New Camera Reqd

[MrAndyW]

Sorry for another camera thread,
Just looking at getting back into photography again after approx 15 year break, My wife used to lock me in the wardrobe to load 35mm film into developing tank, so that shows how out of touch I am.
Been looking at bridge cameras the last couple of days,Reading the reviews of course brings out allsorts of up and downs,
Seem to have narrowed it down to three,
Nikon P530 £199
Sony DSCH300 £169
Sony Dsch400 £200
Mainly because I can get them from John Lewis and get 2 year warrenty
It seems that a cmos sensor is a must. probably 16/20 megapixels, so I can crop on computer.

I need a camera by Monday so i haven't tme to do my usual research and hope somebody can help.

Main pictures will be grandchild indoors and out playing,Not really bothered about video or a mega zoom function. budget approx £200.

Thanks Andy

[Mr Will]

Bridge cameras are terrible. Don't buy one. They are a compact camera in an DSLR style body that manages to combine all the worst aspects of both. The quality of a compact but the bulk of an SLR. Avoid.

Go for a mirrorless or compact system camera instead, which will match the quality of a DSLR but in a smaller body. Most will be out of budget but there is an offer on the Samsung NX3000 at the moment which would get my vote: http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-galaxy-nx3000-com...

That will be light-years ahead of the bridge cameras you have listed, just as portable and just as easy to use.

[Elderly]

/\ This. There's a lot of subjective disagreements about equipment on this forum but the one thing that most of us objectivly agree upon is that bridge cameras are best avoided.

[MrAndyW]

OK thanks for your advice, I can now start to search. Might be able to push the budget up to around £275 with a bit of luck, Although we're almost into DSLR money then, Oh dear,something tells me I'm going to be poor by Monday !!!
Once again thanks
Andy.

[ExPat2B]

All the grandparents in my family have cheap point and shoot compact cameras and they are universally terrible at taking pictures of children indoors.

They have tiny sensors and which dont allow high ISO

They don't have fast lenses.

The on camera flash is a horrible thing and makes for red eyes and flat colors.

The autofocus is terrible and fails to lock on to a moving child.

The minimum needed for decent shots is an RX100 with an f1.8 lens.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Cybershot-DSC-RX100-D...


Don't be that grandparent with lots of horrible grainy out of focus pictures of your child, you only get one shot before they grow up !

[DavidY]

ExPat2B said:

They don't have fast lenses.

The on camera flash is a horrible thing and makes for red eyes and flat colors.

The autofocus is terrible and fails to lock on to a moving child.

The minimum needed for decent shots is an RX100 with an f1.8 lens

Or consider Fuji XF1 if funds are tight, also has an f1.8 lens, and is quite good at higher ISO, but neither of these would be as good as last years DSLR from canon or Nikon, something like an 1100D with kit lens and add a nifty fifty 50mm f1.8 for some of those portrait shots, probably just over £300 for the lot. The RX100 maybe good but it won't focus as fast as an SLR

[mike9009]

Just to piggy back on this thread (sorry!). I keep changing my ideas on what camera to buy. I started with some of the early digital cameras (cheap and 1Megapixel from memory). Really enjoyed them at this stage - so eventually invested in an SLR. Used this extensively to begin with (safari etc.) which was good but eventually got fed up lugging the thing around.

So went back to a compact (Canon SX220 from memory) but now miss the quality/ speed...

Would a compact system camera be worthwhile? I see the Pentax Q10 is currently pretty reasonable.... any opinions?

Thanks

Mike