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Cost Of A Good Entry Level Camera?  
User currently offlinealberchico From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 2681 posts, RR: 0
Posted (2 years 1 month 3 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 2872 times:

Hi all. I am looking at a decent entry level camera that would get me good enough pictures to get accepted on a.net. Does anybody know how much money I will need to spend ?


short summary of every jewish holiday: they tried to kill us ,we won , lets eat !
7 replies: All unread, jump to last
 
User currently offlinedumbell2424 From United States of America, joined Apr 2009, 791 posts, RR: 2
Reply 1, posted (2 years 1 month 3 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 2860 times:

First and foremost, you should be buying a camera for yourself and personal use, not just for a.net  

Anyways, most will recommend an entry-level DSLR. Brand is what feels best in your hand. Any will do the trick

Nikon D3000/D3100/D5000
Canon XS/T3/XSi
Pentax k-x/k-r
Samsung NX10
Olympus E-620
Sony a290/a390/a33

All of those are the starter dslr cameras for those lines. They'll run around $500. If you're able to, go to a camera store and check out models you are interested in via research. If you've got it down to 2 or 3, see which feels best in your hand.

good luck!

User currently offlinecpd From Australia, joined Jun 2008, 4879 posts, RR: 44
Reply 2, posted (2 years 1 month 3 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 2860 times:

Common combination:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...818B001_EOS_Rebel_T1i_Digital.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...A_100_400mm_f_4_5_5_6L_IS_USM.html

Less common combination for long-range photos:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...818B001_EOS_Rebel_T1i_Digital.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...04_400mm_f_5_6L_USM_Autofocus.html

There are lots of different Canon lenses, but its really common to see the 100-400mm Canon lens used by those spotters with Canon cameras.

A point and shoot camera might also get you good enough photos for here in certain limited cases, it's all about what you want to do, how much you want to spend and how much learning you want to do in order to make it happen.

The top of the range camera doesn't mean automatically getting photos accepted to this site. And never buy a camera for this site alone.

[Edited 2011-03-24 18:13:24]

User currently offlinealberchico From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 2681 posts, RR: 0
Reply 3, posted (2 years 1 month 3 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 2848 times:

Thanks for the replies, I am currently using a lumix zs7 with a 12x zoom and I have been playing around with it.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1001/10012605panazs7.asp

Quoting cpd (Reply 2):
A point and shoot camera might also get you good enough photos for here in certain limited cases,

Do you think this camera has some potential ? This is a picture that was taken at a ramp tour at LGA and the other at the Intrepid. Keep in mind they were taken through a bus window. And the third also at LGA

http://img593.imageshack.us/i/plane1.jpg/

http://img141.imageshack.us/i/plane2f.jpg/

http://img69.imageshack.us/i/plane4.jpg/


short summary of every jewish holiday: they tried to kill us ,we won , lets eat !
User currently offlinecpd From Australia, joined Jun 2008, 4879 posts, RR: 44
Reply 4, posted (2 years 1 month 3 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 2837 times:

Quoting alberchico (Reply 3):
Do you think this camera has some potential ? This is a picture that was taken at a ramp tour at LGA and the other at the Intrepid. Keep in mind they were taken through a bus window. And the third also at LGA

Not a chance, looking at the first and third images. Noisy and pixelated looking. The F-16 (on Intrepid I think?) might be a chance at 1000x667 size if you have a version with the whole plane in picture. Those very close range photos are the only ones where point-and-shoot cameras generally have a chance of adequate quality.

have a look at some images like this one:


View Large View Medium
Click here for bigger photo!
Photo © Jackson Qiu



Taken with a sophisticated new DSLR? No. Taken with an older Canon 350D, a 400mm F/5.6L and a 1.4x extender. Results are outstanding - considering the long distances involved. Yes, it's probably more costly than a Lumix, but that's just how DSLR cameras are.

That's the difference in quality between a point-and-shoot and a DSLR.

[Edited 2011-03-24 20:05:10]

User currently offlinealberchico From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 2681 posts, RR: 0
Reply 5, posted (2 years 1 month 3 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 2828 times:

Thanks for the comments . B&H has a good selection of used slr cameras at affordable prices. I'll probably start looking through those.

This one stands out in particular:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...0206B003_EOS_Digital_Rebel_XT.html


short summary of every jewish holiday: they tried to kill us ,we won , lets eat !
User currently offlinedumbell2424 From United States of America, joined Apr 2009, 791 posts, RR: 2
Reply 6, posted (2 years 1 month 3 weeks 6 days ago) and read 2823 times:

Quoting alberchico (Reply 5):
This one stands out in particular:

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

I'm confused. It says it's a kit with lens, but under accessories "A lens is not included. Get the type of lens for the shot you need."

User currently offlinecpd From Australia, joined Jun 2008, 4879 posts, RR: 44
Reply 7, posted (2 years 1 month 3 weeks 6 days ago) and read 2822 times:

Beware of buying on price alone, look at the condition - well used. That might be a synonym for well abused.

You'll have to ask one of the Canon experts here for more detailed specifics on more recent Canon cameras, my last Canon experience was with 35mm film Canon SLR cameras - which was a long time ago. I am Nikon, to borrow the marketing catch-phrase.

I do know that in Canon, the following one should be very decent:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._1901B004_EOS_40D_SLR_Digital.html

40D was very popular back in its day, and it's still quite a decent camera.

[Edited 2011-03-24 20:51:18]
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