Choosing a new camera (Help!)

Leon64 said:
... I love the feel & look of the Canon, much nicer to hold etc, & I love the soft focus that seems to come so easily to it (though I'm not sure how much that has to do with the lens? They both had an 18-55mm lens on.
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How were you viewing the photos to get that impression? Can you post a pair to compare?
 
Leon64 said:
I've been able to play with the Nikon D5300 and the Canon 700D today.......I'm thinking it will have to be one of these, and I love the feel & look of the Canon, much nicer to hold etc, & I love the soft focus that seems to come so easily to it (though I'm not sure how much that has to do with the lens? They both had an 18-55mm lens on.), but there seemed to be a fair bit of noise instead of clarity, which is what I'm trying to get away from in the G12, & a dappled, purple fringing kind of quality to the photos, which the Nikon didn't have. I'm a bit nervous of making a definite switch to Nikon though & would appreciate any more comments you guys might have on the matter.
Many thanks
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It would depend on what settings you had, especially the ISO setting, as regards to the difference between those two cameras with similar 18-55mm lenses in the same lighting conditions. The high ISO performance should be a lot better than the camera you have now, just from the increases size of the sensor. Either of those cameras would see you OK for quite a few years imho, unless you find something you can't so with either of them.

With lenses, normally, the more you pay, the better they get. The exception being the lenses with a large range, 18-200mm, 18-300mm, where you are paying for the range rather than the quality. The bargains for quality/price are the 50mm f1.8 lenses, if that is a focal length you would find useful. A 50mm on a crop sensor would be pretty good as cheap portrait lens.
 
Leon64 said:
I've been able to play with the Nikon D5300 and the Canon 700D today.......I'm thinking it will have to be one of these, and I love the feel & look of the Canon, much nicer to hold etc, & I love the soft focus that seems to come so easily to it (though I'm not sure how much that has to do with the lens? They both had an 18-55mm lens on.), but there seemed to be a fair bit of noise instead of clarity, which is what I'm trying to get away from in the G12, & a dappled, purple fringing kind of quality to the photos, which the Nikon didn't have. I'm a bit nervous of making a definite switch to Nikon though & would appreciate any more comments you guys might have on the matter.
Many thanks
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The Nikon owners on here will say Nikon, and Canon owners, Canon. Go with your heart, and what feels best, for what it's worth I am a Nikon owner, firstly a D3100, and this year upgraded to a D5100, also bought a nikon s9700 compact for everyday use.
 
Ulfric M Douglas said:
How were you viewing the photos to get that impression? Can you post a pair to compare?
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Unfortunately not, I was just zooming in in the LCD screen with photos from both on the same SD, but there was a clear difference. Think what I need is the Nikon, but in the Canon's body!!
 
Nikon. But then I'm completely biased having used Nikon cameras since 1976.
 
Now wondering if I can get hold of a 70D to play with........


ShinySideUp said:
Nikon. But then I'm completely biased having used Nikon cameras since 1976.
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Well assuming you've been happy with them since 1976 I guess that's a pretty good recommendation!
 
Leon64 said:
Unfortunately not, I was just zooming in in the LCD screen ...!
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In my experience that gives not much idea of the quality of the pictures once they are on the computer, let alone printed.
But ... since all the photos are on your SD card ... how do they look at home on the proper monitor screen?
 
I wonder if anybody can shed some light on this for me.......
I used to use a Canon A620, and I was able to get fantastically detailed photos from it with little effort, and I cannot see the same results now even with the DSLRs that I've tried, which doesn't make sense to me. I've attached one example for you to see the clarity, but even that isn't the best I used to get. This is why I'm on the hunt to get rid of the noise I'm currently struggling with!

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Ulfric M Douglas said:
In my experience that gives not much idea of the quality of the pictures once they are on the computer, let alone printed.
But ... since all the photos are on your SD card ... how do they look at home on the proper monitor screen?
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Not my card unfortunately, the shop's own!
 
Looking at sample images, many DSLRs seem to suffer from a lot of noise........I used to take product photography with my A620 where you could see every nuance of the item - what happened??
 
You can't tell anything from the LCD screen, even the resolution on the LCD screens are different between camera models. Best advice when camera shopping is take your own cards, then you can take the images home. DSLR take some fantastic images, but you need to understand about camera settings, lenses, the exposure triangle, it's more than just pointing and shooting.

View attachment 25684 View attachment 25685 View attachment 25686
 
pete.rush said:
You can't tell anything from the LCD screen, even the resolution on the LCD screens are different between camera models. Best advice when camera shopping is take your own cards, then you can take the images home. DSLR take some fantastic images, but you need to understand about camera settings, lenses, the exposure triangle, it's more than just pointing and shooting.

View attachment 25684 View attachment 25685 View attachment 25686
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Thanks for your reply - those photos are brilliant. Though having said that my eye is immediately drawn to the slight noise outlining the head & neck of the bird (though I realise it's the most challenging photo) - am I just asking too much? Could I ask what kind of camera you used for those shots? I know I've got a lot to learn, actually I did try to go to college to get more in depth with photography, but the tutor who recommended which course I should go on just wanted numbers for his class, and I ended up in something completely irrelevant, so I left in the end :-/ So I really appreciate advice from you guys!
 
The bird shot was taken at 1/1000 at f2.8 (small DOF) in the pouring rain under poor light conditions and its cropped in, using a 1D MKII at ISO 800 (very on tech) with a 300mm f2,8 lens, so very challenging conditions. I think you're been over critical.

I've only had 3 camera's

Canon 20D (died shutter - uneconomical to repair)
Canon 70D replacement (bought this year)
Canon 1D MKIIn

I've instead most of my money in decent lenses
 
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Wow, massive jump from 70D to 1D MKII! What made you make that decision? I love using canons & I really want to stay with them, but the more I'm looking I'm finding a better image quality from the nikons :/
 
Leon64 said:
Wow, massive jump from 70D to 1D MKII! What made you make that decision? I love using canons & I really want to stay with them, but the more I'm looking I'm finding a better image quality from the nikons :/
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Sorry confused you, 20D, second body 1D MKIIn, then 70D to replace the 20D as second body. Bought the 1D MKIIn because at the time (several years ago) it was still the best thing since sliced bread because of the auto focus system, what I could afford and all the issues with the 1D MKIII. Old hat now compared to the current crop of cameras, but it still a great camera, takes great images, it does have its limitations, but for action photography and wildlife, it meets my requirements and I'd rather invest in lenses
 
Some of those Canon compacts really hit a sweet spot with very sharp lenses and good operation : although I would challenge the A620 on like-for-like ISO noise with any slightly modern larger sensor thing.
Take your SD cards into the shops Leon and maybe check out the rest of the offerings.
A sharp damp frog very close up in good light will show off most cameras as taking a nice picture ... but it is a nice photo.
I think I owned an A620, or something very like it ... now I enjoy micro4/3rds mostly with some great lenses.
 
pete.rush said:
Sorry confused you, 20D, second body 1D MKIIn, then 70D to replace the 20D as second body. Bought the 1D MKIIn because at the time (several years ago) it was still the best thing since sliced bread because of the auto focus system, what I could afford and all the issues with the 1D MKIII. Old hat now compared to the current crop of cameras, but it still a great camera, takes great images, it does have its limitations, but for action photography and wildlife, it meets my requirements and I'd rather invest in lenses
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Ah I see, makes sense! I'm leaning to the Canon now because of the "quirks" I have found out about on the nikons....!


Ulfric M Douglas said:
Some of those Canon compacts really hit a sweet spot with very sharp lenses and good operation : although I would challenge the A620 on like-for-like ISO noise with any slightly modern larger sensor thing.
Take your SD cards into the shops Leon and maybe check out the rest of the offerings.
A sharp damp frog very close up in good light will show off most cameras as taking a nice picture ... but it is a nice photo.
I think I owned an A620, or something very like it ... now I enjoy micro4/3rds mostly with some great lenses.
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That made me laugh x-D
Must say I didn't realise a sharp damp frog was such a nice subject x-D
 
If I went nikon, it would have to be the bodies with built in focus motor, so much more interms of quality lens choice, but can't get on with the controls. Happy with Canon, although wish the canon 200-400mm f4 was the same price as the Nikon version
 
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