Calling all Photographers

[ShaunD]

Often, I have browsed the aisle at a local store and ultimately felt I was in over my head, and felt I would over-buy if I went into a camera shop.

I assume, some would love to help guide this topic in the proper direction, whereas others, will say I am making this harder than it needs to be. While I appreciate phone-camera shots, I feel we can do better, so why not give a chance to be educated properly on this subject.

This is amusing since OP's last post states he basically doesn't want to spend the time learn about cameras and photography.
This is kinda like asking Mike Phillips what the best polisher is but you don't want to watch any of his videos or read any of his articles/books, or anything else to educate yourself on detailing/paint correction.
If you are seeking knowledge and input from pros then at least follow a little of it. If you have no true knowledge of what makes a great photograph and how any camera does what it does to achieve said photo, then you really should care what camera you take pictures with. That said, any of the major/competitive camera brands have a P&S camera that will more than get the job done for your needs/requirements. My recommendation would be any of Canon's Powershot and or ELPH cameras or a P&S from another brand competing against Canon's line. In my experience Canon is easy to use, consistent and has great quality for price points. The Panasonic LUMIX line would be another recommendation especially for someone not wanting to know too much but wanting consistent photos at a good quality price point.
Hope that helps and gives some perspective.

 

[expdetailing]

Yes, ShaunD, Zach's article made it readily apparent to me that I do not have the time, patience, or interest to understand photography properly at this point. The DSLR realm is beyond my reach right now. So, I appreciate everyone's input at making recommendations based upon my needs and shortcomings.

 

[lawrenceSA]

I am by no means an expert but would like to offer this....

Firstly, the camera doesn't take good pictures, you do. So you could have the most expensive camera in the world but if you do not know how to compose a picture, you could land up with a worse picture than someone using a cheap camera, who knows how to compose properly.

Awesome pictures generally do not just 'happen' - they are planned. This means you need some understanding of what makes a good photograph - just like detailing, you will need to invest time into it if you want to improve.

I think most people purchase a DSLR type camera expecting to automatically have awesome pics. The REAL advantage of the DSLR though is once you turn it off auto mode and onto manual mode.

In auto mode, the camera is choosing all the settings. These setting are basically 3 things:

ISO - how sensitive the camera's sensor is to light - so the darker it is , the higher the ISO setting required, but the higher the ISO, the more 'noise/grain' in the pics

Shutter speed - how LONG the shutter stays open - so in low light you leave it open longer, with the result that any movement (someone walking in front of the camera, or the camera shaking for example) will be captured as 'blur'

Aperture - how WIDE the shutter opens - the wider open you make it, the more light you less in, the more the background blurs out.

So when you switch to manual mode you can adjust the settings to create the desired look you are going for - blurred motion or frozen motion / most of the pics in focus or only a small bit in focus. If you leave it on manual, the camera decides what settings it believes are best, and so your pics land up looking like everyone else's.

If you are not prepared to understand this 'triangle of light' and learn how to use the camera's functionality, don't waste your time with a DSLR as there will not be any real advantage to it over your cell phone camera or a point and shoot.


Another big tip to improve your pictures which has nothing to do with the camera, will be to learn about composition.... things like the rule of thirds, where you place the focus of your picture on one of the intersecting points of an imaginary 'tic tac toe' grid, as opposed to slap bang in the middle, or leading lines to draw a viewer into the pic.

I would suggest subscribing to a photography tip website for ongoing tips and info....

 

[cardaddy]

1: ..... I find it funny that people seek out the opinions of photographers, but basically just want a point and shoot.
2: When it comes down to it, there's not much difference between point and shoots,

Ok, OP, ... then just get a decent point and shoot.
But then again, today's smart phones can rival most point and shoots.

1: Funny how that happens.

2: :dblthumb2::iagree::dblthumb2:

My wife and I exemplify the extremes with regards to photography. I've owned SLRs since the film days, .....

She likes the quality of the photos I come up with and she's never happy with her p&s shots but can't be bothered with the weight or the complexity that SLRs entail.

Ah HAH! Sound's like you been reading my mail. :laughing:

I started shooting with a Minolta 35mm in the early 70's. Well there is that little Agfa that my Dad brought home from the Navy after WWII. After that, Canon, then my first digital was a Nikon that twisted I the middle actually. Then went full time to Canon DSLR's many moons ago. (But I won't hold it against ya' that you're a Nikon guy). :laughing:

You don't have to go the DSLR route, lots of good compact (mirror less) cameras now available in the market, Fujifilm X series and Sony Nex cameras are very good for their size and price range. ..

:iagree:
Shooting with a quality camera is much more than just pointing your phone at something. The rewards of photography will last you a lifetime. Just as the photos will last you that same lifetime.

1: Dslr photography can be a great hobby and pastime,
2: but if you intend to set the camera to auto and leave it there, a DSLR will be wasted money compared to a nicer point and shoot.

Now THIS is what photography is all about. :xyxthumbs:
You can spend a lifetime and never get it all, always learning, always getting better.

No thank you; I really, really don't like researching photography and cameras. It just seems to get too complicated too quickly accompanied with too wide of a range of prices.....
I don't want a $1000 dollar camera, which is what I would buy if it were up to me walking into a camera shop.

It really doesn't have to be complicated, but it CAN be better than a pocket point-n-shoot.

Want complicated? Try picking the right photo printer. (One of my favorites is an older Epson, wide carriage, 8 color +clear that'll print up to 17x44 prints.)


But the first time you shoot in the daylight, with shadows on the face of your subject, and you use a flash.... and your friends think you're nuts.... then the photo comes out juuuuuusssst right, you'll have accomplished your first proper usage of "fill flash".

If you could consider a budget between $500~$750 you can end up with a much better camera than a point and shoot. Sure, the ultimate goal is to (at the very least) have one that you can swap lenses on, but you don't have to ever do that if your initial lens will work both wide angle and have a decent, workable, zoom length.

The BEST thing you get by stepping up from a cell phone, or cheaper point and shoot is "optical zoom". This is where the glass within the lens does the zooming and THIS is where you'll get a much better quality photo (regardless of the megapixel rating).

Short of that you are doing "digital zooming" which is why phones and smaller pocket point and shoot cameras have such high megapixel ratings. All they do is zoom the sensor info, blowing up the pixels to achieve the level of zoom you're wanting. (That's an over simplification, but that's what's happening, not to mention lots of software interpolation going on.)

Might I suggest a few websites? You can search by price, features, make/model, manufacturer, consumer rating, megapixel rating, REVIEW rating. Not to mention.... the plethora of information on the sites is well worth the time spent.

Digital Photography Review: Digital Photography Review
Digital Camera Reviews and News | Digital Camera Resource Page
Digital Camera Reviews - Best Digital Camera Ratings
Camera Reviews: Over 500 digital camera reviews - Imaging Resource
Camera Reviews, Digital Camera Reviews & Photography
Digital Camera Reviews, Canon Cameras, Nikon Cameras, DSLR and SLR Cameras - Steves Digicams
The Luminous Landscape

Easy enough to start slow, then work into what you need a camera to do.
If you want fully automatic, just leave any of the choices in "Auto" and go from there.
The best thing as I mentioned above, is having an "optical zoom". This will change the quality of your photos like nothing else. But when you start moving towards changing your ISO settings (telling the camera how much light you have, or don't have), or moving into shutter mode (time/speed mode), or better yet aperture mode and you REALLY start to get better shots.

Ever seen a photo where just that one area is in focus, but then everything in front and behind is a nice soft blur? That's bokeh (Bo - kah) and you get that from opening up the aperture (going to a smaller number f/stop). That is particularly effective when you're shooting swirls and 50/50 shots.

Any-who..... as I said, you can spend a lifetime just 'practicing' the art of photography. But the real kicker is you (and your family for generations to come) can spend an eternity enjoying those photos that you worked so hard to get.

 

[Blade]

I think what most people are saying is the equipment does not matter if the person knows what he's doing and what he's expecting out of the equipment. But like I said, my wife who knows next to nothing about photography is getting nice decent shots with her Micro 4/3 camera (e.g. Sony Nex 3) in more situations than when she was shooting with a regular P&S (film or digital).

Lumia 920 (smartphone) - side of my van after a rainy drive recently:

Panasonic Lumix GF3 (Point & Shoot) - early morning walking my puppy in my neighborhood:

Sony Nex 3 (Micro 4/3) - just inside of a big south-facing window providing soft even lighting:

 

[custmsprty]

Not directed at the OP but as a professional photographer, I find it funny that people seek out the opinions of photographers, but basically just want a point and shoot. When it comes down to it, there's not much difference between point and shoots, so it makes no difference if you're asking a world renowned pro, or Joe Blow at best buy.

Ok, OP, if you don't want to go the dslr route, for whatever reason, whether it be price, or ease of use, then just get a decent point and shoot. But then again, today's smart phones can rival most point and shoots.

Figure out what's important to you and what you want out of the camera.

You said it, all the photos I've posted of my car are all taken with my Samsung S4. As long as the lighting is good it does a pretty darn good job. And I have two DSLR's and at least 5 generations of point and shoots.

 

[Hermes1]

It is really very simple, for your needs as I understand them (quality but simple to operate). You can go in one of two directions and be well served: 1) A good smartphone camera or 2) A point & shoot camera. Either of these will serve you well. Like detailing, in photography good technique trumps equipment. Very bad photos have been taken with the best and most expensive cameras and great photos have been taken with cell phone and point and shoot cameras. If you decide a point and shoot is your solution, any of the top brands such as Canon, Nikon, Olympus Sony etc. will serve you well.

 

[tdekany]

I think what most people are saying is the equipment does not matter if the person knows what he's doing and what he's expecting out of the equipment. But like I said, my wife who knows next to nothing about photography is getting nice decent shots with her Micro 4/3 camera (e.g. Sony Nex 3) in more situations than when she was shooting with a regular P&S (film or digital).

Lumia 920 (smartphone) - side of my van after a rainy drive recently:

Panasonic Lumix GF3 (Point & Shoot) - early morning walking my puppy in my neighborhood:

Sony Nex 3 (Micro 4/3) - just inside of a big south-facing window providing soft even lighting:

If I can correct part of your post, the Nex is an APS-c sensor camera, not M4/3. I think you meant to say MIRROR LESS. Only Olympus and Panasonic makes m4/3, WHICH ARE ALSO MIROR LESS.

This is with a Micro 4/3 camera.

Trillium Lake by savingspaces33, on Flickr

 

[tdekany]

To the OP, in your shoes, I'd get a Nikon D3200 from Cameta Camera, google their site with the 18-55 lens. Really cheap and will provide superior pictures to any phone, P&S or bridge camera, but if you want more reach you need more lenses. That combo is good for most walk around stuff, including cars. On the other hand, if you want a better "all around" camera that has a very long reach, Macro, etc.. the Nikon p600.

Nikon Coolpix P600 16.1Megapixel Digital Camera Red 26463 - Best Buy

And the others are correct, the person behind the camera who takes the great picture.

 

[Red Hawk]

If I can correct part of your post, the Nex is an APS-c sensor camera, not M4/3. I think you meant to say MIRROR LESS. Only Olympus and Panasonic makes m4/3, WHICH ARE ALSO MIROR LESS.

This is with a Micro 4/3 camera.

Trillium Lake by savingspaces33, on Flickr

That's a nice photograph.

 

[RedXray]

This car shoot just boggles the mind... 40 hours in photoshop

[video=youtube_share;jeRDHzVLulY"]How to light paint a car and composite in Photoshop - YouTube[/video]

 

[tdekany]

That's a nice photograph.

Thank you!

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Here's my two cents....

I don't have any formal training in photography but I take a LOT of before and after pictures of cars as well as actions shots of the work being performed and then post them to discussion forums.

Most of my in-depth write-ups have between 50 and 100 photos to in my opinion properly tell the whole story. That's a lot of pictures considering how many projects I document for the company.


Lots of great advice and suggestions provided in this thread so far.

My advice is the same advice I posted somewhere on this forum in the last 5-6 years and besides all the other great features found in cameras today the one I like is the ability to capture and frame up an entire car (front to back), without having to physically back up, (walk away from the car) in order to fit the car in without chopping off a portion of the front or back of the car.

So in context, when taking thousands of pictures, the ability to adjust the zoom lens from withing 10 to 15 feet of the car and fit the entire car into the picture is a feature I appreciate.

And again, not being a camera or photography expert, just a guy that takes a lot of pictures, in order to capture complete cars without having to back away from the car 20+ feet means having at a minimum a good general purpose 18-55 lens.

I've had 4 Canon Rebels basically since they were introduced I've had almost one of each new model and the standard lens is a 18-55.

I would also say I really like the pictures Nick's new camera takes although I don't think it uses this size of a lens.


This is what I mean by capturing the entire length of a car framed up in a shot without having to back up half a mile.

Most important after you get your camera, teach yourself how to resize your pictures to around 800 pixels wide no matter where you host them. It's really not that hard to do.


My article here shows you how to do this without distorting the photo. The article has "pictures" so you can almost learn how without having to read.


How to resize your photos with Easy Thumbnails - Free software



Good luck!


icture:

 

[ski2]

I recently got back into Photography, but didn't want to lug around multiple lenses etc, so started a search for a camera with the functionality of a DSLR without the need to buy additional lenses etc.

I ended up with the Olympus Stylus 1s Stylus 1s - Digital Cameras | Olympus

Size is just a little larger than most P&S cameras, can be used in full auto mode, Aperature priority, Shutter Priority or full manual mode, lense is 28 to 300mm constant aperature 2.8 and very importantly it has a very high quality eye level view finder like a DSLR which is fantastic in sunny conditions.

The Stylus 1s can be as simple or complex to use as you want and has excellent quality lenses as do all Olympus cameras for superb images. If you should get hooked on Photography it will serve you well for many years.