Looking for a new camera - Looking for some help

duotone

To cut a long story short, I'm going to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart in the middle of March for my birthday.  I wanted to get a camera with a £300 budget, that will give me good quality photos that I can look back on & appreciate, that will go above and beyond what a mobile phone camera can offer.

I have looked at various buying guides online such as http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/camera-guide-286-commercial.html and many YouTube videos as well, but am not really narrowing down the search, if anything the list of what to buy gets longer....so I thought I would ask on here.

ThePrettyDamned

300 quid will net you a d3300 and an 18-55. 

Brilliant lens (no, really - it's the fifth or sixth version and it's really good, sharp and good colour), small camera, 24mp, no lp filter so mega sharp and pretty decent jpegs. 

duotone

Will look up that model. Cheers!

ThePrettyDamned

If you want more manual control but still affordable, you may get a second hand fuji xe2 but I'd not bother - if you're looking for quality snapshots you won't go wrong with the d3300. 

There are good compact cameras too, if that's your bag, but they seem more expensive. The Sony rx100 is supposed to be okay. 

Or you could look at micro 4/3 system. @strumjoughlamps had some 4/3 kit. It's a slightly smaller sensor than the dslr but they're genuinely small cameras with really good, small lenses. Some slightly older models can be had for a bargain price. 

If you went second hand on a d3300 you could add a dx 35mm 1.8 lens to it - small light fast and sharp, good in low light. 

stickyfiddle

What do you want from the camera? 

- something remotely pocketable or happy with a big DSLR-type, or somewhere in the middle? 
- zoom? 
- point & shoot or ability/necessity to do some processing?

If you want the DSLR then the D3300 is a good place to start. Worth looking at Canon 600D/650D as well in case you prefer that ergonomically - all three are great starter cameras. 

I'd also second looking at micro 4/3 and maybe Fuji stuff. I had good results with an early Olympus EPL and currently love my Fuji XT1 (way above your budget, but their cheaper stuff is also very good).

duotone

Image quality is the main thing. It would be useful if it was smaller than a DSLR and would more easily fit into a pocket, but I wouldn't want to sacrifice image quality just to get something that was smaller in size. 

Limehouse_Blues

Ricoh GR if you can live with the fixed lens.

stickyfiddle

duotone said:

Image quality is the main thing. It would be useful if it was smaller than a DSLR and would more easily fit into a pocket, but I wouldn't want to sacrifice image quality just to get something that was smaller in size. 

If that's the case then Micro 4/3rds is probably worth a look. Smaller than a DSLR but gives you most of the step in quality (and control of parameters - aperture is probably the major one you'll want). 

The one drawback would be most of them have no viewfinder or only a relatively cheap digital one, but that may not bother you.

ThePrettyDamned

duotone said:

Image quality is the main thing. It would be useful if it was smaller than a DSLR and would more easily fit into a pocket, but I wouldn't want to sacrifice image quality just to get something that was smaller in size. 

As @stickyfiddle said, although a D3300 is small (seriously - I have only used larger models and the first time I saw the entry level DSLR's I was amazed at how small they are!) it's bulk isn't quite pocket friendly. 

I've wanted to get into micro 4/3 for a while now, but they don't yet tick the 'feel' box for me that DSLR's do. However, they are good bits of kit and the range is fast developing. In fact, having tried the latest Panasonic GX8, I could easily see myself going that route for my work if I was in the market right now. 

D3300 with kit lens, which is fairly diddy. https://www.dpreview.com/articles/9536476913/hands-on-with-the-nikon-d3300-and-35mm-f1-8g-lens?slide=2 ;

That's with the 18-55 kit lens. At the end of that slide show it shows the full frame 35mm 1.8 mounted, which is actually quite a bit bigger than the dx version - so it's a very small package indeed. 

Going for something like the olympus OMD EM10 will be a fair bit smaller, cooler looking and still net you great image quality. Also, should you want to upgrade in the future, lenses are generally much more affordable than those that cover larger sensor formats. But it won't be as good a camera as the entry level DSLR.

stickyfiddle

Of course I'd also add the wildcard of going for whatever Fuji you can afford, with the 18-55 "kit lens" which is actually a bloody brilliant lens, then upgrade the body later if it grabs you. 

scrumhalf

If you're going for Fuji have a look at the reconditioned cameras for sale on their website. They are mostly mail order returns, they come with a full 12 month guarantee.

I have bought several over the years. Other than not being shipped in the original product-specific box they have all looked as good as new, you couldn't tell they weren't brand new.

And you can save a fair bit of money.

http://shop.fujifilm.co.uk/digital-cameras/refurbished-digital-cameras

sinbaadi

FWIW I ended up getting a D3400 which is very similar in some ways and identical in others, some additional features, in the Black Friday sales.  The lens and sensor are the same and I am more than happy with the image quality it offers.   The array of options and newbie-friendly modes makes it great to play serious if you want, but you can also hand it to anybody and they will take some great pictures with it.

Nicely made and feels sturdy enough too.

duotone

Thanks for all the words of wisdom guys, it's much appreciated.

I went to John Lewis today and got my hands on a few of the cameras to get a feel for them.  I have pretty small hands but I felt most of the compacts in my price range felt a bit fiddly control wise and a bit small regarding the dials etc.

The Canon D3300 felt much better in the hand, I was actually surprised how light it was.  

There is one camera here for £319 & one at £339, the more expensive one has a VR lens...What's the difference?
https://m.johnlewis.com/search?search-term=+d3300 there are

strumjoughlamps

if you dont want the lens malarky I would always recommend a Sigma DPx merrill or Ricoh GR but they are fixed focal and not for you IMO..

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/used-equipment/used-photo-and-video/used-compact-system-cameras/used-canon-compact-system-cameras/canon-powershot-g1-x-ii/sku-644016/

that is a possible consideration...

would you prefer interchangeable lenses or not?

duotone

Tbh I would prefer a camera with a viewfinder.

Re: interchangeable lenses, I guess that it would be useful to progress the hobby further down the line, so it would be good to have that option.

First things first though, I will bring the camera out and about when walking the dog etc. and learn about what the different settings do. 

ThePrettyDamned

Vr means vibration reduction. It helps keep pictures sharp when hand holding at slower speeds. It can't freeze movement from your subject - but in a darker building, say, a museum, you'd be much better off with it. 

For twenty quid, I'd get the vr every day. 

What did you think of the mirrorless ones? Did you try any, eg, olympus or Panasonic? 

strumjoughlamps said:

if you dont want the lens malarky I would always recommend a Sigma DPx merrill or Ricoh GR but they are fixed focal and not for you IMO..

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/used-equipment/used-photo-and-video/used-compact-system-cameras/used-canon-compact-system-cameras/canon-powershot-g1-x-ii/sku-644016/

that is a possible consideration...

would you prefer interchangeable lenses or not?

Have you got a ricoh gr? I'm considering one for fun flash work. 

duotone

I didn't actually try out/handle any of the mirrorless ones tbh.

xinkai

User of a Fuji XE1 (yes, 1, that's the really old model) and it's still going strong. some examples of the photos i shoot can be seen on my instagram page in my profile. 

Not here to advertise though. Just want to throw some support over on the mirrorless side, especially for Fuji. If you're considering mirrorless, take note that not all sensor sizes are the same (4/3 cameras like the olympus is a subset of mirrorless cameras). 

Fuji's cameras have larger sensors than the Olympus ones across the entire range of mirrorless cameras. The sensor sizes in many DSLRs are also the same size that Fuji uses. So Fuji might be a good compromise between quality and size. 

Before you jump in though, be sure if you want to get into the hobby of photography, or really just want a camera to go around shooting whatever you want?

If it's the latter but you end up getting a DSLR, the bulk from the DSLR can put you off bringing it out in the first place. 

If you're somewhere in between i strongly suggest you have a look at mirrorless cameras.

Wolfetone

The best photos are 80% composition and light. The other 20% is everything else including your £14000 lenses and £4000 bodies. Don't ever convince yourself that a great camera and lens is the key to great photos. 

Sometimes a fancy camera with a bewildering selection of features can work against you. 

My advice is to buy a book about photography and then spend your £300. 

stickyfiddle

Wolfetone said:

The best photos are 80% composition and light. The other 20% is everything else including your £14000 lenses and £4000 bodies. Don't ever convince yourself that a great camera and lens is the key to great photos. 

Sometimes a fancy camera with a bewildering selection of features can work against you. 

My advice is to buy a book about photography and then spend your £300. 

Hard to disagree with this, though the guiding principles remain the same even before you know how to use the thing. 

- you need easy access to the major manual controls (even though you likely won't use all of them at the same time)
- you need to decide how important a viewfinder is to you
- you need to get the cameras in your hand and see which feels most comfortable. 

boogieman

stickyfiddle said:

Wolfetone said:

The best photos are 80% composition and light. The other 20% is everything else including your £14000 lenses and £4000 bodies. Don't ever convince yourself that a great camera and lens is the key to great photos. 

Sometimes a fancy camera with a bewildering selection of features can work against you. 

My advice is to buy a book about photography and then spend your £300. 

Hard to disagree with this, though the guiding principles remain the same even before you know how to use the thing. 

- you need easy access to the major manual controls (even though you likely won't use all of them at the same time)
- you need to decide how important a viewfinder is to you
- you need to get the cameras in your hand and see which feels most comfortable. 

Just to add that a viewfinder is pretty essential IMO. I've had compact cameras with just an LCD screen and they're virtually unusable in bright sunshine due to the glare bleaching out the screen.