camera recommendations

[viking]

so im after a new camera, i started life with little compact cameras then moved to bridge cameras with the likes of panasonics FZ range then moved back to compacts with there TZ range hen i think i had a fuji HS-10 when they first came out, them moved to the dslr and got a fuji S3 pro, fantastic camera that was, i had good glass too spent a hell of a lot of money, and spent a long time learning about cameras and good equipment but sadly forgot most of it now, thing is i some times like the small compacts for convenience but like bridge or dlsr for taking better quality pictures, iv taken 1000s of photos over the years mainly of my son who is now 13 and is not a keen to stand for photos anymore, he used to love it, at the moment iv got an old tz3 i think it is that stays in the garage for my land rover project so im keen to get something else that will be for general use, portraits family photos with a bit of wildlife and landscapes thrown in, still cant make my mind up if id like compact,bridge or dslr, i think if i got a dslr it would hardly get taken out but im after any recommendations really, i do like a decent zoom though, i think it was the HS-10 i had was a zoom equivalent to around 700mm and it took a decent photo at that, with the fuji s3 pro i did a lot of photos at local cricket grounds for the local paper and if i say so myself got some fantastic shots week in week out, but ill not be doing that anymore.

all thoughts recommendations welcome,

 

thanks.

 

lee

[Billy.]

You seem to know your stuff about cameras and lenses... What's your budget?

 

I'd be on the hunt for a 5D Mk3 if I were in your place, but the glass will cost you.

 

A mid-range Nikon or Canon will do an amazing job though. For £500-1000 you can get a half decent sensor in a camera with some impressive stats. It can of course all be ruined by a cheap lens, so maybe a prime 35mm for an all rounder.

Edited January 6, 2016 by Billy.

[viking]

i was thinking of a budget up to £500 i recon, i did know my stuff but sadly all nearly forgotten now, and there are that many different cameras to chose from its mind boggling, years ago i always wanted a nikon D2X or a canon 1Ds but they were to expensive now cheap as chips cos there old and i did like the big ones with the bottom grip and 2 shutter buttons, id like to think id like a dslr but probably not realistically,

im a sucker for wanting something them thinking why have i spent all this money on this, a bit like guns really,

so realistically im going to stick to a sensible budget, dont mind second hand either.

thanks.

 

lee

[Billy.]

What phone do you have?

 

If you know what you're doing and have a half decent camera in your phone, you could fool anyone into thinking that you own a top end SLR.

 

I got back from a road trip around Montenegro a month ago and left the SLR at home. All I used was my iPhone 6 and VSCO for editing.

 

The trick with an iPhone is to take a panorama and crop it

 

Here are a few of my favourites:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2016 by Billy.

[viking]

Jesus there fantastic. Iv got an iPhone 6 also.

[Chris Bb]

I have a moderately antique Nikon DSLR which does for me now and if/when I upgrade I already have a couple of good lens.

 

A cheap way into the hobby without throwing too much away in the future.

 

I have Fuji compact & bridge but do love the "traditional" feel of an SLR together with the instant shutter release and total control available if I want it.

 

Next on the learning curve is the "electronic darkroom", again I'm starting with elderly software while learning.

[Catamong]

Billy,

 

They are fantastic pictures, well done, I'm amazed at the quality of pictures that most modern phones will produce, I've now got a Motorola Moto G and the picture quality is superb, not only that, but it automatically downloads them to Dropbox and Google Photos when I get home, the wonders of modern technology..!

 

All the best,

 

Cat.

[Fuji Shooter]

I have a Nikon D5500 I leave in the car just in case I need it. For the price it is a suburb bit of kit and equally as good as the D4 I normally use.

[Billy.]

Thanks Cat

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, i use to do a lot of photography years ago starting with a basic camera 35 film to a 120 one and my own darkroom. of course it has all change now, looking at billys photos taken with a camera phone even my 120 or 2 1/4 square roll film cameras would not compete with those, then you had to know shutter speed/lighting/ time of day etc oh how it has all changed that i could not imagine a go pro on my head when out shooting.

[Muddy Funker]

That's a good enough budget for an entry level dslr and couple of lenses from the main brands.

But like you say if you don't mind second hand that will open up some doors too. That seems the good thing about the hobby as there are plenty of people that suffer upgradeitis. I'm just starting out with an entry level dslr from a decade ago that I bought here which is serving me well as I learn the ropes.

I bought a book by Tony Northrup that also gives access to a closed facebook group. There are some people there that with an "entry level" nikon D3200 or D3300 and kit lens are taking photographs that drop jaws. It's amazing what can be achieved without spending thousands.

 

Edit: Those photos are great Billy forgot to say. Just shows what can be achieved.

Edited January 6, 2016 by Muddy Funker

[rovercoupe]

I would go for a second hand D7000, its what I have and progressed from a fuji S2, S3 HS10 and it feels like natural progression and having a large buffer is another world coming from the S3 which still gets used for time lapse stuff.

[Billy.]

I would go for a second hand D7000, its what I have and progressed from a fuji S2, S3 HS10 and it feels like natural progression and having a large buffer is another world coming from the S3 which still gets used for time lapse stuff.

 

My SLR is a D7000 and it's great. Really rugged and has a tonne of features. You can pick up a body for under £500 new I think, as the successor has been released.

 

Google 'Camera Price Buster' and it lists every camera and the historical price, plus the cheapest place to get it.

 

There is a shady place called SLR Hut which seems to beat every site on price, but I'd err on the side of caution. The products look grey market and all come from Hong Kong.

Edited January 6, 2016 by Billy.

[Fuji Shooter]

Second hand D300 or D300S is also a good buy and they have pro body metals and water sealing. I shot a pair of D300s for years and wish I had never sold them. All of the buttons are in the right place.

[McSpredder]

If you are standing in the right place, and the light is favourable, you certainly dont need an expensive camera. Billy's Montenegro photos demonstrate that perfectly.

 

Hardest thing for me is to get three or four pictures of something approaching at speed (eg horse or car). For that, you really need fast auto-focus, a smooth zoom control and an optical viewfinder, which usually only come with a DSLR.

 

I am not a serious photographer, and cannot be bothered to haul a bagful of lenses halfway up a mountain. The wind always blows in my direction, bringing moisture or dust, neither of which is very good for a camera (especially when changing DSLR lenses). I might want to zoom in on a butterfly one minute, and zoom out for a landscape the next, so it suits me to have just one lens with a wide-range zoom. I was tempted to get a DSLR and something like a Sigma 18-300 lens, but that lot would have cost £700 or more.

 

In the end, I bought a bridge camera, a Fuji X-S1, nearly four years ago. Its a sort of grown-up version of the HS-10, but with a bigger sensor and better viewfinder, and zoom is equivalent to 24-620mm. Not perfect, the sensor and viewfinder are still nothing like as good as a DSLR, but it does have a manual zoom ring, which I like (most bridge cameras seem to have a rather jerky switch-controlled zoom). Not pocket-size (I still have an old TZ3 for that), but its smaller than a DSLR plus wide-range zoom, and only half the price. Viking, you will have realised by now that my camera-buying history is a bit like your own.

 

I am wary of spending big money on anything electronic, which will almost certainly not be worth repairing if it breaks down in 3-4 years time.

[Scully]

I recently bought a small Canon Powershot G10 from a mate which is great for carrying around, but I am also very impressed with the quality of iPhone cameras. I have the 5s now but even with a 4s I was able to take pic's of artwork, play around with them on laptop and then send jpegs of such good quality that they were ok to print as giclees.

My daughter has the 6; she will be very impressed (as am I) with those photos above. Excellent work.

[Billy.]

I mentioned in my earlier message that VSCO is my editing platform for iPhone shots. I'd give this a go, as they offer a lot of presets and settings, without the faff of having to send the images, save, edit, save, lossy jpeg compression etc...

 

A lot of the work I do for my clients (not iPhone) is edited in VSCO too. One of my shots was on the front page of the local paper a few weeks ago and that was edited using that app.

 

To really get the most from an iPhone, you need to take most, if not all of your photos in 'Panorama Mode'. It's on the same bar where you swipe to choose between video and photo taking. It's sometimes really noticeable when someone's taken a pano shot, purely because of the aspect ratio and warping of the image, but if you only pan for a very short space of time, the iPhone doesn't class the image as a panorama, but instead a really large photo. Shooting in landscape mode will get you an 8MP image, but a short pano will not only give you more pixels on the Y axis (because you shoot in portrait), but as many as you want on the X.

 

Once you're happy, just crop the image down a bit to get exactly what you want and it will still be a higher resolution than shooting a normal landscape photo. Bump the sharpness up by one or two and edit how you feel looks best.

Edited January 6, 2016 by Billy.

[felly100]

Billy,I'm going to try that,cheers

[welsh1]

 

There is a shady place called SLR Hut which seems to beat every site on price, but I'd err on the side of caution. The products look grey market and all come from Hong Kong.

I have to say i bought my Canon 7d from SLR hut, very nice people on the phone(american) and i had a tracking no almost straight away, tracked it from USA to my door in 3 days,unfortunately i had an american charger but one phone call and a uk charger was popped in the post straight away,nothing to much trouble and very helpful, i can only recommend.

Edited January 6, 2016 by welsh1

[Scully]

I mentioned in my earlier message that VSCO is my editing platform for iPhone shots. I'd give this a go, as they offer a lot of presets and settings, without the faff of having to send the images, save, edit, save, lossy jpeg compression etc...

 

A lot of the work I do for my clients (not iPhone) is edited in VSCO too. One of my shots was on the front page of the local paper a few weeks ago and that was edited using that app.

 

To really get the most from an iPhone, you need to take most, if not all of your photos in 'Panorama Mode'. It's on the same bar where you swipe to choose between video and photo taking. It's sometimes really noticeable when someone's taken a pano shot, purely because of the aspect ratio and warping of the image, but if you only pan for a very short space of time, the iPhone doesn't class the image as a panorama, but instead a really large photo. Shooting in landscape mode will get you an 8MP image, but a short pano will not only give you more pixels on the Y axis (because you shoot in portrait), but as many as you want on the X.

 

Once you're happy, just crop the image down a bit to get exactly what you want and it will still be a higher resolution than shooting a normal landscape photo. Bump the sharpness up by one or two and edit how you feel looks best.

Well worth knowing. Cheers.

[viking]

Well worth knowing. Cheers.

indeed, iv downloaded the VSCO app so ill take some pictures and see how it goes, as said good light goes a long way on photos,

thanks for everyone help and suggestions.

 

lee

[Shotguneddy]

Great pics mate. Cannon cameras for me anyday

[arjimlad]

Wow - could stare at those pictures all day !

[felly100]

Wow - could stare at those pictures all day !

Get a job!

[Fuji Shooter]

Get a job!

Outdoors