Digital SLR cameras

Anybody got one of these and know a bit about them. I'm a bit of a gadget fiend but whilst in London over the weekend noticed how many people seem to prefer them to compacts these days. I always struggle to get some really good action shots and see some fantastic ones on here, mine are always blurred as Tilly has moved as I'm taking the shot , though occasionally I get lucky.

Anyway enough of my rambling , need some advice , ideally from an expert on a recommendation and also from a novice on how easy they picked it up. It's a large outlay but I think I only really need something around entry level, any suggestions folks ??? Really don't want to pay too much money but I am a believer in "you only get what you pay for"

Depends what you want to do. Some take really good quality close ups, some take good distance (zoomed) and some take shots with really fast shutters. The likely hood is you are looking something with a bit of all of them so go in to the shop and ask for one with a good shutter speed and it will most likely cover all of them. I have a nice camera but it has no fast shutter speed which is */ it can take a nice photo but not any sort of speed which i wanted. I am going to have to get a new one but i neeed money first.

Equi wrote:Depends what you want to do. Some take really good quality close ups, some take good distance (zoomed) and some take shots with really fast shutters. The likely hood is you are looking something with a bit of all of them so go in to the shop and ask for one with a good shutter speed and it will most likely cover all of them. I have a nice camera but it has no fast shutter speed which is */ it can take a nice photo but not any sort of speed which i wanted. I am going to have to get a new one but i neeed money first.

I did look at some reviews yesterday and they talk about the frames per second (is this what you mean) , you right about a bit of everything, when I was looking in Currys PC World yesterday they are all so expensive and have so many buttons

Dave, it really depends on your budget. My hubby is a pro photographer and uses a Nikon D700, which is also what I have.

Frames per second refers to how many photographs the camera can take in a second.

Shutter speed refers to how fast the shutter moves - the faster the shutter speed, the more the subject is frozen.

A slow shutter speed will blur the image and a fast speed will freeze the action.

Most SLRs are capable of very fast shutter speeds whereas the frames per second varies a lot. The quickest fps on budget SLRs are on Sony cameras, as they are no longer actually SLRs - the mirror does not move, so avoiding the mechanical problems of moving it out of the way which slows down fps.

Go into a shop and get to grips with the cameras and which one feels right for you.

Post back with an indication of budget so I can get him to give more specific recommendations.

another thing is make sure you dont get one with automatic focus, that is a big nono for good photography esp at high speed, it will take too long to focus and ruin the shot

kathytake2 wrote:Dave, it really depends on your budget. My hubby is a pro photographer and uses a Nikon D700, which is also what I have.

Frames per second refers to how many photographs the camera can take in a second.

Shutter speed refers to how fast the shutter moves - the faster the shutter speed, the more the subject is frozen.

A slow shutter speed will blur the image and a fast speed will freeze the action.

Most SLRs are capable of very fast shutter speeds whereas the frames per second varies a lot. The quickest fps on budget SLRs are on Sony cameras, as they are no longer actually SLRs - the mirror does not move, so avoiding the mechanical problems of moving it out of the way which slows down fps.

Go into a shop and get to grips with the cameras and which one feels right for you.

Post back with an indication of budget so I can get him to give more specific recommendations.

If I could get something that's good close and good far (but not David Bailey good, I can advance to that later) and be able to get some good action shots of the dogs and stuff , other basic functions like good for portraits, self timers etc and could pay £300 I'd be laughing , though I'm a little bit of a realist and would say up to £500 but shhh don't tell the OH. Really I want one that I wouldn't have to keep changing lenses all the time depending on what I was doing , just want to get a good all rounder , if that makes sense

Dave, my hubby is putting together some notes for you and will post them in a while.

kathytake2 wrote:Dave, my hubby is putting together some notes for you and will post them in a while.

Thankyou

For a start I would recomend a bridge camera, it's basically a camera that bridges the gap between compacts and DSLR's but are alot cheaper than a DSLR. I have a Fuji Finepix S6500fd which is a bit old now but takes some cracking shots. They have pretty much all the features of a DSLR but have fixed lenses but have the ease of use as a compact. for all the pics I take the 28-300mm is good enough. You have the option to play about with technical elements of photography or use the predefined settings which i use 99.9% of the time. for instance a freeze frame of the dog running I just set to sport mode which has a fast shutter speed and fire away.
I've posted some pics below of a few shots taken with the camera, im in no way a photographer so please dont judge the pics themselves rather than what a Bridge is capable of. Unless you going to get seriouse about photography I'd stear away from the full on DSLR cameras as they are just too expensive.

Slow shutter speed and me running about in the garden with a ble LED torch one night while bored lol

This one is in firework mode setting, i didnt have a tripod hence the wiggles

Moody shot from the bedroom window, fully zoomed out to the hills

This was on sport mode which gives a fast shutter speed but not quite fast enough to freeze the wings, the beauty of the Bridge is that you could have manually set the shutter speed even higher and frozen the whole bird.

And finally Dog running at full speed in the snow, the kind your after.


You dont have to spend loads to get semi decent pics, and the bridge cameras these days are amazing, remember mine is about 5 years old and technology moves so fast.

axam102 wrote:For a start I would recomend a bridge camera, it's basically a camera that bridges the gap between compacts and DSLR's but are alot cheaper than a DSLR. I have a Fuji Finepix S6500fd which is a bit old now but takes some cracking shots. They have pretty much all the features of a DSLR but have fixed lenses but have the ease of use as a compact. for all the pics I take the 28-300mm is good enough. You have the option to play about with technical elements of photography or use the predefined settings which i use 99.9% of the time. for instance a freeze frame of the dog running I just set to sport mode which has a fast shutter speed and fire away.
I've posted some pics below of a few shots taken with the camera, im in no way a photographer so please dont judge the pics themselves rather than what a Bridge is capable of. Unless you going to get seriouse about photography I'd stear away from the full on DSLR cameras as they are just two expensive.

Slow shutter speed and me running about in the garden with a ble LED torch one night while bored lol

This one is in firework mode setting, i didnt have a tripod hence the wiggles

Moody shot from the bedroom window, fully zoomed out to the hills

This was on sport mode which gives a fast shutter speed but not quite fast enough to freeze the wings, the beauty of the Bridge is that you could have manually set the shutter speed even higher and frozen the whole bird.

And finally Dog running at full speed in the snow, the kind your after.


You dont have to spend loads to get semi decent pics, and the bridge cameras these days are amazing, remember mine is about 5 years old and technology moves so fast.

And what sort of frame repetition rate can you get with these bridge cameras, I did look in the shop at a couple of Nikons and Sonys but they didn't seem to have the function ??? checked reviews and stuff as well and it doesn't seem to be talked about whereas with SLR's it always seems to be mentioned. Just think it's pretty cool to be able to do a multiburst and then pick the best ones.

It could be a consideration for me as a stepping stone to SLR photography but I suppose it really depends upon savings etc . For instance if there was a fantastic one with all the bells and whistles for same price as a basic SLR and it would do what I want then I would seriously consider it. But if I was getting the same features as a basic SLR and saving 100 quid , I'd go with the SLR as a building block

Hi Dave, I hope you are ready for all this text:

Focus: Automatic focus is the default on all dSLRs (Digital SLR). In the past it has been problematic, but is now very good. Don't confuse it with the autofocus on older compact cameras, which could take forever.
Shutter speed: Just about all dSLRs will manage 1/4000 of a second, which is faster than anyone actually uses, so there is no issue there.
The ability to use a fast shutter speed depends on the 'speed' of the lens and the noise ceiling*

* Lens 'speed' really refers to how wide the aperture on the lens can go. A lens with a maximum aperture of F:/2.8 is 'faster' than one at F:5.6 because it lets in more light, which means a 'faster' shutter speed can be used.
The problem here is that fast lenses cost a lot of money.
*Noise ceiling refers to the amoung of digital 'noise' generated in an image. In the old days of film, we used to talk about grain - quite literally the size of the grains of silver halide in the film which get bigger and show up more in films with a higher ISO (sensitivity) rating.

dSLRs, along with all digital cameras suffer from electronic noise which is introduced depending on how sensitive the sensor is. Higher quality and newer sensors suffer less noise, and some of the best can be used at very high
sensitivity levels (ISO) which means very fast shutter speeds can be used.

If £300 is your overall budget, I would avoid dSLRs and go for a bridge camera. dSLRs start at the £300 mark, but for that you will not get anything that can focus closely as well as pull in detail from a long range.
This is referred to as Macro (up close) which requires specialist (expensive!) lenses, or for magnification requires Telephoto lenses, which are again fairly expensive.

For around £500 you could get
Sony Alpha A37 Digital SLT Camera Body £429 - this will do 7 FPS (Frames per Second) as well as full HD video, and has a movable rear screen as well as the viewfinder.
Tamron 55-200mm f4-5.6 Di II LD Macro Lens £125

Total around £550-ish.

This will allow telephoto shots equivalent to around 6 magnification but you will have no wide-angle capabilities without another lens.

Again, a Bridge camera may well prove a better option if you really need high magnification.

If you are after something which can be added to, something to consider is a CSC (compact System Camera) which is basically an interchangeable lens camera without the mechanics of an SLR, such as this:

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 Compact System Camera Twin Lens Kit in Black £299.95, which would leave a fair bit for an extra lens if necessary.

Bridge cameras can prove very versatile at reasonable prices, such as Nikon Coolpix P510 Digital Bridge Camera in Red £324. 42 magnification (optical zoom)!

Fujifilm FinePix HS30 Digital Bridge Camera £360. 30 x magnfication (optical zoom)


The Fuji X-S1 gets some good reviews for a bridge camera. It has a larger sensor than most, and still gives 26x magnificaiton, but would take your whole budget at £515.

There are obviously as many questions as answers here, but that is the nature of photography.

When recommending equipment, the first questions we usually ask are:

WHat is the budget (answered already)
What will you use the camera for - this could be wildlife, portraits etc
etc etc.

Regards Andy

Thanks Andy , thats great information , I've just got to consume it now. Knowing me I will push up to around the 500 mark rather than keep it sensible at 300. I was looking at the Canon range in Curries yesterday and they had this one with 2 lenses for £479.99 , whats your thoughts ???
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/canon-eos-1100d-digital-slr-camera-with-18-55mm-75-300mm-zoom-lens-11099693-pdt.html?intcmpid=display~RR~Cameras~11099693

Hi Dave, Andy is just out with Rocky at the mo, will have a look later and post reply

hi Dave,

I have posted a link to my hubbys website in the Moderator Staff room the pictures were all taken with the Nikon D700. Just some examples of shots.

You want the canon 550D AMAZING camera, i'll have one when i can afford one!

ella wrote:You want the canon 550D AMAZING camera, i'll have one when i can afford one!

its a bit over my 500 barrier once you get something bigger than the titch lens i've seen (18-55)

Loads of good recommendations here so I won't go on for too long.

My first DSLR was a Canon 350D which I bought for £200 - learned the ropes with that. Now I have a 600D (I film more than take pictures). For me it is just a hobby so can't justify anything too expensive (Canon 7D) - I wouldn't use the features. The 1100D is pretty good for beginners and very reasonably priced (better than the 350D):

http://snapsort.com/compare/Canon-1100D-vs-Canon_EOS_350D
(this is a good site for comparing cameras)

The most important aspect (in the majority of cases) for decent pics is the lens you use (with the exception of high speed, sport shots). Don't knock the 18-55mm lens - it's not a bad all rounder. I tend to keep mine with me when I can. I love my 50mm fixed lens (fantastic for portraits) But if you are after a zoom lens, make sure you get image stabilisation. As for auto focus, make sure you can turn it off (good for portrait shots, poor for high speed shots).

To make your decision, think about what you will use it for, then look for features that would help you to do that.

All the best

Dan
https://www.youtube.com/natureclip

NatureClip wrote:Loads of good recommendations here so I won't go on for too long.

Dan
https://www.youtube.com/natureclip

Thanks Dan but I've made my purchase last week and decided not to go over the top and purchased Bridge camera (Nikon Coolpix 510 something on the recommendation of one of the mods) Think it has enough to play about with and really happy with some of the results for my intended use, just need to read the manual to get more out of it. If I still have the urge in a few years I will go the whole hog . Great to know we've got tsome good members to rely on for advice though