Photograph and Camera talk
-
holla, those are some really nice photos
-
It helps to take 3 exposures or just shoot 1 raw photo. The only thing I find with raw photos is that if you are above 400 ISO, you get a lot of noise, but that is just me personally. I would rather shoot with 3 exposures but if you don't have a tripod it is hard to keep the pictures in line.
Also as for programs a lot of people use photomatix (it merges multiple images, and then creates an HDR image then you post edit it).
-
Hard to compare a compact to an DSLR… Any DSLR will give you an advantage as far as IQ is concerned because of the larger sensor.. But it can be tiring to lug around. If you don't mind that, go for it. I don't know about this specific Canon model, they have different designations over here in Europe. Hope I could help a little.