New camera for pictures of the little ones.

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John
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Hi all. Back after a few years away from the photography scene and I'm looking to drop back in to something better than my phone for taking pictures of my kids.

Problem is - so much has changed since I sold my d600! Now sony is a big player and Canon seems to have vanished. My main concern is really having something that will deal with the erratic nature of my hyper kids. I always found the d600 a little sluggish in that area, but I managed for the most.

Money wise I'm flexible up to about £1000 for a body. Though less is better.

I'm leaning towards a sony a7ii but worry about the cost and lack of choice of native lenses. Ideally I do want full frame of I'm going near the price limit. Happy to buy used.

Thanks in advance.
 
My previous experience with an A7ii was that its autofocus wouldn't really keep up. The A7R2, or ideally A7 iii, would be a better choice.

I was previously a Canon shooter and the 7d2 was a great camera for AF - I took it on safari and got many great pictures of birds and erratic wildlife.
Thanks. If I was going crop, most likely it would be a d7000 or 7d. I don't really want to splash too much on crop.

Disappointed to hear the a7ii isn't great in autofocus. I have been reading great things about the a7iii but it's a bit out of reach price wise. Even used.

I do prefer the look of a full frame picture. Crop never got me the same results. If I go crop now, it would most likely be until I can afford something like the a7iii. I'm also looking at used d800's. Not sure how they compare.
 
How about the Canon 1D MkIII - 1.3 crop, 10MP and a good S/H one is about £350-400.

I have one and I think it's an excellent camera - stick on the Canon 50mm f1.8 and you have a great combo for kids indoors.

But frankly almost any camera would suit you if coupled with the 50mm - even the Canon 350D produces great results at minimal cost.
 
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I switched from a Nikon D7100 to a Fuji X-T10 which was ideal.

Total gateway camera to the Fuji system I now have an X-T2 and been through a plethora of lenses in the last few years.

One of my best purchases has been the Fuji X100F. Sure it's limited in some ways, but as the old adage goes, the best camera is the one you have one you which for me, 99% of the time, is the F.
 
Thanks again. I did have a 1diii before but the size would put me off now. I don't mind 7d / d7000 size though.

The a7ii/iii did appeal to me because of the eye tracking. My kids are proper little hyper monsters so I would like something with snappy AF.

Right now I'm leaning towards the d7000 with some good glass. Though would a d800 be any better focusing? Hard to get my hands on one to test out unfortunately.
 
Thanks. If I was going crop, most likely it would be a d7000 or 7d. I don't really want to splash too much on crop.

Disappointed to hear the a7ii isn't great in autofocus. I have been reading great things about the a7iii but it's a bit out of reach price wise. Even used.

I do prefer the look of a full frame picture. Crop never got me the same results. If I go crop now, it would most likely be until I can afford something like the a7iii. I'm also looking at used d800's. Not sure how they compare.

One of the best crop sensor camera atm is the XT3, which is above your budget especially with a lens, but it's little brother the XT30 has mostly the same features - same image quality, same AF system, and apparently it's very fast. If you can stretch to £1200 you get Fuji's excellent 18-55 2.8-4 kit lens to go with, pretty much all you need to get nice shots of the kids. It should keep up easily.
 
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Thanks again. I did have a 1diii before but the size would put me off now. I don't mind 7d / d7000 size though.

The a7ii/iii did appeal to me because of the eye tracking. My kids are proper little hyper monsters so I would like something with snappy AF.

Right now I'm leaning towards the d7000 with some good glass. Though would a d800 be any better focusing? Hard to get my hands on one to test out unfortunately.

The D800 isn't that great for auto focus. Probably broadly similar to how your D600 was. As in it's fine in most circumstances but will occasionally frustrate you. With a £1k bdget, If you're leaning towards full frame, I would say a D750 would be a better option for fast moving kids than a D800 and actually just about any other option at present unless you drop a sensor size. E-infinity have them for under £900 now. That is a serious bargain. It's getting on a bit in camera years but I don't think you can do better without spending quite a lot more or buying something very well used.
 
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Seeing that you want to shoot a toddler have look at this video of shooting just that with A6400

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG37PzFSyKU

(video was shot with Sony A6400)
You can get the A6400 in your budget and a couple nice sigma primes and you'd be set. You can't get better than that for AF ;)

If you want to read the whole blurb around that video - https://www.dpreview.com/articles/0...-tracking-is-a-big-leap-forward-for-autofocus
Thanks. I'll have a look at the 6400 later. So much choice!
 
Would others concur on the A7ii AF? It's well suited to old manual lenses.

Seeing that you want to shoot a toddler have look at this video of shooting just that with A6400

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG37PzFSyKU

(video was shot with Sony A6400)
You can get the A6400 in your budget and a couple nice sigma primes and you'd be set. You can't get better than that for AF ;)

If you want to read the whole blurb around that video - https://www.dpreview.com/articles/0...-tracking-is-a-big-leap-forward-for-autofocus

Do you think this will come to the A7iii?
 
The obvious camera, if you've come from a D600, is a D750 - should be nicely within your budget used & even grey, plus lenses are relatively low-cost.

I've just moved from D610 to A7III and it's pretty good with eye tracking, focus being near instant with the 24-105 f4. However lenses in general are outrageously expensive for Sony's own, though they tend to be extremely high quality (with some notable exceptions in the 2 cheaper zooms). Samyang also make some optically great lenses, but the AF in the early versions isn't necessarily as good as Sony's.
 
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The D800 isn't that great for auto focus. Probably broadly similar to how your D600 was. As in it's fine in most circumstances but will occasionally frustrate you. With a £1k bdget, If you're leaning towards full frame, I would say a D750 would be a better option for fast moving kids than a D800 and actually just about any other option at present unless you drop a sensor size. E-infinity have them for under £900 now. That is a serious bargain. It's getting on a bit in camera years but I don't think you can do better without spending quite a lot more or buying something very well used.
That was my main concern over the d800. I've had a look into the d750 too. Is the auto focus that much better? If it is then that might be a winner.

I just don't want to spend daft money only to find the same weaknesses I had with the d600 which can be had around 500 used.
 
That was my main concern over the d800. I've had a look into the d750 too. Is the auto focus that much better? If it is then that might be a winner.

I just don't want to spend daft money only to find the same weaknesses I had with the d600 which can be had around 500 used.

D750 is way better than the d800 and d600 for AF. I’m saying this very unbiasedly as I e never had a d750 but currently have a d800 and used to have a d600. I think the d750 shares the AF system with the d4. Its very good especially in low light.
 
That was my main concern over the d800. I've had a look into the d750 too. Is the auto focus that much better? If it is then that might be a winner.

I just don't want to spend daft money only to find the same weaknesses I had with the d600 which can be had around 500 used.

A lot of guys still use the D750 as their camera of choice for wedding work - it was only really Sony's eye tracking that won me over, and I'm still not completely convinced it was the right move, but there's no going back for now. I don't know if you have any lenses left, but manual focus with focus peaking is much less accurate than Nikon's focus assist light, if that's a consideration.
 
A lot of guys still use the D750 as their camera of choice for wedding work - it was only really Sony's eye tracking that won me over, and I'm still not completely convinced it was the right move, but there's no going back for now. I don't know if you have any lenses left, but manual focus with focus peaking is much less accurate than Nikon's focus assist light, if that's a consideration.
I don't have any lenses left over, which might have made the decision easier.

So the d750 is looking like a prime candidate. I'm still torn between the sony options but the lenses do really sell it for nikon I think.

Let the hunt begin!
 
I don't have any lenses left over, which might have made the decision easier.

So the d750 is looking like a prime candidate. I'm still torn between the sony options but the lenses do really sell it for nikon I think.

Let the hunt begin!

It cost me about £2.2K for the A7III plus (grey) 24-105, and I sold a D610 plus a lot of lenses to get there.
 
Just wondering. Have you considered a Sony RX100 or similar.

I use one for my "always with me" camera and to be honest there is very little
difference in IQ to my 60D. Plus it takes a way better short video.
 
Thanks again. I did have a 1diii before but the size would put me off now. I don't mind 7d / d7000 size though.

The a7ii/iii did appeal to me because of the eye tracking. My kids are proper little hyper monsters so I would like something with snappy AF.

Right now I'm leaning towards the d7000 with some good glass. Though would a d800 be any better focusing? Hard to get my hands on one to test out unfortunately.
what about A d700 for a cheap FF.
 
Would others concur on the A7ii AF? It's well suited to old manual lenses.
Do you think this will come to the A7iii?

The AF in A7II isn't much good for tracking and its not much improved from the original. The only plus to the A7II AF is it provides PDAF for adapted lenses too unlike the original.

As for A7III, it will get part of the firmware update but not the entirety of it due to hardware limitations. So it will not be as effective as A9 or A6400 but its already rather good to be honest its no slouch. To be specific A7III will get real-time eyeAF, animal eyeAF and timelapse features. You can read the whole press releases here - https://www.dpreview.com/news/50573...pdates-for-a7-iii-a7r-iii-and-a9-improving-af

It took me a couple reads to really understand the differences ;)
 
what about A d700 for a cheap FF.

I think, Given that it’s well in my price range, the d750 will be the way to go. I’d miss the new features if I went back to a d700. That’s the gear lust in me coming out!

I’ve kind of ruled Sony out now I think (unless an amazing deal comes along!). Eyes out for a good deal on a d750!

Thanks everyone for the help. It’s really very much appreciated .
 
Sony have all ready said real time eye a.f is for the A9 and A6400 only.

You're talking about the real time tracking. The new eye AF is in the 7III and RIII
 
Just an update to this. I managed to pick up a used d610 with a very low shutter for a great price so it'll tide me over until I find the right d750.

Thanks again for all the help.
Now some lenses!
 
Just an update to this. I managed to pick up a used d610 with a very low shutter for a great price so it'll tide me over until I find the right d750.

Thanks again for all the help.
Now some lenses!

Nice work. The d610 is still a wonderful camera. What lens(es) are you thinking? You can do a lot worse that the humble 50mm 1.8 for kids and family stuff.
 
Nice work. The d610 is still a wonderful camera. What lens(es) are you thinking? You can do a lot worse that the humble 50mm 1.8 for kids and family stuff.
I was thinking a wee zoom lens. Maybe a 24-70/70-200 combo. Not the newer ones though.

Maybe add a 50mm or 85mm prime lens down the line if I feel I need it.

Fortunately I kept my flashgun from last time so that's still in storage.
 
Sounds perfect. I really liked the 28-105 with mine, and stopped down it was sharp corner to corner.
 
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