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Hello

It's wifey's 50th this year and she has just started getting interested in photography again (after 20yrs).

She borrowed a friends camera the other weekend to take some photos of an athletics competition and everyone remarked on how good/professional they were.

So.....easy choice for a birthday present would be a new digital camera. (The more difficult choice is where to take her to get away for a weekend break!).

Does anyone have good buy/bad buy information they wish to share? As with a lot of electronic gadgetry the choice is enormous.

 

Much obliged

 

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I bought my son a Fuji Finepix S9500 a couple of years ago and he's delighted with it.

It's a bridge dSLR but you'd never know it looking through the viewfinder.

I saw a review of it claiming there were 'too many buttons'  Really? you can't have enough buttons ! and you can leave it in point-and-shoot mode if you want

It doesn't have interchangeable lenses but with a 28-300mm range do you really need anything else?

Battery life is excellent and the battery compartment will take AA format cells so you can put in 3 duracells at a pinch

I'm sure there's a more modern version now but I would say Fuji are worth a look

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I'm no expert on this,   but having owned three Fuji cameras I've been more and more disappointed by each "upgrade".  

The current one (S2000HD) is OK,  but overall takes no better pictures than our original one,  and consumes far more bandwidth doing so.    They are not especially sharp,  even on the highest pixel settings.

All Fujis I've owned fail to accurately reproduce a certain shade of purple - particularly wild pansies.   They come out a disappointing blue.   The current one doesn't really do deep red properly either,  it comes out more pink.   At least the old ones managed that!

Sadly the original one broke,   but I'd give a lot to go back to it in many ways,  although it only had 6x optical zoom and the current one has 15 x,  although that's a bit of a con because the 15 x refers to total range,   and as it does a very wide wide-angle 15 times that is only equivalent to about 12 x on the other old Fuji (which still works).

As I say,  all the utterances of an amateur.   Although I laugh when people say *their* Fujis can do purple properly,   that is until I show them on the particular shade on flowers and they then notice that they can't.

Doesn't make me popular.....

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Why is it always about the length of your telephoto? [:$]

Width has always been a pleasure too, a good wide angle shot allows for editing later or popular group shots like weddings. I love to out do the pros at weddings by standing closer and getting the whole shot 18-24mm very useful.

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Mmm.  I own a Lumix like Bugsy's and a Fuji S4000.  Both are fine in their own way (I hate not having a viewfinder though so as good as the Lumix is it just doesn't suit me) but sorry, nothing compares to an SLR.  If the o/p's wife is into sports photography  in particular then I'd say the non SLRs will only dissapoint - they do me.  The quality of the pics from the Fuji is cr*p compared to my Nikon.  Photography is very subjective so why not buy whatever she used to take those good pics - or at least its nearest equivalent?  If she was successful with that then, imho, stick with it.  Also, if she has an SLR then she can add lenses when she can afford them and there's no restricition on angle of view or speed - she can invest as she needs to.
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[quote user="Théière"]

Why is it always about the length of your telephoto? [:$]

Width has always been a pleasure too, a good wide angle shot allows for editing later or popular group shots like weddings. I love to out do the pros at weddings by standing closer and getting the whole shot 18-24mm very useful.

[/quote]

Indeed.    However,  in my case it is because I need to take *very* detailed pictures of transmitting aerial arrays up to 300 m above my head.  So it really is important to have a very good optical zoom.

But wide is good too.    I was just a bit annoyed to find that a 15 x optical on my latest Fuji was worth no more than the 10 x on the previous (I said 12 but I think it's 10).

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[quote user="Bugsy"]Wide angle is good.

I don't have any problem with purples with my Lumix, just an excellent piece of kit.

.

[/quote]

And - if our finances ever recover from the onslaught of Mervyn King and the new French foreigner tax - it's probably something I should look at.

It isn't all purples incidentally,   and it may well be that your Lumix does do them.  

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[quote user="Martin963"]

And - if our finances ever recover from the onslaught of Mervyn King and the new French foreigner tax - it's probably something I should look at.

[/quote]

It was a present from my daughters [:P][:D]

I used to carry a couple of Nikon bodies and a host of lenses around (probably why I now have shoulder trouble) but I find that my present compact does all I need now. Its also capable of producing some very good quality video.

Coops advice earlier is sound though, go with something you like.

.

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[quote user="Martin963"][quote user="Bugsy"]Wide angle is good.
I don't have any problem with purples with my Lumix, just an excellent piece of kit.
.
[/quote]

And - if our finances ever recover from the onslaught of Mervyn King and the new French foreigner tax - it's probably something I should look at.

It isn't all purples incidentally,   and it may well be that your Lumix does do them.  
[/quote]You can have mine!  I know that Bugsy uses a baseball cap to shield the screen from the sun so he can compose his pics but I find this a bore in the extreme as I need at least one of my hands to stand up these days[:-))].  That's why I bought the Fuji (electronic viewfinder).  But ultimately they are all a compromise after an SLR (and there are some good lightweight ones about these days and some pretty wide ranging zooms - most of the time my 18 to 200 does what I want it to) and are useless for sports.
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[quote user="cooperlola"][quote user="Martin963"][quote user="Bugsy"]

[/quote]

And - if our finances ever recover from the onslaught of Mervyn King and the new French foreigner tax - it's probably something I should look at.

It isn't all purples incidentally,   and it may well be that your Lumix does do them.  

[/quote]You can have mine!  [/quote]

Thanks.  It's a very kind offer but I think I do need an electronic viewfinder too.   But I will take a look at the Panasonic range in due course as it does in the main get good reports.

Maybe (as The Times recently reported) the new foreigner tax might get shelved......

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  • 4 weeks later...
Crazyfrog. How did you get on with the search for that camera?

I have a Canon 500D DSLR with the Canon 18-200 lens and it is a great bit of kit. I have had it for 18 months now and nearly worn it out!

As far as electronic view finders are concerned tis may be of interest http://www.digicamguides.com/learn/electronic-viewfinder.html .  My previous camera was a Sony DSC F717 and was one of what I think they call a bridge camera. It was really good, especially for macro shots. One feature was that with the flick of a switch you had an infra red camera and flick it the other way you could compose your shot in infra red and take a flash photo. That meant you could compose your shot in conditions that are far too dark for any other way and get the shot you want. Pity my Canon can't do it?

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  • 6 years later...
[quote user="Jonzjob"] One feature was that with the flick of a switch you had an infra red camera and flick it the other way you could compose your shot in infra red and take a flash photo. That meant you could compose your shot in conditions that are far too dark for any other way and get the shot you want. Pity my Canon can't do it?

[/quote]

So that's what that feature is for, I have seen it on ads but wondered if it was for some thermal image, now I know. Looking at an upgrade camera now, must be an SLR and I want attachments but isn't it complicated with so many different size threads, what fits what?

looking at a 2nd hand Nikon D80 or similar.

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Last month I upgraded from my 7 year old Canon 500D to the new 80D and it's a cracking bit of kit. I kept my 18  -  200 mm Canon lens as I think it's about as good as they get that I could afford, so it was a part ex. fer me body. I waited until we had a trip back to the U.K. and did the swop at Jessops, Bury St Edmunds and they were very helpful.

I won't go into detail about the 80D, it's far better to look at the bells and whistles on the web site, but one of the things I was looking for was time lapse photography and now got it [:-))][8-|]

As for the fittings. All you need to do is to search on the bits for your camera, or get into a U.K. shop and they will give you all of the compatibility info. Something that is strange to me is that on my Canon Legria HF-G25 video jobbie the hot shoe mount for a light/mic or any other fitting is an odd size! Normal bits won't fit it. But then again I am not likely to fit owt on it anyway.

As for choice, I think that either Canon or Nickon are about as good as they get. That's why all the pros use them.

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Maybe, but I am not up to that standard. Budget consideration for only a hobby. Most agree that Nikon have maintained their lens fittment for years meaning lenses from any Nikon will fit. Shame Canon didn't.

Nikon image processing and colour saturation is excellent so good enough for me.

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Sod the camera body - as long as you have a reasonable one with functionality THAT YOU WILL USE (sorry for shouting) then the lens is the most important bit to spend your money on.

http://uk.pcmag.com/lenses/5981/guide/the-best-dslr-lenses-of-2017

Anybody trying to disagree with this is talking from another orifice rather than the mouth.
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Maybe, but I am not up to that standard. Budget consideration for only a hobby. Most agree that Nikon have maintained their lens fittment for years meaning lenses from any Nikon will fit. Shame Canon didn't.

Nikon image processing and colour saturation is excellent so good enough for me.

Keep talking and you may convince others meaning more Nikon kit available at bargain prices

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