Camera recommendations please.

tinfoil hat timmy

tinfoil hat timmy

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Aug 21, 2014
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Some of you folks take the most awesome pictures. Full of contrast, sharp features, and rich color.

I'd like a recommendation for a budget camera for a Christmas gift. It should be under $250 (please!)
Easy to use, and be capable of both still and action photos of good to high quality. Digital with no strange memory card need and fairly compact are no brainers.

Ease of use could mean preset modes or features for action/still flash/no flash, level of flash, etc. Speed of deployment for those "special fleeting childhood one in a million" moments would be superb.

Thanks in advance.
 
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I'm not sure if a Canon Rebel would fit that budget or not, you would have to get a kit (one that comes with a lens, not just the body)
Only reason really that I would suggest that is I think it's easily the most expandable in future, most lenses and other accessories avail.
 
rcb2000 said:
iPhone ��
:D
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This is total truth..

First off, I don't claim to take amazing pictures and am far from a "photog", but I think my pictures are serviceable.

I have about $2000 in Canon Rebel, flashes and lenses, plus a compact Sony that is billed as the Professionals Compact that I think I paid around $800 for and have for the last 6 months gone exclusively to shooting with my iPhone. I use a large light box with two industrial LED lights aiming down on it. The iPhone takes every bit as good of pictures with no messing around and more consistency.

My Canon Rebel and accessories are on eBay now, have not pulled the trigger on the Sony yet but will likely follow.

BT6_Snake.bmp
 
I have a Canon T4, it has been a great camera, do not know if they still make that model or not! I have yet to use any I-Phone that will deliver the picture quality of an SLR-Good luck
 
I've got some kind of Cannon DSLR that I won for free. Extremely lucky. It's better at taking photos than I could ever be.

I would recommend a good smartphone or a Sony RX100/200/300/400 whatever you can afford. They are nice little cameras that take great pics. (and vids!)

Edit: The sony camera I recommended is very portable too, which I really like but I'm sure you could get a decent full sized DSLR for your listed price!
 
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Take pictures of what? Knives & stuff? Your phone is probably adequate - spend the money on lighting and practice.
 
Good luck with your choice, Tim. My brother and his wife shot some photo's of their recent trip to England on their I phone, and I swear it would rival a decent 35mm of year's past. Think the staging, and lighting are a big factor in good looking photos.
 
I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 phone with a 16 MP camera that takes pretty good photos for such a small lens, even in existing light. My wife had a subcompact Nikon digital camera that took very good photos (I'm not sure which model). I finally bought a Nikon full-size DSLR that takes amazing photos (it was a little pricey, but I wish I had bought it years before due to the picture quality).

The big trade-off between a full-size camera vs. pocket-size model (camera or phone) is capturing those momentary photos that you might only have a few seconds for and then the opportunity is gone – unless you happen to have your full-size camera with you (mine usually sits in the case on the shelf), most of the time the only way to get these pictures is with what you are carrying at the time and most people have a cell phone with them or nearby. Check Consumer Reports and maybe some photography magazines for reviews of smaller digital cameras.
 
rcb2000 said:
iPhone 📱
:D
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I'm trying to avoid this. My two year old is already hooked on devices and screens. As a dad I'm trying to not start him off in life with a crippling addiction.

It's for my wife so she can park her iPhone somewhere out of sight until he's in bed.

Thanks.
 
tinfoil hat timmy said:
I'm trying to avoid this. My two year old is already hooked on devices and screens. As a dad I'm trying to not start him off in life with a crippling addiction.

It's for my wife so she can park her iPhone somewhere out of sight until he's in bed.

Thanks.
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This is what I am battling with mine right now, there is no going back once they go down that road….
 
tinfoil hat timmy said:
I'm trying to avoid this. My two year old is already hooked on devices and screens. As a dad I'm trying to not start him off in life with a crippling addiction.

It's for my wife so she can park her iPhone somewhere out of sight until he's in bed.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Good work, this is the number 1 problem in today's society. Get rid of the TV while you are at it. Sports, outdoor activities and team clubs are all the way to go!
 
The knife forums are my guilty pleasure, but screen time was severely curtailed with my 3 children when I saw how the exposure effected them, they can't handle it without rules and time limitations. They have better attitudes and are generally happier to be kept occupied elsewhere most of the time.

On the cameras I heard like a lot of other stuff you can get barely used equipment much cheaper second hand through classifieds, etc., with great results. My wife asked me to buy her one a couple years ago, since I had a good budget at the time so I got her a new Sony a5100 (~$500 iirc). She loves it, but I feel like I probably could have spent a lot less and wouldn't really be able to tell the difference in the pics. A couple of features she really likes beyond the pics/optics are the touchscreen and that she can use wifi to download pics directly to her phone. I just use my phone.
 
lots of film shooting, less digital in terms of years. plus i taught a lot of kids video, so my bias is hardened camera bodies with fast lens and zooming with our feet...
go over to dpreview, then camera reviews, then select <by rating>; any camera with gold rating will be a joy. in the silver award i would recommend staying above a score of 80.
my boys are old enough to shoot, and have been shooting since 5 years old. my 11 year old and i are taking a photo class together now, and the toughest camera we had, until the dog used it as a chew toy…, was a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS20, we now use a Sony NEX-5R with kit lens and minolta and nikon manuals that we love, although it is bigger then the point n shoot. a buddy with 4 kids uses a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 1st gen that produces great pics but he wants more reach, zoom, to capture the kids.
tinfoil hat timmy said:
I'm trying to avoid this. My two year old is already hooked on devices and screens. As a dad I'm trying to not start him off in life with a crippling addiction.

It's for my wife so she can park her iPhone somewhere out of sight until he's in bed.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
I love this site -

kenrockwell.com -

When I was getting into photography deeper, this site saved me a ton of cash, and the choices made are still paying dividends.

There are many "professional" photographers that poo-poo Mr. Rockwell, but for the regular guy that just wants decent pictures, he's going to help steer you in the right direction.

I will say also that I have had excellent experience with refurbished Nikon stuff from Adorama.


Good luck!

best

mqqn
 
+1 on rockwell for cross checking dpreview. i appreciate the space he has created
 
mqqn said:
I love this site -

kenrockwell.com -

When I was getting into photography deeper, this site saved me a ton of cash, and the choices made are still paying dividends.

There are many "professional" photographers that poo-poo Mr. Rockwell, but for the regular guy that just wants decent pictures, he's going to help steer you in the right direction.

I will say also that I have had excellent experience with refurbished Nikon stuff from Adorama.


Good luck!

best

mqqn
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Hmmm Rockwell must be taken with a grain of salt. Famous web Rockwellism below...

-Sure, Ken Rockwell deletes a bad photo or two. Other people call these Pulitzers.
-Ken Rockwell doesn't use flash ever since the Nagasaki incident.
-Ken Rockwell doesn't color correct. He adjusts your world to match his.
-Ken Rockwell doesn't wait for the light when he shoots a landscape - the light waits for him.
-Ken Rockwell's nudes were fully clothed at the time of exposure
-Ken Rockwell never produces awful work, only work too advanced for the viewer
- Ken Rockwell's digital files consist of 0's, 1's AND 2's.
-Ken Rockwell once designed a zoom lens. You know it as the Hubble SpaceTelescope.
-Ken Rockwell doesn't adjust his focus, he changes space-time.
 
Any tips on how to design a light box? What light filters do you use? And base material?

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk
 
Coming frrom an android phone user, those that recommended iPhone...are right. I dunno how well the rest of the phone does, but Apple got their phone camera package dialed in nicely.

I have a Canon SX280 somewhere, but my LG v10 and the snapseed app gets close enough to that pocket cam & Lightroom to leave it behind most of the time...not to mention not needing a puter to run Lightroom any more. Technology is a wonderful thing, but I don't want 5 devices when 1 will do.
Getting older I guess. :D
 
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