beginners, where to start

[rmhc_employee]

My wife is pregnant with our first. We've decided to start looking at camera options to upgrade from an old basic Kodak point and shoot digital camera. The word that most closely describes my feelings at this point: exasperation!

My wife and I both like the Dis for a number of reason. So, I am, therefore asking for opinions.

Let me start by saying what we are not: We are not professionals, we do not plan to become professional photographers, we are not required to have the latest and greatest technology (see current camera), and are not particularly price sensitive. I'm not going to order the $7000 Nikon body only camera, but am indifferent between the $200 Sony and the $500 Panasonic if the value is there.

That being said, I have spent time in camera stores, big-box stores, cnet.com, et al. Most of the time, I am struck by the fact the sales person ostensibly knows as much (or less!) about the camera than I do which isn't helpful or the reviews are such that "drawbacks" are something I wouldn't notice (or care about) if my life depended on it. We are looking for a good camera that will provide good shots without being Ansel Adams that is versatile enough to allow almost anyone to use, and will allow us to get shots of the baby (often at Disney!).

Thanks in advance for any ideas that you all have.

 

[cpbjgc]

Congratulations on the pending arrival!

Just to start you off, there are many folks on this board who could probably help you out, but your question is a bit too wide open. So you may want to expand a bit on what you think your needs will be: shooting indoors or out? Lots of light or not much? Moving subjects or sitting still (you may be surprised how much infants can move around their arms and head, and that counts as motion when taking a picture).

Also, if there are particular models you are interested in, ask about them here. You may very well find people here have the camera you are interested in and can answer specific questions. It sounds like you have been doing some research already, so throw out the names of specific models for people to comment on. Given your stated budget, you could be looking at some nice bridge cameras and even an entry level dslr.

So give us something to work with and someone here may have the answers you need!

 

[SrisonS]

Would an entry level dslr be in your budget??? Some people might say to learn the photography basics, and this and that, to really take advantage of that type of camera; but it's not totally necessary. Heck, I'd even bet they're easier to use than a p&s at times.

And if that is the route you want to take, maybe look into a nice prime lens or external flash, for all of those great baby pictures. Me and my wife had our first child almost 2 months ago. And with the date fast approaching, I was looking into getting either a fast prime lens or flash, for all of the indoor shots i knew I'd be taking. I eventually settled on the prime lens. I knew that it would get way more use (even for non-baby shots), I liked the bokeh effect of it, and I personally wasn't comfortable having the flash go off in her eyes all the time. But as mentioned before, even a bridge camera might do the trick for you. Good luck!!!!!

 

[momoftwins]

Please don't laugh, I have no idea how to solve this problem. We have a Canon T2i that I know we will love once we learn how to use it

We just got it last week and we are slowly getting through the manual. We bought it to be able to get great pics and movies of my son and his adventure to California. His marching band is one of the few chosen to march in the Tournament of Roses parade on New Year's day.

DH had the camera set on fully automatic and was taking pics of a parade they performed in last week. Of course the faces came out good, but the arms (because they were moving) were blurry. Is there a happy medium to this?

See told ya newbie question. Thanks.

 

[AlbertZeroK]

Your shutter speed is too low, because of low amount of light. You can solve this in a few different ways, first, you might try the sports setting on the camera. For me, I would put the camera in apeture Priority mode (A) and raise my ISO till i got my shutter speed up. Or, you could put your camera in shutter priority mode and dial in about 1/250 or so.

 

[AlbertZeroK]

I love my Sony Nex cameras and the Nex3 is on sale at SonyStyle.com. It's got a larger sensor than point and shoots and is a great camera. It can do video as well and has an articulating LCD Display. But here is what I would look at:

1. Make sure the camera feels okay in you and your wife's hands. If it's not comfortable or too heavy, you won't want to use it.

2. I would suggest looking at a camera with an articulating (fold out, moving) LCD screen. I love this feature in my NEX3 and will likely get the Sony A55 because of this feature and the on board GPS. The Articulating screen allows you to use the camera up in the air above your head or down low. You'll find, especially with children, being able to get low is wonderful.

3. Video. Here is the low down, if you get a DSLR and want to use it to shoot video, seriously consider the Sony A55. I would personally stay away from the Canon T2i, T1i and possibly the 7d - the reason is that alot of Nikon and Canon DSLR don't do all that well with auto focus in video mode. The Sony NEX3 I have works extremely better than my old T2i camera for video.

Others will have different thoughts and ideas, for me, I'd say look at the SONY NEX3 or the Sony A55.

One more thing, CONGRATULATIONS!

 

[zackiedawg]

A suggestion if you're looking for the most 'automatic' way to get those types of shots, at least until you know your way around the camera, is to enter one of the camera's 'scene' modes - these are automatic modes tuned to perform specific types of shots. The 'scene' modes are right on the dial - all the little picture icons. You'd want to use the one with the Running Man icon. This is the sports scene mode - it will tell the camera to try to stick with faster shutter speeds because your subject is moving. Make sure your ISO mode is set to 'auto' when you're in this scene - so the camera can raise it if it needs to.

 

[momoftwins]

I actually get what you both are saying!! I must have learned a little something reading the manual.

I really do appreciate you both taking the time to answer me. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

 

[Frantasmic]

I'd suggest leasing the 135 L f2.0 lens for your trip or something similar (long and quick). It's a once in a lifetime shot your are trying to capture.

Your camera is definitely up to the task; your lenses should be too (since admittedly you are still learning, you are relying more on equipment than skill).

I'd also suggest practicing in shadows or on cloudy days since that seems to be what I remember from the parades.

And, if you have time between all this, I'd also suggest learning how to take pictures in both raw and jpeg. Jpeg will allow to get shots you use now while raw will allow you to save the pictures so you can adjust them later when you learn how (if you aren't already). Get several really good SDHC cards in preparation.

 

[DoleWhipDVC]

You sound like where I was about a year ago. I wanted to take better shots but I also had one elective course in photography back in the '70s during high school. When Circuit City went out of business, I picked up a Canon 40D at 30% off and LIVED with the manual using every feature over and over to get used to what it could do. I still blew it recently by closing my apeture instead of opening it up during an indoor sporting event, so remember to get as confident as you can with your features BEFORE you need them (excitment during a "one chance only" opportunity can cause mistakes!) I checked out every book I could from the local library becuase it was cheaper than buying them all and really studied all the concepts. All the while I kept shooting (with digital if it's junk you can just delete it). Then I stay glued to this board and follow all the advice I can. On our last trip I was able to shoot some decent fireworks shots thanks to disboard advice. I also have had some success with dark ride captures thanks to the friendly folks here. I agree with the other posters, learning your camera's features and some basics about light and fore ground/back ground will help you tons. Compare your pictures to your pictures and grow that way...you'll see improvement fast. Best of luck

 

[rmhc_employee]

Congratulations on the pending arrival!

Just to start you off, there are many folks on this board who could probably help you out, but your question is a bit too wide open. So you may want to expand a bit on what you think your needs will be: shooting indoors or out? Lots of light or not much? Moving subjects or sitting still (you may be surprised how much infants can move around their arms and head, and that counts as motion when taking a picture).

Also, if there are particular models you are interested in, ask about them here. You may very well find people here have the camera you are interested in and can answer specific questions. It sounds like you have been doing some research already, so throw out the names of specific models for people to comment on. Given your stated budget, you could be looking at some nice bridge cameras and even an entry level dslr.

So give us something to work with and someone here may have the answers you need!

Thanks for your thoughts. I agree - after re-reading the original post, I was a bit vague in my request. I was pulling out my hair about that time!

In terms of what we have looked at: I have played with a few different Sony products (of course) like a cybershot and a DSC (there is a Sony Store relatively close to our house). I have used a Nikon as well. My wife was always partial to Canon when we used our old 35mm cameras - she liked the lenses. I have seen good reviews on a Panasonic (cnet editors choice) which I haven't used yet.

One of the biggest drawbacks that I have seen so far is the lag between shots. Our old Kodak almost seemed faster than a couple of the Sony models!

We have talked about a DSLR - and shot a couple of Sony cameras as well. My wife didn't like the relative size of them - thought they were too big.

Is there a smaller DSLR option out there that doesn't weigh a ton? Has anyone used the Panasonic Lumix (cnet editors choice)? Is there a sony that doesn't seem slow like a dog or is there a way to speed that up?? We sometimes take funny photos of our cats (unwilling participants, but good to practice on) and by the time the camera focuses, lines up, phones home, and then takes the shot, the cat has left the pose and gone back to sleep (almost) or, by some strange occurrance, we get a superfast shot, but don't get the funny thing we were looking for.

Are there other questions I should be thinking of?? We are so novice, we don't know what we don't know. The reason we bought the Kodak (and I'm not kidding), we had a Kodak photo printer and we could just dock the camera and press the button.

Thanks again for your thoughts. Happy thanksgiving to all!

 

[zackiedawg]

By chance, are you half-pressing the shutter to focus and meter before fully pressing to take the shot, or are you just pressing the shutter all the way down in one motion? Cameras are much slower, especially if they have lots of little internal doodads trying to correct the picture for you, when you try to just SHOOT...it's always considered a proper photographic technique to half-press the shutter, the camera will focus and meter the shot in milliseconds (a little longer in low light), then be primed to shoot instantly as soon as you're ready...by holding the half-press shutter, the camera is now instantly sprung to shoot with no delay, and you can fully press at the exact moment you want to capture. This is true of every P&S and DSLR camera on the planet - and will also be effective with any of the Sony cams too. Sony's P&S cameras have no extra shutter lag or delay as compared to similar competitors, but some functions may be engaged in the automatic mode which can slow down those cameras (like DRO optimization, auto flash, focus assist lamp, etc) and also the speed of the card in the camera can lengthen shot-to-shot lag.

Panasonic P&S cameras are also fine. Like any other, beware when using the line name of cameras, like 'Cybershot', 'Lumix', or 'Coolpix'...too many people get confused when they read a positive review for a camera, and think the review was about a 'Lumix' so they go out and buy a 'Lumix' and find it performs nothing like the review. Then they wonder why. Under the Lumix banner, Panasonic has dozens of camera models. Under Cybershot banner, Sony has literally hundreds of camera models. And so on with Canon's Powershot and Nikon's Coolpix. Always make sure to look at the specific model number of a given review - such as Panasonic Lumix TZ7, Nikon Coolpix P7000, Canon Powershot SD1000, or Sony Cybershot DSC-TX5...it's that last part with the letters and numbers that differentiates the cameras - and there can be a HUGE difference between two cameras with very similar names (for example, Sony DSC-W310 vs Sony DSC-WX5...one is an el cheapo model with low features and average LCD screen, while the other is a high-feature electronics-laden toy with low light lens and image stacking abilities).

My guess too is the Sony models you were looking at must have been their lower end models like the bottom-line W models or the S models. Sony has some very good P&S models which are competitive, but their lower end models are not very good at all. If shopping the cheaper models, Canon and Panasonic may do a bit better...and even Fuji mid-level models (which price out the same as the cheap models from the other manufacturers).

If you decide to go the DSLR route, for the much better quality, but want smaller...then you may want to consider either the mirrorless models (Such as Sony NEX3 & NEX5, or Panasonic GF1 & Olympus EP series PEN models), or consider small lightweight DSLRs or SLT models which have normal APS-C sensors and take regular DSLR lenses but have lighter more portable bodies (still not pocketable though!) - such as the Sony A33 & A55, or the Pentax KX. They will certainly give you FAR greater ability and much better results in any low light situations, with a lot of room to grow and learn if willing to do so, and expandability by adding different lenses.

 

[SplashMo]

I think either a Nikon D50 or a Canon Rebel XTi would be what I would recommend. The lens would depend on what type of images you plan to take. You may hate the price of the Nikon 18-200VR but with lenses, you do get what you pay for. Cheaper lenses, especially longer zoom types are typically not very good. Many here like the Sigma 18-125 for either Nikon or Canon.

My "dream" DSLR is a Canon 5D with all "L" glass lenses, but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Agree 100% with this post...