Camera Suggestions

[mkm]

I know this is a gun site and all, but we seem to cover a wide range of topics.  I'm also pretty sure I could find some sound advice on brain surgery on here if I asked.   

I'm leaving for an 8 week trip to China in a few weeks and have pretty much decided that my little pocket sized camera just won't do the trip justice.  I'm wanting to get a digital slr, but I pretty much have no idea what to look for or what might be a good choice.  I'm looking for something reasonably priced that is still of respectable quality and takes good pictures.  I'm no professional and it doesn't have to be either.  I have a couple of lenses that fit a nikon, but it's not essential that the new camera accepts them if another brand would be a better choice.

I hope to take a wide variety of pictures (people, buildings, art, animals, landscapes, etc.); so, something versatile would be best.

Any specific camera suggestions or necessary features for it to have would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[robheath]

I bought my wife the Nikon slr d3000.  It takes amazing pictures and I highly recomend it.  If she goes to wally world to print them they always ask her if they are professional hence copy writed.  We had to get her name on a list that says she takes her own photos.  I bought it at a camera store for the same price that Best Buy had it and got the pro's of tech support.

[BAC]

What do you consider reasonably priced?  Does it have to be an SLR?  There are lots of compact cameras out there that take amazing photos.  How much control over the exposure do you require, or are you going to just use the camera on auto all the time?  There are lots and lots of really good cameras out there.  The first step is to find out how much you want to spend.

[mkm]

What do you consider reasonably priced?  Does it have to be an SLR?  There are lots of compact cameras out there that take amazing photos.  How much control over the exposure do you require, or are you going to just use the camera on auto all the time?  There are lots and lots of really good cameras out there.  The first step is to find out how much you want to spend.

I was thinking max $1,000 preferably a couple hundred less.  I don't guess it has to be SLR; that just seemed the best way to go. I, however, know very little about cameras/photography and may be heading in the wrong direction.  I would probably use it on auto most of the time, but I'd like to learn to take fancier photos.  I currently own a Sony DSC-W80 which takes pretty good pictures most of the time.  I want something that has a better zoom and takes overall better photos.  Like I said earlier, versatility is probably best as I will likely take mostly pictures of people, landscapes, animals, plants, and general scenery.  Whatever I get, will likely be better than me until I figure it out.

[david86440]

This is the camera that I am considering buying. I like the idea of 21X optical zoom.


Item #:  N13-4840
COMPARE
   Nikon Coolpix L120 26254 Digital Camera - 14 MegaPixels, 4x Digital Zoom, 21x Optical, 3" LCD, 102MB Internal, USB, Red
With the powerful, affordable Nikon COOLPIX L120 26254 Your images will zoom to the next level with its 21x optical Zoom-NIKKOR glass lens.
$279.99      
In Stock
Manufacturer: Nikon   
Avg. Rating:  5 stars

 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/guidedSearch.asp?CatId=7&sel=Mfr;Mfr_611

[Sponsor]

[philw]

What do you consider reasonably priced?  Does it have to be an SLR?  There are lots of compact cameras out there that take amazing photos.  How much control over the exposure do you require, or are you going to just use the camera on auto all the time?  There are lots and lots of really good cameras out there.  The first step is to find out how much you want to spend.

+1 to that,

also are you wanting to get long distance shots   as the $$$ is in the lenses

[PegLeg45]

I bought my wife the Nikon slr d3000.  It takes amazing pictures and I highly recomend it.  If she goes to wally world to print them they always ask her if they are professional hence copy writed.  We had to get her name on a list that says she takes her own photos.  I bought it at a camera store for the same price that Best Buy had it and got the pro's of tech support.

Our future daughter-in-law has one of the Nikon 3000's also and really loves it. She has used it to do several weddings and engagement photos. My uncle just bought a Canon (sorry, don't know the number) that is the equivalent to the above Nikon in function and price (between $400-600, ??). He loves his also.


Both BAC and Alf Sauve can probably give some of the best advice, as they are camera guys (apologies to any others I don't know).

[scottr]

Quality is all about three things: sensor size, lens quality, and processing (electronic wizardry). No compact camera has the sensor size (and thus ultimately the image quality) of a Micro 4/3 camera, or APS-C or full frame DSLR.

Some good camera sites:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/
http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.fredmiranda.com/

I was looking at cameras just last week for a friend going to Europe this summer, and liked these models (he bought a A55):
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/PanasonicDMCGH2/
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/samsungnx100/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonyslta55/ (and A33)
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/SonyNex5Nex3/ (biggest sensor for the camera size (APS-C sensor in a compact or 4/3 size body)
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/EPL1/EPL1A.HTM

I would always take a second camera along: a slim shirt pocket compact for a backup. I have a Casio with a non-extending internal zoom lens that I bought for $100 for that purpose, but almost any of the slim compacts will take decent pictures, except in low light. A decent 5(+) megapixel cell phone camera may be good enough for a backup if you accept a fixed lens.

You might consider GPS/geo-tagging. It sounds frivolous until you use it, but knowing where your pictures were taken helps immensely when you build an album or book later. GPS sucks the batteries down fast, so buy, take and keep charged even more (branded) batteries than you would otherwise. I would have at least 3 batteries if this is a special trip that you definitely want to document and remember.

Also at least 3 memory cards; big, fast (class 10 is best) and name brand from a reputable store. There are many bogus counterfeit cards sold from the cheapest online stores and xBay, and they will fail and leave you with no pictures. Crucial and Kingston both sell direct and sometimes have great sale prices.

[scottr]

BTW, if you do decide on a compact I have really liked my Canon PowerShot S5, and the newer similar Canon PowerShot SX30 IS gets great reviews too. http://www.dpreview.com/products/canon/compacts/canon_sx30is

I love the 'flippy screen' that swivels around and lets me see and take pictures while holding the camera above a crowd, around a corner, and of myself while seeing what is in the frame.

The best thing though has been the AA batteries. If you want to be green and use rechargeables you can, but when your rechargables run out in the middle of a museum or on a bus tour, or while walking around a city you then have the option of using plain old AA batteries that you can buy in every stop-and-rob corner store and tourist gift shop in the world.

[alfsauve]

Thanks for the compliment, PegLeg,  but I'm a hack.   I do experiment, when I take pictures, with f-stop, lighting, and speed.   What you may perceive as a good picture may have been just luck and you're only seeing 1 out of 50 I took.   

My DIL-1 actually did all the research on DSLRs and found that on the high consumer end the Canon T1i (now the T2i) was a good value.   We had a bias though towards Canon in that we already had SureShot 600s.   It's a prosumer level.  You can treat it as a point-n-shoot, or you can go full manual mode.  (Or in-between)   A lot of plastic.   I'd make sure you take a regular lens  (~18-55mm) and one telephoto (~55-250mm) and if you can afford it and don't mind more weight something up to the 400mm range as well.    I think SD (SDHC) memory cards are the way to go.   And don't scrimp on cards for the trip.  Take lots of them.  Then shoot lots of pictures.   Where others shoot 10 shots, you shoot 100.  Change aperture, white balance, shutter speed, w/ & w/o flash.

BTW, we still use our SureShot.     If you're into programming at all, there's a hack of the Canon firmware, that let's you program the camera in BASIC.   Other's have already written programs you can download to do 3D, stopaction, motion sensor and other functions.  The nice thing is you can turn the hack off or on and it doesn't hurt you camera.