Beginner photography virgin right here...

bridge or dslr

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Jdsh44

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Joshua Davis
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Hello everybody, I am going on a trip to south africa in 2018 and as it is such a beautiful place i am obviously looking to take some high quality photographs/ video to look back at. i have very little experience with camera equipment only having used my phone for anything worth of taking a picture. my budget is roughly £350 as im hoping this camera will last me a decent amount of time before i reinvest in a better one later on. my only question is would it be worth buying an older dslr such as the cannon 1300d with the kit lens or getting a bridge camera such as the nikon p900 or canon sx60 as both these cameras have a very high zoom capability.
thank you.
 
Welcome.

I don't think that you'll get a whole lot of love for the bridge cameras unfortunately. Yes, they offer a large zoom range but the image quality isn't the best. You might want to have a look at mpb who will have a large selection for you to choose from

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/
 
Are you using the trip as an "excuse" to get into photography or just wanting to take some photos to help you remember the trip?

What kind of photographs are you hoping to take?
 
wow i had no idea about it looks like a good site! yeah thats what i was thinking and as somebody not very experienced im not sure if its worth buying a slr and different zoomed lenses to ensure i can photograph everything i would want to.
 
Eloise said:
Are you using the trip as an "excuse" to get into photography or just wanting to take some photos to help you remember the trip?

What kind of photographs are you hoping to take?
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i suppose a bit of both haha. am going on safari so am looking for a high zoom camera, after looking up some things and watching reviews and the results compared to a smart phone i really want to get into it now.
 
Tricky, unfortunately as far as photography goes £350 doesn't get you much at all. A Nikon D3400 camera with an 18-55 lens would be ok, but it's £449 new at Wex (although £50 cashback available) and you'd really want a longer zoom lens too, a 55-300mm VR would be a decent option, between £170-£188 used at Wex. Don't forget you'd want a camera bag and memory cards too, a tripod or monopod for low light as well if you can take one. It's all well and good suggesting kit but photography is a steep learning curve, the camera isn't going to take good pictures for you, you have to learn composition and the technical skills to get the results you want. A friend of mine recently went to Australia and got a D3400 and 28-300mm lens, for similar reasons as you. He couldn't get on with it though and took most of his pictures on his iPhone. The results will be far from instant. Know that sounds quite negative...sorry
 
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If you don't pln to get serious with photography and want something that will take some potentially amazing wildlife snaps then a bridge camera is definitely the way to go. To get similar telephoto capabilities for DSLR you would need to spend >£3500 for your improvement in image quality, and the kit would be large and heavy.

Background: I went to Zimbabwe in 2013 with a bridge camera, and there were times when a 600mm equivalent lens was not long enough. However that experience made me want to buy a DSLR, even though I did get some pictures with the bridge that I could never have got with my normal SLR outfits. The trade off in quality is acceptable if you don't enlarge most of your photos very much and you also frame up images carefully so that you don't have to crop. Also sometimes focusing can be frustrating because it is automated instead of easily manual - I took a couple of photos where I just couldn't get the camera to focus on the subjects, and it went everywhere else.

A modern bridge camera is amazingly good *for what it does* and can offer surprisingly good picture quality if used correctly.
 
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there are also some great superzoom compacts if they are just for memories, i also have a pansonic lumix tz80 with its 30x zoom can reach further than my canon 600d with a 55-300mm and can fit in a pocket
 
have you thought about a camcorder that takes pictures as well as video. Panasonic is a make I use and very good it is as well. One advantage is They are light weight and small enough to fit into a pocket and have a fantastic zoom which you are after and in your price range new
 
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realspeed said:
have you thought about a camcorder that takes pictures as well as video. Panasonic is a make I use and very good it is as well. One advantage is They are light weight and small enough to fit into a pocket and have a fantastic zoom which you are after and in your price range new
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after doing some further research i am looking at the cannon sx60- has a high zoom, articulating screen, shoots full hd video (1080p), wifi and is at a pretty good price of £250. i dont really see why i would go for a camcorder when this will give me very good video anyway
 
If you wanted a dslr camera, i would go second hand. You could probably pick up a canon 40d/50d and 55-250 stm lens for your budget and a 18-55 is ii or stm version for a little extra.
 
im a noob and picked up a canon 600d, 10-18mm, 18-55mm, 55-250mm canon lenses, lowepro bag, manfrotto tripod, memory card 16gb posted for £390 which i think is a good deal, it will keep me going for a while and would fit your budget - dont get too hooked up on the latest kit
 
A camera is only allowed a fixed recording time (30 minutes I think) a camcorder is unlimited. That is one good reason why. Also with a camcorder you don't get clicking on sound when focus changes which you do with a DSLR doing a video, so any focus change has to be done manually, auto focus causes problems
 
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Jdsh44 said:
after doing some further research i am looking at the cannon sx60- has a high zoom, articulating screen, shoots full hd video (1080p), wifi and is at a pretty good price of £250.
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Go for it.

I've been taking pictures since 1966, earning money from it from 1967 to 1983 and have owned more cameras than you can easily imagine. For someone in your position the SX60 is a no brainer. You might want to spend the other £100 in your budget on a small pocket zoom camera. Things go wrong or get damaged and a spare camera will save the day.

This was made on a little Panasonic TZ40 which you could buy second hand for well under £100, so don't let people tell you these types of camera can't do what you have said you want to do...

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Jdsh44 said:
i am obviously looking to take some high quality photographs
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.. with apologies for the selective quoting and straying slightly OT ..
Almost anything on the market today can take a 'high quality' pic but if this really is your aim then don't be surprised by how much practice and learning you'll need to put in to make the camera do it :)
 
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