Whats your camera of choice?

[Mitchell3]

I can't recall seeing a dedicated thread for cameras. Correct me if I am wrong. I'm currently looking into upgrading to a new camera so I am wondering what you all would recommend. I'm sure I am not the only one who would benefit from your input.

My situation,
I'm probably willing to spend a max of $700. I'd like something that takes good pictures but able to take good video as well since from time to time its handy to have. I understand a little bit about picture taking etc, so the more user/beginner friendly the better.

Let me know what you guys got.

Thanks

[shift8]

I can't recall seeing a dedicated thread for cameras. Correct me if I am wrong. I'm currently looking into upgrading to a new camera so I am wondering what you all would recommend. I'm sure I am not the only one who would benefit from your input.

My situation,
I'm probably willing to spend a max of $700. I'd like something that takes good pictures but able to take good video as well since from time to time its handy to have. I understand a little bit about picture taking etc, so the more user/beginner friendly the better.

Let me know what you guys got.

Thanks

I got a Nikon D7000 DSLR, but I think it is going to be too big and heavy for what you really want.

My buddy has a Nikon 1 and it is SHARP.

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/acil/bodies/index.htm

I think you should look into that kind of hybrid level. Nice pictures, I think it does video, and has interchangable lenses, but is lighter and more compact.

[XTOTHEL]

Try a used 60D for maybe 300-400ish. Then buy a 24-105(~$800) for video and general shooting.

[SomeGuy]

You can pick up a Nikon D3200 kit for around $500...the kit lens won't be that good, so down the road you can pick up a better lens or two to upgrade. With an SLR it's all about lenses and not so much about the body.

[Slade]

I picked up a T4i last boxing day for $649 + tax.
I then grabbed a 50mm 1.8 for $89
Then got a 55-250mm off Kijiji for $100.

I think I have a decent amateur kit started for under a grand.

[Wylie]

If you go the DSLR route get a 50mm 1.8, cheap but amazing lens

[shift8]

If you go the DSLR route get a 50mm 1.8, cheap but amazing lens

I just picked one of those up. I love it. Great little lens. Camera came with an 18mm-105mm zoom lens which is quite nice as well. Between those 2 lenses I'm pretty much covered for the general shooting I do.

Note that with the DSLR route, there is a slight difference with the Nikon bodies. If you go with the D3xxx or D5xxx series, there is no auto-focus motor on the body. I found this out when I went to get the Nikkor f/1.8 50mm lens. I was lucky in that the lens was only $150 compared to nearly $400 due to not requiring an auto-focus motor on the lens itself since I have the D7000 (which includes and focus motor on the body itself).

[optiklenz13]

I have a 7D body for sale if you're interested. I'd rather sell it as its just sitting inside my camera bag doing nothing..

*shameless plug* LOL!!!

[Mitchell3]

Thanks guys! I'll look into comparing these when I get home and weigh my options.


I have a 7D body for sale if you're interested. I'd rather sell it as its just sitting inside my camera bag doing nothing..

*shameless plug* LOL!!!

Feel free to pm me with what price you have in mind and I'll consider it as well :P

[eguiyab]

All depend on the format you want? DSLR or point and shoot. Good options on both ends really. The Point and Shoots are definetly easier, but not always as versitile.
You have the Fuji X100, Nikon 1 series, Canon G12 for point and shoots and of course lower end/entry level DSLR's.

Going used, I would say a D90 or D7000 would be to great options.

[Wylie]

I just picked one of those up. I love it. Great little lens. Camera came with an 18mm-105mm zoom lens which is quite nice as well. Between those 2 lenses I'm pretty much covered for the general shooting I do.

Note that with the DSLR route, there is a slight difference with the Nikon bodies. If you go with the D3xxx or D5xxx series, there is no auto-focus motor on the body. I found this out when I went to get the Nikkor f/1.8 50mm lens. I was lucky in that the lens was only $150 compared to nearly $400 due to not requiring an auto-focus motor on the lens itself since I have the D7000 (which includes and focus motor on the body itself).

excellent point, forgot to mention this, the lower end bodys wont auto focus non AF-S lenses so the 50mm is around 300-400 or so rather than 150
The exact reason I had a D40x for less than a week.

[Aitch]

*My* camera of choice is a Canon 5D MkII. Full frame, not too expensive (now), has everything I need (the MkIII is not worth it yet for me).

However I'd either recommend an entry-level DSLR or one of the new mirrorless compacts. Specifically which one, I'm not the best person to say though.

/end useless post.

[coriolis]

I have a 5D mk2 for work, personal camera is a Sony rx100.

I was going to get a Sony NEX but I knew if I bought a m43 or DSLR, I'll end up picking up more lens and more $$$$.

[aboss]

I'm a pretty avid hobbyist photographer/do the odd paying gig from time to time.

For photo quality, nothing still beat a DSLR. Sensor size is king. Definitely worth the "size and weight" of carrying is around. There are some great "entry level" ones out there that are really pretty small for the quality you get. Many shoot decent video as well. Of course, for the BEST quality you'd want full frame, but that will be bigger again, and out of your price range. Go with a crop sensor DSLR from Nikon or Canon and you won't be disappointed. I'm a Nikon guy myself -- but really they're both good.

A Nikon D3XXX would be my recommendation. 3000, 3100, 3200... whichever you can find on sale. The 3100 probably will be the best deal atm. Start with the kit lens and go from there. The 50mm 1.8 previously mentioned is a great choice for sure. Definitely can't beat it for the price.

I'm not personally a fan of the new "mirrorless" cameras... but many swear by them as they ARE smaller and the quality is pretty darn good, if not quite as good as an SLR.

[r4BBiT]

I got a Canon T4i and it's pretty decent, you will need external flash for low light indoor pics though. Also the lens that it comes with is not the greatest for videos and auto-focus as it is loud and you can hear it in the video. You would need to upgrade to STM or USM lenses to get rid of that and they aren't cheap.

Like someone said already with DSLRs the lenses is more important and if you slap L series lens on it it will be take amazing pictures. I've tried my co-workers 5D (not sure which model exactly) with L series lens for a 5 year old camera it takes way better picture than mine, the problem is this setup cost him like $4000 - $6000.

From his experience talking about brand, he is under the impression that Nikon put more money into their bodies, while Canon spent more on lenses. This seems to be true because when I was doing my research a lot of people complained about Canon's body and that it feels like a toy. However, I'm amateur so to me it's great :D

[Slade]

I got a Canon T4i and it's pretty decent, you will need external flash for low light indoor pics though. Also the lens that it comes with is not the greatest for videos and auto-focus as it is loud and you can hear it in the video. You would need to upgrade to STM or USM lenses to get rid of that and they aren't cheap.

Like someone said already with DSLRs the lenses is more important and if you slap L series lens on it it will be take amazing pictures. I've tried my co-workers 5D (not sure which model exactly) with L series lens for a 5 year old camera it takes way better picture than mine, the problem is this setup cost him like $4000 - $6000.

From his experience talking about brand, he is under the impression that Nikon put more money into their bodies, while Canon spent more on lenses. This seems to be true because when I was doing my research a lot of people complained about Canon's body and that it feels like a toy. However, I'm amateur so to me it's great :D

I have shot my T4i @ 1600 ISO many times, including in the delivery room and the shots are still very print worthy. Don't be afraid to crank that ISO up on that puppy.

[optiklenz13]

Shot at 25600 ISO with a mirror less camera inside a pretty dark restaurant, heck it was shot in jpeg too.. F/5.6 1/50th..

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3701/9617092537_71cc246f52_b.jpg

Why 25600? I wanted the grainy look and wanted to see the quality of the pic..

[r4BBiT]

I have shot my T4i @ 1600 ISO many times, including in the delivery room and the shots are still very print worthy. Don't be afraid to crank that ISO up on that puppy.

The way my house sits, my living room gets pretty dark, so using no flash auto setting the camera picks ISO 2400 and the pics come up grainy, too grainy for me. Sure if you print 4x6 it probably will be okay, but browsing them on high resolution monitor they you can definitely see they are not that sharp.


Shot at 25600 ISO with a mirror less camera inside a pretty dark restaurant, heck it was shot in jpeg too.. F/5.6 1/50th..

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3701/9617092537_71cc246f52_b.jpg

Why 25600? I wanted the grainy look and wanted to see the quality of the pic..

I was going to say that this is pretty grainy, too grainy for my liking, unless you are going for the old school black&white grainy look.

[Aitch]

Shoot at high iso, convert to black and white, done. Heck I did it with my cellphone front camera this morning.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/30/e9e3a7uv.jpg

Edit - that actually looks pretty crappy full-size lol. Shitty front-facing cellphone camera.

[rajin929]

Being totally new to photography, I grabbed a Canon T3i for around the $550 mark. Didn't see the value in spending more for a t4i or t5i right now.
The money saved I would like to put towards lens and external flash.

So far I have enjoyed using the camera and learning about photography and all the technical stuff. I can certainly see how this can turn into quite an expensive hobby.

My main reason for buying an entry level DSLR was our point and shoot camera didn't have a fast enough shutter speed to take pics of our baby boy who's always on the move. As I learn more I'm trying different things to get better shots of him.

My brother uses a Mark 5D II and i'm blown away at the kinda pics and stuff he does. Must be nice to get paid to do what you enjoy. lol

[aZuMi]

I have Nikon D600 and Nikon D700. But for the price range, I would recommend D5200/D3200/T4i/T5i.

It doesn't matter which brand since you can't go wrong with any of them in terms of quality. If you want smaller form factor, there's the Fujifilm X100 which uses the same sensor size as the ones I mentioned, but the only drawback is that it's slower and fixed focal length.

[gotak]

A lot of opinions so I'll put in mine.

Go mirrorless with a touch screen. My suggestion would be the e-pm2

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympus-e-pm2
http://www.photoprice.ca/product/04085/Olympus-PEN-E-PM2-with-14-42mm-II-R-Kit-price.html

Why vs crop sensor DSLR and even as some people seem to be suggesting expensive full frame DSLRs?

1) Tap where you want to focus and take photo. People buy DSLRs then wonder why they have shit out of focus because they leave it on auto without realizing that DSLRs have only certain points on the image covered by their AF sensor points. Plus auto AF on DSLRs has never been really optimized. The touch and focus thing along with focus anywhere on the image capability of mirrorless cameras means you get what you want in focus and the way to do it is so intuitive.

2) It's small. That's why I hardly use my canon gear anymore. I just pull out my e-m5. 3 lens and the camera fits in a bag the size of a box of cookies. Same bag can just barely fits a DSLR with 1 zoom lens.

3) Performance. The sensor in the e-pm2 equals the performance of APS-C sensors in almost any body today. It is quite good.

People here are hinting and talking about full frame DSLRs. Don't don't don't until you know what you are doing and if you will actually use your camera a lot. To give you an anecdote, my sister recently purchased a 5D mark 3. A few weeks back my parents were in town and we had a family meal out. The photos I took with the olympus mirrorless are better with less noise (fast cheap prime and knowing how to us my camera). Full frame DSLRs have their use and place but as many experienced photographers have discovered it's not necessary or always going to give you better photos. What it will always give you are sore body parts from carrying its weight around.

Seriously you wouldn't go wrong with my suggestion. I have recommend the new m4/3 from Olympus to a few people already and everyone have been super happy with their purchase.

[Mitchell3]

Thanks all for the input, a few of you suggested the Nikon D3200 which I had been getting good vibes from in my own research before this thread, so I picked one up. Going to familiarize myself with it and make sure I am happy with it and probably get a lens in the coming months.

From what I gather the 50mm 1.8 lens is where I should start when that time comes.

[Aitch]

Nikon? Blacklisted.

Hah j/k. Yes a 50mm is an excellent and inexpensive way to experiment with primes and shallow depth of field.

If you shoot indoors at all (kids, family, friends) I ALWAYS recommend your next purchase is an external flash. Put it on and point it at the ceiling, your photos will instantly be 100% better.

[Wylie]

Thanks all for the input, a few of you suggested the Nikon D3200 which I had been getting good vibes from in my own research before this thread, so I picked one up. Going to familiarize myself with it and make sure I am happy with it and probably get a lens in the coming months.

From what I gather the 50mm 1.8 lens is where I should start when that time comes.

Going this route you will need the new 50mm, the AF-S version, not sure the price, the $150 version will not auto focus on the 3200. Just a reminder

[aZuMi]

I would actually recommend 35mm 1.8 > 50mm 1.8 because of the 1.5 crop factor. It will give you the extra flexibility in tight situations and give 35mm an effective range of 50mm in a full frame.

[Mitchell3]

Going this route you will need the new 50mm, the AF-S version, not sure the price, the $150 version will not auto focus on the 3200. Just a reminder

Thanks man! Yeah I had read that in your earlier post earlier today. Will try to make a mental note of that when I start searching one out.


Nikon? Blacklisted.

Hah j/k. Yes a 50mm is an excellent and inexpensive way to experiment with primes and shallow depth of field.

If you shoot indoors at all (kids, family, friends) I ALWAYS recommend your next purchase is an external flash. Put it on and point it at the ceiling, your photos will instantly be 100% better.

Thanks man! I rarely do at this time but may be handy at some point -- if I start using it for work taking pictures of our rental homes.

How about for night time outdoor shots? I've always wanted to take night shots but they always turn out awful on my digital camera. Haven't tried yet with the new camera.

I'll take some of my first shots tomorrow or Saturday and post them up -- hopefully get some feedback from you guys if I need better technique/fiddle with settings.

[Mitchell3]

Here are my first pictures - Let me know if you think I need to work on a technique or change settings or what ever.

I am most happy with the ones that have a close up of something - those seemed to have turned out the best. Warning - dirty car :P

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z320/theconjuedsubjugator/DSC_0002.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/theconjuedsubjugator/media/DSC_0002.jpg.html)
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z320/theconjuedsubjugator/DSC_0003.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/theconjuedsubjugator/media/DSC_0003.jpg.html)
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z320/theconjuedsubjugator/DSC_0004.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/theconjuedsubjugator/media/DSC_0004.jpg.html)
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z320/theconjuedsubjugator/DSC_0006.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/theconjuedsubjugator/media/DSC_0006.jpg.html)
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z320/theconjuedsubjugator/DSC_0007.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/theconjuedsubjugator/media/DSC_0007.jpg.html)
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z320/theconjuedsubjugator/DSC_0008.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/theconjuedsubjugator/media/DSC_0008.jpg.html)
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z320/theconjuedsubjugator/DSC_0009.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/theconjuedsubjugator/media/DSC_0009.jpg.html)
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z320/theconjuedsubjugator/DSC_0010.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/theconjuedsubjugator/media/DSC_0010.jpg.html)
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z320/theconjuedsubjugator/DSC_0011.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/theconjuedsubjugator/media/DSC_0011.jpg.html)
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z320/theconjuedsubjugator/DSC_0012.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/theconjuedsubjugator/media/DSC_0012.jpg.html)
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z320/theconjuedsubjugator/DSC_0013.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/theconjuedsubjugator/media/DSC_0013.jpg.html)
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z320/theconjuedsubjugator/DSC_0014.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/theconjuedsubjugator/media/DSC_0014.jpg.html)
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z320/theconjuedsubjugator/DSC_0015.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/theconjuedsubjugator/media/DSC_0015.jpg.html)

[Aitch]

Re: nighttime shots outdoors, are you talking about shooting people or scenery? For the latter you want a tripod, the former, a flash (hopefully off-camera) and maybe a tripod so you can use a slow shutter to expose for the background (the flash is quick so your subjects don't have to be perfectly still).

[Aitch]

Re: the swamp shots. You're right that the photos you posted with things in the foreground are the most interesting. Most of the swamp shots don't have a focal point, and you can also pay attention to how you frame things. They just look like shots of trees and swamp, there's nothing interesting to draw my eye. The first shot of the lake and the second of your car are the best.

[Mitchell3]

Thanks man! I also think some came out better than others in terms of blur. Not sure if its me changing the settings or not holding steady :P

[ski-guru]

The daily one is the one on my iphone, but for actual pictures i use a Nikon D3200

[goodcase]

I've been using a Nikon D300 since 2008. It's a fantastic camera but its starting to show its age now.