Discuss Anyone any good with a camera? in the Electricians Chat - Off Topic Chat area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

Lou

Staff member
Admin
Reaction score
826
I have always loved taking photos with a small digital camera or my phone - I do @Dan s head in sometimes I think. I have been looking at cameras to buy and found this Nikon that is a cross between an SLR and a small digital camera.

It seems to have good reviews for beginners but I wondered if anyone here has used one? Are they a good make?
 
Nikon are one of the top brands. this camera will do all you want with the minimum of fuss. not sure if it has manual exposure mode, but for general use, you would not need that.personally, I'm a Canon man, but that's all down to preference. with these so called super zoom lenses, they're great for versatility, but you do lose out on the max. aperture, which is a bind for low light work, where you need to use much slower speeds to get the exposure right. a tripod is essential.
 
As Tel said, Nikon are a very reputable make. My dad is a pro photographer but he does have a lot to do with his local camera club and does his own hobby photography as well. I'll show him the link he may be able to advise in addition to what Tel has posted. Personally i know nowt about cameras, sorry.
 
That's great thanks guys. I do love taking photos and have taken some belting ones in the past, I was looking to make it more of a hobby
Might be worth seeing if there is a camera club near you. I have been with my dad once, his operates once a month, the people were really friendly and helpful and really do welcome budding enthusiasts. At least then you might get some useful tips and sound advice.
[automerge]1567687311[/automerge]
Here is a link to one near your area. Improve your photography! | Newcastle Camera Club - http://newcastlecameraclub.org/
 
Aw thanks, I will have to have a look at that and perhaps pop along sometime when things aren't so crazy!

I have not seen that review website, I will have to have a nose about it when I get time. I just wanted to know if it a good starting out camera.

I can take some decent photos of the dogs then, they move too quick for my phone haha
 
my advice would be to stick with the Nikon as in OP. once you go to he comparison site/s you'll be bombarded with so much techy info, you'll never be able to decide.
 
Aw thanks, I will have to have a look at that and perhaps pop along sometime when things aren't so crazy!

I have not seen that review website, I will have to have a nose about it when I get time. I just wanted to know if it a good starting out camera.

I can take some decent photos of the dogs then, they move too quick for my phone haha
1.How important is the size of the camera to you?
2. How much do you want to spend (roughly)?
3. Do you want to be able to change lenses or is a fixed zoom lens Ok with you
Once you've answered those it will make your choice a lot easier
 
The questions w0z asked are important to the choice. A fixed lens camera is great to start but if you really get into the hobby you'll find it gets restrictive. It may be worth saving a few more pennies and buy a SLR. My personal preference would be a Canon.
 
most of me gears are stood away .but still take a old canon out now and again , at xmas time i gave the gran kid,with beard hes only 13 a book on photography to get the basics of it and he is learn ing at school. good for him .when to a wedding in spain this year on camrea used the phone got some cracking pics better then the pro the family said.
 
Canon for me every time, but obviously I won't knock Nikon which are an equally brilliant marque.
Just bought my daughter a Canon mirrorless one, about £300, with zoom lens, plus a pancake lens for compact carrying. Results are amazing. The y do some at £3500 too, but who needs that?
I have an old Canon 350D/Rebel, and have used it for professional use for over 20 years and it still turns out super pics. Don't be seduced by megapixels...unless you are a pro almost anything will be a great start until you get the bug...then, you will drool over stuff costing thousands! Electricians tools are cheap by comparison. get something pocketable and see how it goes.
 
Canon for me every time, but obviously I won't knock Nikon which are an equally brilliant marque.
Just bought my daughter a Canon mirrorless one, about £300, with zoom lens, plus a pancake lens for compact carrying. Results are amazing. The y do some at £3500 too, but who needs that?
I have an old Canon 350D/Rebel, and have used it for professional use for over 20 years and it still turns out super pics. Don't be seduced by megapixels...unless you are a pro almost anything will be a great start until you get the bug...then, you will drool over stuff costing thousands! Electricians tools are cheap by comparison. get something pocketable and see how it goes.
agree. anything over 6 Mp. is overkill. unless you want to blowup a tiny part of the pic to 12" x 8"
 
All cameras are a compromise, there is a good reason for not having interchangeable lenses, there is less chance of getting dust into the camera, however I would still want the screw thread for filters, and want the ability to take pictures in RAW format.

As to mega pixels, I find in the main I reduce them so to digitally display 2 Mp is ample, to print it depends on size, but unless turning into wall paper, 10 Mp is ample, the higher the mega pixels the more you can crop the picture, the lower the mega pixels the less light you need to take the photo, assuming same size and type of sensor.

So there are three reasonably standard sensors, full frame is same size as a 35 mm film would be, normally we have a smaller sensor to that, varies camera to camera, but cropped sensor normaly around 3/4 size of full frame, this means smaller lenes can be used, but can still use full frame lens so a 400mm full frame lens is a 600 mm approx when used with a cropped sensor.

Because an DSLR needs to move the mirror, lens starts quite a distance from sensor, and making them smaller is not really possible with that mirror, however there is no longer a need for a mirror, as with your phone you can use a digital display, bringing the lens closer to sensor really reduces the lens size, so the micro 4/3rds camera was born, it has interchangeable lens, but far smaller in size. Now we are also getting full frame cameras without the mirror but these are very expensive.

An f 1.6 lens is expensive, with 400 ASA (now called ISO) film you needed all the light you could get, but today you can get cameras with an ISO of over 400,000 the bigger the ISO the lower the Mega Pixel also the larger the f stop the greater the depth of field, so at f8 you can get a massive focal range, so low mega pixel but high ISO is in the main good, it means you need less concentration on the settings, you simply concentrate on your artistic talent.

There are specialist areas, macro, and telephoto need diffrent options to standard, my 18 to 280 mm lens is very slow to focus, it would be no good trying to take pictures on the Mac loop of the fast jets, but it is ample for general photography. Daughters 80 to 300 mm is far faster, but she needs to swap the lens to take pictures inside churches for example, and swapping a lens gives chance of dust.

Ability to take three photos one standard one two stops over and one two stops under in RAW format allows you, (normally with tripod) to capture a high dynamic range, Anyone any good with a camera? IMGP0380_1_2_tonemapped - EletriciansForums.net the photo shown is not everyone's cup of tea, but without taking three images in RAW you don't really have the option, so you want the ability to take bracketed photos and in RAW format, Pentax RAW is 12 bit, Nikon RAW is 14 bit, Jpeg is 8 bit, so with Jpeg you can't correct errors, with RAW if you have not set the exposure spot on, to have a better chance of recovering from the error.
 
If you think you may go on to get a little more serious about your photography Lou I'd give this one a miss as you'll out grow it very quickly. I wouldn't even call it a bridge camers with no manual control or the ability to shoot in raw.
Take a bit of time to look into bridge cameras, you need a camera you can grow into and devolope your photography.
 
Nikon is definitely a good brand-one of the best camera manufacturers around.

Reading a couple of reviews, they suggest this camera has smart phone image quality but with the benefit of a flexible zoom lens that goes from pretty wide to very long. If you just want to take a few snaps, you'll likely be happy but if photography becomes more of a hobby, I reckon the poor image quality and lack of manual control for exposure will become frustrating.

If funds allow, as andyb says, perhaps look at something a few models up?
 
Earlier Sony Alpha cameras can take manual focus AF mount Minolta lenses. You can pick the camera and lenses up at a reasonable price.



What do you want a fashion item or something practical?
 

Reply to Anyone any good with a camera? in the Electricians Chat - Off Topic Chat area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock