I would like to get a new camera, mainly to take better quality pictures of my work projects, I’m a carpenter, so allsorts of projects big and small.

‘m fed up with crappy iphone/small cameras not being able to get in picture what i’ve built!
So I’m after something with a wider angle lense to fit more in when taking pictures inside rooms etc.

Should i go for a budget DLSR like the Nikon D3300/D3400 or a bridging camera something like this Panasonic

From what I’ve gathered the dslr can change there lenses to suit but the bridge cameras can’t.
Any advice from camera people in the know?

Your requirement seems mainly about lens choice.

You’ll most always be served better with a DSLR or micro 4/3rds (interchangeable lenses) for very wide angle/indoors shots but the decent wide-angle lenses are usually spendy.

Some of this cost can be offset by buying a decent used (low-shutter count) DSLR, or if lucky a DSLR with wide angle included. If you are accustomed to taking and editing pics on a phone then factor in the extra time taking pics off a camera and importing/editing on yr tablet/PC.

The Panasonic you linked goes 20mm wide which may be OK, have a look online at some full-wide (@20mm) sample pics taken in similar environments to yours?

You can get wide-angle clip-on lens adapters for phones, although typically lower-quality may be worth a look. IME phones are mostly rubbish for low-light/indoor photography.

If you typically have the space to step back farther and capture the subject from a greater distance then a good quality bridge or compact zoom camera may well do the job as you have higher IQ than a phone and can you crop into the subject when editing yet still have usable image at least for web uploads?

Thanks MR, yes my thinking is mainly based around lense choice, assuming that i could then swap out for a specific wide angle for certain projects.

Some photos would be of finished bathrooms, which can be tricky to get good shots of in smaller confined spaces, but then what I’m currently working on the lounge are is 11m x 6m, so my jobs do vary in size!

I’m not massively into uploadind and editing in a dedicated photo app really and as yet I don’t even have a website up and running to even publish these photos to. Something that I will be addressing very soon, which is why I want to sort this as I don’t want crap pictures of my work on show.

I like the sound of in the future being able to take a picture and then link it to my phone and possibly upload it to a facebook company page easily, so that will prob rule out the secondhand option as I’ll be after a wifi enabled kit.

I think I’ve answered my own question really! leaning towards a budget spec dslr, but I can’t see me getting really involved with photography to maybe benefit from all that the dslr can do

Something like this Canon maybe. has a 18mm lense, so will go wider for close indoor stuff.

Will a really wide angle lense like that distort the image? abit like some pictures on gopros look abit off and stretched/pulled out? Is that an uncontrollably aspect of a wide angle?

http://www.johnlewis.com/nikon-d3300-digital-slr-camera-with-18-55mm-lens-hd-1080p-24-2mp-optical-viewfinder-3-lcd-monitor-black/p2243287?sku=234737466&s_kwcid=2dx92700017294418943&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=CI7Oh5nc1dECFcEp0wodHPoM1Q&gclsrc=aw.ds

(Other vendors available disclaimer!)

D3300 is very highly regarded as an entry to DSLR. Kit lens goes to 18mm wide which should enough to get you started except for really tight bathrooms etc will require fisheye or ultra-wide correcting lenses etc.

I’d look at some sample images of that Nikon kit lens

The wifi issue could be addressed quite cheaply with a Nikon wifi adapter (WU-1a). Not used either (I’m even more old school!) but you may well have hit on a good choice first off. Not sure the wifi adapter works for the Nikon 3400 best to check.

But whatever you get, don’t forget a tripod/Gorillapod if you want the best quality available light (no flash) images.

*Edit – +1 that Canon kit also. Wifi included, bonus!

PS For web images I just import into Snapseed app on a tablet and do basic cropping, shadow/colour/distortion correction if required. It’s easy and can v quickly makes a good image a great one.

Quick comparisons – seems it’s onboard wifi (Canon) vs image quality (Nikon) in a shootout according to most online reviews.

[video]https://youtu.be/4Zzl7N0rnCg[/video]

If you don’t want to “learn photography” and you’re only taking photos of one thing, I’d say a dSLR is overkill personally. You won’t automatically take better pictures with a dSLR, you need to know how to use it to get the best out of it. For what your doing, your money would be better spent on a high end point and shoot, a tripod and some lighting IMHO.

I wouldn’t get hung up over Wi-Fi, it’s seconds of a job to pop an SD card into a PC or hook up a USB cable.

Also, you need to learn to spell “lens” correctly or you’ll get lynched by photonazis.

Something like this Canon maybe. has a 18mm lense, so will go wider for close indoor stuff.

No that isn’t as wide as the Panasonic because of the crop factor. It is a rubbish system I’m afraid. Basically for each camera you need to know the full frame equivalent focal length or angle of view. On the that Canon 18mm works out equivalant to more like 28mm on full frame

If you don’t want to “learn photography” and you’re only taking photos of one thing, I’d say a dSLR is overkill personally. You won’t automatically take better pictures with a dSLR, you need to know how to use it to get the best out of it. For what your doing, your money would be better spent on a high end point and shoot, a tripod and some lighting IMHO.

But if you need a proper wide angle lens than it is currently the only option. A mirror less is a possibility but DSLRs are still better for buying an ultra wide as they are available used so easily

Is this just to go online etc? Then DSLR etc overkill I’d say, tho if you want to spend the money they will take good pics. I think there are compacts with wide lenses or adaptors.

But if you need a proper wide angle lens than it is currently the only option.

True, but that’s dependent on what the OP is trying to photograph really. “A bit wider than a camera phone” is a different criterion than something that’s almost fish-eye. It’s kinda difficult to advise without knowing what he’s building.

No that isn’t as wide as the Panasonic because of the crop factor.

Yikes yes. Glad someone is looking! Same goes for the 3300 kit. Makes the Panny more attractive for getting the job done with less expense and hassle.

Just bought the Nikon D3300 for Boy1. Takes a nice photo in auto, nice colour, well exposed, etc. He and I haven’t got much further into it as yet, but on the surface it’s a good camera for the money. He’s off to Berlin next week with college, so we’ll see how he manages next week.

I dug my trusty old Canon G9 out the other day, it still had charge after what must be 18 months.
I was amazed how good it still is.
(Well, good in my ham fisted hands anyway).

I took it in trade for a 350d on here some years ago. My love if photography was waning as the amount of kit needed to get the best out of the Eos was a never ending spiral. The G9 was great in comparison. I’m glad I didn’t spend any more on kit.

I’d imagine today’s equivalent must be a seriously good peice of kit.

If your not in a rush they are at last taking orders on the only really wide compact

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/97946/Show.html

It’s alot of money but probably close to the cost of any ultra wide lens and body. The price will fall once the newness has worn off. That is 18mm full frame equivalent. It should also be able to take pictures under domestic lighting without flash. Handy as no flash is that wide

An iphone 6 lend is full frame equivalent to 29mm. So the same as Canon DSLR kit lens

Something like a secondhand Sigma 10-22 from mpb and a cheap Canon secondhand DSLR body.

No that isn’t as wide as the Panasonic because of the crop factor. It is a rubbish system I’m afraid. Basically for each camera you need to know the full frame equivalent focal length or angle of view. On the that Canon 18mm works out equivalant to more like 28mm on full frame

So how does that work then? They don’t all use the same system of measuring lens length? thats a bit frustrating!

True, but that’s dependent on what the OP is trying to photograph really. “A bit wider than a camera phone” is a different criterion than something that’s almost fish-eye. It’s kinda difficult to advise without knowing what he’s building.

It is quite variably, sometimes it will be smaller kitchen projects, difficult to “stand back” abit to take a clear shot, to large open plan kitchens/living areas with very fancy finishes on that would require a very detialed and precise quality.

If your not in a rush they are at last taking orders on the only really wide compact

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/97946/Show.html

Thats really too much for what I wanted to spend, happy to spend around the £300-£350 mark as theis really is going to live in my van and probably left on site occasionally.

So how does that work then? They don’t all use the same system of measuring lens length? thats a bit frustrating!

They do use the same system of measuring lens length and that’s precisely why it’s different between cameras. It’s all to do with sensor size. Imagine a projector filling a projection screen. Now make that screen smaller, what happens? The image spills over the edges and you lose part of it.

Same with a camera. If you focus an image on a sensor an inch across, and then focus the same image on a sensor half an inch across, you’re losing the edges. Effectively it’s the same as taking a photo and then zooming in with Photoshop and cropping the edges off, hence “crop factor.”

OK got it, so what numbers do I need to look at to work out the effective lens length?

jim25

These would be my sugestions

Used Ultra wide. As above Sigma 10-20

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/used-equipment/used-photo-and-video/used-lenses/used-canon-fit-lenses/sigma-10-20mm-f-4-5-6-ex-dc-hsm-canon-ef-fit/sku-642511/

Plus a DSLR. I’d go used and upload via a PC.

http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-used-nikon-d90-digital-slr-camera-body/p1617690

Total spend under £400. You might need a tripod as well in low light. I don’t think that you’ll do it for less

nothing wrong with Canon I just don’t know the model numbers

The cheapest option for a wide photo is just to stitch photos together

This is free

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/ice/

Tutorial

https://photographylife.com/stitching-images-with-microsoft-ice

Nikon aps-c is 1.5x lens focal length
Canon aps-c is 1.6x lens focal length
Any micro 4/3 system is 2x lens focal length

To get wide angle indoors for eg bathrooms then you’re going to want something like a 10-20 lens. You do get image distortion though ,- look at all the estate agents who use very wide angle lenses to make rooms look bigger…. They just look distorted! Whether this is bad enough for you to worry about our not is up to you.

Any canon or Nikon aps-c DSLR going back to when they first started making DSLR will do what you want, just get a wide lens.

PS, go second hand

If the DSLR route is the way you want to go, I’ve got a Nikon D3300 with a Nikon twin lens kit (18-55mm and 55-200mm) that is currently looking for a new home if you’re interested?

Crop factor conversion chart (there are calculators online but this is quick and easy):

http://www.digicamhelp.com/accessories/dslr-accessories/crop-factor-conversion-chart/

I once tried wide(r) angle photography with a Sigma EX 10-20mm (rectilinear – ie less distortion) stuck on the front of a Canon 10D. Paid nearly 400 quid for the lens at the time and found that it was entirely underwhelming. Muddy edge detail, poor sharpness, nasty dark look. Sent it back and they sent another. Slightly sharper but still just a grubby overall image in my eyes so I stuck to stitching prime frames together in Photoshop to get the wider view*. You’re looking at about £170-200 used today for (eg) the 10-20mm Sigma but do take care if buying used lenses, get from reputable dealers who will back their goods, even if used.

I sometimes stitch multiple (compact camera) frames together (for web use) on a tablet, there is a half-decent app named ‘Autostitch’ which often does a surprisingly smooth job (with the settings cranked up). This is really at a pinch though – normally for panoramic/180 degree shots that aren’t achievable any other way. You’d get more consistently accurate results for your kind of work with a wide-angle rectilinear lens or a cheaper (curvilinear) wide-angle lens/lens adapter (fisheye type). If image is still too distorted then use lens correction software in the final edit.

Example of curvilinear vs rectilinear:

Thanks Malvern thats some interesting information.
Basically I’m now clueless as to what I should be looking for!!

I would like a fairly simply to use, point and shoot camera capable of taking better than iphone 6 quality pictures. Not sure i want to get involved with swapping over lens to cover different applications though! Soundslike I want the impossible all for £300!!

Why not try the FZ72, see how you get on? Don’t think you’ll get wider or as user-friendly for the money. If you fimd 20mm (vs 29mm on iPhome 6) is still not enough then you could always buy a wide-angle adapter kit for those few awkward shots…

It sounds like OP does not want to go as far as setting up lighting/flashes so I would suggest a decent compact camera, maybe one with a flash that can be swiveled for a bit of bounce flashing e.g. a sony RX100 mk1 can be bought for well under 300ukp.

Alternative is trawl around on ebay you can find a 2nd hand slr with a decent lens and an external flash for 300UKP

If sticking with new kit only I would generally suggest go with mirrorless (e.g. Sony) rather than SLR for taking photos of things that do not move fast.

I would like a fairly simply to use, point and shoot camera capable of taking better than iphone 6 quality pictures. Not sure i want to get involved with swapping over lens to cover different applications though! Soundslike I want the impossible all for £300!!

iphone 6 is quite good. That Panasonic will not take btter pictures IMHO just have more zoom

It sounds like OP does not want to go as far as setting up lighting/flashes so I would suggest a decent compact camera, maybe one with a flash that can be swiveled for a bit of bounce flashing e.g. a sony RX100 mk1 can be bought for well under 300ukp.

I think there is alot of sense. It might not be wider but it will be better. The price seems to have gone up again. Mine was £250 over the counter in John Lewis

A field of view comparison between my phone (Galaxy Note 5) in the 1st pic and my Sony Rx100 in the 2nd.

Ignore PQ, obviously the Sony is far better, I didn’t really bother with settings, just went for a quick snapshot for the purpose of this post

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Qh1SJi]2017-01-24_10-23-36[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Qh1XCX]DSC04053[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

Or look at the Panasonic Lumix GF7. Available for about £250.
It is a bigger sensor size than that FZ72, so should be better image quality, especially for low light. And its a much smaller camera, actually pocket sized.

The standard lens is fairly wide (24mm equivalent). You could change it to an ultra-wide lens, but most of them are expensive, or have fisheye distortion, or only manual focus.

Cheap Canon body like a second hand 450D, and the Canon 10-18 wide angle lens would be ideal IMO. I think you’ll struggle to get wide enough shots with a Camera phone or a standard lens like an 18-50. A newer DSLR with Wifi is handy for direct transfer to ipad/phone if you’re not a laptop/PC person.

I wouldn’t worry about the fisheye effect too much, yes technically it’s not a great photo – but if you’re showing off your finished bathroom then a nice curved, spacious view is more informative/inviting for the viewer

iPhone panorama might also create a decent image (or a 360 camera 😉 !)

Comparing roughly the field of view you would expect from

FZ72 (20mm)
RX100 (24mm)
Iphone 6

Depends on what model RX100 – mark I or II are 28mm, III and newer are 24mm equivalent.

Will a really wide angle lense like that distort the image? abit like some pictures on gopros look abit off and stretched/pulled out? Is that an uncontrollably aspect of a wide angle?

There are wide lenses that keep straight lines straight and do not have the lens distortion like a go-pro does. However the effect of exaggerated perspective which you can get with wide angle images is unavoidable

BTW windows 10 has a handy photo stitching tool which is good for joining several photos together 🙂

Even the RX100 has some barrel distortion close up at it’s widest focal point
[url=https://flic.kr/p/Ga32qu]Hotelbw2[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

I bought the cheaper new Canon 10-18mm lens for my interior shots and it’s excellent.
Only downside is that it’s only suitable for tripod use indoors. Not a problem for me, but adds to the overall faff/cost.
It doesn’t really matter what Canon body you put it on. Anything from a 400D onwards would probably do.

These are on a 60D (sorry about converging verticals – the sofa arm blocked everything when I went lower).
The good thing for me was that the lens paid for itself on its first outing to take some photos for a local landlord.

Whoever said that a DSLR wont instantly take better photos is absolutely right though. It’s all about the light.

Well after a really good chat with the man n the shop and looking at quite a few different options.
I bought….this!

I was going to say nooo, it has a tiny sensor – but actually, it gets good reviews

Ha, yes it does. But after talking to the shop, narrowed down to 3 cameras, this one covered pretty.much all the thinks I was trying to cover. Sat on the sofa currently taking zoomed and wide angle pics of my front room!
Very happy with it, more than I wanted to spend (always seems to be the way!) but very impressed with it.
I could of easily got very carried away, looked at this panasonic in black that had an amazing lens quality on it, not much zoom on as standard but is interchangeable, so would of been very adaptable – but even more money again!

Ah, now if you’d said ‘do all this for £450’ … 😉

Glad you got sorted, have fun! New cameras are ace.