Buying a camera

[GrahamNfk]

I blame you all, of course. If you hadn't been so encouraging, I wouldn't even be thinking about it 

 

The limitations of elderly small-sensor cameras are starting to become frustrating, due in no small part to the tiny focal lengths involved with resultant massive depth of field, even wide open.

 

It won't happen soon because it's going to involve lots of self-control and some tight-fistedness in the savings department, but I thought if I set the goal now, I have something to aim for. I've set a list of requirements and have set about creating a short-list, and would welcome things I haven't thought of:

 

Must-have built-in features:

16MP and up (to give more room for cropping in post)

'Large' sensor (m4/3 and up)

EVF (my eyes do much better with those)

Rear 'live' screen.

HD video capability with 4Gb not 2Gb limitation (I make 'how to' Youtube videos quite a lot)

External microphone socket (for the Youtube vids)

Hotshoe (standard type, not weird ones for proprietory flashes, so I can trigger my old flashguns)

 

Desirable features:

Adaptable to M42 lenses without a 'glass' adaptor

Backwards compatibility with 'film era' glass

Second-hand

 

 

So far my short list comes down to the Sony SLT-A58 which ticks all the boxes for must-have and desirable.

 

But now I'm getting brain-ache looking at hundreds of spec charts  and would welcome hearing about anything you boys and girls know of that would fit the bill. Traditionally I'm a Pentax kinda girl, but they've pretty much priced me out of the market these days.

 

Budget will be "ALARA" (As Low As Reasonably Achievable).

Edited December 30, 2013 by GrahamNfk

[Leon]

did you see my post last week the new sony bridge with proper sensor and a constant f2.8???

 

tis a grand though......

 

 

http://www.tipf.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=4600&hl=

Edited December 30, 2013 by mrwall

[GrahamNfk]

did you see my post last week the new sony bridge with proper sensor and a constant f2.8???

 

tis a grand though......

 

 

http://www.tipf.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=4600&hl=

Yep, might as well be a million quid from my standpoint

[Leon]

I would recommend a good bridge ...HS20 or new FZ72 maybe??

 

I miss my bridge, lot less hassle than changing Lenses..

[annie]

I love my HS20.....it goes everywhere with me....

[GrahamNfk]

I would recommend a good bridge ...HS20 or new FZ72 maybe??

 

I miss my bridge, lot less hassle than changing Lenses..

I really want to get away from relatively tiny focal lengths for those occasions I want to isolate things from the background. It frustrates the hell out of me when I don't have the option. Interchangeable is going to have to be the requirement, I want to get more into macro at some stage, so one day a decent macro lens will be on my shopping list.

 

What I need is the thing you pointed at above, but that's my car budget for the next three years.

[Leon]

you would be AMAZED what a bridge can do with a Raynox on the end of it....

[Martyn]

A few posts ago you asked, "what's the catch?" This is it, you have been sucked in and there is now no way out!

 

I can't offer you much help in this area other than to say I went down the same path recently and ended up buying a new Nikon D5100 with the 18 - 105 kit lens. This camera has now been overtaken by the D5200, so I got a really good deal on it.

 

The only other thing I can say (and I'm sure you already know this) is that a fancy camera doesn't take better photographs, it just shows up the shortcomings in your technique. A good pair of eyes is the most valuable thing any photographer can aspire to, as seen in Black Pearl's pics who uses a phone for goodness sake!

 

Good luck with your search.

 

 

 

[GrahamNfk]

A few posts ago you asked, "what's the catch?" This is it, you have been sucked in and there is now no way out!

 

I can't offer you much help in this area other than to say I went down the same path recently and ended up buying a new Nikon D5100 with the 18 - 105 kit lens. This camera has now been overtaken by the D5200, so I got a really good deal on it.

 

The only other thing I can say (and I'm sure you already know this) is that a fancy camera doesn't take better photographs, it just shows up the shortcomings in your technique. A good pair of eyes is the most valuable thing any photographer can aspire to, as seen in Black Pearl's pics who uses a phone for goodness sake!

 

Good luck with your search.

Completely agree that the camera won't make me any better and may well show up my shortcomings more. But it's just SO frustrating not being able to do the things I want to do. At the moment I can do 80 percent with the little Kodak bridge. But that extra 20 percent is killing me (not literally, obviously).

 

The macro I want to do has to be flat field, and close-up supplementary just aren't cutting the mustard (I'll show you when I get it right and it will all make sense). At least with an interchangeable, things like old enlarger lenses can come out to play.

 

Much as I'd like to not buy a camera, it's just going to make my teddy accumulate too many air miles

[Leon]

if you go down the Canon route I have a ef-s to M42 adaptor you can have  

[GrahamNfk]

if you go down the Canon route I have a ef-s to M42 adaptor you can have

That's really decent of you, thanks

 

I've looked at Canon and quite liked the 1100d (which would fit within proposed budget) but the absent mic socket and EVF fell short of my desires. Image quality was impressive, even though all the reviews seem to slate the kit lens.

[Korky]

No good asking me for advice, Graham - I agree fully with Martyn in that it's not the kit you have, but what you do with it that matters.

 

For the last year or so, 90% of my pics have been taken on either an iPhone or a Fuji HS30 - and I kicked CS4 in touch in favour of Photoshop Elements. And........

 

I fully realise that doesn't answer your question - but I've nowt else to occupy me this afternoon.

 

Korky

Edited December 30, 2013 by Korky

[David]

I'm like Martyn - not much help with choosing a camera. All I can say that I set a budget and looked at what was on offer. I read loads and loads...then loads more reviews and came up with the Nikon D3100 as the best I could afford.

 

Again like Martyn I agree that a better camera won't make me a better photographer, however after about 18 months of using the D3100 I became frustrated at its 14MP sensor. Despite this I had fallen in love with it, especially the ease of operation. So when it came to upgrading, again I read loads of reviews but only on Nikons, and went for the D7100, purely for the affordability - I had to go for another APS-C sized sensor. I haven't been disappointed and it has lived up to the expectations from the many positive reviews I read.

 

I think the D3200 or D5200 are great entry level DSLR's although in time the 1.5x crop may get frustrating, as it is starting to with me now

[GrahamNfk]

No good asking me for advice, Graham - I agree fully with Martyn in that it's not the kit you have, but what you do with it that matters.

 

For the last year or so, 90% of my pics have been taken on either an iPhone or a Fuji HS30 - and I kicked CS4 in touch in favour of Photoshop Elements. And........

 

I fully realise that doesn't answer your question - but I've nowt else to occupy me this afternoon.

 

Korky

Agree Korky. My Sony phone does a bloody marvellous job of landscapes, and the Kodak is almost adequate. All the dog photos I do on either though has everything in focus out to almost infinity which wrecks the portrait. Close-in on flat subjects is only sharp at the centre with blurry edges. It's just about the right tools for each job I suppose, and I'm just trying to get as close as I can to what I want to do.

 

I massively regret selling the Samsung GX10 last year and the Sony camcorder. Between them they did everything I needed. But it was the cameras or the bailiff, and I ain't as daft as I look (shuddup, just don't say it)

[Leon]

I know I'm fairly new to this also but 10MP suits me!

 

and as for sony Phnes, I have some A1 prints on my wall taken with an ols C902, 8mp it is as someone's signature says

 

the best camera is the one you have with you (exept a crappy I phone 3gs...I'd rather not bother)

[colinb]

Hi Graham

 

one thing you mention -

"EVF (my eyes do much better with those)"

might be worth having a word with BP as I think he has used the new mirrorless type dslr's 

 

and I'm am a little Nikon biased so rather than suggest a camera I'll try to suggest a good place to 'buy' 

 

http://www.portusdigital.com/

 

always worth a look.

 

 

 

 

[GrahamNfk]

Hi Graham

 

one thing you mention -

"EVF (my eyes do much better with those)"

might be worth having a word with BP as I think he has used the new mirrorless type dslr's 

 

and I'm am a little Nikon biased so rather than suggest a camera I'll try to suggest a good place to 'buy' 

 

http://www.portusdigital.com/

 

always worth a look.

bookmarked, thankyou

[GrahamNfk]

My bad for not clarifying this from the start, really. While I consider myself a cr@p photographer, I am at least an experienced cr@p photographer, so I'm well aware that the best camera is the one you have in your hand. But the reason I need something 'better' is many-fold, including but not restricted to:

 

I take pictures for a living, insofar I sell second-hand things on Fleabay, Gumtree and my website. Mobile phone pics of items illuminated with a half milliwatt LED and including half my front room results in little more than selling expensive things for 99p at the end of an auction. Because of that I use two off-camera flash guns, a paper backdrop, all inside a big square homemade light tent. That's why I must have something with a hotshoe or PC socket.

 

I also disitise larger-than-A4 artworks, so need to (eventually) use a macro lens or enlarger lens to digitise these large flat fields. That really requires an interchangeable lens facility. I also want to digitise 40 years worth of Kodachrome on my Ohnar copier, a job it does better than any scanner I've used (or read about). That's a T2 mount, so again interchangeable is a requirement.

 

It pleases me to take decent portraits of the dogs, hence I like to use my old 58mm Helios for the job, usually opened up to F2 or 2.8. I can't afford a bridge with an f2 lens

 

My videos are a great way to drive traffic to my web site, but having no budget for multiple cameras and camcorders is why I'm seeking the holy grail of a digital with decent video quality and external mic for the sound (tinny built-in mics just don't cut it).

 

I used to sell lots of machine tools online, but these days I just can't get the levels of macro required to convey the condition of the cutting faces of used stuff, because I need to achieve near-1:1 close-ups.

 

For wafting out on my bike doing landscapes and photos of my old bikes though, my phone and Kodak are great and though the Kodak's a bit pants, we've learned to live with each other and workaround our respective shortcomings

Edited December 30, 2013 by GrahamNfk

[Jon]

MPBphotographic have some decent 2nd hand stuff, and if you're lucky enough to have an independant shop nearby then there are some 2nd hand bargains to be had.  Cant really help other than wish you luck in your search :-)

[Black Pearl]

I must say Graham is an unusual name for a Pentax girl.
I met a Tracy once but she had tiny ist* so we never really got on.

[ChrisLumix]

Don't decry the tiny sensor cameras' depth of field too much - this was on an FZ38 :

 

 

So it's possible to get good bokeh on such a camera, but I agree, you have to work harder to get it.

[GrahamNfk]

It's all just become a whole heap easier (and potentially cheaper). I've discovered, after some prompting by a cinematography nut who live a few doors up, that my Sony phone does superb 720p video - actually much better than my 400 quid Panasonic managed that I had to sell. Even better is that it will take an external mic via a four quid adaptor cable obtainable on Fleabay. All my vids are done at my bench in the garage, so the wide angle and splendid close-focus on it are just about perfect.

 

Now I can look for a larger sensor camera and it doesn't matter about the video, which opens up my world enormously.

[GrahamNfk]

Sorted. Picked up a G1 body with under 6,000 shots under it's belt. I can now dig out the little Pentax 110 lenses and m4/3 adaptor and start enjoying myself properly again. Feels like a long time ago I enjoyed them funny little lenses

[ChrisLumix]

Sorted. Picked up a G1 body with under 6,000 shots under it's belt. I can now dig out the little Pentax 110 lenses and m4/3 adaptor and start enjoying myself properly again. Feels like a long time ago I enjoyed them funny little lenses

 

Really? You're not jesting? You can use 110 lenses with an adaptor for M4/3?

Edited December 31, 2013 by ChrisLumix

[GrahamNfk]

Really? You're not jesting? You can use 110 lenses with an adaptor for M4/3?

Yes. The m4/3 sensor is almost identical size to 110 film so it's a perfect little combination. I had an adaptor made about 18 months ago with an adjustable aperture (the original Pentax 110 had the aperture built into the camera body) and it works lovely. I'll dig some sample pics out later.