# Mid Price Camera



## sparky the cat (Jan 28, 2009)

Started looking at DSLR - brain hurts

I'll keep this short and basic

What would your suggestions be for a mid-price camera. I used to use 35mm (Olympus OM1, OM10) and used to enjoy the mucking about with filters, speeds etc - so looking fot the digital eqivalent.

What would you recommend


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## HappyLad (Oct 28, 2009)

Depends what you mean by "mid-price"....

I recently bought a Canon 550D after a bit of research. Fantastic camera :thumbsup:


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## PaulBoy (Dec 2, 2007)

Sorry if this makes your brain hurt more but have you looked at Olympus P E N or the equivalent Panasonic G F 1 - D S L R means carrying a load of gear round the P E N & G F 1 are like a compact camera on steroids but you can still add wide angle / zoom lenses they just are a lot smaller - Most importantly the picture quality is top notch (almost up there with D S L R I'm told?)

HTH

Paul


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## citizenhell (Jul 12, 2010)

sparky the cat said:


> Started looking at DSLR - brain hurts
> 
> I'll keep this short and basic
> 
> ...


If you like Olympus stuff, have a look at the Olympus E520 DSLR. It's more compact than most DSLR's but still delivers great results. If you aren't brand specific, then pretty much anything in the entry level section from the main makers is worth buying. Good place to get an overview for cameras on the web is Trustedreviews.


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## Sancho Panza (Apr 7, 2010)

How about the Nikon D5000, available for less than Â£500.


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## MarkDavey (Jan 9, 2009)

Not sure if you've seen it but there is currently an Olympus dSLR and two lenses available in the sales section...

http://www.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=59076


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## sparky the cat (Jan 28, 2009)

Regarding the price I'm willing to pay - about 500 with a lens kit if possibe - though I would be wiling to go a bit higher - wouldn't spoil the ship for a ha'pth of tar.

Mate of mine has a Nikon D90 - think that's what set me off, but he already had Nikon lenses so the cost of the body was justified. I got a mate who goes to US a lot - says he would pick me up a REBEL (think that's what it called over there) its the 500D or 450D over here (take it the 500 is an upgrade from the 450) if I wanted. Not sure if camera gear is much cheaper in the US than here.

Would rather it was Nikon or a Cannon as lenses appear on this forum every so often. I'm assuming that my Olympus lens' wouldn't be of use on a DSLR.

Trouble I find with reviews is that the go over the top IMHO for the guy in the street - talking about noise at high ISO etc (I understand what they are but to Joe Bloggs does it reaaly matter with his A4 maxium prints) - what are the most important things about a camera?

God it reminds me of when I was reading about Hi-Fi years ago!!!

The 710 has always said that I research things far too much and end up doing nothing!!!!!

George


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## Who. Me? (Jan 12, 2007)

If the prices of lenses worries you, have a look at the Sony Alphas.

Nikon, Cannon etc do their image stabilisation (which allows you to take pics in lower light without a flash, by reducing shutter speed as it corrects any camera-shake blurring) via gizmos in the lenses, so the lens costs are higher.

Sony do the image stabilisation via the mirror (or prism?) in the camera body.

That takes the expensive technology out of the lenses and puts it in the body, so you don't pay for the stabilisation technology every time you buy a new lens.

They are backwards compatible with the old Minolta AF lenses (Sony bought out Minolta's camera division) so you can pick up cheaper, used lenses, through ebay, although you do get a slightly different field of view with the old-school lenses as the DSLR sensor is smaller than the 35mm films that the old lenses were designed for.


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## sparky the cat (Jan 28, 2009)

Thanks for the info Andy

I had been looking at the 'new kids on the block' Sony, Samsung et all - the ol' faithfuls get all the attention. Met a guy on holiday who had a Sony something or other (should have taken note of the number) came as an very extended bundle and a real good price - he seem'd happy with it and he'd ben around cameras for a long time.

So maybe time to expand the search radius.


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## bowie (Mar 12, 2005)

I'm waiting for a Fuji HS10 to come through the post,does away with changing lens, all in one bridge camera.

bowie


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## Adz (Jul 8, 2010)

sparky, the best advice i can see is to set a budget, and stick to it, dont get into the "for sn extra Â£50 i could have.." at the end of the day the camera only takes the picture you see. however, i would recomend a trip to a local camera shop ( or two ) and try different cameras. like watches if you dont like how it feels in the hand you wont wear it.just like test driving a car you wont buy it if it doesnt feel right.

bear in mind the main manufacturers are canon and nikon, but dont disregard pentax,olympus,sony and sigma !

just my tuppence worth.

Adz..


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## sparky the cat (Jan 28, 2009)

Adz said:


> .......... at the end of the day the camera only takes the picture you see.
> 
> Adz..


Wise words Adz .......... As a famous photgrapher once said ' 1/125, f 8 and be there' never mentioned the make of camera  wish I could remember his name


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## sparky the cat (Jan 28, 2009)

Who. Me? said:


> If the prices of lenses worries you, have a look at the Sony Alphas.
> 
> Nikon, Cannon etc do their image stabilisation (which allows you to take pics in lower light without a flash, by reducing shutter speed as it corrects any camera-shake blurring) via gizmos in the lenses, so the lens costs are higher.
> 
> ...


Andy

Following your bit of advice - looked at the Sony Alpha DSLR-A550 - only used Amazon USA reviews - sick of reading techie speak for the moment. Quite impressed with reviews especially Naff Tim link. If you have any experience please PM


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## citizenhell (Jul 12, 2010)

bowie said:


> I'm waiting for a Fuji HS10 to come through the post,does away with changing lens, all in one bridge camera.
> 
> bowie


Bought one of these for work. Great camera on paper, but I wish i'd left it there & bought the Panasonic FZ38 instead. Hope you like yours more than I liked mine.


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## Chromejob (Jul 28, 2006)

Sounds like you're looking for a upper-end pro-am camera. Fujis have never let me down. And dpreview.com has never let me down in finding all the pros and cons of a camera that costs 1/2 of a paycheck. May seem too techie for you, but some solid comparisons between models you're considering.


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## sparky the cat (Jan 28, 2009)

David Spalding said:


> Sounds like you're looking for a upper-end pro-am camera. Fujis have never let me down. And dpreview.com has never let me down in finding all the pros and cons of a camera that costs 1/2 of a paycheck. May seem too techie for you, but some solid comparisons between models you're considering.


Dave - thanks for recommendation , looked a few times at dpreview over the last few month - very good site. I most probably need to prÃ©cis the information given on there instead of just reading - need to be more smart.


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## Chromejob (Jul 28, 2006)

Put two columns on paper ... label one NEEDS and t'other WANTS. put the features in each that you're shopping for. include memory type if you've already got a bag of memory cards (e.g. SD, xD, MicroSD). should make quick work of it.

In my case, using Photoshop, I wanted one with Camera RAW and that narrowed the field to 2-3 < $1000. YMMV.


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## sparky the cat (Jan 28, 2009)

David Spalding said:


> Put two columns on paper ... label one NEEDS and t'other WANTS. put the features in each that you're shopping for. include memory type if you've already got a bag of memory cards (e.g. SD, xD, MicroSD). should make quick work of it.
> 
> In my case, using Photoshop, I wanted one with Camera RAW and that narrowed the field to 2-3 < $1000. YMMV.


Good advice David - will take bit of time to get the detailed wants and needs sorted out - bottom line will be quality stills but not video (if that is possible now all seem to have video) as would rather put money into stills. As I said previously a guy I know from the US is working here and would bring me one back from the US - quick look shows GB far more expensive than US


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## Mal52 (Oct 7, 2003)

Hi George

Got this one for sale at the moment http://www.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=59076

If you have still got your OM lenses you can buy a lens adapter so you can use the lenses

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OM-Mount-4-3-lens-adapter-E400-E500-E-520-E3-Olympus-/350355747515?pt=UK_Photography_DigitalCamAccess_RL&hash=item5192d472bb

There are others with focus confirm as well

Cheers Mal


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## Who. Me? (Jan 12, 2007)

sparky the cat said:


> Following your bit of advice - looked at the Sony Alpha DSLR-A550 - only used Amazon USA reviews - sick of reading techie speak for the moment. Quite impressed with reviews especially Naff Tim link. If you have any experience please PM


Hi

Sorry, have only just dropped back in on this thread.

Don't know about the latest lineup from Sony I'm afraid, I stopped looking after I bought mine.

I pondered over the A300 and A330 from the range that was out at the time, but plumped for the A200 (entry level) as I found I could live without all the extra features and I put the money that I saved in to a Sigma 50mm Macro lens.

I think the only feature I 'miss' is the 'Live View' which allows you to see the image on the LCD before taking the picture (like a compact digital camera does). Having said that; It's not easy to to see camera LCDs in daylight sunlight, so I doubt I'd have got much use from it.

The A200 was replaced last year, I think.

I found this site really useful when I was looking for advice, and its forum was really helpful... Steves Digicams

The A550 does look to be at the high-end of their range, based on that review (says it's higher up the range than the A300 & 350, which were the mid and higher ends of the range a while ago).

Have a look at the 300 & 350 and compare the features that the A550 does and see if you really want those features.

The A550 looks to be quite new, so I'd imagine you'll find better package deals on the A300/350(Sony packages generally come with a zoom lens of some description - my A200 came with the Sony 18-70mm lens and a CF card and bag, which saved a few quid).


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