Spec my dad a new camera

Razor-BladE

Razor-BladE

Razor-BladE

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I'm clued up about Canon DSLRs but past that, I don't really know the market that well!

My dad is looking for a new camera, which would be used by both my mum and dad. My dad would probably look into learning the different camera settings, but most likely most of the time settings will be on auto. My mum would have it on auto all the time. He's not looking for multiple lenses, and something with IS would help tremendously.

Off the top of my head I said something like a 2nd hand Canon with 15-85mm IS would be great, but his budget is around £300-400, possibly £500 tops. (Although his birthday is coming up next month so me and my siblings could possibly chip in). My dad doesn't mind the size of a DSLR but I don't think my mum would take to it that well, so maybe a mirrorless would be a better choice?

So what other options are there for that kind of budget? That's for camera/lens only, not accessories.

Edit: Quick research and the Sony NEX3N looks to be a strong contender. Any thoughts on that?
 
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Does he require any sort of "zoom" function? If not, I'd be looking at a X100 or RX100 camera system instead.
 
It's gonna be the main out-and-about, as well as holiday camera so yeah, some sort of range would be useful. He's had 3x optical zooms in the past, so that's why I mentioned the NEX as the 16-50mm should be ok. I'll ask him about any specifics when I talk to him next. Oh forgot to say, but as horrible as they are built-in flash is probably a requirement.

The RX100 looks pretty nice. I'll have to see if he was looking at something with better ergonomics though as he did first mention the Canon SX50. And it will only be for online use really and minimal cropping if at all, so I feel the 20MP will be 'wasted' a bit. Also, can't seem to find out the size of the sensor? From what I gather, it's roughly half(?) the size of M4/3?
 
An exception is a good person to ask about the RX100 as he has/does own one and hammered it from what I remember.

As for other recommendations, I personally highly recommend the nikon 1 series. The J2 fits your budget with a dual lens kit, which would give him some serious flexibility for pretty much any type of photography. Its an upgrade to the J1, which I've used extensively as my fiance owns a pink one! The AF is fast and has a daft amount of points (over 100 lol), does movie mode to a great standard and has a built in flash that is adequate for the size of the camera. The screen is great and the menu is also easy to work around, plus you have auto iso, which makes manual mode a piece of cake.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008V9FTCQ/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=photo

Thats a link to the black one, but there are numerous other colours, all within your price range. The crop factor on a nikon 1 is 2.7x, so as you can imagine, that 110mm zoom has some serious range on it compared to full frame gear for the money (nearly 300mm equivalent!).
 
Sensor-Sizes.png
 
Nikon 1 J2 looks nice. Pretty good range on the standard lens as well. I told him about some of the options and he said he'll go look into them.

Got more info from him as well. He said it'll just be for him, my mum will just stick with the cheaper compact as she's not too bothered really. But he doesn't want the size of a DSLR, although he hasn't handled my camera so I'll let him have a go with that and see what he thinks (because he'll only be using the 18-55mm or similar). Forgot to ask him about OVF vs LCD screen though.
 
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