Hello everyone - New generation coming through..

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evolutionkid

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John
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Hi everbody

This is my first post on the forum so I hope any of my terminology is correct..

I joined up because I Have a young 14 year old sister that has decided she wants to start her journey into photography...

In a world of advertisements, sales pitches and a buy now throw away tomorrow generation, what do I do???

Do I get her a 10 year old camera with a flash and 2 botton menu and force her to find out how to use her camera properly, or do I buy her a top of the range Digital camera that does everything for her and risk her getting bored within a month??

Or is buying a second hand camera an option these days?

I want her to stick with it and have a good understanding of how to use a camera just (just) incase she decides to make something of it one day....

I have come to the conclusion that a superzoom Bridge camera is probaly the best way to go as it is a jack of all trades and will allow her to find out what she enjoys taking pictures of.

Anyone who is in the proffession or has good (unbias) knowledge of the market, any advice on getting her started and which cameras to be looking at would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks everyone John

p.s this message was composed on my phone so sorry for any spellding mistakes :)
 
Have a look at a few photo mags. Most have mini-reviews of many cameras in different price ranges. Use these reviews to see what cameras in your price range are currently liked. When you have narrowed down the choice, check out more detailed reviews.

I can only comment on one bridge camera, the Panasonic FZ28. It is a few years old now, but has a lot of features - however, there are many equally good cameras.

Dave
 
Buy her a Canon S100 or something like that. They are absolutely incredible photographs and if she grows out of a camera like that perhaps she is ready for a DSLR.

Or even a Fujifilm superzoom. I think they have one with a 18-135 equivalent lens and thats pretty damn good. I used an older model of that to get myself an A level through year 11.
 
+1 for the panasonic. I had an FZ20, FZ30 and an FZ38 before I made the leap into dslr. They are a fantastic range and you can learn a hell of a lot from the settings, IQ is good also.
showphoto.php

Thats been taken with an FZ30, handheld in a butterfly sanctuary. Hope it shows up, if not its the blue butterfly on my gallery if you're intrested.
 
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Ditto the above I started on a bridge FZ20, panasonic do consistently well in review. Most people irrespective of whether or not they get an SLR start off shooting in automatic and then go onto aperature/shutter priority before having a play with manual.

Bridge camera have a good zoom on it, if you went down the SLR route it would be quite a bit more expensive if she does not get into it.

Re secondhand there is a classified section on her, there is also ebay. Personally I am not too keen on buying secondhand on ebay, bought quite a lot here though and never had any problems. I can't remember what it is but you need a minimum post count to buy and sell on here.
 
I know things have changed but when I was growing up, people always told me that a good trades man never blames his tools... And I know a few of my friends that started taking photos at university were using some pretty ancient cameras and still managed to pull off awesome photographs. she doesnt know I am getting her the camera and she is still at a stage where she will be shooting everything and anything... You could say I want her to be able to take good photo graphs with a bad camera... Then when she does get her first DSLR she will be able to really shine...

I can imagine that daylight photography will be more important than low light shots at this stage, and she will also want some sort of video mode, (HD or not)...

Im keen to get her into using a brand early and im looking at PANASONIC , NIKON and FUJIFIL ... I see alot of people are saying PAN already...any reasons why??

Weight will be important as she is only young, she doesnt want a compact but doesnt want to carry around lenses thats why I think a Bridge camera will be perfect...

Large Megapixel numbers arnt a must as I cant see her printing posters just yet, plus have you seen the price of ink cartriges these days!

I actually have a Pan G2 DSLR and have to say (other than the standard lens) I love it already, Just wish the video had a 240SPS mode for sport..
 
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The votes for Panasonic are because their bridge cameras are good.

Ignore the number of megapixels. Manufacturers quote them because a bigger number sounds as if the camera must be better. For most photos they are irrelevant.

Dave
 
Ok so megapixel numbers are not important thats clear...

Panasonic are looking good for choice of camera....

I want her to understand how a camera works from a young age, so she knows its her taking good photos and not just the camera...So do I purposely hold back on buying her a top end camera or get something that has everything?

???
 
Most, is not all, bridge cameras will allow a large range of shooting modes, from total automatic (camera selects aperture and shutter speed) through semi-auto modes (the photographer choose the aperture or shutter speed and the camera chooses the other) to fully manual.

Most have a lens with large (sometimes very large) zoom range. While the quality is not as good as with a big lens on a DSLR they are still good and one lens for a DSLR could easily cost many times the cost of a bridge camera.

Many can focus very close (eg 1cm) and some can save RAW files.

I think they are a good introduction to photography for a relatively modest outlay.

Dave
 
Id say almost any second hand DSLR would be a good start. Nikons old D70, D70s for instance.

I know very little about all the changing equipment, but for me the main thing id look for in any compact camera would be instant response times.

Ie, you can lift it up and take a a shot within tenths of a second, otherwise its missed...most dslrs do this, old compacts don't generally.

Kinda thing. :)
 
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