what camera do I buy

Daveevans

Daveevans

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dave Evans
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Morning all,

To say I'm a beginner could not be far from the truth. I know very little about photography.

I'm looking at investing approximately £6-800 in a decent camera and lens with bag etc. this will be in the new year when I have cash and the sales are on.

I got inspired to get a new camera when I was at Eastbourne air show a few weeks ago and my camera gave up the ghost and everyone around me had decent lens cameras and appeared to be taking awesome shots of the planes etc. I do have a basic tripod as well.

I will Also be taking it out to USA next year when I drive Route 66 with the wife as well.

I'm not a massive Photogragher hence I'm starting quite basic but I love a good thunderstorm and were I live only a few minutes away I can get to a spot where I can watch the lightening etc and with my current camera fujisu S1500 I've never managed it.

I spoke to a guy in jessops and he told me it was the poor quality memory card I was using which caused the camera to fail on me - so from now on I'm only using sandisk.

I know nothing about the appature or speed etc. I've tried to read about it but just got confused.

I would love a good length lens so I can take fab quality photos from a distance. If our life plans works within the next 5-6 years we will be going on a safari which would be amazing photography opportunity.

If anyone can start to point me in the right direction that would be great.

Thank you
Dave
 
Hi Dave, I'm a bit of a beginner myself and don't feel qualified to advise you on camera choice, there are very experienced people here who can give you sound advice. One thing I would advise is to contact your local education authority and ask if there are any evening classes in photography available. I did a 10 week course and learned so much, it hasn't made me an expert by any means but it did give me a grasp of the basics. It's so much easier to understand when someone can explain and demonstrate things for you. Well worth a couple of hours a week.
Very jealous about your plans for Route 66, would love to do that myself.
 
You clearly have internet access and that is a great place to start, watching you tube videos will help you a lot. http://kelbyone.com/courses/courses/photography/ has plenty of courses online to take and learn.

There are also a million and one free videos out there, just google what you wish to search.

As for when you get a camera, the best thing to do is to read the manual cover to cover with the camera in your hand and play along as you read the manual so you can learn how it works.

Also books like "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson is a great read and will help you loads on your road to starting.

Good luck.
 
Hi,
Thanks for your advise. I'm planning to get the camera from jessops and hoping to agree a deal if I purchase their photography courses at the same time. I've read a lot about and they seem to have fab reviews.
 
Excellent stuff I hope it all goes well for you.

I tend not to try and learn anything too technically hard, just the basics and build on that.
 
Good Morning!

When i first started playing with cameras I found it was easier to learn the theory and all the boring (fun?) stuff about light and exposure separately to learning about which camera to use! I was lucky that my dad has some books from the 70s i could read which weren't concerned with which company produced the best sensor or whatever. I'm sure those camera club or events would be great. Ideally I find it so much easier to learn from someone rather than a book! Then you get to have a go on other peoples camera ;-)
 
Well, there are worse places to buy from but there are also better. I'm a little suspicious of the claim that the SD card caused your camera to fail.
Once you narrow down your requirements, a visit to www.camerapricebuster.co.uk is a good idea, if only to use as a bargaining tool.
 
this will sound weird to probably everyone but me but what I would do in your situation is see if I can scramble £80-£120 together and buy a cheap Canon/Nikon DSLR and kit lens or 50mm 1.8 or maybe a cheap Olympus mirrorless.. don't be put off by the small outlay they will be capable cameras. then learn on it, join a club, practice practice PRACTICE shoot shoot SHOOT..

I think once you get a more accessible camera control wise you will soon pick up the basics RE aperture, shutter speed etc... plus you might find you need no other body than the £60 Canon/Nikon you have purchased and you can spend your £6-800 on a nice 70-200 or 100-400 lens for your future safari.

I really do think if you can get together £80-£120 for an older DSLR you have everything to gain and not too much to lose.
 
Canon 40D + 70-200 F/4 both used + anything else you can get with the rest of the money, the 40D is a great camera quite cheap now used and the 70-200 F/4 is amazing for the money, if you want to spend a bit more you can even go for 5D and still get a decent lens with the money. As for everything else just shoot a lot nothing else teaches better/
 
I'd be looking at a lens with minimum 400-450mm reach (300mm on crop body) for wildlife and safaris, preferably 600mm + Trouble is if you want to take it on hols 600mm lenses are big and heavy for DSLRs so might be worth looking at a smaller system such as Micro 4/3. They doa couple of 600mm eq lenses that are relatively small and lightweight..

As for learning the craft, I personally found the internet better than classes as classes tend to be quite slow. Sites such as cambridge in colour and photography life have a lot of good online tutorials, from the very basic to the more advanced. Also the book "understanding exposure" by Bryan Peterson is an excellent book to learn from.
 
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