Digital SLR Cameras

Just use your fone...

Hi Rod
Have been looking into this myself of late.
Phones might take reasonable pictures but don,t give you the range as a proper camera, especially in poor light ( My nokia anyway ).

My brother is a bit of a camera buff and gave me these web sites as an alternative to the DSLR just to think about.
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/6489685206/enthusiast-compact-camera-roundup/7

http://www.cameralabs.com/buyers_guide/superzoom/best_superzoom_camera.shtml

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/7118583476/dpreview-recommends-best-compact-cameras-for-travel

http://beta.techradar.com/news/photography-video-capture/cameras/best-bridge-camera-125950

I would like, say a Nikon with a 18mm-300mm lense.
Still doing research.
Lachie

Nikon v Canon a bit like Holden V Ford
Pick which camp you want to be in via which package gives you the best value for money I went with Canon because at the time their current model had superior features to the Nikon equivalent in the same price point but I don't think it matters other than that.

I find that I must agree with lachie

A phone is okay for "selfies" but once you get into serious or even just good family and holiday photography I believe that a phone would run way short of features like a good camera would have for the hobbyist. I am not a photography nut so I am not able to really argue the point. It's just a hunch.

We have a Canon 550D. It took the photo for our kitchen splashback thats 3.5M long by 600mm high. No pixilation and excellent detail at that size. Every morning I see it and want to go back to the central Australian deserts.

Either would be good but try each.

I have a Nikon mainly because I have fairly large hands and found it awkward to use the equivalent Canon which is a bit smaller.

I use an 18-270 lens so as not to have to change lens in adverse conditions which may let dust and dirt into inside of the camera.

I'm using a Canon EOS 70D.
Very happy with it, has wifi connectivity which is great for remote shooting, and transferring pics to my phone or latpop for immediate upload if I wish. (wifi as an alternative to Bluetooth)

I chose canon for the lens interchange ability. Overall very happy with it,

For what it is worth....Have done a lot of research on DSLRs in the past and was a Nikon fan but went for the Canon. Reasons being - Image Quality, Availability of lenses, Bang for buck, Reliability and battery longevity.
Since having it I am very happy with the quality and exposure in all light conditions. Its has been a durable camera I dropped mine off the side of a steep track in NZ and had to descend about 50m to retrieve it - no damage. Met a guy who was using a 500D he had dropped in salt water and he managed to flush and dry it out and it was still working 8 months later...I have no reason to doubt his story I met him the same wet and soggy 55 km hike in NZ.

Not the best camera around by any standards but for the money you wouldn't be disappointed

Nikon is still a worthy consideration but I am impressed with canons seeming water resistance and ruggedness

my 2 cents worth

These reduced shots were taken with a 500D originals will blow up to well over 1.5m

Does it have to be a DSLR? Many compact cameras do a fantastic job. There is a wide variety of lens size available, ofter 12-16 Meg, an abundance of photo varieties( eg. sepia, sports mode, flash, portrait ). Many also take a very good HD Movie. Mine even has built in GPS. I have used it as a movie camera set up on the motorbikes handle bars and the movies came out terrific. The pictures are also good quality and unless blowing them up to a3 size are more than adequate for most people. I can simply put it in my pocket or throw it in the glove box. Waterproof, dust proof and compact. 3 features a DSLR doesn't have. 1/4 of the price as well.

Yes , I have a canon DSLR with a multitude of different lenses. I just recently got rid of 3 other canon DSLR,s and lenses(over $10,000 worth). Why...only need 1 DSLR and 2 lenses that I haven't used in 2 years!! The compact LUMIX I have is just much easier to use. Professionals would not use it, naturally. People on the road, bush walkers, campers, anglers and any other outdoors orientated person just cant go wrong with them.
Canon, Panasonic, Sony, Nikon etc, etc.

Pick a model around your budget and I,ll guarantee you get more use out of it than lugging a DSLR around with you all the time.

Cheers and happy shopping

Hi Rod,

Choice of camera is a very personal thing and depends very much on your lifestyle, budget and what you want the camera to do for you.

DSLR's (Digital Single-lens Reflex) have been popular with 'serious' photographers for many years but are being overtaken by the lighter, cheaper and easier-to-operate Compact cameras. The DSLR's had the advantage of an interchangeable lens which allowed a wide choice of focal-length. With the advent of the 'super' zoom lenses now available on the 'Compacts', interchangeability is no longer so necessary. In fact, if being used in a dusty location, changing lenses can introduce dust into the camera. The superior image quality of a 'better' DSLR is only needed if you are wanting high quality images for extreme enlargement or competition purposes. Most good quality Compact cameras produce more-than-adequate images for amateur use.

I make these comments from a perspective of currently owning 2 DSLR's with 6 lenses, 3 Compacts, and many varied cameras over the years. When I want to get serious, I still use a DSLR but with a 18-200mm zoom lens but most times, and certainly when hiking, I depend on a Compact with a 5-75mm zoom lens. And sometimes even the camera in my phone!

For the time being, I will retain the DSLR's with all their lenses and accessories, but it a bit like having a winch on the front of a vehicle........ "Occasionally useful but impressive". lol

As to brands, my DSLR's are Nikon but Canon are equal and some others are pretty good for the price. There are a host of Compacts available but wise to stick with well-established brandnames.

One special point to consider....... if being used outdoors in the bright Australian sunshine, cameras with only an LCD screen for viewing can be a problem. An eye-level viewfinder overcomes this and is available in all DSLR's but not all Compacts.

Your expressed desire for Bluetooth "so I can transfer to my phone quickly" is, I presume, so that you can send photos to others from the phone. If so then camera image quality is rather unimportant as the transmitted quality will be no better than the phone capability.

One way of dealing with your purchase is to clearly define the circumstances, quality and budget of your intended photography, write them down, then go to a specialist camera store and talk to a salesman. The alternative for economy is to browse eBay and risk a smaller outlay. You can of course do both if so inclined.

Good luck.

Gidday Rod

check out some videos on youtube by a guy called David Thorpe.

He is a former professional photographer who has switched from DSLRs to the micro 4/3 system and he explains in layman's terms why and reviews some cameras and lenses.

Just food for thought

Cheers

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Rod have you heard of or considered the new mirror-less cameras. They give you all the normal DSLR functions in a much more compact format and I believe that the lenses available are interchangeable between the different manufacturers as the mount is universal between brands.

A girl I worked with had one at it produced amazing results and the camera has some amazing presets that you don't get with the usual DSLR.

Here http://www.tomsguide.com/us/dslr-vs-mirrorless-cameras,news-17736.htmlthat may help?

I personally use a Cannon 600D but wished I could afford a 5D

Cheers

Dunc

Rod,

While I'm lusting after a Canon DSLR, until we become full time travellers, I make do with the following.

Have a Sony DSC-W690, that I take all the time in my "truck bag", and a Canon PowerShot SX10is, that because of it's size, spends most of it's days in the cupboard. The Sony is a great little camera, small enough to fit in a pocket, and has 16 meg. and 10x optical zoom. The canon has been superseded by models with, I think, 30 & 50 x zooms, and about 15-20 meg. You could have both for under a grand.



For what they are, they take very good photos, and are good enough to blow up to A3 size, or maybe a bit better. No Bluetooth, but I transfer images onto a PC, and external hard drives regularly.

Agree with one of the the previous comments, cameras are a very "personal" purchase. The proof in your decision is the quality of the images.

Bob

Rod
I used an Olympus SLR in the film days (great, fast zuiko lenses) but I'm now using a mirrorless Sony Nex6 which gives tremendous results. Much more compact than SLRs, which was my main requirement. Olympus also makes some of the best micro 4/3rd cameras around (Olympus OM-D E-M5 is currently being run out at low prices because new models are on the way) but after reading lots of reviews price and ease of operation won the day with the Sony for me.

One thing I really like is the quality viewfinder for framing the picture - many only come with an external LCD. Sony lenses are generally a little lower quality than say Nikon Canon and Pentax but you can buy third party lenses with adapters if you want to.

Couple of points - image stabilisation is important in my view, either in the lens or the camera. So is simple access to menus and settings. Wifi sounds like it is important to you so read up on how well your camera does it.

here's a review of my camera: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-alpha-nex-6

Phone cameras with exposed lenses are a joke for a start.

You get what you pay for with cameras.

The Nikon D3200 costs about $600 and takes wonderful, sharp pictures, but is clunky to carry around. But it isn't so expensive you worry about damaging it.

A small beast at the same price might be best for most people.

Your best photos could be displayed in a state library in a hundred years time after you and the people who remember you have long since been chopped up for body parts.

Also available for sometime now is wifi SD cards, just google wifi sd card and follow your nose from there. Could be your answer to must have blue tooth.

I have a panasonic G6 micro 4/3 camera.
It fully integrates with my phone via wife and an app.
my phone can be used to take pictures and videos on the camera including using my phone as the view finder.
pics can also be directly transfered to the phone for sharing etc

I have the Nikon D7000 with a couple of 'kit' lenses and a 11-16mm zoom. My 'long' zoom basically doesn't get any air time so I'd hate to have to lug around a slow heavy lens all the time. The kit lenses are fine for most of us armatures so there are some good deals to be had and some excellent advise and info in this thread. Today's SLR's can be quite newbie friendly having the ability to function in full auto, semi and manual for those that like to have full control. I went from SLR's to compacts back to a DSLR and really enjoying it.

Nikon is as good as Canon is as good as Nikon!

http://www.camerasdirect.com.au/nikon-d3300-digital-slr-body-black-with-nikon-af-s-dx-nikkor-18-105mm-f-3-5-5-6g-ed-vr-lens-kit

http://www.camerasdirect.com.au/nikon-d3300-with-nikon-af-s-dx-18-55mm-vr-ii-lens-nikon-af-s-dx-vr-55-200mm-if-ed-lens

http://www.camerasdirect.com.au/canon-eos-700d-dslr-body-with-canon-ef-s-18-135mm-f-3-5-5-6-is-stm-lens-kit

Hi Rod
Since I last posted on this thread I discoverd my daughters boyfriend wanted to buy her a good camera for her (27th) Birthday (and a trip to Canada) coming up soon. She "wanted" a camera that took photos like mine. (see above)

I am a good reasearcher and know cameras pretty well. I also know my daughters sense of adventure and photographic style.

In a nutshell and after a few days research and pestering camera store sales people and trialling cameras - I came up with 2 cameras for around the 1K mark that will give the very best bang for buck. We actually bought a Canon 700D with a 18-250mm sigma zoom - as a starter kit for her....However what I discovered was the Sony Alpha6000 with a twin lens kit). I very nearly bought this camera except for the fact that it had a limited range of lenses available for her needs. I basically wanted to set her up with a camera/lens combo that did not require changing lenses while she is halfway up some mountain in the Rockies.
(In fact I nearly bought a Canon 5D for myself but can find better uses for 5k)....;-/

If you are thinking of spending around $900 bucks I think The Sony a6000 will fit the request you posted at the start of this thread... and surprise you with quality and ease of use - it is also WiFi capable.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-alpha-a6000


Just thought Id pass this on if it is of any help.

We want to thank everyone on here for the excellent information and advice.
I knew there would be members here with good experience and knowledge on the topic. Lets face it there are plenty of things in this country that would make great photos to look back on or share with others.
We made a decision
Dropped the wifi idea
Looked at the beginner end of Canon DSLR
Chose the EOS 600D
Then we found out Canon has a $100 cash back on them right now
Then we saw a BigW catalogue with the same advertised for $498
So we scored a good camera for us to learn more for $398
We scored an extra lens EFS 55mm to 250mm for $266 at Harvey Norman
and a good Canon camera bag at Good Guys for $75
Just gotta get out and get some pics now
Thanks again for all the help.
Rod