Beginner camera for friend

htid

htid

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Chris
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Hi,

A friend of mine mentioned he has always been thinking of getting a DSLR just to take photos of his family and for days out etc. I've never used or read about any of these compacts or mirrorless ones as I have a DSLR but have seen them mentioned for beginners on here.

Are the lenses good on these systems? Can you get nice out of focus backgrounds and bokeh etc for good portaits with these sorts of cameras?

Not sure on budget, so I just want to give him a few options let's say at entry level (£200?), mid (£500) and higher end (£800?). I just want to offer some suggestions and then he can go and read about them himself.

Cheers
 
CSC are IMO not just for beginners, they are just as suitable for advanced users and old timers too. I wouldn't call myself an old timer but as I started young I've been taking pictures for over 40 years and now don't own any DSLR's, just compact system cameras :D

These cameras have the same modes as DSLR's, Aperture, shutter, manual etc + a green square mode ad offer DSLR rivelling (or beating, depending upon what CSC and DSLR you're looking at) image quality :D

CSC sensor sizes go from sub micro four thirds through APS-C (and personally I don't think that the difference between MFT and APS-C is significant) to FF so there's lots of choice and personally I think that possibly the only advantage DSLR's have these days is high speed focus tracking but even in the area of focus CSC's have their advantages such as very fast and accurate focus.

Yes you can get shallow depth of field with a CSC but if that's your aim maybe it's best to stick to a CSC with a micro four thirds chip or larger. Some of the lenses are excellent and they're often sharper wide open than their older DSLR counterparts.

Not sure what's available at the various price points you mention but at the two lower price points you may have to look at used options if you want a quality lens too rather than one of the more ho-hum kit lenses but that will be the case if looking at DSLR's too.

The cheapest way into this is possibly with a DSLR and kit lens but personally I'd take a CSC and a nice prime every single time. If you want to do some reading have a look at the micro four thirds cameras from Olympus and Panasonic, the Sony and Fuji APS-C CSC's and the Sony A7 series or at least have a peak in the various CSC threads here but of course some of these will blow the budget if including a quality lens :D
 
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The problem is that, if you're including lenses, your price points are wrong. Entry level is £500, mid-range is £800, etc...
As you should know from your DSLR experience, you need wide-aperture lenses for decent oof backgrounds and this really drives the cost out of the beginner's range.

Jessops sell a decent twin lens kit based round the original Olympus E-M10 for £449 and this opens the door to the Olympus and Panasonic range of lenses which should have all he might need for the future. If he really wants a DSLR rather than a CSC then there are similar kits available from Nikon & Canon at a similar price.

What I'm really trying to say is don't let (or encourage) him to run before he can walk. He's going to have a steep enough learning curve to get decent results whatever he goes for so keep the initial kit simple and reasonably priced then let him find out for himself what/when he needs to change.
 
OK good advice thanks. See, I thought that compacts had fixed lenses, didn't know they were interchangable! I really have no idea about lens prices for compacts and MFT systems so I guess I'll need to look into it a bit more.
 
htid said:
OK good advice thanks. See, I thought that compacts had fixed lenses, didn't know they were interchangable!
Click to expand...
Compact camera - fixed lens, may be prime or zoom.
Compact System Camera (CSC) - interchangeable lens, the clue is "system".
 
Alastair said:
Compact camera - fixed lens, may be prime or zoom.
Compact System Camera (CSC) - interchangeable lens, the clue is "system".
Click to expand...

Didn't know what the abbreviation meant tbh, you can see I don't look outside DSLRs and the birding section much can't you! :)
 
Trouble is with SLRs, as I often see mentioned on here, you're less likely to take it out with you as they are bulky hence I was thinking a CSC or MFT would be better for him. But I'll speak to him and see what he says.
 
htid said:
Trouble is with SLRs, as I often see mentioned on here, you're less likely to take it out with you as they are bulky hence I was thinking a CSC or MFT would be better for him. But I'll speak to him and see what he says.
Click to expand...

I may have misread your post or (quite possibly) made an assumption about your friend's mindset... that he was already thinking about a DSLR. When someone has already mentally sold themselves on something they innately think is superior or more advanced, it can be a real struggle to get them to "back down" to something else. This was the reason for trying to work within that limitation - hence the suggestion of second hand to avoid spending loadsamoney!

A small camera that you take everywhere is going to be, on average, better than one that rarely sees the light of day - no matter what the sensor size etc.! So which sort of camera will make him want to get out there and use it?
 
Yeah you're right. From the brief conversation I had with him I think he was under the impression that you need an SLR to get good pictures as he'd never heard of mirrorless etc. So I guess that's the only reason he said it.

As I say, will probably see him tonight and will speak to him more.
 
I would recommend a rx100 can take it anywhere it is fantastic image quality a dent fixed lens and offers full manual control as well as raw photos
 
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