Which is the best camera and lenses for me?

[mmaria]

I'm going to spend the rest of my life with my Leica m4's

and that's perfectly fine... but I think you should try e520 and tell me what you think of it

 

[gsgary]

and that's perfectly fine... but I think you should try e520 and tell me what you think of it

I have and it was ok you just work with what you have, you can get just as good portraits with it as you can with a Nikon D7000

 

[mmaria]

and that's perfectly fine... but I think you should try e520 and tell me what you think of it

I have and it was ok you just work with what you have, you can get just as good portraits with it as you can with a Nikon D7000

I have no idea about D7000...

I love my e520 (still have it) because it's a restraining piece of equipment and that's why I was pushed to learn a lot. However, I don't have any desire to shoot with it ever again!

and still... for the OP... 5 years is more than enough! Run away from it!

 

[Funderflash]

Thanks gsgary. I know your right but I've been carrying my old one around for years. It's been to the beach with the kids over and over again. It's battered and bruised and I want to start again. I'll keep the old one for those beach days and have respect for the new equipment. I think a new one would excite me into learning more about functions. Thanks for you in put.

 

[robbins.photo]

Thanks gsgary. I know your right but I've been carrying my old one around for years. It's been to the beach with the kids over and over again. It's battered and bruised and I want to start again. I'll keep the old one for those beach days and have respect for the new equipment. I think a new one would excite me into learning more about functions. Thanks for you in put.

Greetings funder - you really don't need to spend a ton of money to get yourself a good DSLR that will do what you want it to do - if it were me I'd probably look at a Nikon D3200 and add a 50 mm 1.8 AFS-G lens. With a little bit of practice you can take some really great, sharp photos and it won't break the bank by any means.

 

[Funderflash]

Mmaria. Thank you, it's sounds like you know where I'm coming from. I'm a mum of 2 and I've spent years taking fun snaps on the run. Their in school now and I have more time to play. So I want to learn everything there is to learn. However. I feel like the camera I have is going to hold me back in the long term. I've fallen out of love with it I think.

Thank you everyone for you advice. I'll be back when I'm set up for more I'm sure.

 

[gsgary]

Thanks gsgary. I know your right but I've been carrying my old one around for years. It's been to the beach with the kids over and over again. It's battered and bruised and I want to start again. I'll keep the old one for those beach days and have respect for the new equipment. I think a new one would excite me into learning more about functions. Thanks for you in put.

You should see my 1Dmk2 loads of bare metal it looks great

 

[petrochemist]

From your description it seems Kids & landscapes are your likely subjects. If you control your ISO (turn it up when it's too dark to manage without) & start using Av (where you set the aperture & the camera sorts the rest) you could see a significant imnprovement in sharpness. Wider aperture for the kids to get faster shutter speeds with them moving constantly, narower aperture for landscapes to give good DOF. Going further into manual settings won't give much real gain for you.

When you come to get a new camera there are a couple of things that tend to get ignored that in my view are of major importance. How does the camera feel in your hand & the ergonomics suit You? Neither of these are things we can tell you, though suggestions can be made if you have big hands for instance..

Will you be carrying the camera around a lot, or just grabbing it from the house/car? In the first case smaller/lighter cameras have a significant advantage.

You mention that you already have a tripod, but if it's not sturdy enough it could easily be causing softness in your images. For wider angle shots at moderate shutter speeds it's not likely to be an issue, but if your taking those rock faces at 150mm you could easily be going above what cheaper tripods will manage.

I use both micro four thirds & DSLRs and find the smaller cameras get used most, and give quite acceptable results. When I'm expecting to need extra long lenses (motorsports/airshows...) my DSLRs usually get chosen & then they can usually get a hammering! The longest autofocus effective focal length I have for my DSLRs (750mm) is nearly twice what I can manage with µ4/3 (400mm).
I find my DSLRs feel slightly better in my hands, but if I'm off for a hike my back/legs tell me the smaller camera is the one to take!

 

[mmaria]

just one thing to add... I assume everyone who participate in this thread know that op's camera with iso 400 already introduces noise.

good images you'll get only when light conditions are ideal.

anyway... good luck with whatever you decide to do

 

[robbins.photo]

just one thing to add... I assume everyone who participate in this thread know that op's camera with iso 400 already introduces noise.

good images you'll get only when light conditions are ideal.

anyway... good luck with whatever you decide to do

Lol, well not certain about that, but it seems that most of the folks that participated and advised the op to just use a 5 year old DSLR with limited capabilities are also carrying around modern, recently purchased camera bodies that cost mostly $1000 and up - many of which are either top of the line mirrorless or full frame jobs. Ironic, that.. lol

So to the op, I'd recommend you give the D3200 a look, it's a great camera, modern sensor, will have the sort of capabilities you mentioned your looking for - with the addition of a 50 mm AF-S G 1.8 prime lens, you should be set for quite some time to come.

 

[mmaria]

I "liked" the first half of your post robbins, just to be clear, because I have no idea about any nikons that are mentioned here

 

[Vince.1551]

Nikon D800e or D810 might be what you are looking for. Couple it with an AF-S 85 f1.8 G or AF-D 105mm f2.8 DC or Zeiss 135mm f2.

 

[robbins.photo]

I "liked" the first half of your post robbins, just to be clear, because I have no idea about any nikons that are mentioned here

Oh right.. I keep forgetting you have that bizarre aversion to both meat and cameras that aren't made by "that other company".

Lol

 

[ruifo]

Hi. I've had a Olympus 520 for 5 years and mostly shot in auto mode. I'm now ready to learn more about the manual features. I understand IOS, shutter speed and aperture but in truth I've been lazy about using them.

I'm now ready to upgrade to a cannon or Nikon. I've been saving and was planning to spend £1500-£2000 for a camera and lenses. I take great pictures but the sharpness is not there. I take mostly family pictures and some landscape. I need something that will give me sharpness when shooting with moving children. I want detail such as lashes when shooting faces. I also want to take landscape photos as I live in a beautiful area and need a camera with a very slow shutter speed. I already own a tripod. I'm always having trouble in low lighting so it would be go to get a camera that deals better with that.

I would like to go pro in a couple of years and I intend to do some courses to learn more. Then I will buy a full frame camera but I'm not ready for that yet. As I relies I have a long way to go.

I would appreciate any advice you can offer on which camera and lenses I should go for.

If you plan to go pro in a few years, here's my recommendation to you and your up to £2000 budget:


CAMERA BODY:

Nikon D7100 body only (£809)
- This croped sensor body will give you a very good feeling for pro cameras later.
- Don't get a crop kit lens, if you plan to upgrade to full frame in the future. Body only.
_________________________________
Sub-Total (D7100 camera body): £809




An alternative body, to decrease the costs, is the Nikon D5300.


Nikon D5300 body only (£549)
- This is the update of the trusted, robust and reliable D5200 (best crop sensor out there, according to DxOMark), that I own. It will give you great images.
- Don't get a crop kit lens, if you plan to upgrade to full frame in the future. Body only.
_________________________________

Sub-Total (D5300 camera body): £549





LENSES:

Consider these three together:

Tokina 17-35mm f/4 AT-X Pro FX (£549)
Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.8 G (£149)
Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.8 G (£375)

- Lenses are always most important than the camera body. Keep that in mind. You will end up changing the body, and keeping your lenses for ever (if careful).
- The first one (Tokina 17-35mm) will be very good for landscape and wide angle shots. Whe you upgrade into FF, it will move from wide angles to ultra-wide angles. It's constante f/4 aperture is a great help as well.
- The two Nikon prime lenses will give you plenty of quality. The 50mm is great for general photography. The 85mm is top for portraits. Both will give you great shallow depth of field.
- These three lenses are full frame lenses. So all of them will be good when you upgrade to a full frame body.
- If you like them, get the three of them or something similar.
_________________________________
Sub-Total (lenses): £1,073




MEMORY CARD:

The D7100 takes up to two SD memory cards, while the D5300 takes only one card. Get at least one 32GB card, or two 16GB cards.

- Sandisk Extreme 32GB SDHC UHS-I Card 45 MB/s (£60)
- Sandisk Extreme 16GB SDHC UHS-I Card 45 MB/s (£40)
_________________________________
Sub-Total (1 x 32GB card): £60




FLASH:

Vivitar DF-483-NIK Wireless TTL LCD Flash for Nikon (£166)

- If you want/need a flash, this wireless one can serve you well:
_________________________________
Sub-Total (flash): £166




TOTALS:

_____________________________________________
Total with D7100 body and all the rest: £2,108

_____________________________________________
Total with D5300 body and all the rest: £1,848




Do not feel afraid of the D5300. It is an amazing camera with high quality.
I have a D5200, am upgrading to a D810 now, but am keeping the D5200 with me, once it is a hell of a good camera!!!

Search more in places like:
www.jessops.com
www.amazon.co.uk
etc...

 

[mmaria]

I "liked" the first half of your post robbins, just to be clear, because I have no idea about any nikons that are mentioned here

Oh right.. I keep forgetting you have that bizarre aversion to both meat and cameras that aren't made by "that other company".

Lol

I "liked" just the first half of your post robbins, just to be clear, because ... it's funny ..... I don't care about the brands, really, it's just I don't have a clue about nikons, or sony, or fuji... haven't tried them yet, but one day I hope I will

and stop eating meat!