Hey Josh, Thanks for the the tips, but I hope not to be doing much shooting other than quilts, plants & architectural details. I'm still am looking for work (15 months later, thank G_d for Unemployment Insurance extensions) & trying to prevent Quilting from upstaging my job search efforts. So pix will largely have to keep, it's really to be a vehicle for my Quilt Blog, you'll are invited to come on by for a visit & drop thoughts, comments, critiques, etc.; all are welcome -- ("karenthequilter" (no spaces)). I'm trying to start selling my Quilts as folks have been asking me for years if I sell them. I hadn't been interested in doing so 'til now, & have a larger enough body of works to get started. Also I haven't known how to before, am trying to figure this out, so had my friend of Ceropegia fame take some pix so I could start having an online presence (a quilt forum to get feedback) & there's a handmade art site called Etsy where I hope to be posting for sale (my stuff is kind of pricy for there, not sure it'll work; I do more Art Quilts & one of a kind work rather that more traditional type quilts). Hiya Christoula, Yes, I'm in NYC, actually Sheepshead Bay, all the way at the other end of the Coney Island Boardwalk (approx. 3 miles away). You bought your camera in Coney Island? How bizarre, small world, didn't even know it had camera shops; hope you got a receipt. Maybe we can meet on the Boardwalk sometime, say hello & grab a coffee somewhere. What pls. is "shooting in raw"? I've spent some time w/ the manual & have now cleared out sufficient room on my hard drive. Patron St. sent me some freeware editting stuff I still have to check out. As to getting it on the page, I'll confess, going thru Photobucket as intermediary. So far I've shot to the build it-in memory card & the removable one & played back from each to my PC. But I didn't know how to upload to here w/out copying the salient lines of code from Photobucket. Anyway, lots to learn, have just spent my first batteries, got to go buy more & a recharger. Bummer that I've discovered is my built memory card holds 3 pix -- 3???? Whose brilliant idea was that I ask you ...? Hey John, Thanks, nothing wrong w/ dinosaurs, if it ain't broke ... as long as you can take nice pix, I wouldn't hurry. Anyway, sorry to be sort of OT, but I will be shooting more plant pix SOMETIME & besides, it's my thread right, so I can't sort of veer it in a semi-off T direction? We'll blame it on new camera delirium!!

iPod Touch 5th gen looking pretty good. Even has a wrist strap now. 5mp f/2.4 lens and backside illumination for good low-light capability, HDR, LED flash, faee detection, tap-to-focus, 1080p full-HD video with image stabilization, geotagging in wifi areas, 4" ultra-high-res screen, send and receive to anyone, play back on screen or wirelessly to your TV. Oh, it can also download and play music and videos, surf the internet, send and receive texts and emails, and play games And it's light. Great camera that does other stuff too.

Thanks for your explanation, as for me, I need to get immersed in some of the finer points of camerology I've been procrastinating about because they are complicated. Auto focus in low light is probably the problem; it is a problem with lots of models, or it could be something else. And you can always try to manually focus, but it's tricky if you don't have a special ring, tricky anyway, but some people have a great eye for it. Before you give up on the wonders of being able to take some shots without a flash (sometimes it's just better to use it), you might try holding a flashlight or laser pen just long enough to focus but turn it off before you press the shutter. Maybe also check your manual to see if the camera has a focus assist beam, probably not. Yesterday of all things I photographed an amateur (customer-participation) fashion show with mixed results. But one of the neat things was it was well lit in there, my flash failed and I didn't know it right away. Some shots I did not want to use the flash on anyway because it would not reach far enough to do any good. I got a few really nice shots even if some were duds, think I used ISO 800 but then bumped it up to 1600 which was bad because that's when noise kicks in on mine. But maybe I needed the 1600 for a couple of them, can't remember. The bottom line is that if you can crank up the ISO and can manage to focus, you can get a photo you could never get otherwise, even if it's a little noisy, it's better than no photo unless you can't achieve focus. It works great at dusk, too. Another trick to focus is to point at something brighter and half press, but it should be the same distance or you may get what you want in focus blurred. While you are half pressing, reframe the shot and press all the way. I do that all the time in normal light even to get just what I want in focus. Somebody suggested to focus on the eyes so I do. I'm just sharing some things I learned the hard way and by reading a lot, and if you knew some of this, please forgive me. I can't zoom up as close as you can with what I'm now using nor can I get good macro shots, so if you can get the hang of it, you will be able to get some great photos. I'll bet that camera takes nice macros. Watch for camera shake, if you get too close, you may need a tripod.

Caudex1, Sure can, we went to a retail store and looked at both Nikon D80 and Canon 40D, seriously considering either one. We have 2 other Canon cameras so my DH was leaning more towards that one. I was leaning more towards the Nikon as my sister has one and I knew she gets great photos from it. Like I said the Canon was heavier and a little bigger, it had more menu options on the dial, not sure what they all were. We took photos from both and through the lcd screen, the Nikon looked like it captured the truer colors. My hair was a little yellower with the Canon, my hair is not that yellow. They let us print out a sample from each camera. The Nikon, the colors were more true and the sharpeness was better, more of the photo seemed in focus. The Canon, I liked my face colorings a little better(not so red) but my hair was yellower and the surroundings were not as sharp as with the Nikon. The Canon had an image stablizer but the Nikon did not. Also the Nikon was $ 300.00 cheaper.