Camera recommendation?

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by doch

What about something like this...

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B003...pf_rd_i=915398

Honestly if your budget is $600 then use your budget, if it's $350 just being up front about it will allow people to actually make recommendations you can use. A P&S with interchangeable lenses in no way compares to an actual DSLR, IMO it's more of a marketing gimmick than anything else. If you're looking a simple point and shoot the canon g series are nice and if you're looking for something cheaper the S95 or something along those lines is suppose to be similar or the same, so I've been told anyway.

If you're looking for very close up quality get an actual DSLR which will allow you at least to upgrade to nice lenses in the future. You can't do this with a P&S, with or without "interchangeable lenses"

[Lampshade]

I have an Olympus E520 DSLR, with the 4/3 mount. the camera above has the micro 4/3. lots of lenses around, and 4/3's is adaptable to almost anthing with a cheap adapter. $50+ in stores, $10 on ebay. It's adaptable because of something with the focal point being shorter than most camera's. I love my DSLR, but have a kodak point and shoot that's seen more picture due to ease of use(More so the pocket size), and because of that, has seen some better pictures.

[doch]

I've had a little bit of time to look at a few cameras on line today, and to be honest, the main reason that I lean towards something that is point and shoot is for simplicity. My wife has a good point and shoot, and I have one that is kind of hit and miss (which makes me question my camera using skills - it's a sony, btw). We already have cameras, and I don't know a whole lot about photography (most of what I read today sounds like german). As such, I worry that if I spent $600+ on a DSLR, and then lenses on top of that, I wouldn't understand how to properly use it, and I'd end up with a dust collector. Even with my ~$400 Sony, I don't know what most of the settings in the camera mean. I end up getting crappy pictues quite often and question if I should be mad at the camera, or take a class.

One thing that I know for sure, is that neither of the cameras that we have take very good close up pictures. I prefer to use my cell phone over my sony... this to me is pretty sad.

I do want an SLR, but as stated, I worry about understanding it. I wonder if I could request a photography class for my birthday...? Would that be a good approach?

[doch]

Oh, and BTW, I'm in the preliminary thinking/planning/budgeting phase, so I have not set a budget yet. Like I had said earlier, $600 doesn't bother me all too much, but I'd prefer to stay around that mark all included (lenses, case, etc). A little bit more than that is not so bad... but I want to know how to use it.

[sphelps]

Like I said before take a good look at the Nikon D3100, in your budget with a basic lens that will still take better macros than a standard P&S but this will allow you to later get a nice macro lens to take real macros. It shoots in auto just like a P&S and has a built in guide, you don't need a class to use this camera.

[doch]

How much is a good macro lens worth? I was looking on kijiji today and there were used lenses for $900!!!!

[Slick Fork]

If your P&S confuses you... take a photography class. Dropping $600+ on a DSLR and then lenses makes zero sense if you are not interested enough to enjoy learning how to use it properly. Like you said, it would be a dust collector. I know lots of people that have high end DSLR's of all makes that just sit around collecting dust because they would rather slip a P&S in their pocket and go.

If you do decide to look at DSLR's more seriously, the Sony I would recommend is the a35 or the a55. A reasonable macro lense will probably put you back around $500. As Sphelps said, most of the DSLR's out there will let you do everything from extreme manual control to full auto brainless snapping.