Camera discussion

[flatwins]

The past couple cameras I've bought have been these little point-and-shoot things and aren't really worth the package in which they arrive. I have no interest in being a photographer and am not really even familiar with the the terminology, but I would like to take decent detail photos (picture getting decent pics of ID stampings on milsurp rifle parts) but also be able to get decent shots along the fence line of a motorcycle race. I suppose digital SLR would give me the tools to do all of that but are there any other cameras out there that would fit the bill?

 

[WhiteyMacD]

Nikon D7000. Pro quality at amateur price. Seriously... the thing is a beast. Shoots 1080p video, will do time lapse, the list goes on.

And yes, its an SLR. Gotta be careful with SLRs... lenses become the equivalence of crack.

 

[flatwins]

I guess I should have noted a price range. I have no doubt the Nikon D7000 would be fantastic but it's an $800 camera with lense cost on top of that. I'd love one but have the unfortunate problem of having WAY too many expensive hobbies and I don't want photography to be another one. It's just not in my blood. I've bought a few $80-$100 cameras and they are just plain worthless so I was thinking of maybe looking in the $300 range. Anything decent there?

 

[RidgeHunter]

Gotta be careful with SLRs... lenses become the equivalence of crack.

No joke; photography in general is like crack. I bought a DSLR after frying my bridge camera kayaking last year, and now I have several lenses, a tripod and various other crap for that, and I've since bought a 35mm rangefinder and a manual film SLR.

And now I want a DSLR with better low light performance. And 2 more lenses. And an old Minolta Autocord. And a...

 

[doctorjj]

Get something like a Fuji F200EXR.

 

[doctorjj]

No joke; photography in general is like crack. I bought a DSLR after frying my bridge camera kayaking last year, and now I have several lenses, a tripod and various other crap for that, and I've since bought a 35mm rangefinder and a manual film SLR.

And now I want a DSLR with better low light performance. And 2 more lenses. And an old Minolta Autocord. And a...

You probably already know this but a lot of your low light performance IS the lens.

 

[BobbyJuice]

Look into the canon g series. They are essentially p&s cameras but you are able to adjust settings like dslrs do. Ie shutter speeds, iso, aperture. Gives you alot more freedom and better looking results.

 

[RidgeHunter]

I've bought a few $80-$100 cameras and they are just plain worthless so I was thinking of maybe looking in the $300 range. Anything decent there?

My P&S that I fried was a Sony DS-H50 that cost about $300. Higher-end Sony point & shoots are great cameras for the price IMO. Here's just a couple I took with the now-fried H50.

You're gonna have trouble shooting moving subjects with a P&S, tho.

You probably already know this but a lot of your low light performance IS the lens.

Yessir. I should have specified that I want a DSLR that performs better at higher ISO settings.

 

[doctorjj]

My wife washed my F31fd, which is now an almost legendary P&S, in a pair of my shorts.

Ridge, if you'd just drop $2500 on that zoom lens instead of buying the $600 one, you wouldn't need to use the higher ISO. Haha!

 

[flatwins]

Those are impressive pics, Ridge. I would be happy with something that could pull those off. As far as the moving pictures part, I could live without that functionality for now. I occasionally will attend events where it would be nice to get great motion photos but for the most part I need something that will take detailed stills.