Camera for high quality family photos

My Samsung S5 certainly takes great photos in daylight conditions - certainly good enough for an 8x10 of a family pic. Even in harder conditions I have managed to get keepers. This can be invaluable when the baby is doing something cute but you are without your camera.

However, indoors, evening lighting conditions, fast moving children etc - no way. You are formally back into DSLR territory really. But low end DSLR is the same as a compact system camera (CSC) so if I was thinking low end canon/nikon DSLR I would be more tempted by am43/fuji/sony/nikon 1/ mirror-less setup.
 
a1ex2001 said:
Here is an interesting angle on this debate, if I give someone the following two cameras both set to fully automatic which will take the better quality picture, notice I didn't say better picture we are talking purely technical details:

1) Canon S110
2) Canon 5Dmkii with 24-105mm f4L

Now I happen to know the answer for the above situation as we own both cameras and my wife regularly uses both in green square (fully auto) mode. As you'd expect the 5D takes better quality pictures I'm not saying the content is any better as that is down to the person pressing the buttons! So if the OP wants the best quality pictures he should invest in a high end DSLR and shoot full auto if what he really wants is good photos then for my money the budget is best split between a decent DSLR/CSC and some training.
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This is true now but until recently when shooting in fully auto mode for the average person they could expect better results form a compact a lot of the time. The deeper DoF would help guarantee focus accuracy, the out of camera jpegs were often better for final use from compacts than DSLRs. Now a days you will see the quality difference DSLRs bring even in fully auto mode but the compacts have caught up so far in IQ it doesn't always make a bif difference in the end.
 
D.P. said:
My Samsung S5 certainly takes great photos in daylight conditions - certainly good enough for an 8x10 of a family pic. Even in harder conditions I have managed to get keepers. This can be invaluable when the baby is doing something cute but you are without your camera.

However, indoors, evening lighting conditions, fast moving children etc - no way. You are formally back into DSLR territory really. But low end DSLR is the same as a compact system camera (CSC) so if I was thinking low end canon/nikon DSLR I would be more tempted by am43/fuji/sony/nikon 1/ mirror-less setup.
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Entry level DSLR are much better at tracking moving subjects then CSC if that's a requirement.
 
D.P. said:
This is true now but until recently when shooting in fully auto mode for the average person they could expect better results form a compact a lot of the time. The deeper DoF would help guarantee focus accuracy, the out of camera jpegs were often better for final use from compacts than DSLRs. Now a days you will see the quality difference DSLRs bring even in fully auto mode but the compacts have caught up so far in IQ it doesn't always make a bif difference in the end.
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I disagree that it's a recent thing the same held true when I had a 30d and the other half an ixus 75 on full auto thr dof isn't generally an issue as the camera is pretty conservative.

Image difference is an interesting one we make photo books after holidays and they are a mixture of 5d mkii s110 and iPhone 5 and to be honest once they are printed at small sizes the quality difference is marginal the dof or lack there of does really make the 5d shots stand out though!
 
However, indoors, evening lighting conditions, fast moving children etc - no way
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This with unresponsive touch screen buttons and low to dull lighting conditions in general.
 
Entry level dslr are so cheap and so good. Although I use full frame canons, Nikons budget ones are best. the image coming out of a 3200 are amazing. Stick a fast prime on it (get rid fid of zoom) and you have a beautiful, small camera for all lighting condition
 
a1ex2001 said:
Image difference is an interesting one we make photo books after holidays and they are a mixture of 5d mkii s110 and iPhone 5 and to be honest once they are printed at small sizes the quality difference is marginal the dof or lack there of does really make the 5d shots stand out though!
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I recently produced an A3 photobook of my son from 0-3 years containing about 1000 photos. The cameras used were a mixture of iPhone 4/5, Samsung point & shoots, Canon 20D and Canon 6D.

When you flick through the pages it's pretty easy to identify the photos that came from which camera and the 6D images stand out significantly. Even people with no interest in photography comment on the how good the images taken using the 6D look.
 
SDK^ said:
I recently produced an A3 photobook of my son from 0-3 years containing about 1000 photos. The cameras used were a mixture of iPhone 4/5, Samsung point & shoots, Canon 20D and Canon 6D.

When you flick through the pages it's pretty easy to identify the photos that came from which camera and the 6D images stand out significantly. Even people with no interest in photography comment on the how good the images taken using the 6D look.
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I would have agreed with you a few years back the quality difference between my 30D, the wifes IXUS 75 and my desire s smart phone seemed much more pronounced in print but at the sizes we print 21cm square photo books I just don't find the differences that great anymore especially in scenic /landscape shots with good light and large dof. I guess with a larger book full of people pictures using shallower dof the you'd probably have more to make them stand out.
 
Eos M from argos absolute bargain £199 i got mine for 189 and £10 voucher absolutely love it , and now getting a 22m f2 lens for only £65 bargain of the century check out flickr for some of the samples
 
Jackboo89 said:
Eos M from argos absolute bargain £199 i got mine for 189 and £10 voucher absolutely love it , and now getting a 22m f2 lens for only £65 bargain of the century check out flickr for some of the samples
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Going to have to start a club mine arrives Tuesday I went for delivery so I could get quidco too!
 
Jackboo89 said:
Eos M from argos absolute bargain £199 i got mine for 189 and £10 voucher absolutely love it , and now getting a 22m f2 lens for only £65 bargain of the century check out flickr for some of the samples
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Thats a bargain,really interested in that camera now.
 
It was a toss up between the eos m and the Samsung nx3000 at £190 when I bought a couple of months back. The nx3000 came with Lightroom 5 and wifi so it won. Both are a bit weak at auto focusing compared to the more expensive mirrorless cameras.
 
Just got a refurb Stylus 1 as a xmas present for my brother for £205 delivered from ebay seller 'limal', who seems to handle all of Olympus EU's refurb stock. Might do? Seemed a bargain anyway!

Now I just have to resist bidding on all those E-M1s... :p
 
Thank you all.

Having read (a lot) about my options, I've come to the conclusion that shooting hyperactive kids in low light conditions but having a camera I'm actually likely to use a lot and bother getting out of the drawer = Sony A6000. So that's what I'm going to buy.

My poor wallet.
 
Too bad you didn't make your decision sooner, because the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals on the A6000 were very, very good.

Rumour has it that Sony is making an announcement about the A6000's replacement at CES in early January. Might be worth waiting 3 weeks for?
 
thewanted said:
Too bad you didn't make your decision sooner, because the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals on the A6000 were very, very good.

Rumour has it that Sony is making an announcement about the A6000's replacement at CES in early January. Might be worth waiting 3 weeks for?
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What was the deal? Might wait for January, though it would be nice to have some proper photos over Christmas.
 
You could've got the A6000 with both kit lenses for £484 from Amazon, plus £50 cashback. John Lewis were selling the same bundle for £10 more with a 2 year warranty.
 
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