View Full Version : So i want a new camera...
..and i have no idea what kind to get. My heart is set on a DSLR, something like the D60/A350/400/50D but i think, am i really going to use it? So then i think about getting a Bridge camera but i read the reviews of them and they are very compromised, so then i think about something like a Panasonic TZ5, the mega zoon compact.
What do i do? I currently have, well, Verna currently has a Fuji Finepix 4300 (4.3mp compact type thing)
What decision making process should i go through?
sv_rory
08-12-08, 05:27 PM
ive got a new camera coming for xmas but im not sure what one it is
well excited lol
i would read lots of reviews on your favourite ones on google
fizzwheel
08-12-08, 05:29 PM
Whats your budget.
I was looking on Jessops website earlier, you can get a D40 with the 18 - 55mm kit lens for £244... I know its an old model, but IMHO thats a darn cheap camera for that money...
I wasnt sure if I'd use mine, I thought I'd just use it for those times when I went to Thruxton / Donny. Out of the two if I am going somewhere that I want to take photos I reach every time for my DSLR over the compact.
Its a PIA to carry about, but the end result is really worth it. I found I didnt use it much when I first got it and now I use it more and more.
If you can afford the DSLR on your budget then get one. If you're stuck for money look for Refurbished ones on Ebay. They often go alot cheaper than a new one and have warranty etc etc on them...
gettin2dizzy
08-12-08, 05:36 PM
Wait until the January sales ;)
rictus01
08-12-08, 05:53 PM
when I was first looking I considered the Eos 350D and the D40, both more than capable bodies, the Nikon is more bulky but feels more like a pro bit of kit, the Canon id samller 8meg as apposed to 6 and has the digic II logic (same as the Eos 400/450).
Once you've got used to a DSLR, you'll want to get other lenses for it and on either of these bodies you'll have plenty of choice.
I wouldn't worry to much about the mega pixel thing un less you;re planning to blow up the pics over A4 size, but I do like the EOS cleaning system, but horses for courses.
Cheers Mark.
Alpinestarhero
08-12-08, 07:28 PM
Canon 450D or Nikon D60 (or the older model if you can get hold of one to save a bit of money?). They are both great. Like rictus, I went for the nikon because to me it felt sturdier - you might prefer the canon as it is lighter. There are good things and bad things about both (e.g. the canon has the autofocus and shake recuction built into the body i think, the nikon is in the lense) but its much of a muchness.
I didnt think I would be using my DLSR as much as I do, but I keep finding things that I want to get good quality pictures of...I think I would out-grow a compact camera quickly.
Specialy now I know some tricks with the flash :smt040
larigos
08-12-08, 07:31 PM
just sold all of my DSLR (350d 17 - 70 sigma 55 - 200 sigma 50mm prime bag flash gun etc etc) stuff and got me a canon G10 great little camera and can use online codes to get it for 340 ish in jessops.
Sid Squid
08-12-08, 07:57 PM
Buy a D90, seriously, it's bloody great.
rictus01
08-12-08, 08:08 PM
Buy a D90, seriously, it's bloody great.
£650 just for the body, it wants to be :smt107
The budget, £200 ish. The main things that i want is a decent zoom.
I had a film SLR years ago and traded it in for a compact which i did use more.
Im seriously considering the Panasonic Lumix TZ5 atm.
fizzwheel
08-12-08, 10:31 PM
The budget, £200 ish. The main things that i want is a decent zoom.
I think you're going to stuggle to get an DSLR and a decent tele lens for your budget...
Jelster
08-12-08, 10:42 PM
For that money, go for a bridge camera. You don't need anything more than 8MP with a bridge, remember that lots of pixels on a small sensor means large but noisey pictures.
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I think you're going to stuggle to get an DSLR and a decent tele lens for your budget...
This is the thing Mr Wheel. Id love a DSLR but i cant justify it to be honest. Im just not sure if i would use it as much as say a bridge camera or a superzoom compact and this is the quandry i am in.
AS for bridge cameras, i would be torn between the Nikon P80, Sony H50 and the Fuji 8100, all can be bought on the net for around £200-£220 all against the Panasonic TZ5. If, and its a big if, i went for a DSLR, it would be the Canon 450d
fizzwheel
09-12-08, 09:22 AM
Tricky isnt it, I didnt really think about it that much when I bought mine. I'd wanted one for ages and I got a bonus from work that paid for it. I never thought I'd use mine much but it was something I indulged myself in. But I find I use it more now than I ever did my comapct...
I think the downsides with the DSLR are
1. Size its a PIA to carry about especially on the bike.
2. Changing Lenses can be a faff, I've sometimes missed a good photo opportunity for having the wrong lens for the situation on the camera. But I think thats also my inexperience with the camera
3 Decent lenses arent cheap, so to cover everything I want to do I will have spent more than the cost of the camera body on lenses.. again I'm lucky the work bonus' have paid for pretty much everything I've got. But my 300m Tele lens was £350 so not cheap...
But then the benefits are
1. I think it produces better pics than the compacts I've used
2. Theres no shutter lag, I like taking sports pictures and the shutter lag on the compacts or even my brothers Fuji Bridge camera makes that harder.
3. I actually like the lens changing aspect to it. As long as I have the right lenses with me and I've got a good selection now.
4. I like having the different modes and learning to use the camera and the more I work out how to do stuff the greater my satisfactoin with my pics becomes, ( but a bridge camera would give you the same stuff )
I think the thing you have to ask yourself is how much Zoom do you want, and can you justify the cost of a suitable tele lens for your DSLR should you get one and how often are you going to use that zoom ?
Hmmm, I know, but the TZ5 gives a 28mm wide angle to 280mm zoom (in theory). Things like a bridge will give 18-430ishmm. I know all the stuff about lenses, and light and all that jazz, its just the Carrying it around PIA stuff. Oh this is so hard. I know whatever i will buy i will want the other after a while. My main crunch is i want the 450d, or as squid says the D90, but they are just a little too expensive. In the old days i would have whacked it on a card a forget about it, now its my actual cash going on it, tis making me think!!!
fizzwheel
09-12-08, 10:25 AM
Umh D90 is pricey, What exactly is it about it that you like, could you compromise and buy a cheaper DSLR
The D90 is nice what exactly is it that makes you attracted to it or the 450.
Iansv II
09-12-08, 10:32 AM
I love my TZ4 that I got 6 months ago so would highly recommend it, Great spec for the price, Presume the TZ5 is pretty new out as they were still advertising the 4 upto a month or so ago
tigersaw
09-12-08, 10:41 AM
I have had 2 DSLR's - D40x and a Olympus something or other. Neither took good pictures with me at the controls. I also have a Panasonic TZ3, don't like it but oddly I took some good pictures with it that I have been congratulated on. I must have had 10 different cameras, favourite so far Panasonic FZ3, old 3 megapix bridge camera, but always takes the picture I imagine it to when I press the button.
timwilky
09-12-08, 10:43 AM
Ian
I would recommend what Mark Davidson (Amarko5) who takes all the photos on Hartside carries.
one of those little Lumix TZ cameras. Great bit of kit. Yes he has a top box crammed full of expensive DSLR and lenses as well. But he seems to like the little Panasonic for convience whilst out for himself.
Personally I have an S8000fd which cost me new £130 from Ebay. a great bridge. However, 18x full zoom with my shakes means I need to rest it. There is two programmable modes which I have set to pre defined portrait and sport modes as I cannot be bothered reading the manual for an hour before I take a photo to learn how to overide the processor. All in all a damm good compromise camera but a tad bulky
This might help -
Which? (http://www.which.co.uk/reviews/digital-cameras)
Personally I have an S8000fd which cost me new £130 from Ebay. a great bridge. However, 18x full zoom with my shakes means I need to rest it. There is two programmable modes which I have set to pre defined portrait and sport modes as I cannot be bothered reading the manual for an hour before I take a photo to learn how to overide the processor. All in all a damm good compromise camera but a tad bulky
Based on my experience with the S5700, this is what I would get if buying now.
IIRC, the more expensive models in the Fuji bridge range have better CCDs. Check on some of the online test-report sites to which these are.
For price/performance they are hard to beat :thumbsup:
Umh D90 is pricey, What exactly is it about it that you like, could you compromise and buy a cheaper DSLR
The D90 is nice what exactly is it that makes you attracted to it or the 450.Thats the thing, no way i could afford it, but its me, i would like to have a decent cemera that would last a long while without being 'Updated' to often. The 450d, well, i was going to go for a 400d, but thats been superseeded. The d40x has been superseede by the 60 but is better than the D40x that it replaces. I have used a 450d and loved it. Great o hold with my big hands!! The Nikon is a little small.
I love my TZ4 that I got 6 months ago so would highly recommend it, Great spec for the price, Presume the TZ5 is pretty new out as they were still advertising the 4 upto a month or so agoIts been out about 18 months Ian, so been around a longish time. You can still get the TZ4 i believe
This might help -
Which? (http://www.which.co.uk/reviews/digital-cameras)Cant read any more reviews!! Been looking at that, and DPreview, but thank you anyway
Based on my experience with the S5700, this is what I would get if buying now.
IIRC, the more expensive models in the Fuji bridge range have better CCDs. Check on some of the online test-report sites to which these are.
For price/performance they are hard to beat :thumbsup:I'm slowly becoming torn between the Fuji 8100, Sony H50 and the Panasonic TZ5
fizzwheel
09-12-08, 11:21 AM
Thats the thing, no way i could afford it, but its me, i would like to have a decent cemera that would last a long while without being 'Updated' to often.
I know what you mean, but I've had my D40 two years now and no matter how hard I try I cant find a reason to upgrade the body :-D
I think you've got two choices, get one of the bridge camera you've been looking at or wait a bit longer and save up some more cash and get the DSLR.
I just got a Sony A200 (DSLR) with the kit lens & a 75-300mm lens for £300 (including a £30 cashback from sony). Was looking at the more expensive Canon/Nikon but couldn't ignore the price of this......
Got it from Cecil Jacobs, but I believe they have pulled the offer now..... sure there will be other offers before/after xmas that will be similar tho....
Andy
Viney,
The word on the street is that the images produced by the S8100fd aren't as good as the S8000fd. It's the same CCD stretched to 10MP from 8MP. Save a fair bit of dosh with the S8000fd too. This is the model in the lower end of the Fuji range that I said I would get if buying now :-)
If you can stretch to a bit more dosh then take a look at this model (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-FinePix-S9600-Digital-Camera/dp/B000INUDMY/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1228824315&sr=1-12). It uses Fuji's SuperCCD which is better than that found in the cheaper Fuji models.
For the record, I have an S5700 - got it from Pixmania for £104 this time last year and it does what I want admirably. The later S5800 is available for silly money at the moment (<£90) so perhaps you could get one to see if you get along with bridge cameras? Just a thought :-)
Viney,
The word on the street is that the images produced by the S8100fd aren't as good as the S8000fd. It's the same CCD stretched to 10MP from 8MP. Save a fair bit of dosh with the S8000fd too. This is the model in the lower end of the Fuji range that I said I would get if buying now :-)
If you can stretch to a bit more dosh then take a look at this model (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-FinePix-S9600-Digital-Camera/dp/B000INUDMY/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1228824315&sr=1-12). It uses Fuji's SuperCCD which is better than that found in the cheaper Fuji models.
For the record, I have an S5700 - got it from Pixmania for £104 this time last year and it does what I want admirably. The later S5800 is available for silly money at the moment (<£90) so perhaps you could get one to see if you get along with bridge cameras? Just a thought :-)Jabbs, you know what, that 9600 might be the kiddy.
Jabbs, you know what, that 9600 might be the kiddy.
Dang!! Want one myself now :lol:
What about a Hasselblad H3?
the Nikon is more bulky but feels more like a pro bit of kit, the Canon id samller 8meg as apposed to 6 and has the digic II logic (same as the Eos 400/450).
Cheers Mark.
Being a pedant the 350 & 400 use the digic II, the 1000d and 450d use digic III, for what it's worth.
There are good things and bad things about both (e.g. the canon has the autofocus and shake recuction built into the body i think, the nikon is in the lense) but its much of a muchness.
Both Nikon & Canon do IS in the lens. Pentax & Sony do it in the body I believe.
Ian, for £200 you're going to be looking at a 2nd hand Canon 350d, or a 2nd hand Nikon. But brand new the Nikon D60 and D40 are very, very good value for money, as is the Canon 1000d.
My boss is pretty heavy into his photography and really rates the TZ5 he uses when he doesn't fancy lugging his Canon 40d round with him, his only criticism has been the multi-point focus at the telephoto end of the zoom to be a bit soft, single point focus apparently worked better.
If you want to borrow my 400d to have a go, let me know.
Jambo
Jelster
09-12-08, 10:18 PM
Viney,
Over on "TalkPhotography" (a forum I use) there is a guy selling a good condition 400D for just over £200. Link (http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=1103106#post1103106)
I think that may be body only, but you'll pick up a lens or two at reasonable prices on Ebay.
The 450 isn't that much better than the 400 and I think they're about the same size.
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