camera recommendations please?

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eau_eau

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Hi. I'm looking into buying a camera (preferably new) and a telephoto zoom lens (preferably used) for people performing on both indoor and outdoor stages. Performances may be dancing or acting.. so I would probably need a fast lens? Usually I would focus on taking a portrait photo of an actor on stage, so less noise would be better.
My budget would be around £1000~1500 max, though cheaper the better, I suppose, since it's a hobby.

I also want to take photos of landscape scenery too.

I've used a Pentax k100d super some years ago, then had to Kodac z980, couldn't deal with the image quality, the Pentax camera was so good!

I'm not looking for a particular brand, though I heard that Sony is good with the focus when switching to the video mode and I've also been told to get Canon 60D or 550D or 7D but I'm open for any recommendations!

Also, would I be disappointed with the image quality of sony nex cameras?
 
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You could get a second hand 40/50/60D and a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 which would be a brilliant setup.
Or possibly a 7D (which has better AF, fps, and ISO(?)) and a Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8.

They'll come up to around the same price, but the latter has a better body, not to say that the Sigma is a bad performing lens.

Edit: Given the choice I'd go with the 50D and Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 myself.
 
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Razor-BladE said:
You could get a second hand 40/50/60D and a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 which would be a brilliant setup.
Or possibly a 7D (which has better AF, fps, and ISO(?)) and a Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8.

They'll come up to around the same price, but the latter has a better body, not to say that the Sigma is a bad performing lens.

Edit: Given the choice I'd go with the 50D and Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 myself.
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Thanks so much! I suppose if I gave up the video recording of 550d and went for more fps then I would've gone for your recommended option too, except I would have to go for a used body to fit my budget.. :'(

Though my friend who has a similar hobby to mine uses 40d with the canon lens and advised me to go with sony, since their 70-200mm f/2.8 g lens is brilliant, mainly because of the AF apparantly, though she didn't tell me which body she meant.

If I were to get a second hand Sony lens and a suitable camera body under my budget, would there be a possible recommendation? :thumbs:
 
Ah didn't realise you wanted video recording capabilities. You could go for the 60D (I believe that has video) and the Canon although that would be stretching to your max budget. The 550D would be a good option, although build quality/handling isn't as good as the xxD range. If you were to get that I'd recommend getting a third party battery grip as it makes it a lot nicer to handle.

I can only talk about Canon as that's all I've used, but I'm sure someone can tell you about Nikon, or an appropriate Sony alternative. Although if you're likely to upgrade/get more lens in the future, then I'd say stick to Canon/Nikon as they have a greater lens choice, and buying/selling 2nd hand is a lot more available.
 
Thanks again for such a quick reply :) I guess now it's for me to decide whether to stretch my budget or give up either the video recording or the fps and stay within my budget. Thanks for the advice on the battery grip with the 550d!

I guess I'll wait to see also if anyone could give me any alternative setups with a different brand too :)
 
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