Viewing 28 posts - 41 through 68 (of 68 total)
  • Photography types. Please recommend me a camera for…
  • Cougar
    Full Member

    .

    kuman
    Free Member

    As already suggested nikon dslr + 35mm F1.8 would be best if you are on a budget or 28mm f1.8 if you can spend a bit extra. If you can justify spending £1000+ you could get second hand full frame d700 + 35mm f2 ( this is what I use 90% of the time for family snaps)

    djflexure
    Full Member

    I’m not a photographer, but I do have kids, and had the same sort of thoughts a few years ago. There are a couple of types of shot I commonly take. The posed portrait and more candid ‘action’ shots. I found that having an SLR with decent long lens was the best solution. I can get good posed shots with a range of cameras, but I needed decent kit and a longer lens for the rest. It is a pain to carry about but that was the price I paid.

    user-removed
    Free Member

    If you can justify spending £1000+ you could get second hand full frame d700 + 35mm f2

    Coincidentally, took these earlier today with a D700 and 35mm f2 lens 🙂

    ampthill
    Full Member

    damo2575

    because its contrast detect autofocus

    My DSLR will lock onto a moving subject and track it as it has phase detect AF

    I’ll admit to not having used that exact body and lens, but I have used lots of contrast detect camera and AF tracking is poor to non existant

    But please don’t the wrong way I would swap my DSLR and kit lens for a GF1 and 20mm in a heart beat. I would rather have a more portable camera

    In the longer term I’m hoping that the things like the latest NEX will have better Af tracking and be small

    DezB
    Free Member

    So lenhankie, that’s that sorted! Go shopping 🙂

    This was taken in a totally dark room, with the exception of the fishtank and laptop. OK, there is some noise on the back wall, but it was taken at ISO1600 and with the 18-55mm kit lens. With a fast prime it would have been much sharper…

    And this in a very dimly lit room (note to OP – the nose is blurred due to the depth of field created by shooting at an aperture of f1.7 – I focussed on the eyes) – taken with 50mm prime (and cropped from original)


    DSC04146 by davetheblade, on Flickr

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Snapping kids as they run about, from close range, is rather hard, whatever camera you’ve got.

    There are two reasons for blur. One is too slow a shutter, the other is being out of focus. If it’s indoors or in low light the shutter speed will be slower so you run the risk of them moving as the shutter is open, creating blur. However, cameras also need light to focus, so focusing will be slower too.

    Don’t get too hung up about ISO noise either. It’s not that big of a deal unless you blow the images up really big to look for it – which is silly.

    Your average home printer won’t even be able to print the noise anyway.

    Plus, as above, the best way to get candid kid shots is with a telephoto lens. My 40-150mm is ace for that.

    LenHankie
    Free Member

    Thanks to everyone for the responses and recommendations. I realise I’m slightly asking for the moon on a stick here and I understand the basic principles of how a camera works as I spent a while in the 90s shooting 35mm on my dad’s old Olympus OM-1 SLR, doing my own processing in the darkroom at art college etc, but since the dawn of digital I’ve lost track and always had a compact as I’ve usually been skint! I therefore get that I really should be going for a cheap DSLR as it’s most suited to dealing with the low light etc, but the main reason for specifying against one was that most of the time it will be my wife using the camera as she spends most of her time with the kids. If I present her with a DSLR, I know that it will just end up sat on a shelf and never get taken anywhere as she’s normally got a ton of baby paraphernalia with her anyway. I’d rather she took any camera than none at all, but I’d rather the photos weren’t all phone pics! They are also mostly over my budget at the moment. Like I said, I’d love a DSLR for my own use, but I think this needs to be a separate thing.

    Therefore I think the micro 4/3rds format is probably what I’m looking for . The Nikon 1 series as recommended seem promising but the small sensor compared to the competition concerns me. Photos I’ve seen from it look great though! Having done some more reading around, I’m now thinking something like the Lumix GF2 or Sony NEX-F3. Does anyone have any thoughts on these or their competitors? I see the GF1 seems highly rated by a few here ( I think the GF2 is the replacement?).

    Some lovely photos up there by the way!

    Thanks

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    Either m4/3 or Nex are significantly better if you’re taking photos of static, or predictably moving subjects. The Nikon will be better on erratic moving subjects – it was designed for “socccer moms”. The others are designed for camera nerds.

    Be aware that the old m4/3 use an ancient sensor. The newer Olympus m4/3 use Sony sensors so are close to matching the Nex cameras.

    ampthill
    Full Member

    GF2 was generally considered less good than the GF1. The GF1 became the GX1.

    I would really urge you look at Nikon. Its the only copmact with blazing fast AF. Its sensor is as good as older micro fourthirds like the GF1.

    The Nikon J1 will work really well for your wife and be a brilliant biking camera and is cheap at the moment. Under £300 new.

    Get into Jessops while its still open. The J1 is dirt cheap now and as you will see when you try it it will focus really fast and folow a moving subjet. Or look at the V1 the same thing with a view finder

    MrSmith
    Free Member

    GF1 with 14-45kit zoom (the one with the metal lens mount)?
    hasn’t even filled the card since I have owned it for £220 inc post (and the 8gb card)

    molgrips
    Free Member

    The Nikon 1 series as recommended seem promising but the small sensor compared to the competition concerns me

    Are you going to download the images and zoom all the way in looking for imperfections? If not, they it’ll be just perfect. If you are then stop it!

    dobo
    Free Member

    i’m using a olympus epm1, whilst its a bit quirky, its very small when combined with an excellent panasonic 20mm F1.7 and thats the good thing about the olympus you have a wider choice of lens than other m4/3.
    the newer more expensive olympus m4/3 look great, same sensor as higher range models. the olympus also have image stabilisation in the body

    MrSmith
    Free Member

    thats the good thing about the olympus you have a wider choice of lens than other m4/3.

    Bit of a moot point seing as m4/3 lenses from all the manufacturers (Panasonic, Olympus, voightlander, sigma, SLRmagic) fit all the m4/3 bodies no matter who makes them.

    dobo
    Free Member

    of course i know that but worded my post wrong, i meant compared to sony nex and nikon system lens, cba to do a cheeky post edit

    MrSmith
    Free Member

    Yes. The lens range is extensive, the lenses on the sony’s are a bit porky too.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    I thought the Panny lenses didn’t work quite as well on Oly bodies? I think I remember reading that the Panasonic lenses have quite a bit of barrel distortion that they correct in-body?

    nmdbasetherevenge
    Free Member

    Peterfile, that was ace 🙂

    LenHankie
    Free Member

    I’ve done a bit more looking, and I’m very tempted buy the GF1 and a 20mm lens, which I’ve found new for about £266. I know it’s the older model, but I do like the physical control wheel for choosing between shooting modes over the GF2 and also that it”s a bit chunkier and heavier than the NIkon and GF2. Seems to be very well liked and images look good. (I know I said it needed to be small but it still is in comparison to a DSLR). It just feels like a quality piece of kit. Lens interchangeability also appeals over the Nikon and Sony NEX’s.

    Having said that, the NIkon J1 seemed tempting and John Lewis have it at £199 as it’s just been superceded. I guess I thought that small sensor would mean it would struggle in low light and therefore be slow. This is where my limited knowledge shows me up…

    [/quote]molgrips – Member
    The Nikon 1 series as recommended seem promising but the small sensor compared to the competition concerns me
    Are you going to download the images and zoom all the way in looking for imperfections? If not, they it’ll be just perfect. If you are then stop it!

    No – I’m not doing this!

    Also, yes, LOL at Peterfile. 😀

    AlexSimon
    Full Member

    This gives some details about a GF1/J1 comparision (the site aggregates data from other website’s reviews)
    http://snapsort.com/compare/Nikon-J1-vs-Panasonic_Lumix_DMC-GF1

    Shutter lag was the figure that jumped out at me, from your earlier requirements.

    user-removed
    Free Member

    I’d bite off MrSmith’s hand ^^^ That’s a bargain for a hardly used GF1. Quite tempted myself!

    ampthill
    Full Member

    Where did you find a Gf1 and 20mm for £266

    bargain at that price!!!

    dobo
    Free Member

    I thought the Panny lenses didn’t work quite as well on Oly bodies? I think I remember reading that the Panasonic lenses have quite a bit of barrel distortion that they correct in-body?

    never really noticed barrel distortion but photoshop can correct that. i have noticed some vignetting in the corners on certain pics, but again can be corrected in photoshop but really aint that bad or needed on many pictures, the benefits of this lens far outweigh the minor negatives.

    fwiw i got the panny 20mm 1.7 really cheap on argos outlet, but this was yonks ago so probably not on there now.

    LenHankie
    Free Member
    coolhandluke
    Free Member

    clicky clicky fraud alert on Teds Tech…..

    Too good to be true!

    Afraid so. Phishing warning, prices that good you put card details into buy, transaction fails but you already have given them your card details. Next day a heap of cash vanishes from your account. Or so the clicky link told me, that an the too good to be true prices.

    LenHankie
    Free Member

    coolhandluke – Member

    clicky clicky fraud alert on Teds Tech…..

    Too good to be true!

    Afraid so. Phishing warning, prices that good you put card details into buy, transaction fails but you already have given them your card details. Next day a heap of cash vanishes from your account. Or so the clicky link told me, that an the too good to be true prices.

    Thanks for this – Phew! It did seem absurdly cheap compared to anywhere else!. Still undecided then…

Viewing 28 posts - 41 through 68 (of 68 total)

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