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 Post subject: Cameras
PostPosted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 1:47 pm 
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Hawleytastic!
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Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 5:55 pm
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Location: South, North, now West Yorkshire.
I'm a point and click person when it comes to photography, I have a Canon Power Shot SX200, which
for 90% of the time is perfect, but like last night with the Super Moon, nighttime shots are really
disappointing.

Read some reviews on new cameras and now I'm totally confused! :?

Compact, Bridge or DSLR? :eh?


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 Post subject: Re: Cameras
PostPosted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 7:41 pm 
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Hawleytastic!
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Location: Stoke-on-Trent
Depends on what you want to do with it.

I took this photo of the moon last night with a Canon SX50 HS - a superzoom bridge camera. It allows you to make manual corrections, which is why the moon didn't turn out like a white blob. I reduced the amount of light coming into the lens, so it didn't over-expose (I wasn't getting up at 3am on a school day for the red moon, so I took one late on Sunday...)
Image

The advantages of a bridge camera
Only one lens
Big zoom
Only one camera to carry around

Disadvantage of a bridge camera
Difficult to hold steady when fully zoomed, even with image stabilisation
Image quality not as good as a DSLR
Not good for fast moving objects - slow to focus
Not brilliant for indoors/gig photography unless the lights are really good.
Too big to go in a pocket

A premium compact is a fit in your pocket camera that has a better sensor and image quality than the likes of your Canon. They cost more and their zoom range varies, but you'll get better image quality.
This is a photo I took with an Olympus Stylus 1 - it has a decent zoom and it has a fixed constant aperture, which means that it lets just as much light in when fully zoomed as when it is wide open. (Bridge cameras let in less light the more you zoom, so that's why they're rubbish at tracking moving objects)
Image

Good cameras in this category include - Panasonic TZ70, Sony HX60 or HX90, Olympus Stylus 1 - and at a push, the Olympus Stylus SH2.
These will all be fine for daylight and will be decent for gigs if you get up close and the lighting is OK. For long/distant shots, not as good as a bridge camera, although the Panasonic and and the two Sony's have an impressive optical zoom of 30x (which can be doubled with digital zoom - but that just magnifies what's in the centre of the sensor, so the results will be grainy and blocky)

Then there are Compact System Cameras - they have interchangeable lenses and they are getting very close in quality to DSLRs. The cheaper ones (The Panasonic G and GF series) are about the price of a good premium compact and in some cases cheaper. A real bargain is the Olympus EPL5, which has the same sensor and innards as more expensive cameras in the same range. It's been superceded by newer models, but it's still a little gem. I took this photo with one of these cameras:
Image
At the top end of this range, there are cameras like the Olympus OMD EM5 Mk2 and Panasonic GX8, which offer all sorts of snazzy extras like 4K photo mode(Shoot a video in 4K and pick still images from it), but you'll be paying a lot more. I shot 90% of my Cambridge Folk Festival photos with the Olympus.
The disadvantage of Compact System cameras is that you'll need lenses too, so more to carry round - but they are at least smaller than DSLRs.
If image quality is your top line and capturing fast moving images in low light, then a DSLR is the answer - but the drawback is cost, size and the need to buy into a system e.g. Canon, Nikon etc and all their lenses and equipment. This was taken with my Canon 5D Mk2 - which is now quite out-dated...
Image

If you just want a decent camera to stick in your pocket that takes nice photos without having to play around too much with Photoshop, with a good zoom, then I'd suggest the Sony HX60. I have the HX50, with which I took this shot -
Image

A close match for this is the Panasonic TZ70, which has fewer pixels - but that means it's better in low light! I prefer the Sony as it's a sturdier camera. The Panasonic feels a bit lightweight.

Any questions... just ask!!

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 Post subject: Re: Cameras
PostPosted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 8:49 pm 
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Hawleytastic!
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Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 5:55 pm
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Location: South, North, now West Yorkshire.
Cheers efsb. You had it spot on with white blob, I wanted the picture you have but with the moon
coming across the TV mast at Emley Moor to get contrast and proportion, so that would be......
.....depth of shot?

Add in things like The Northern Lights (if I ever get that far north), so multiple frames per second etc.
so you get every chance of one great shot, I should go for.............??


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 Post subject: Re: Cameras
PostPosted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 11:03 pm 
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Hawleytastic!
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Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2007 12:07 am
Posts: 2902
Location: Stoke-on-Trent
Egg wrote:
Cheers efsb. You had it spot on with white blob, I wanted the picture you have but with the moon
coming across the TV mast at Emley Moor to get contrast and proportion, so that would be......
.....depth of shot?

Add in things like The Northern Lights (if I ever get that far north), so multiple frames per second etc.
so you get every chance of one great shot, I should go for.............??


If you want something with multiple frames per second, you'll need either a DSLR or one of the Compact system cameras with 4K mode - cheapest would be the Panasonic G7

Best fast DSLRs currently

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