Camera Pros

[ten ocho recon scout]

Anyone here a camera guy? (Not like the shamwow commercial). I want to get a camera for vacations with a good zoom lens. Not sure if i should get a dslr or a superzoom. I dont need any pro photographer equipment, just something better than my point and shoot.

[nate]

@red321 is your guy for photography. 

 

Personally I have a 7d and a Sony NEX. I prefer the Sony most of the time. 

[Tank]

we bought my daughter a nice canon dslr camera off of QVC. it has a standard lens and a zoom lens. it works great for a variety of purposes, especially since my daughter is still quite a novice. the price was very reasonable, and QVC let's you do something called easy pay, where they divide the price into four or five or six installments. we've been very satisfied with what we got.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Are you guys familiarwith superzoom? It has a zoom lens built in, up to 60X. It sounds more convenient for travel than a dslr does..that being said, i wonder if the dslr with the zoom lens is better quality pictures?

I know a lot of that has to do with sensors, but i dont know anything at all about caneras to know the difference in that stuff

[Vegas Halo Fan]

It is important to differentiate between optical and digital zoom. Optical zoom enlarges the image using lenses, while digital zoom manipulates pixels in order to enlarge the photo. Digital essentially crops the photo you took in order to make a larger image, but you are still limited by the total megapixels in the image. Optical zoom makes for much sharper images. I ignore any quoted figures using digital zoom, because the image is inferior.

[ten ocho recon scout]

So lets say i want to get a close up picture of an animal thats say 200 yards away....what type of camera do i need to look at?

[Blarg]

Red is the guy to ask.

[gotbeer]

2 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

So lets say i want to get a close up picture of an animal thats say 200 yards away....what type of camera do i need to look at?

 

You shoot it with an AR.  Then take the picture up close with your phone. 

But @red321 has all your answers. 

[RuledByNone]

Pros can easily find fault, but for a non SLR the Nikon P900 might be a camera to consider.

Crazy 83X optical zoom.

http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-COOLPIX-Digital-Camera-Optical/dp/B00U2W4JEY

 

Lots of youtubes showing off the zoom.

 

[AngelsLakersFan]

20 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Anyone here a camera guy? (Not like the shamwow commercial). I want to get a camera for vacations with a good zoom lens. Not sure if i should get a dslr or a superzoom. I dont need any pro photographer equipment, just something better than my point and shoot.

It really depends on how much you want / are willing to spend, what features are important to you, what drawbacks you can live with and how likely you think you are to become interested in photography (expanding your use cases beyond simply vacation photos).

That said, the Nikon linked above looks like a pretty solid camera given what you've outlined.

 

[ten ocho recon scout]

6 hours ago, RuledByNone said:

Pros can easily find fault, but for a non SLR the Nikon P900 might be a camera to consider.

Crazy 83X optical zoom.

http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-COOLPIX-Digital-Camera-Optical/dp/B00U2W4JEY

 

Lots of youtubes showing off the zoom.

 

Damn, thats insane! Stalker as hell, bu the zoom is crazy. If you didnt want video, just a still shot, would an image that zoomed be cleaner than the video in that demo?

[Docwaukee]

try dpreview.com

check out the sony a5100.  

[AngelsLakersFan]

7 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Damn, thats insane! Stalker as hell, bu the zoom is crazy. If you didnt want video, just a still shot, would an image that zoomed be cleaner than the video in that demo?

A still should have around 4 times the resolution of the video, better color rendering and no compression artifacts. 

[nate]

Just know that digital zoom like on that Nikon comes with a significant quality loss, especially in lower light.

The camera that Doc mentioned is much higher quality.

[Blarg]

10 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Damn, thats insane! Stalker as hell, bu the zoom is crazy. If you didnt want video, just a still shot, would an image that zoomed be cleaner than the video in that demo?

I'm pretty sure that is a severely compressed upload to Youtube in a third rate movie codec since a full HD 1080P clip would take hours to do on most internet connections.

[ten ocho recon scout]

I have a samsung nx mini right now. The stock lens is good for regular point and shoot but the zoom sucks. Apparently i can get an adapter and fit all kinds of samsung lenses on it. The adapter is about 100, and the zoom lens is about 150+. Should i just go that route, or am i better off getting one of these cameras you guys have listed and selling my current?

 

Its mirrorless like the one doc listed...dont even know what that means, but...

[Tank]

my daughter's camera is specifically a Canon Eos Rebel T5.

[Docwaukee]

10 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

I have a samsung nx mini right now. The stock lens is good for regular point and shoot but the zoom sucks. Apparently i can get an adapter and fit all kinds of samsung lenses on it. The adapter is about 100, and the zoom lens is about 150+. Should i just go that route, or am i better off getting one of these cameras you guys have listed and selling my current?

 

Its mirrorless like the one doc listed...dont even know what that means, but...

out of curiosity TORS, why do you want a long zoom?  The applications are limited unless you are trying to get close ups, outdoors with a lot of light.  And even then, your quality isn't going to be all that great with the p900.  Just ok.  Vacations are usually filled with shots of family/friends and some scenery.  You might use a long zoom for wildlife, an airshow or a sporting event where you are sitting far away.  And again, you are gonna need a lot of light, a tripod, and an object that doesn't move very fast unless you are going for some image blur.  

I have a Nikon SLR that is a couple of gens old now and I love it.  But I bought my wife the a5100 and it kicks my cameras but from top to bottom as a vacation special.  If I am going with my full setup, I use the nikon because I have some amazing lenses but I don't even carry it when we are out and about with the fam on vacation.  

If you are gonna go the adapter route, make sure the samsung lenses will AF.  Samsung doesn't make zoom lenses for your camera?  

[Tank]

18 hours ago, Dochalo said:

out of curiosity TORS, why do you want a long zoom?  The applications are limited unless you are trying to get close ups, outdoors with a lot of light.  

he's a cop; you don't need to know why.

[red321]

What are you trying to do with the camera? Ultimately the best camera is the one you have with you. If you are looking to do snapshots, do you really need a camera or do you have a newer smart phone? Give it serious thought....if you just want to do snapshots does your current phone do what you need to do. Why would you need to zoom in on an animal at 200m? If you are at a zoo...just buy a photo they already have. Anything you take is going to suck because it's the middle of the day.

In general, zoom lenses sound great but aren't much use for snapshots and family photos. Stop being lazy and walk closer...there's your zoom. Unless you are trying to shoot sports photos, bird photography or going on safari...you aren't going to get much practical use from a zoom lens. For practical purposes you can hand hold a shot at the length you are zoomed in. So, if you are shooting at 300mm, you have to be able to shoot at 1/300th of a second - image stabilization helps a little, but not much. This requires a lot of light and a wide aperture. Most consumer cameras/lenses don't have wide aperture (2.8 or greater). So, bottom line...unless it's a really bright day or you want to carry a tripod you aren't going to get much use out of a zoom...your photos will be blurry. And, most commercial zoom lenses kind of suck...quality zoom lenses are expensive so unless you are looking to drop $1000+ you will end up with a soft, slow lens.

I'm just returning from a two week trip through Europe...I used the zoom lens (attached to a tripod) for two sets of photos because I couldn't find a good angle to shoot a city on a hill a mile away. Almost 90% of my photos were shot on a 18-55 lens, which comes to about 24-70 on my cropped sensor. That covers what is considered a slightly wide to normal spectrum. 

If you are looking for a single point and shoot style camera I can't help much. Personally I've started to move over to mirrorless and the Fuji X system. It's a helluva lot lighter than my Canon gear and lenses are cheaper. I went to New York and carried around 30 pounds of gear...I made the trip to Europe carrying half the weight and a much smaller bag. So much more enjoyable and I find myself taking the camera more places....(see, the best camera is the one you have with you theory above). I strongly considered the Olympus system and the Sony a7 related cameras get good reviews as well. Nikon and Canon have not made impressive forays in to the mirrorless words as of yet.  A lot of it is just personal preferences, each system has it's own strengths and weaknesses and you have to decide what fits what you want to do best.

Feel free to ask any questions you want.

 

 

[gotbeer]

@red321 is going to post his Europe pictures.  And everyone's lens' are going to shrink.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Slightly off topic, but i need to grab a gopro, too. Anyone in that field? I feel like the bottom of the barrel one will suffice, but then again, maybe the updated ones are worth it? Target has them on sale for really cheap right now..but not sure of the cheap one will end up as a regret purchase 

[ten ocho recon scout]

Thanks for the replies.

Basically, the samsung camera i have is great for the normal vacation pics of me and whoever im with. My camera smartphone (galaxy 7) is really impressive. But i also do a lot of outdoors traveling. Red mentioned safaris, which is where i got totally let down with my samsung. The animals are ao far away, i ended up with like a wide shot of the background with a tiny spec of the animal somewhere in the shot. 

So im just looking for a camera that when i do another one of these outdlor trips that i can zoom in on something, like alaska (whenever i finally get there).

@doc,samsusamsung makes lenses for the line kf cameras mine is in, but i guess for my particular one it required a dumb adaptor. So figure 250 or so to get a zoom for my camera. If its a good enough zoom ill probably go that route, but if its meh, i can probably buy a real camera off ebay for the same price.

[ten ocho recon scout]

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/nx-cameras/EV-NXF1ZZB1IGB

 

http://www.newtechnology.co.in/samsung-nx-mini-price/

 

Thats the current camera i have. The second link shows the zoom lens. If that takes pictures like a superzoom/dslr camera, thats fine. I dont need anything top of the line by any stretch, just something i can zoom in with.

Unfortunately a lot of my vacations i didnt have anything other than my phone, and figure this goes back to like the first and third galaxies, iphone 4 etc...great pics on my phone, but not great when printed. 

And when i have tried to shoot animals, theyre pretty crappy

[Tank]

we have a go pro that we're going to break in two weeks from now on a cruise. i'll be happy to share our discoveries about it when we get back, if you can wait that long for my spine-tingling report.