Recommend my boss a camera!

Matt-P

Matt-P

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Matt
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I was approached at work for a bit of camera advice - my boss basically wants something better than his point and shoot for taking photos of his children at their school plays etc.

Talking to him it seems a decent zoom and good low light performance are the key requirements, together with a price under about £500. New rather than second hand as well. He's not particularly fussed as to whether it's an SLR, a CSC or a compact.

Any suggestions? :thinking: Nikon 1 J2 kit including the Zoom lens can be had for under £500, or something like a Finepix HS 30 seems to pack a lot of lens length.

I realise anythings going to be a bit of a compromise, but what would you recommend?
 
Not really sure what they're like but was in Jessops yesterday and the do the Olympuc Pen twin lens kit starting at less than £300
 
School plays means fast lenses to cope with the low light. Fast lenses means cost (generally).
 
agree - a decent zoom that is also fast lens means a lot of money and a huge size.
The HS30 has a very decent zoom due to it's small sensor but 2.8 - 5.6 is not shouting low light and I guess the Nikon J1 isn't either.

For £500 all in he will need to compromise on the low light ability or zoom lengths which seems to be his main requirements?
 
Thanks for all the comments

Jonjay - that seems a good price

Arad - I told him that, set his expectations

Ernesto - He's the kind of person where he wants it all :) But I'd say as long as the low light wasn't as bad as his iPhone then the zoom would just edge it out as a requirement.
 
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I have the Sony Rx100, that's within his budget. It's great in low light, it has Image stabilisation, it's got a bit of zoom and if he's not bothered with manual controls - well, it's got 2 smart auto settings, almost foolproof. My missus shot video of one of our girl's plays today, the other is tomorrow where she'll do same. Turned out fine, the video is really smooth with that IS and quality stays good even at higher ISO levels. I did stills with the dslr.
 
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If he's a non-tog, his standard of 'decent' may be somewhat lower than those of us who define 'decent' as f2.8 pro zooms... :)

Just suggest to him a base level slr from any main brand and he'll probably be happy and it will feel like a 'real' camera*. I can't speak for other brands, but in the Nikon stable, the 5100/3200 are good low light performers and will leave you money for lenses, but I'm sure the Canon/Sony/Pentax equivalents would do quite nicely and I doubt he'd notice the difference in everyday use. School play use doesn't make me think he fancies himself as giving Ansel Adams a run for his money....

You can over think these things :)

*i.e. he'll feel like a pro tog, even if he's still using full auto and snapping away.
 
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To get zoom with decent enough low light performance with a dslr, means buying a tele lens that is good in low light, which generally means 2.8 - He'll do well to get a body + zoom lens for £500
 
Pentax K-30 zoom kit and for low light the DA 35mm f2.4....the 16MP Sensor that you find in Nikons/Pentax/Sony is super for low light, an equivalent Canon bundled with the EF 50 f1.8 is another solution.
 
A 650D with a twin lens kit (18-55 & 55-250) is available at Panamoz for a bit above the £500 budget, if paid by BT with a 5% discount, and that would give decent zoom reach and good ISO performance. I bought the wife one when they first came out and it's impressed me whenever I've used it. It's got a good set of specs and the IQ and AF ability are very good.
 
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