Good digital camera for still photography and video?

This seems like an appropriate thread to ask this question.

I was into photography a long time back. In 1985 I accquired the Nikon F3. 50mm f/1.2 lens which was the fastest lens of its generation back then. Back then, this was Nikon's first foray into modular design and there were a host of attachments that you could buy with this camera. Like all great camera's the len's were at least 5 years ahead of the body. Net result great pics on the best film of that time. The now defunct kodachrome.  Now you really know I'm antique.

I actively used it till 1992, when a fire at home destroyed the camera, the negatives and all the prints of my 7 years of labour. I swore I would never go back to photography. I then got into music reproduction.....lol.

Flash forward 17 years from that day (almost to the day) and I want to catch up with photography again. Except that technology has moved on (my knowledge has'nt). So have my needs. I need a VFM digital camera that will give me the fine tuning ability of the Nikon and option of still and video. Am I asking for too much?

p.s. Decent real world budget. 30k is upper limit.

I think Canon digital cameras score pretty good at video quality, not to mention they are brilliant at still photography. I had used Canon TX1 (hated the ergonomics but loved the video quality, super zoom and overall picture quality).

IMHO you need a prosumer camera such as Canon G10, Panasonic FZ50 etc.

Yesssss. At last I have this opportunity to suggest something to the legendary troubleshooter Arun  (just kidding) with a bit of my gathered knowledge.

Well, as you must have read, for Good video and still pics, I would suggest you to opt for Panasonic Lumix (FZ28 or FZ35). Great cam for pictures with a powerful 18x optical zoom. HD Video recording of 1280x720 resolution and that too with zoom. Pictures in RAW format. Best point n shoot camera as per my knowledge. Then you can have Canon Powershot SX10 IS without HD video recording and RAW picture format. Also Nikon P90 is there.

But I have checked picture quality of these cams and Panasonic FZ28 wins the run (well, according to me). All of these are under 30k, so now you can decide which one you want to opt for. Just one thing is annoiying, that in Delhi even Panasonic showrooms are not having FZ28's stock. Will have to check grey stores.

Arun, All the best to you, as you approach your long lost love once again... hope you find it as interesting as before it cruelly ditched you 17 years ago.

While all P&S are improving, and for the general public, cancel out any need for an SLR, You will soon hit your limit of creativity with a point-and-shoot. Your types will not be satisfied with whatever programmed flexibility a point and shoot will give you. So maybe not a good idea to go for a P&S. You will end up spending even more on a DSLR shortly, after hitting the wall with your point and shoot.

I may be an armchair expert on the topic, but I'm good at being armchair expert, so ignore the advice at the peril of your wallet.

There was quite some discussion on Banwari's and Feroz's purchases of cameras, that can serve you well too for choosing a suitable DSLR. Your budget will be an issue - I recall those posts in "Buying a Car" with reams of requirements, and the kicker? - a 3L max budget constraint!

My 2 cents:

With a budget of 30k why not an entry level DSLR? I guess they start at 20k.

Have a look here.

Ami and Krishna, both of you guys are right, an entry level DSLR can come under a budget of 30k but I would like to highlight here that Arun want to capture video as well, which only comes in DSLR's more expensive than 50k. Also for zooming and stuff, one has to buy lenses. Thats why I adviced a Point and Shoot. Rest is up to Arun.

I guess with both sound and light trying for 2 objectives in one unit means compromising on quality of both, unless you're willing to shell out mega bucks. I'm not.

Krishna and Ami know me well by now. Yeah, I'd tire of a PnS pretty soon. I need something I can adjust, set, fine tune to try and get perfection. So yes, its still over video and control features are a must. How about if I upped the ante to 45-50k for a decent DSLR and a basic video cam seperate? This is the absolute outside limit.

Ofcourse I would buy the DSLR first.

Hmmmm now this is the way to go. In a 50k budget, you can have Nikon D5000 which is a pretty good entry level DSLR and also offers HD video recording in the name of D-movie. You can try that. Find more info here.