Digital camera needed

[JohnF]

Excuse me a quick thread hijack Geoff.
JohnF you sound like you are knowledgeable on the subject.... I am heading to B and H tomorrow and looking secondhand , for teeth use only I was planning on getting a Canon 5D with 100 2.8 macro and ring flash.
Had a similar set up with. 20D just stolen. Any comments welcome.
I was even thinking of putting the lens on a M body with adaptor to reduce weight in hand but thought it may be a bit front heavy.




Siri can you change the font on my signature in Tapatalk?
No Mark, and resistance is futile.

What bolarberim said. But if you've got Canon gear, then stick with it. :-)

I do my macro work with either my EM1 with the Oly 50 f2 for 4/63 (one of the best lenses ever made...) or one of my other cameras with a Leica 100 f4 on bellows on a massive tripod. I am really looking forward to the firmware update for the EM1 with focus stacking in-camera: it's been a pain to do it outside of camera.

[JohnF]

Thanks for the input John, good to hear from you mate.

3. Mostly for food, watches, photos of the moon (macro to extreme zoom!)

Well then you want one of the superzooms out there. If you pick up that 1200D, you'd need to add around 1000 quid (at least!) for a lens that would match what you need, and you'd probably end up looking at more than that (macro and all that).

Consider this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Olympus-SP10...ywords=olympus

Neat thing there is the sight for long telephoto use: center your subject with the sight and you're good, instead of having to search and then zoom. I like the Olympus sensor stabilization, which works very well.

I have the predecessor version (the SP820UZ) and it's fairly amazing for what it does (and runs on AA batteries, meaning you never need to worry about backup batteries!), especially the image stabilization at extreme tele, which is what you want for your moon shots...er, pictures of Earth's closest celestial body. I use mine as backup camera for travelling: if everything else gets stolen, it'll do a halfway decent job.

That would be this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Olympus-SP-8...ywords=olympus

This has even more zoom, but I have no idea of the quality/usability:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-COOLPI...ikon+superzoom

This one is in the ballpark as well:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-Powers...rds=superzooms

The interesting thing about the Canon is that you can hack it quite nicely. I used an ancient Canon P&S for a road trip, mounted it on the windscreen, and did time-lapses across country last summer, setting it so that it would start the time lapse whenever I turned the camera on until the batteries died.

Been far too busy lately. Sort of like the parson in the whore house, taking a gander at the multitude of sins and trying to persuade the sinners to behave. Oy. :-)

PS: with the money you save, get a decent tripod for shooting celestial bodies. Makes life vastly simpler. :-)

[geoffbot]

Wanted*. For the wife for Christmas. Budget is 300ish...dslr I think as we have phones for out and about... Top seller on amazon is this so I should get this one right?!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00I...uHL&ref=plSrch


Canon 1200d

Review
http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com/rev...s-1200d-review

The Amazon black Friday lightning deal got me and I bought this for £180 - too good to pass up. I had 5 minutes to buy it. I can return it if I don't like it. Thank you for the input everyone! I'll post a review here so carry on chatting...

I can't afford to spend too much on a new hobby right now tbh

[bolaberlim]

I'm thinking mirrorless.

The e-p5 is great, but so is the E-pl5- it has one less control wheel and that's about all you'll notice. There are other differences of course, but for your use you won't notice them. And it's smaller, lighter and cheaper. Although the E-p5 is one of the most gorgeous cameras out there IMO

The lens thing is an issue. A real macro will be expensive, you can use the kit lens with the software enabled macro function, not the same by a long shot, but it might cut it for some uses. The long zoom is easier imo, the 40-150mm is decent and costs $100, that's a 80-300mm equivalent. In any case, it adds up.

[geoffbot]

I can add lenses. What macro can I get away with for my canon?

[MarkO]

I can add lenses. What macro can I get away with for my canon?

My my photographer buddy said to me that the way I use my camera a relatively low price body would be fine as the camera hardly leaves my desk and I should put all my money in the lens.
For the Canon I had the 100 macro and it was still perfect 10 yrs on - consider looking at second hand options for a lens as often they can be great deals, I know you need UK seller but I only really know B and H, this is theCanon lens I had



http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...2_8_macro.html

[geoffbot]

Wow that's expensive!!!

[MarkO]

Specialist lenses once you get away from what you get in the kit are pricey.
I am looking at one of these...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/424744-USA

But it is for work

[geoffbot]

Just bought this too - I'll return one.. But which one?!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00M...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

£280

[drunken monkey]

Just bought this too - I'll return one.. But which one?!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00M...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

£280

My cousin uses the A6000.
It's a seriously good camera for amateurs.

I was looking at the 5100 vs the 6000 and I think the 6000 is worth the extra.