot shoe for external flash. A nice, neat, all-in-one package that is inexpensive, versatile, easy to carry, simple to use, and it will give perfectly acceptable pictures. Of course it doesn't have the cachet, the "wow factor" of a 10 megapixel DSLR with a bag full of interchangeable lenses, but for a quarter the price (or less) it would do what he needs.

tanstaafl.
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