Hello,

I'm reaching out to the experts at AT:Tech. I know there are a lot of knowledgeable and skilled photographers out there. I would like to graduate from my Nikon Coolpix to something more professional. The things that I'm shooting are; indoor condo renovation projects, food, garden and travels. What are some recommendations for a good workhorse that will best capture these subjects?

I have seen an HD digital camcorder that also takes still photos. Would something like this double as a decent camera for these tasks or is it best to keep the video and stills separate? My instinct tells me to keep them separate. It would be nice to combine the two because I'll be traveling soon.

Thanks!

Art,
I love my Canon Rebel XT, and if you look around on Flickr it's used by an overwhelming majority on there. (Over 100,000 photos uploaded yesterday from one of their models alone!) Actually Flickr is a great resource to see what cameras are out there and what kind of photos they take.

Hope that helps!

Art - I'm not qualified to comment directly on whether you should get a combo video-still camera, but there are a couple of things to consider:
• memory - what kind of capacity for both does the camera have?
• software & hardware - are you planning on doing the editing on your computer? if so, do you have enough processing speed and various forms of memory? not having enough of even one of these can make the process tedious
• consider that you can take still shots from any video to make pictures of them, while editing on your computer...but that is only when the camera's running.

Also, seek out a good local camera shop if you're able to, and pick their brain about it. Besides their wealth of knowledge, they'll be able to allow you to physically hold the cameras, and you can figure out what is most comfortable for you, in those situations you mentioned.

For the amount of money your investing in the upgrade (I think I've seen a few places even do trade-ins for your old camera if it's still got some life left in it, or as a sales gig), it might be worth paying a little extra to get something you know feels good in your hand, and a little training on how to use it, that a local camera store can provide that an on-line site can't.

Thanks a lot guys. I never thought about looking at flickr photos to see what kind of equipment was used. I've got a Wolf camera near me so I think I'll head over there to see if I can get some good advice.