First SLR?

Discuss equipment and methods or ask for advice
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Slinger65
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Joined: Thu 02 Sep 2010, 7:15 pm

First SLR?

Post by Slinger65 »

Hi all,

After a number of years using Panasonic bridge cameras (currently the FZ200), I'm thinking about finally taking the plunge and upgrading to a DSLR. While there are plenty of (too many?) online reviews to look at, I'd really appreciate some "real world" feedback as to what is, or is not, a good choice. My photo interests include landscapes, wildlife, night shooting and - of course - the occasional airshow.

What I like about the FZ200 is its versatility, portability and in my view decent image quality for the price - especially using RAW / Silkypix. What I don't like so much is the noise at anything over ISO200, buffering delays in burst mode and the lack of really fine detail in some of the landscapes, especially when lighting is less than ideal.

I'm never going to be looking to attend bodybuilding classes to haul round a load of heavy equipment, so not sure a full frame DSLR is for me (given the focal lengths needed), but APS-C or similar? The Nikon D7200 seems a popular choice, but is the noise reduction THAT much better than the FZ200? Having said that, some of the images posted on here using D7200 are pretty darn impressive!

Budget-wise, I'd be looking at up to £2k for camera / lens combo, ideally one or at most two zooms to cover wide-telephoto.

Would really appreciate any suggestions of what to consider - and also what to avoid...
Slinger65

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000

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Brevet Cable
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Re: First SLR?

Post by Brevet Cable »

Silly question , I suppose , but if you like the FZ200 have you thought about simply replacing it with an FZ330 ?

D-SLRs...
Can't speak for the newer ones as the last one I bought was a Pentax K-5 and the last one I tried was a friend's Sony A-77 , but instead of the usual Canon/Nikon bodies you may want to look at the Pentax K-3 II - or the more compact K-S2 - or the Sony A-77 II ( from using the A-77 , my personal preference would be the A-77 II purely because of the SLT viewfinder )

Lens-wise , being lazy ( and not wanting to mess around changing lenses ) I'm a big fan of the Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR DI LD lens , although the newer Tamron 16-300mm f3.5-6.3 Di II PZD Macro Lens is apparently much better.
Alternatively , if you want a wider aperture there's tha Tamron SP AF 70-200mm f2.8 Di LD (IF) macro ( on an APS-C , it's effectively a 110-310mm )
Good thing with Pentax & Sony is they both feature in-body IS ( not surprisingly , as the Pentax uses the Sony sensor ) so you can buy cheaper non-IS lenses
Tôi chỉ đặt cái này ở đây để giữ cho người điều hành bận rộn
아직도 숨어있다

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Slinger65
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Re: First SLR?

Post by Slinger65 »

Thanks Brevet, appreciate your ideas. The 330 does look a neat bit of kit but I'm not sure there's enough of a step change on image quality to tempt me to upgrade from the FZ200, although the burst shooting looks a cut above the FZ200.

The Tamron zoom looks ideal as a day-to-day all purpose lens - if I do take the plunge then something like this plus perhaps a dedicated (wider aperture) telephoto for airshows / wildlife shooting may be a second option.
Slinger65

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000

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Lumix
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Location: Burgess Hill, West Sussex

Re: First SLR?

Post by Lumix »

I'd give the FZ1000 a serious look. It has a much bigger sensor and produces some very impressive photos. Noise is non existent up to ISO800.

Having had 4 FZ's over the last 10 years, it's the best yet.

All the Duxford photos in the link below were taken with an FZ1000 https://www.flickr.com/photos/43804460@N08/page4

However, it's not so easy catching fast moving objects. A DSLR is by far a better choice if you want to use it for airshows etc.

WaterBoy2090
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Joined: Sun 31 Aug 2014, 3:54 am

Re: First SLR?

Post by WaterBoy2090 »

One of the best bits of advice I received was to look at what brand camera you're friends have, and see if you find that brand of camera intuitive and exciting.

After all, it will be these people who are initially tutoring you and hopefully lending you lenses!

Speaking of lenses, good luck with your plan for only one or two.... :whistle:

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Slinger65
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Re: First SLR?

Post by Slinger65 »

Thanks all for your advice and ideas.

I've decided on the FZ1000 as the best compromise between convenience / practicality, value for money and image quality. Some of the low light photos on Flickr look great, even up to ISO1600 whereas I wouldn't trust the FZ200 beyond ISO400. Hopefully the lack of zoom compared with the FZ200 will be more than made up for with the increase from 12MP to 20MP allowing for tighter cropping if needed.

Now to wait for Santa to deliver it...
Slinger65

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000

parsley
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Re: First SLR?

Post by parsley »

Slinger65 wrote:Thanks all for your advice and ideas.

I've decided on the FZ1000 as the best compromise between convenience / practicality, value for money and image quality. Some of the low light photos on Flickr look great, even up to ISO1600 whereas I wouldn't trust the FZ200 beyond ISO400. Hopefully the lack of zoom compared with the FZ200 will be more than made up for with the increase from 12MP to 20MP allowing for tighter cropping if needed.

Now to wait for Santa to deliver it...


Was wondering how you've got on with the FZ1000....although I've got DSLR equipment increasing back problems as I get older have led to me mainly using a Fuji HS50EXR over the last year..although a lot of shots tidy up nicely in Adobe,the higher quality albeit with a smaller zoom range of the FZ1000 sounds appealing..I understand you can increase the zoom range of the FZ1000 by decreasing the MP..i.e. go down to 10MP and you get a zoom range up to 565mm...wondered if you had tried this and how it was quality wise
cheers
Paul

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Slinger65
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Re: First SLR?

Post by Slinger65 »

Hi,

It's still early days - and the great British weather is limiting activity significantly!

Overall the quality seems better than the FZ200, and the lack of zoom reach is pretty much compensated for with the ability to crop the image as you say (either in camera or with Photoshop). I've only taken a handful of "keeper" shots which you can browse at https://www.flickr.com/photos/maxinelayland - mostly flying objects but very much of the feathered variety. These are a mix of some remotely taken (and so at closer range) vs others which I've cropped - you can see the difference in quality, which is good for the crops (also taken through glass) and excellent in my view for the close up pics.

Along with the camera, I purchased a copy of Silkypix Pro 6, which does a good job of handling the RAW images which I can then tidy up in Photoshop.

Looking forward to trying out more subjects as the weather improves, but first impressions are definitely positive.

Regards,
Slinger65

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000

CMS
Posts: 100
Joined: Wed 16 May 2012, 7:31 pm

Re: First SLR?

Post by CMS »

Slinger65 wrote:Hi,

It's still early days - and the great British weather is limiting activity significantly!

Overall the quality seems better than the FZ200, and the lack of zoom reach is pretty much compensated for with the ability to crop the image as you say (either in camera or with Photoshop). I've only taken a handful of "keeper" shots which you can browse at https://www.flickr.com/photos/maxinelayland - mostly flying objects but very much of the feathered variety. These are a mix of some remotely taken (and so at closer range) vs others which I've cropped - you can see the difference in quality, which is good for the crops (also taken through glass) and excellent in my view for the close up pics.

Along with the camera, I purchased a copy of Silkypix Pro 6, which does a good job of handling the RAW images which I can then tidy up in Photoshop.

Looking forward to trying out more subjects as the weather improves, but first impressions are definitely positive.

Regards,


You have a great eye for getting an interesting photo, some of the landscapes are really beautiful and the wildlife photos are lovely. Well impressed with what you have achieved with this set up.

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Slinger65
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu 02 Sep 2010, 7:15 pm

Re: First SLR?

Post by Slinger65 »

Thanks CMS, appreciated your kind comments.
Slinger65

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000

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