Beginner Looking for a camera

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SarahMcC

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Sarah
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Hi all,

I'm looking for a good camera for taking pictures and at concerts, since the low lighting and spotlights can confuse my phone camera.

Unfortunately, I'm on an apprentice wage, so I can't really afford the proper professional cameras (As much as I would love one!). I'd say the maximum I can spend would be £300.

Has anyone got any suggestions? I don't really know as much about cameras as I would like to.
 
Thanks for the suggestion, £300 is the absolute maximum I can spend though, so I'll keep an eye out for it going on sale or something :)

Any other suggestions?
 
With your limited budget of £300, you could look at as suggested above something a used Nikon D3100/3200 and something like a 50mm f1.8 lens which would just fit within your budget.

An alternative would be to look at something like the sony DSC RX100 compact camera which has a decent low light capabilities.
 
landwomble said:
Nikon d3200 is just in price range and a good starter...
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If you can get a DSLR into a concert. A slightly older high-end compact with manual controls might be betterfor getting past security.

The stage lighting can easily fool any camera in automatic modes but if you're prepared to learn how manual modes work you can lock an exposure and the camera will ignore the changing spotlights. You'd need to learn this to use a DSLR (like the D3200 mentioned above) anyway. Any camera is going to struggle if you rely on the automatic modes under rapidly changing lighting conditions. Having said that a compact might suit the requirement better (concert ticket t's&c's being the over-riding factor), something like the Fuji X-A1 or X-M1 is likely to be taken for a compact despite being an interchangeable lens cameras. And if you're patient they're both likely to be within budget (including lens) if you keep an eye out for them next appearing in stock in the Fuji refurbished stock shop.
 
You can get a new 3200 for under 300 now... ;-)
Gigs are tough with compacts because you want full manual, high iso performance and wide apertures. You could just about pull it off with that camera though. A 50mm fast lens is a cheap way of getting more light for this kind of thing
 
SarahMcC said:
Hi all,

I'm looking for a good camera for taking pictures and at concerts, since the low lighting and spotlights can confuse my phone camera.

Unfortunately, I'm on an apprentice wage, so I can't really afford the proper professional cameras (As much as I would love one!). I'd say the maximum I can spend would be £300.

Has anyone got any suggestions? I don't really know as much about cameras as I would like to.
Click to expand...

(As per Alastair) Will taking pictures be allowed at concerts?

Assuming they are... I think more info is needed such as... Do you know what sort of camera you want? Compact camera? DSLR? CSC? Do you know what these are? How about processing software?

Personally I'd go for a compact system camera and manual lenses but this is my answer to just about any problem and it's a solution that doesn't suit everyone.

You could get a compact system camera, a lens adapter and two lenses, 50mm f1.8 and 28mm f2.8, for under £200. You could then shoot raw (do you know what this is?) and process the images using free software and I'm sure you'd get better pictures than are possible with an iphone.

Other camera and lens options are available :D
 
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You could pick up a SH canon 40D and 50mm 1.8 for Just under £300
Actually there's a 30D in the adds for £140, pick up the fifty mm for £60 BINGO.
 
I have shot several gigs (read pub and local small venue gigs) over the past couple of years, and i started out with a Nikon D300, they can be picked up pretty cheap now on the likes of eBay, it has served me well in the low noise/high ISO department, and as above a second hand 50mm f1.8 and you would have a nice gig setup

It is a pretty heavy bulky camera though (which personally i prefer), but i know some people prefer smaller lightweight cameras
 
Hi I picked up a Nikon D3200 today - my very first camera :banana: I love it so far .... but ive got to much to learn. But ive been told its cock on as a first.
 
I would agree with a lot of the others. Entry level Nikon like the d3100/d3200/d5100/d5200. Another good option is the Pentax K30 which is a good low light shooter. It also has in body image stabilisation which could come in handy. It means you can stick a prime on and shoot at even slower shutter speed.
 
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