Need help figuring out what camera is best for me

[Benjamin V]

Hello everyone,

I'm new here and I was hoping you guys could help me figure out if my brand new camera can do what I want it to do, or if I need to return it and get something different.

I just bought a Nikon CoolPix P520. Its a point and shoot I would say? 18.1 Megapixels with a 42X zoom lense.

What I want is a camera that has a far zoom range and clear pictures. I wanted something with a higher megapixel in case I wanted to crop the photo's and zoom in further into the picture to use specific parts of it. I also want a camera that can take shots very quickly. I mountain bike and rally from time to time and I want to be able to capture pictures of objects that are moving. I am a very big out doors kind of guy and so, moving targets are going to be plenty as well as landscapes and sunsets etc, etc.

With this camera I am finding it very difficult to focus automatically.

For example- I went to the park today and was about 50 feet from some geese, I wanted to photgraph their heads so i zoomed in. When I had them centered in the frame and wanted to zoom in further, the picture became blurry and would not focus anymore. I tried putting the camera in the manual focus option but I could not get it to focus any better than what the auto focus did.

Also, my pictures are taken very slow, after I take a picture, its usally two seconds or so before I'm able to take another.

So, is the Nikon CoolPix P520 for me and I just don't know how to use it correctly? Or should I be buying some other type of camera. I can still return it, being that I was santa to myself and bought it

Please let me know, all help is appreciated.

P.S

I've never owned a good camera, I am a wizard with my Note 3's camera but other than that. I have no clue. This is why I believe I might be the problem, not the camera. Thanks again

 

[jaomul]

I'd Google nikons various csc kits, fast focus, affordable. If you go the dslr route and want big zooms your into huge money

 

[Designer]

For example- I went to the park today and was about 50 feet from some geese, I wanted to photgraph their heads so i zoomed in. When I had them centered in the frame and wanted to zoom in further, the picture became blurry and would not focus anymore. I tried putting the camera in the manual focus option but I could not get it to focus any better than what the auto focus did.

Also, my pictures are taken very slow, after I take a picture, its usally two seconds or so before I'm able to take another.

Welcome, BenjaminV!

Without knowing exactly what you are doing, it will be difficult for any of us to hit upon the cause of the failure to focus in our best guessing.

My guess is that you're too close, or maybe that the tight zoom will not focus that closely.

As to slow writing, go into the menu to see what size files you are capturing. If it is a large file on "fine" it will take some time to write, so you can change it to smaller files and not the best quality which will shorten the time to write.

As to returning this particular camera and picking up a higher-end model, we don't know your potential budget or how serious you are about learning. The higher-end cameras can do more, but they cost more, so it's going to be what you can tolerate.

 

[dannylightning]

the P520 should be a pretty descent camera and 42X zoom is pretty darn good. it probably zooms in farther than that if you are getting into the digital zoom, I always turn digital zoom off on my point and shoots and only use optical zoom. digital zoom really kills the picture quality.

if you are trying to use all that zoom on a close object that could also be your issue. it may not focus well if you are too close to something, especially with all that zoom. but I am not sure how close your camera can focus to something.

with your point and shoot if you use digital zoom the photo quality goes down allot, only use the optical zoom and you will get much better photos.

I have this lens, it cost around 850.00 for this lens brand new and it does not zoom in as much as you might think. if your trying to zoom in on something like a small bird you still might be disapoined on how much zoom you get. on larger objects it seems like plenty of zoom.. but I am pretty happy with the sigma 150-600mm lens over all. its a nice lens for the money, a really good lens that zooms in as far as this one will cost you thousands.

if you are looking to get a DSLR ans a big zoom lens you are looking at just say 800+ for the lens, than probably at least 500 bucks all the way up to several thousand for the camera body. and than any other accessories, lenses and what ever else you may want.

 

[wfooshee]

Looking at that camera I see that the 42x is optical, but it allows 2x further digitally. Digital zoom is nothing but using a smaller area of the sensor, sacrificing resolution for range. That would explain "blurry" if you've gone into the digital zoom range.

As for focusing issues, I don't know how much time elapses on the camera between shutter-press, focus activity, and shutter release. The last P&S I had was really slow. I'd hit the button and focus would hunt for a second, then trip the shutter. If my subject moved, it may not have been the focus selection by the time it trips. I can't tell you how many pictures I had with the ground in focus rather than the bird, kid, critter, whatever.

 

[Benjamin V]

Hey everyone, and thank you for taking the time to reply. A lot of the information here is extremely useful because it explains a lot.

Yes I am very close on some of the shots that I try to take, and while it does focus when I zoom out, it loses focus when I zoom back in. But I think that was explained well when the idea that me just being to close is the issue. I was maybe 7 feet from what I was trying to zoom to at 42x, lol.

I am not willing to spend over 600 for a DSLR camera, mostly because I am new to the whole thing and I think that is too much money for me to put into a new hobby right off the bat.

How can I use the optical zoom vs digital? Is there a setting for that? If it improves picture quality I am all for it.

The camera takes quite a bit of time to shoot a photo and then reset so I can shoot another. I am not sure what size the files its creating are, I will have to figure out how to check that.

The kind of photography I want to do is landscapes mostly. Still photos of trees, mountains, rivers, trails, animals. Anything I'd find while mountain biking hiking, or road trips.

The reason I asked about taking pictures on moving objects is because since I mountain bikes I sometimes take pictures of the people I mountain bike with while biking. So I would like to be able to take pictures of people in mid air, landing, riding down or whatever else that'll involve motion.

I also fish, camp, hike, run marathons and travel for fun. So I guess, I'm just really not sure of what I need, lol.

Picture quality is important to me, but so is speed and maybe speed more so than quality. I keep reading that DSLR's have much better shutter speed and picture quality even with smaller megapixels, but if you're not zooming in too much and cropping pictures the megapixels don't really matter after 10 megapixels... is this true?

Once again, thank you everyone for your input, I am learning as I read

 

[Benjamin V]

P.S that lens looks like it belongs on the turret of a tank, lol.

 

[Benjamin V]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._p=1970559082&pf_rd_i=desktop#customerReviews

would this camera be better for what I want than the nikon coolpix 9520?

Nikon D3300 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II Zoom Lens (Black)

It does not say how far it zooms though...unless it does, and I just don't understand...lol

 

[JTPhotography]

Start with a basic DSLR, any of the ones listed above will do fine.

The most important thing you can buy is a book on the fundamentals of photography or a spot in a class/workshop. Based on your first post, it sounds to me like you want a camera that is going to take awesome photos for you. It doesn't work that way. Study and practice.

 

[jaomul]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._p=1970559082&pf_rd_i=desktop#customerReviews

would this camera be better for what I want than the nikon coolpix 9520?

Nikon D3300 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II Zoom Lens (Black)

It does not say how far it zooms though...unless it does, and I just don't understand...lol

If you take your Nikon and put it to widest setting (not zoomed at all), that's probably about equivilant to 18mm on the d3200 with that 18-55 lens. At 55 the lens is zoomed 3 times that amount. So in comparison your camera had a 42 zoom, the dslr has a 3 times zoom approximately

 

[weepete]

From having a look at the camera specs on the Nikon website it looks like a pretty good bridge camera. Reviews elsewhere did note the slow autofocus speed and limited burst (only 7 shots at 7 fps) and that suggests to me that its not going to be great for shooting sports.

Bear in mind that there are a few things that you need to take sharp shots and one of the major things is shutter speed. I wouldn't be suprised if your shutter speed was to slow. Bearing in mind that if you are fully zoomed in it's the equivalent of a 1000mm lens that you were using and the rule of thumb is a shutter speed no less than 1/focal length to avoid camera shake from hand holding the camera. With a crop factor of nearly 6 then I suspect you'd need nearer 2 or 2.5 x the focal length to get a really sharp shot. So fully zoomed in your shutter speed should be 1/2000 sec or greater.

Sports photography unfortunately requires high end gear for really sharp shots and that comes with a very hefty price tag.

 

[weepete]

I don't think the op would really benefit from a dslr here, I'd have a serious look at a fast bridge camera like a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 which seems like a decent compromise for the budget.

An entry level DSLR with a kit lens just wont cut it for sports and action photography

 

[Benjamin V]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the imput. I've been reading and looking around and I was wondering if you guys think this would be more appropriate,

Nikon D5200 24.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR NIKKOR Zoom Lens (Black)

I went to a camera shop and they recommended this since its with in my budget. They said that since the megapixels are so high, and I am looking to crop this will give me the best results. Also- its a much faster shooting camera. I am still lost in( well, i'm still lost, lol) in terms of zoom, what kind of zoom would this give me. I'm used to reading 2x zoom, 10x zoom.I don't understand the numeration.

Thanks guys, waiting on some input before I hit the buy button- I found it cheaper than the shop I went to, by 200 dollars!

 

[Benjamin V]

a Nikon D80 was also suggested if I could find a used one..they're over 1000 new =\

 

[sashbar]

Hi Benjamin and welcome to the forum.
One thing you need to understand is that different cameras have sensors of a different size. The larger the sensor the better image quality you can expect. The smaller the sensor, the cheaper it is to zoom. Most cheap P&S cameras have a small or even tiny sensor, that is why they do not need a large lense to zoom in ( hense 20x or 40x zooms), but the image quality suffers, especially in bad light. DSLRs, on the other hand, have large sensors, you need a lagre glass here, and zooms get huge, heavy and expensive, even if it is a 8x zoom, never mind 20 and forget about 40.