I need a camera....

[jerk]

I need a digital camera for studio work appropriate for web publishing. I may do some "action" photography, but the primary purpose of this thing is going to be to provide fodder for Photoshop.

I haven't done anything with cameras since the advent of digital- the last time I bought a real camera- I researched the hell out of it and bought a Nikon f4.

So help. I don't want to spend more than a grand.

Thanks friends.

Craig

[Mark Walberg]

Craig, I assume you have a Nikon lens or two. Take a look at a used D700 Nikon. Under 1K at Keh.com
I have one and I have an F4, too. Both great cameras.
The D700 will do almost anything you need a camera to do.
And, it will do it well.
Uses lenses all the way back to the first Nikon F-mount.
I got some great pics of my son getting 3rd in the Cedar Hill TX race today.
It is the only non-film camera I need.

[jerk]

Craig, I assume you have a Nikon lens or two. Take a look at a used D700 Nikon. Under 1K at Keh.com
I have one and I have an F4, too. Both great cameras.
The D700 will do almost anything you need a camera to do.
And, it will do it well.
Uses lenses all the way back to the first Nikon F-mount.
I got some great pics of my son getting 3rd in the Cedar Hill TX race today.
It is the only non-film camera I need.

i gave away all my lenses when i gave away my f4 to my sis. i've got a good line on a Leica V-Lux bridge camera for $500 and i'm thinking about going that way. it looks like it will be good enough for my intended purposes and that way i don't need to fuck around with lenses but can still get decent enough shots for populating my website.

thanks alot for the advice Mark!

[Lionel]

Ask Houston what he is using. Whatever it is, it works !

[j44ke]

i gave away all my lenses when i gave away my f4 to my sis. i've got a good line on a Leica V-Lux bridge camera for $500 and i'm thinking about going that way. it looks like it will be good enough for my intended purposes and that way i don't need to fuck around with lenses but can still get decent enough shots for populating my website.

thanks alot for the advice Mark!

The Leica P&S cameras are basically just rebadged Panasonic cameras with some small tweaks to software, supposedly to achieve a particular Leica-look to the images. That doesn't mean they are bad cameras, but it does usually mean they are overpriced.

The last Leica V-Lux model came out in 2014 and was the model 114: Leica V-Lux (Typ 114): Digital Photography Review

The Panasonic equivalent is the DMC-FZ1000: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1000: Digital Photography Review

$500 doesn't sound like a bad price for either camera. That's about how much B&H is selling them for. Just be aware that the Leica red dot on that thing is not much more than a licensing deal.

I reiterate Mark's advice but concentrating on the lens and then getting a body to fit it. So if you can find a nice Canon 17-55mm f2.8 EF-S lens (looks like they go between $400-600 used, depending on the number of teeth marks) then get an EOS Rebel Body that would keep within your budget. For the latter, it looks like you can get a EOS Rebel T4i body for about $400-500. I think at your price range, you aren't going to be able to get a lens that has the reach and speed required to do anything sports oriented from a distance, but that lens above on APS-C body gets you approx. 24-80mm at f2.8, so that's fast enough and a wide/long enough range for most things. Plus Canon has pretty great ISO control, so you can crank the ISO and get some real speed that way too. And 80mm is plenty flat for product photos. Heck, 40mm is flat enough for product usually.

Alternatively, you could find a Canon 17-40 f4.0 L lens and stick it on an APS-C Canon DSLR body. That would be a good rig too. The 17-40 L lens is a nice lens. All internal focus and zoom, so it stays small - no extending zoom snoot.

Here's Tom Boonen shot with a 17-40mm f4 L lens set at 40mm f5.6 & 1/5000th sec. @ 2000ISO on a Canon 5D.



I really prefer DSLRs over P&S cameras, primarily because of the response time. They just work so much faster than any of the P&S cameras.

[jdp211]

Take a look at the Fuji X series. With the X-Pro 2 just released, the X-Pro 1 can be had for pennies on the dollar. The lens quality is pretty spectacular and it should be fast enough for action shots as well.

[katzenfinch]

Olympus makes a great little mirrorless camera that can use practically any kind of lens: Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II Mirrorless Micro Four V207040BU000 B&H

[joosttx]

Ask Houston what he is using. Whatever it is, it works !

I am an one trick pony. But what I use is the Sony RX100 (v.1) and use a the HDR software found in the google photo suite called NIK. The camera was chosen because its the ideal of riding while taking a great photo. Craig there may be better options for you as you want the take studio photos. With that said the Nik software may be a good investment for you as its easy to use.

https://www.google.com/nikcollection/

[mjbabcock]

I am an one trick pony. But what I use is the Sony RX100 (v.1) and use a the HDR software found in the google photo suite called NIK. The camera was chosen because its the ideal of riding while taking a great photo. Craig there may be better options for you as you want the take studio photos. With that said the Nik software may be a good investment for you as its easy to use.

https://www.google.com/nikcollection/

There is almost too much functionality. Is there a Quick set of adjustments you make in post processing. I've got the demo but it's going to take weeks to wade through.

[spopepro]

For 1k you would probably be hard pressed to do better than the olympus listed. I like the fuji and sony options mentioned also, but the olympus is weather sealed, which is a real bonus at this price range.

[sjauch]

A topic like this can get out of hand. Fuji, Sony.... listen to what J44ke said. Get a Canon Rebel with a nice lens. Just one lens. It's all you'll need for web stuff. You can always hang on to that one nice lens and upgrade the body if you ever feel like it.

Canon knows what they're doing.

I will counter the 40mm focal length for products. Keep it above 50mm. Know how everyone gets the profile shots of bikes with hood/bars lined up? 100mm. Wider stuff prevents the compression needed to allow those spots to overlap.

[sjauch]

Canon EOS Rebel SL1 DSLR Camera with 18-55mm Lens 8575B003 B&H
Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Lens 2519A003 B&H Photo Video

Here you go, a body with lens and fixed 85mm lens less than $900 bucks. Solid start.

Want to see the difference focal length makes?
What equals about 40mm:
Untitled by Steven Jauch, on Flickr

Equals about 90mm:
Parlee Chebacco by Steven Jauch, on Flickr

These were shot with the Canon EOS M which uses a Rebel sensor. Nothing fancy.

[j44ke]

I will counter the 40mm focal length for products. Keep it above 50mm. Know how everyone gets the profile shots of bikes with hood/bars lined up? 100mm. Wider stuff prevents the compression needed to allow those spots to overlap.

Real photography advice there. Yep and yep.

[joosttx]

There is almost too much functionality. Is there a Quick set of adjustments you make in post processing. I've got the demo but it's going to take weeks to wade through.

I dont sweat the details and just go with the presets. I basically use the HDR "deep 2" filter sometimes the "deep 1" filter. Its about 4 button clicks. Sometimes I will remove the vignette shading that these filters use. There is a consistency over perfection argument I internally make.