Please help, dear experienced photographers:)

nikoletayu · Sep 27, 2012

Hi everybody

I am new here and I need your help. I am total amateur that knows a good photo when sees it

I have Fujifilm A235 camera that works ok for me, but I would like something better. I am moving back to Europe on October 22 and I don't have time to do detailed research of the all cameras on the market.

I never use auto settings, I use these manual settings: 400 iso a home to take photos of my kids, 200 iso outside. prefer not to use flash if not necessary.
My photos are pretty good outside, but indoor photos are not very good. But even outside, I don't have that "pro" quality. You know, very sharp front object, blurry in the back, sharpness better then real etc....

My budget is up to $200 (ok, maybe few bucks more

).

I have a AA battery charger and prefer the camera that can use these batteries.

Please, point me it a good direction

Thank you

Nikoleta

jwbryson1 · Sep 27, 2012

For $200, you will find it nearly impossible to get an SLR type of camera unless you buy a used Nikon D40 or equivalent from Canon or one of the "off brand" cameras like Pentax, etc. That's a pretty tight budget.

nikoletayu · Sep 27, 2012

jwbryson1 said:
For $200, you will find it nearly impossible to get an SLR type of camera unless you buy a used Nikon D40 or equivalent from Canon or one of the "off brand" cameras like Pentax, etc. That's a pretty tight budget.

thanks for your response

is there something in between snap and shoot and slr cameras? if not, what is the best snap and shoot for my budget and my needs?
btw, is this slr? Fujifilm FinePix S2800HD

Dao · Sep 28, 2012

For your budget, I will suggest a used DSLR type camera such as slightly used Nikon D50, D70 or the Canon Digital Rebel XT.

You can also take a look at this. A refurbished Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1 Micro Digital Camera & 14-42mm II Lens for $250.
Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1 Micro Digital Camera & 14-42mm II Lens (Black) - Factory Demo includes Full 1 Year Warranty

The Olympus PEN is not a DSLR, it belongs to the mirrorless and Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens cameras group. You can read more about the camera here
Olympus PEN Mini / E-PM1 Review: Digital Photography Review

cgipson1 · Sep 28, 2012

nikoletayu said:
I never use auto settings, I use these manual settings: 400 iso a home to take photos of my kids, 200 iso outside. prefer not to use flash if not necessary.
My photos are pretty good outside, but indoor photos are not very good. But even outside, I don't have that "pro" quality. You know, very sharp front object, blurry in the back, sharpness better then real etc....

My budget is up to $200 (ok, maybe few bucks more).

I have a AA battery charger and prefer the camera that can use these batteries.

Please, point me it a good direction

Thank you

Nikoleta

Oh.. and your bad indoor photos? Flash would improve them greatly.. but you are limited in that you can't get it off camera...

For $200.. there is not much for you. However... a BRIDGE type camera (Preferably that has a flash hotshoe) would give you a lot more creative control. Just buy a good one, not the cheapest ones. The Canon SX30 or SX40 comes to mind, and you can find those used closer to your price range.

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Digital-Stabilized-2-7-Inch-Vari-Angle/dp/B005MTMFHU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348836165&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+sx40

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-SX30IS-...TF8&qid=1348836197&sr=1-1&keywords=canon+sx30

rdzmzda · Sep 28, 2012

Even bare minimum I am not sure you could pull off a SLR at that price. Even if you just started off with just a 50mm lens that is used it would run 50+ so that only leaves 150 for SLR. Have you thought about film? You can find a film SLR failry cheap as everyone switches over to digital. The only way this could be done is find someone on craigslist with an old canon 20, 30, or 40D with a used 50mm is maybe MAYBE the only way. Notice the big maybe. I think you may be better off waiting and trying to maybe double that to 400-500 range and you would be a lot better off.

amolitor · Sep 28, 2012

$200 would set you up with quite a decent used 35mm film camera with a moderately fast 50mm lens.

Just throwing it out there..

pixmedic · Sep 28, 2012

I saw a fuji s2 pro on craigslist for $100. Nikon f mount. May find similar results on ebay. Nikons D100 is pretty cheap on ebay as well. Both are good dslr's for the money.

nikoletayu · Sep 28, 2012

thanks for all the answers

I am finding many great deals for the cameras you suggested on both craigslist and ebay. Would you mind rating the suggested cameras, because I have no idea which one to pick (especially when they name the lenses, I don't know anything about them either:blushing

nikoletayu · Sep 30, 2012

pleeese, tell me which would be top three of suggested...i am so impatient to buy it

Solarflare · Sep 30, 2012

Well, I doubt I qualify for the term "experienced photographer", but getting a blurry background is archieved by a combination of these factors:

- Using a camera with a large sensor (such as APS-C, Full Frame, or even larger, in DSLRs)
- Using a lens with a large aperture (where large means low f-number, i.e. a lens with f/2 has a larger aperture than one with f/2.8 or f/4)
- Using a lens with long focal length
- Having less distance between the camera and the subject
- Having more distance between the subject and the background

If one of these things is weaker, you can increase the others to compensate. For example, distance lowers depth of field by square, thats why photographing small things (socalled Macro photography) always have very small depth of field and have to use very small apertures to compensate.

For example, check out the background of the example picture of this Wikipedia article: Bokeh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - this picture was done with a full frame Canon camera and it uses the famous 85mm f/1.2, the fastest mass produced lens with autofocus in existence. Expensive stuff.

About "sharper than real", you lost me there. No idea what you're talking about. Unless you talk about sharpening algorithms which are present in any digital camera.

I have no idea what your last question is, either. Sorry.

nikoletayu · Oct 2, 2012

Thanks everybody! I found out that bridge cameras are what I need.

kundalini · Oct 2, 2012

The advantage of SLR, DSLR & Micro 4/3 cameras is having the ability for interchangeable lenses. This allows you to grow your system as you grow your skills. Also, the recording medium has a larger footprint, which in turn increases Image Quality and some other benefits.

With P&S and Bridge cameras you are limited with the lense on the camera and a tiny sensor.

Just my 2¢.