New slr.

[austravel]

Hi everyone.

Ok well with a new born on the way, and hoping to do a decent amount of touring, for the first time i thought it would be nice to actually capture those great moments, as apposed to saying "should have taken some photos".

So, i have heard that a digital SLR is a pretty good all round camera. I am no photographer so don't want to stretch the budget.

I would like to;

- Be able to slow the shutter right down to get that blurred effect.
- Speed it right up to get the most detail i can.
- Zoom into things a long way away and still take detailed shots.
- Something relatively easy to use.
- Perhaps be able to put filters on lens?

What i would like to know;

- Good brands, bad brands.
- Optical zoom, digital zoom?
- What sort of megapixel?
- Any other features i should look for, and / or stick clear of.

Thank you kindly in advance for your advice guys.

Sam.

[goingbush]

I have a Olympus OMD E-M5, tho technically not an SLR , (it is mirror less) its possibly the best Camera I've ever owned, if it broke or it got stolen I'd buy another without hesitating, dust & water resistant - lightweight & small, ideal for touring, about $1500 , you can spend another couple of grand on lenses and accessories, but gives results like a $15,000 Pro kit.

Alternitavely consider a camera like the Panasonic Lumix, FZ200 , (not a SLR and dosen't look like one) I just bought one for my wife to replace her old FZ50 which started playing up. The FZ200 is an amazing camera with 35mm equiv zoom from 25 -600mm with a wide f2.8 all the way thru the zoom , another excellent camera for someone thats not 'into' cameras, a great buy at around $500.

[austravel]

Woah, $1500 a bit rich. I was thinking along the lines of $500 give or take. I probably should have mentioned that.

I was checking some nikon and cannon cameras out on the jb hi-fi website. They seem to be of decent quality. I just cant remember whether digital or optical zoom was the better one.

[p38arover]

At a recent Camerally, I had a look at an Olympus Micro Four Thirds camera. Very nice.

I don't recall the model but it was not much bigger than my Pentax Q and smaller than my Pentax K-7. Possibly an OMD?

Had I not owned a string of Pentaxes, I'd have been tempted - except for the price.

I'd look for something with a viewfinder, electronic or optical. Working off the LCD screen at the back isn't good.

[goingbush]

definetly go optical zoom, you can do your own "digital zoom" post processing in photoshop etc.

Theres still lots of great cameras in the $500 range, probably not SLR tho, the above mentioned Lumix FZ200 would be my choice, other brands probably have a similar model, the the Lumix has a Leica lens which you cant fault.

[p38arover]

If you can stretch the budget, maybe a Fuji X100? Home | The FinePix X100 Professional Photographer's compact digital camera from Fujifilm

Have a look at the gallery.

[austravel]

If you can stretch the budget, maybe a Fuji X100? Home | The FinePix X100 Professional Photographer's compact digital camera from Fujifilm

Have a look at the gallery.

WOW!!! I absolutely love the look of that thing. Brings back memories when I was a kid, and my parents had a camera that looked similar, however it was obviously film not digital.

[loanrangie]

A couple of the big brands make similar style camera's if retro is your thing.

[austravel]

A couple of the big brands make similar style camera's if retro is your thing.

Definitely my thing. But I want to be able to put bigger lens on etc. And I noticed that fuji doesn't allow it.

[goingbush]

The Fuji X100 has interchangable lenses, its a great camera.



if retro is your thing you will also like the Olympus OMD , (altho its out of your price range) it looks just like the old Olympus SLR from the 1970's

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Review | Gapey's Grub