Always shot Nikon, but ...

[4rum]

My primary interest in digital photography is outdoor, nature, leaning heavily toward animals, birds, creepy crawlies, etc. A very brief stint with a Canon early on showed the on/off switch to be unhandy, for me. The window of opportunity for some of my wildlife shots can drop well under a second to locate in the viewer, frame the shot, and trigger. I missed shots with the Canon. Nikon works much better for me. Recently, I started looking for something lighter to hike with. Looked at a Canon T7i. Read the specs, it seemed heavy on video since the T6i. I don't do video. Found a T6i from a private owner. She'd only taken 450 photos with the camera. Purchased it and started looking for a lens. The EF 55-250 STM seemed very highly rated. I bought that used as well. I wanted to stay cheap because I wasn't sure I could get to like the Canon outfit. I did think of one work a round. I bought more batteries and leave the camera on while in the field. I absolutely love this smaller, lighter rig. Just the lens had a little more on the low end. Not a knock to any manufacturer or endorsement of any either. I'd love to try a Sony. I have a Panasonic, Lumix, FZ80 bridge camera. I just like cameras, but thought I'd share my experience with the little canon and lens. I've shot around 1500 photos with it. I don't toss many out.

 

[Don Fischer]

My primary interest in digital photography is outdoor, nature, leaning heavily toward animals, birds, creepy crawlies, etc. A very brief stint with a Canon early on showed the on/off switch to be unhandy, for me. The window of opportunity for some of my wildlife shots can drop well under a second to locate in the viewer, frame the shot, and trigger. I missed shots with the Canon. Nikon works much better for me. Recently, I started looking for something lighter to hike with. Looked at a Canon T7i. Read the specs, it seemed heavy on video since the T6i. I don't do video. Found a T6i from a private owner. She'd only taken 450 photos with the camera. Purchased it and started looking for a lens. The EF 55-250 STM seemed very highly rated. I bought that used as well. I wanted to stay cheap because I wasn't sure I could get to like the Canon outfit. I did think of one work a round. I bought more batteries and leave the camera on while in the field. I absolutely love this smaller, lighter rig. Just the lens had a little more on the low end. Not a knock to any manufacturer or endorsement of any either. I'd love to try a Sony. I have a Panasonic, Lumix, FZ80 bridge camera. I just like cameras, but thought I'd share my experience with the little canon and lens. I've shot around 1500 photos with it. I don't toss many out.

I'm about the same way but don't do lots of wildlife. Don't handle the waiting very well. I love old buildings especially very old ones. My other big thrill is doing bird dog's. Probably because I've been a bird hunter most my life. Need a fairly light easy to use and carry camera for the dogs and have tried several different point and shoots. All had a short using life but finally found one I really like. Panasonic ZS 100 with 20 MP's. Have blown some photo's up to 12"x24" and they are as good as those done with a DSLR and the camera rides in a pouch on my belt. Even have a 12"x24" old homestead in a panoramic of range in Central Ore I think is awful special. I use a pro 200 Canon 13" printer. Canon the only printer I'm interested in any more and Red River Paper and Ink Tech ink. This is one 12"x24" I love and framed with wood off the old barn.

 

[PhotoHobbyist]

I recently upgraded to the Canon T6i and have the same 55-250mm STM lens. It has taken some remarkably sharp flawless shots. To get wider shots I have a 15-85mm F3.5 Canon lens. I got it for a price I could not pass up, but it is very heavy, not fast, however very sharp. I was shopping for a used Sigma 17-55mm F/2.8 EX DC OS HSM as it is highly rated and very affordable. The Sigma is more fragile, so must be treated gently. At times I regret not having a faster main lens, but the wider 15mm gets me shots I'd otherwise miss. 2mm is significant.

 

[4rum]

Don Fischer and PhotoHobbyist,
Great comments from you both. I'm still very happy with the t6i and that 55-250 STM lens. For an entry level outfit, I don't think one could do much better. I did buy a used Tamron 16-300mm lens. Image quality is not as good as with the 55-250.

 

[PhotoHobbyist]

Frost's review of the Canon 55-250 STM convinced me to get that lens too. It is a must have lens.
Check out Frost's review of the Sigma lens. It is a very popular short zoom lens with great quality and economical.
The Sigma was my first choice, but I was practically given the Canon 15-85mm and it has performed well.

 

[4rum]

Frost's review of the Canon 55-250 STM convinced me to get that lens too. It is a must have lens.
Check out Frost's review of the Sigma lens. It is a very popular short zoom lens with great quality and economical.
The Sigma was my first choice, but I was practically given the Canon 15-85mm and it has performed well.

I have long wanted to try a Sigma lens. I don't have any for any of my Nikons or for the one Canon, yet. Seems each time I read the reviews, even when image quality is reported as good, some other lens is better, more expensive, but better.

 

[Don Fischer]

Was looking at a few reviews of older Nikon camera's. Seems to me as the price goes up there is really not that much advantage to the camera. Well if you don't have equal skills yourself. Looking at some old large blowups from my origional D70 I notice I don't really get that much better photo's from my D7000! But I did pay a lot more for it, the D7000. Not complaining about the D7000 but do doubt I'll ever be good enough to use all it has to give! Ay the end of the day, it seems to me the most important factor in getting a good photo is not the camera but the user! I gave my grand daughter a D5000 some years ago and she never used it but my son took it over and he's never used it much himself. He prefers to take photo's with his phone. problem there is he has no real idea what he has as he's never blown one up to see what he really has. Phones are handy as seem's everyone carries one these days but i don't know one person that prints anything off of them. Ant with my son, he likes shooting video's. Well my view is phones are made for people to talk on, not endless lines of photo's stored in a phone to show people. Give me a video camera made to shoot videos. And don't include a DSLR with video capabilities, I'd want a video camera. Seems to me you buy a camera to do one thing you want and it's whole thing is designed around that one thing. Imagine a great movie shot with either a DSLR or a phone. For that matter the pros prefer the major movie video cameras even to the reg video cameras we have today not to mention a phone!

Looking through some older photo's I have a few from my D70 blown up to 12" x 24" that certainly give my D7000 a run for the money! I can't imagine replacing my D7000 with some expensive phone lust to carry a bit less weight! While I think cell phones serve a purpose, taking photos isn't one of them. imagine hiring a pro to shoot your wedding and he shows up will a cellphone to do it with!

I'd like to up grade my D7000 but have no clue how to do it. New camera up grade for me would be a better explanation of how to work the thing in the first place. Just sent off and got a user manual for my D7000 and makes no sense to me at all. Means all those extra special things put in it are pretty much useless. You could spend a fortune buying a telescope to look at Mars but without the understanding how to use it, it's pretty much useless! I strongly suspect the expensive cameras today fall into the same place. I never met anyone that had any idea how to use everything their camera had to offer but they sure paid for it! I think is someone made a truly entry level DSLR that was designed for entry level people there would be a good market for it. Imagine the best thing you could say about your camera is you know how to use it and it takes great photo's. Well in your view anyway and probably most other's!

 

[Don Fischer]

Don Fischer and PhotoHobbyist,
Great comments from you both. I'm still very happy with the t6i and that 55-250 STM lens. For an entry level outfit, I don't think one could do much better. I did buy a used Tamron 16-300mm lens. Image quality is not as good as with the 55-250.

Ya know, speaking of entry level, I've been looking at Point and shoots A few years hoping for a camera to carry in the field with me. Tried several different one's and found a major flaw with them is camera life. Well think I finally found the entry level P&S to do the job. Panasonic zs100! Has a 25-250 Leica lens, 20.0 mp and shoots photo's as good as my D7000 for blowing up. Now just wondering how long it will last me. Very difficult to use and was advised to reset the camera to new which I did and now I can use the thing. Just to many options in it and all I really want to do is shoot a nice photo!

 

[21limited]

Ya know, speaking of entry level, I've been looking at Point and shoots A few years hoping for a camera to carry in the field with me. Tried several different one's and found a major flaw with them is camera life. Well think I finally found the entry level P&S to do the job. Panasonic zs100! Has a 25-250 Leica lens, 20.0 mp and shoots photo's as good as my D7000 for blowing up. Now just wondering how long it will last me. Very difficult to use and was advised to reset the camera to new which I did and now I can use the thing. Just to many options in it and all I really want to do is shoot a nice photo!

MY expereince as well. Love the images, according to Imaging Resources it’s just as good for lw/ph as my 24 MP K-3. But trying to do the simplest things if you dont use it enough to stay familiar is a hopeless task. The menu structure is ridiculous.

 

[4rum]

I have a Panasonic Lumix FZ 80. Love this little bridge camera. Same issues. I'm sure if I studied it for 20 or 30 years, I could make it walk the dog and prepare dinner. As it is, I use the most basic functions and the incredible optical zoom. Image quality is very good.

 

[RScottie]

My primary interest in digital photography is outdoor, nature, leaning heavily toward animals, birds, creepy crawlies, etc. A very brief stint with a Canon early on showed the on/off switch to be unhandy, for me. The window of opportunity for some of my wildlife shots can drop well under a second to locate in the viewer, frame the shot, and trigger. I missed shots with the Canon. Nikon works much better for me. Recently, I started looking for something lighter to hike with. Looked at a Canon T7i. Read the specs, it seemed heavy on video since the T6i. I don't do video. Found a T6i from a private owner. She'd only taken 450 photos with the camera. Purchased it and started looking for a lens. The EF 55-250 STM seemed very highly rated. I bought that used as well. I wanted to stay cheap because I wasn't sure I could get to like the Canon outfit. I did think of one work a round. I bought more batteries and leave the camera on while in the field. I absolutely love this smaller, lighter rig. Just the lens had a little more on the low end. Not a knock to any manufacturer or endorsement of any either. I'd love to try a Sony. I have a Panasonic, Lumix, FZ80 bridge camera. I just like cameras, but thought I'd share my experience with the little canon and lens. I've shot around 1500 photos with it. I don't toss many out.

I too recently decided to get back in to Photography and had some of the same thoughts you have had.

I am basically a total newb to "real" digital cameras and was reading all sorts of reviews on various cameras. My wife recognized my OCD as I had made lists of pro's and con's of various models and she decided to get me a new Canon EOS Rebel T7 kit. It came with two lenses, the 18-55 ef-s and the 75-300 ef models, along with a bunch of decent to trinket extras.

So far I am really liking this setup. I have not used all the functions by no means but have been using the ones that I can relate to by virtue of my past using slr cameras and film.

I intend to use what I have until I get down all of the basic features, including auto-focus. Yes, I have not warmed to auto-focus as of yet, instead relying upon my old school ways.

Focus, aperture, and shutter speed still seems to get it done!

But I am loving it, learning all over again.

 

[4rum]

I too recently decided to get back in to Photography and had some of the same thoughts you have had.

I am basically a total newb to "real" digital cameras and was reading all sorts of reviews on various cameras. My wife recognized my OCD as I had made lists of pro's and con's of various models and she decided to get me a new Canon EOS Rebel T7 kit. It came with two lenses, the 18-55 ef-s and the 75-300 ef models, along with a bunch of decent to trinket extras.

So far I am really liking this setup. I have not used all the functions by no means but have been using the ones that I can relate to by virtue of my past using slr cameras and film.

I intend to use what I have until I get down all of the basic features, including auto-focus. Yes, I have not warmed to auto-focus as of yet, instead relying upon my old school ways.

Focus, aperture, and shutter speed still seems to get it done!

But I am loving it, learning all over again.

An excellent start, in my opinion. Since I bought the used T6i and 55-250 STM, my Nikon D500 has been gathering dust. Shoot lots, shoot often, enjoy.

 

[Don Fischer]

I'm sorta slow picking up on camera stuff but over the years I developed the idea that what I can do with one camera, I can do with another. I don't fool around much trying to figure out the best program for anything. I shoot mostly in "P" mode and rely on the camera itself to fix my problems. For the most part it seems to work for me. Helps I don't do photography for a living I guess but then what does the average person not deep into photography actually know about it? Just about nothing. They only know what they like and explaining the finer point's to them seems to be waste of time. End of the day all they still know is what they like! I do wish I could learn more but all that would change is about nothing so I simply look for those shots I like.

I think back over the years of film and digital and I'm amazed as I have never learned all I could maybe learn just to get photo's I like! Last film camera I bought was a Nikon F5. I'd think that the more they charge for a camera the easier it would be to learn to use it, just ain't so! No matter how well you learn to use a camera your still only gonna like what you like! Can't remember the name of my first camera, German camera I bought while stationed in Germany in the service. had all those cool things on it but learned that shot in "P" mode I had far less failed shots. Got home and got two Fugi SLR's. Still went for "P" mode but started trying to figure out the difference in lens! Spent a couple years trying to figure it out and finally came up with the idea that the best lens were zoom's. Still think that way today and don't have even one prime lens. It's claimed that the prime lens will give sharper photo's, think that's the idea. Well what's the difference between sharp you notice and sharp you don't notice? You get a prime lens and your gonna get into better physical shape simply walking around trying to get the best shot! My do everything lens on my Nikon D7000 is a lesser expensive 18-200 Tamron that will pretty much get everything from 18mm on the low side to 200mm on the high side. Over the years it has seemed to me that the flaw with them seems to be the high end and low ends don't quite focus as well as somewhere near the middle. So the super zoom's are pretty much out for me any more. Another thing about zoom's, might be a point i'm missing is they don't generally focus that well shooting handheld so now ya need a tripod! Well that's when ya need a wife, someone to help carry all the ear you amas! I have a Sigma 170-500 that does well enough from a tripod but I seldom have the tripod along so mostly I hand hold it and hope for the best. Shooting portraits of people I found the less the zoom the better photo's I get. These day that job goes to my 18-200 Tamron and I attempt to keep the shots somehere near the middle of the zoom. Seems to work for me, The few portrait sessions I've done have gone well and folks liked the picture's! Ask what the best portrait lens is and they are all over the table! Seems I've read somewhere between 50mm and a bit less to, in my Fugi film days 125 mm. Imagine carrying that many lens when one would carry the whole load. Had at one time i think it was a nikon 18-140 and it did all I wanted for portraits but then again I don't do a lot of them! And I sure don't want to carry all those lens when one lens covers the whole thing and I don't have to be consistently changes lens to have the best for myself. Someone told me one time the best zoom for portraits was a 70-210 f2.8. Well I did try a 70-210 but not an f2.8, couldn't afford it! Got a reg 70-210 and a flash! Another thing about photography I've come to enjoy is printing my own stuff. I use the Piacsa 3 program and learn a bit more what I'm doing now and them. Up to printing 12"x24" photos now and folks that see them like them. I read about guy's that would rather not print their own, seems the majority say it will take time away from shooting picture. Ya know< I can print photo's in the dark with a light on! Pretty hard to shoot good photo's in the dark, even with one if the fast lens! Beside that company's have made cameras so fast shooting you could rattle off several hundred a day and not raise a sweat. I tried that out on a local cow walking across a stream years ago, film days. Got about 12 photos of a cow taking about 1/2 a step!

Oh well these thing's have been on my mind and keep coming back every time someone want to know which camera to get. Get any entry level, easiest of them all to use and your gonna update long before you actually have to in the first place. Humans, seems all of them only want the latest and greatest in anything, no matter the cost. Thing that showed me that was a photo of a buck deer I shot about 20 some odd years with my first digital, Nikon d70. Blew it up to a 12"x24" and looks as good as any photo I've done with any camera since! Upgrade my foot! I think the only draw back might be you can only get so big before the end result gets fuzzy a bit.

 

[4rum]

We share many views. I'm not a photographer. I take pictures. Got into it early. An uncle took an interest in me and taught me about developing and printing black and white. He gave me and old Detrola? 120 roll film. My first SLR was a Petri FT. Bought it in Japan when I was there on R &R from Korea. Good camera. I still have it. It still works. LIfe tore me away from cameras and such for a while. Got back into it when I retired and took up hiking. I could combine the two. Love nature, all aspects. I've been fortunate to save money and try different things. Older now, I'm looking at lighter, more portable gear. I seldom use a tripod.

I'm a believer in 'shoot what is good for you'. I will never tell you that you 'must' use a tripod, 'must' use a prime lens (I don't own one either) or that Nikon is better than Canon, better than Sony, better than Panasonic etc.

Hope you continue to enjoy however you choose to shoot!

 

[Don Fischer]

I do a lot of bird dogs in training and like to do field trials. have tried a number of different P&S camera's and most took pretty good photo then died much to soon on me. Disappointed in every one of them. Then I found the Panasonic ZS 100 and only about a year now but I am overly impressed at this point. Had to reset the thing from the start cause I couldn't do squat with it. Now it is with me consistently in a belt pouch and it take's photo's as good as my Nikon D7000! Haave blown a few up to 12"x24" and am impressed. No more carrying around a heavy DSLR hanging and swinging around my neck! The advantage I find with my DSLR is the ability to change lens if I want to. If I was wealthy I'd try one of those $6000 Leica P&S, just for the hell of it. I suspect this Panasonic does every bit as well. Had a Canon P&S at one time that seemed pretty good but loaden it to a lady at a field trial and that was the last I saw of it! Oh, BTW, I only know how to shoot my Panasonic in "P" mode! But, a picture is just a picture and you like it so much the better!

I don't really believe upgrading equipment is all that great, after all you can only do so much with a camera and suddenly your paying a ton of money for an entry level from years ago. For instance I don't do anything with my D7000 that I couldn't do on my original D70! It may do more if there was a way to figure it out but I'm just not that smart! Like those photo programs, I haven't a clue how anyone ever learned to use that photo what ever it's called, Maybe Photoshop? Around here somewhere iss my old D5000. Gave it to my grand daughter at one point and she preferred her phone so somehow my son took it over and best I know he's never used it, he likes his phone also. I ever find it again and I'm gonna use it a while, might not be as complicated as an upscale D7000!