Andybarbet
|
 posted on 15/5/11 at 08:58 PM |
|
|
Digital camera buying advice please
My wife is looking at getting a decent digital camera rather than our Kodak easy share point & click thingy.
We currently have a budget of £150 give or take, she is looking for advice/owners recommendations for a suitable 'Bridge' camera that will
allow her to eventually get a DSLR type if she finds she really enjoys proper photography, Unless there is a DSLR that we could pick up second hand
that would be within our budget ?
I had a few SLR's in the 80's/90's but ive not been into this sort of thing for years so we are looking for some advice please.
We cant really go much higher than the above mentioned budget because if we do, it'll come out of my kitcar fund 
Cheers Andy & Emily
Give a man a fish & it will feed him for a day, give him a fishing rod & you've saved a fish.
|
|
|
|
|
tegwin
|
| posted on 15/5/11 at 09:03 PM |
|
|
Ask yourself/her why you want an SLR....
I have a Canon 400D slr, and yes, it takes some fantastic images when you take the time to frame the shot properly, get the exposure right etc... but
its a ballache because you need the camera (which itself is hefty) plus a bag of lenses so you can be sure to capture anything you come across... I
have 3 lenses at the moment with a combined value of about £1000... and they can be considered budget lenses... Because of the weight/bulkyness of
the SLR I dont use it unless I know in advance that carrying it will pay off.
I have a little compact (panasonic FT2) that fits in my pocket, OK, so the quality of the pics is not as good as the 400D, BUT, you can take it with
you everywhere! (plus the FT2 works underwater)...
Panasonic do some really really good pocket sized point and shoot digi cams which I am fairly sure would now compete photo quality wise with my 400D,
plus the fact that some now come with pretty wide lenses (about 20mm) and some stonking telephonto (around 300m) plus all in between without ever
having to change lens...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Would the last person who leaves the country please switch off the lights and close the door!
www.verticalhorizonsmedia.tv
|
|
|
Andybarbet
|
| posted on 15/5/11 at 09:08 PM |
|
|
She knows she can get a pocket type camera, we have one already, she really wants to get into photography & does actually want to spend time
framing/setting upshots & experimenting etc.
Im all up for this, i have my kitcar build to keep me amused, i think it would be a great thing for her to really get into.
Give a man a fish & it will feed him for a day, give him a fishing rod & you've saved a fish.
|
|
|
austin man
|
| posted on 15/5/11 at 09:13 PM |
|
|
I had a Kodak Z650 easysare, 10 x optical zoom, took realy good pictures upgraded to a DSLR sony A200 for one reason only that was for continuos
shooting 3fps the Kodak only gave me 3 frames then I had to wait for the processing.
Advice would be go for a decent optical zoom 3x is way to small unless your doing more close up, try to get one wit manual settings as this allows a
greater degree of control and more alligned to the DSLRS.
You could pick up an entry level DSLR for around the £150 mark something older like the sony A100 . I have purcahse 3 lenses secondhand from ebay
including one for close up work and a couple of Telephoto lensed dearest one being £60.
Life is like a bowl of fruit, funny how all the weird looking ones are left alone
|
|
|
MikeRJ
|
| posted on 15/5/11 at 09:25 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Ask yourself/her why you want an SLR....
He doesn't want an SLR, he wants a bridge camera...
For £150 you are a extremely limited in terms of new cameras, pretty much right at the bottom end with companies like GE and their budget offerings.
Are you open to buying secondhand?
|
|
|
Andybarbet
|
| posted on 15/5/11 at 09:28 PM |
|
|
Yes, we are open to buying 2nd hand.
Any advice is good, if she can get a 2nd hand one that will out perform a new budget one then thats fine with her
Give a man a fish & it will feed him for a day, give him a fishing rod & you've saved a fish.
|
|
|
stevebubs
|
| posted on 15/5/11 at 09:45 PM |
|
|
Take a look at the Lumix TZ7....bit point and shooty but you can get some v. good results...
|
|
|
austin man
|
| posted on 15/5/11 at 09:53 PM |
|
|
My DSLR with bag lens charger, tripod and memory card was around £200 second hand so yes they can be had. At least a second hand DSLR will allow her
to start getting into it a little more seriously using manual and RAW settings giving her greater control over the pictures she takes.
All my track picture have been taken using a sony A200 with second hand lenses. I have also taken a lot of wedding and portraits with it and no
regrets
Life is like a bowl of fruit, funny how all the weird looking ones are left alone
|
|
|
blakep82
|
| posted on 15/5/11 at 10:00 PM |
|
|
my mum just got a canon sx130ix. seems a good sort of 'in between' camera. its a very good camera on its own right anyway, don't
know about prices, can't seem to find much about it, not sure how long its been out. worth investigating i reckon
________________________
IVA manual link http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCES&itemId=1081997083
don't write OT on a new thread title, you're creating the topic, everything you write is very much ON topic!
|
|
|
MakeEverything
|
| posted on 15/5/11 at 10:54 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Andybarbet
Yes, we are open to buying 2nd hand.
Any advice is good, if she can get a 2nd hand one that will out perform a new budget one then thats fine with her
Mate, get Em to come and have a play with mine (camera). Ive got a really good point and shoot as well as a canon 40D that ive just swapped for my
old 300D to pay off a small debt.
Kindest Regards,
Richard.
...You can make it foolProof, but youll never make it Idiot Proof!...
|
|
|
SteveWalker
|
| posted on 15/5/11 at 11:18 PM |
|
|
She also needs to think what she's going to use it for. My wife had a Nikon compact, but as most of her photos were of our children and many of
those were action shots, it was useless - the shutter lag was so great that she missed the moment with almost every shot of them. We replaced it with
a Sony, bought mainly on the strength of the short lag. To be honest, we use my Canon 350D for almost everything.
Just as an aside, does anyone remember the make of camera that was introduced a few years ago that continually took photos, keeping 7 every time you
pressed the button, the one at the moment of pressing, three before and three after? That sounded like a good idea for action photos.
|
|
|
britishtrident
|
| posted on 16/5/11 at 06:06 AM |
|
|
Don't buy an Olympus ---- having had several Olympus conventional cameras i was expecting great things when I bought an Olympus digital to
replace my Sanyo point and click job , the spec look great but it was was awful to use, the menus were very confusing, a lot of shutter delay
and the pictures were muddy.
I kept it for 6 months before buying another Sanyo.
Don't dismiss compact size digital cameras some of them have very good lenses and sensors apart from the big names also look at Fuji &
Sanjo
|
|
|
Steve Hignett
|
| posted on 16/5/11 at 06:55 AM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Andybarbet
My wife is looking at getting a decent digital camera rather than our Kodak easy share point & click thingy.
We currently have a budget of £150 give or take, she is looking for advice/owners recommendations for a suitable 'Bridge' camera that will
allow her to eventually get a DSLR type if she finds she really enjoys proper photography, Unless there is a DSLR that we could pick up second hand
that would be within our budget ?
I had a few SLR's in the 80's/90's but ive not been into this sort of thing for years so we are looking for some advice please.
We cant really go much higher than the above mentioned budget because if we do, it'll come out of my kitcar fund
Cheers Andy & Emily
Andy (& Emily),
If you want to be sure before spending any of your money, then I'd be happy to lend you my Nikon D50 DSLR (including a couple of lenses, spare
battery, if you want?
***ETA*** When I say above, lenses etc - they are 18 - 55 and a 70 - 300 and also a pack of screw on Macro lenses. I've taken a few close ups of
a Bonsai tree flowering to test the macro lenses and they've come out pretty good, but for that sort of detail level you really need a genuine
macro lens (which I couldn't justify the cost of, due to the amount of use it may/may not get!) Also as part of my kit is a strap for the
camera, but I think it gets in the way slightly. A Manfroto Monopod for use when I go to Oulton Park every now and again, and a LowePro
Over-One-Shoulder bag that swings round in front, so that the camera can be taken out safely... ***ETA***
As you are a distance away from me, I'm more than happy to securely package it and courier it to you and would asak that when you've had a
good play, that you securely package it for the return post. I am absolutely skint too, so I'd really appreciate it if you were willing to cover
the cost of postage each way (sorry about this, but we really are pretty poor right now as a family!).
One of the reason's of the offer is that I had a quick look on ebay for the cost of my Camera, and it's a little out of your £150 price
range, but I think that if you had the use of mine for a few weeks, then it would save you the money in buying an in-between camera as I think
you'd prob wish you'd gone straight for the DSLR.
My Nikon D50 was bought by me as it was above an entry level, but still wasn't plastered in features that wasn't going to get used by me
in all likelihood, but lots of the features of newer and higher spec cameras are actually available in the D50, it's just that they are hidden
in sub-menu's for the more serious photographer to investigate when you get a bit familiar!
Of course I'd ask that you kept it in good order as I bought it a couple of years ago when I was:- single/living with parents/and on better
money! So I'd not be able to afford to replace it now if something were to happen to it!!!
I've also got a couple of photography magazines that I'd be happy to send down in the packaging for your wife to have a read of, and get
some inspiration from to see if she wants to get into it in a bigger way!
Send me a U2U if you are interested,
ATB
Steve
[Edited on 16/5/11 by Steve Hignett]
|
|
|
rgrs
|
| posted on 16/5/11 at 07:25 AM |
|
|
How about : Nikon d70s body now available for about £100 with batteries and charger and to start with a 18-70 g lens available for less than £50.
This is an older model but still gives all the flexibility you would need ( full auto or manual control over everthing ) the lens is one of the most
usefull. Its the one lens that remains bolted to the front of my camera virtually all the time.
If she decides that dslr is the way to go, sell the body and keep the lens and upgrade to a newer version.
Roger
|
|
|
907
|
| posted on 16/5/11 at 07:44 AM |
|
|
Quote.
Unless there is a DSLR that we could pick up second hand that would be within our budget ?
____________________________________________________________________________
I used to be into SLR's back in the film days (Minolta stuff) but time and technology moves on.
I too now use (most of the time) a Kodak EasyShare CX7530. A cracking little camera that I payed £25 s/h,
but I've always wanted to get back to an SLR.
Not being flush with cash I bought a Samsung GX10 s/h. A shade under £200. (Pic below)
OK, so its not a "Caterham" of the camera world but it does the job.
Worth a thought perhaps?
Cheers,
Paul G
 
Samsung GX10 dslr
|
|
|
hughpinder
|
| posted on 16/5/11 at 07:54 AM |
|
|
By strange co-incidence I'm just about to put my D70 and 18-70 lens/battery/charger on ebay. U2U me if the spec looks good to you.
Regards
Hugh
|
|
|
Jasper
|
| posted on 16/5/11 at 01:33 PM |
|
|
I would save up a bit more if she's seriously interested into getting into photography, even for second hand kit. you're gonna have to
spend more than that to get a bridge camera with more features on than a decent compact camera like the Panasonic.
And I'm not sure if a second hand bridge camera would give you a real taste of a decent SLR with some proper lenses, they are so different.
If you're not living life on the edge you're taking up too much room.
|
|
|
hughpinder
|
| posted on 16/5/11 at 03:00 PM |
|
|
I don't think you need to save more. You can have the D70 kit i'm flogging (body/lens/battery/charger) for £130 inc p+p, cos thats what I
just paid to upgrade to a used D80 body (I have other lenses to use with it). The D70's 'only' 6.1mpixels which doesn't sound
much these days(but will print to A3 quite easily), but you'll learn everything you need to about photography from it.
ETA: At that price, you should get your money back by flogging it on the bay if its not for you.
Its probably a good idea to get a good book, or look on some sites like www.kenrockwell.com or www.luminous-landscape.com for ideas of the sorts of
things you can do with different types of cameras, what sort of kits available etc.
Regards
Hugh
[Edited on 16/5/11 by hughpinder]
|
|
|
twybrow
|
| posted on 16/5/11 at 03:15 PM |
|
|
Canon G7/G9/G11... Amazing cameracs. Crystal images, and virtually the same software as the SLRS, so plenty of setting for her to play with to see if
she likes it. MY mrs has a G9, and loves it. I bought a G9 at my last company, and aG11 at m,y present company, and everyone loves them. The mrs is
just making the jump from the G9, so a Cannon 550D - and she can use it straight out of the box as the G9 acts a such a strong bridge!
|
|
|
Andybarbet
|
| posted on 16/5/11 at 06:43 PM |
|
|
Thanks for all the replys, wife is digesting them as i type & is going to spend the evening doing some research.
As always, locostbuilders comes back with an array of experience & answers,
Cheers Andy & Emily
Give a man a fish & it will feed him for a day, give him a fishing rod & you've saved a fish.
|
|
|
HowardB
|
| posted on 16/5/11 at 06:56 PM |
|
|
fuji do a great range of bridge cameras and they are not too expensive. I have been impressed by all the ones that I have played with,..
s2800hd
Fujifilm FinePix S2800HD Digital Camera Bundle | eBay UK
hth
Howard
Fisher Fury was 2000 Zetec - now a 1600 (it Lives again and goes zoom)
|
|
|
MikeRJ
|
| posted on 17/5/11 at 08:49 AM |
|
|
The Fuji bridge cameras aren't bad (I've had a couple), but typically they have small sensors and fairly slow lenses which limits their
usefulness. I was going to suggest looking for a s/h Samsung GX10/Pentax K10D but it's already been mentioned.
Personally I snap up Hugh's offer of the D70, I doubt you will get anything better for the money and you then have a proper DSLR to learn
with.
[Edited on 17/5/11 by MikeRJ]
|
|
|
.jpg)
