fuzzy-hair-man wrote:
Did you check out the Canon S5 IS? it has a hotshoe but the dpreview full review isn't out yet. I think it satisfies all of your feature list. I'd wait until they put up a full review and see what the noise levels are like though.
I pretty much rejected it as soon as I saw it. That design is way too righthanded for lefty me. I actually looked at a Rebel XT today (similar dimensions and styling and weight ) and knew immediately I wouldn't be able to hang onto the dang thing. Actually dropped it about an inch onto the display case. I mentioned this to the saleslady about one of the Nikons (which had a lot of the controls on the left hand side) and she said, 'well, that's not good, you'll keep bumping into them." Silly lady didn't understand I'd PREFER to have controls on the left. (This is why I cannot, and likely will not ever be able to have a camcorder. I'm don't just write lefthanded--I'm wired that way. I don't have much grip or fine motor control in my right hand.
I know a couple of people who get around the no hotshoe by just using a slave mounted on top or beside the camera, it causes no real hassle but not as good a solution.
Well, I'm used to having a corded off camera flash for closeups on my 35s.
For cave situations, you can pour a lot of light on most things, and the dark will take it. But, for example, I was shooting a spiderweb with my p&s-- my husband got much better results with a corded TTL flash on the camera he was using.
I still appreciate your efforts. Thanks.