usrbingeek

Happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey I just noticed you're in Vermont too? I'm in Burlington. Are you stationed at Station Burlington?

Worthwhile tripods don't come cheap but they're well worth the investment as cheaper ones simply don't last. If you buy a cheap one you'll end up rebuying and only spending more money in the long run. I've seen it time and time again. Acceptable full size tripods start around $100. Look for ones that have no more than 4 leg sections. Bogen-Manfrotto is a very good brand and I highly recommend their tripods as they use quality materials and are designed well. Avoid the Velbon, Sakar, SunPak, Opteka, Vanguard, and Quantaray brands! They're very cheaply made and tend to break after only a few use

Since you're going to be using the camera mostly in low light conditions, of those, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5K would be your best bet. However I'd recommend that you look for an inexpensive Canon or Nikon DSLR, perhaps not the newest model, and also a wide 2.8F aperture lens as a 28mm or 50mm. It'd be much better suited for those conditions as all point and shoot models are going to have focusing and noise problems in low light conditions such in a night club. We're not talking about much more money if you go with an older body. I'd suggest a Nikon D50 or D40. Take a look at KEH.com if you