Suggest what camera I should recommend to a colleague

MarcLister

MarcLister

MarcLister

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I work in a school and one of my jobs is taking photos of staff for our staff board. I use my Canon 400D + 50mm f1.8 lens to take nice sharp portrait photos. A colleague of mine has a little boy at home, he's not even 1 yet. She asked me about my camera today as I'd taken a picture of her son last December at our Christmas Bazaar. She said that she was impressed with the quality of the photo. I tried to say it was more down to me than the camera but that didn't work!

I told her that my 400D isn't sold any more but I said I would recommend a camera to her so she and her husband can take photos of their son. They currently use their iPhones and I think they want better quality photos.

I didn't mention it at the time but I think an SLR that can also record video might interest them. I was going to suggest the Canon 700D before I realised that the likes of the 1200D and 100D can both record HD video. So should I recommend either the 1200D or 100D to the 700D considering the prices appear to be £350, £400 and £480 respectively for the body only? I get the impression that my colleague would like a nice lens for taking sharp photos so I thought why waste a few more quid on the standard body with the 18-55mm lens when they might as well save those pennies and spend £70-85 on the Canon 50mm f1.8.

I don't know their exact budget so the 700D might be affordable for them but should I recommend them a Canon DSLR or does the Canon EOS M do what they need? I am concerned that the EOS M won't have the range of lenses if they want to expand their capabilities in the future.
 
I wouldn't touch an EOS-M with a planet sized barge pole. It's fatally flawed in a lot of areas and Canon have pretty much dropped it like a stone.

The issue you have video recording on those Canon bodies is that the AF is slower than erosion and from you description I'm guessing they won't be up to manually focusing?

The quality is of course superb but focusing a big hurdle to overcome especially fast moving kids. The same applies to Nikon's as well.

The Canon 70D and Sony SLT range are pretty much the DSLR's to offer decent AF for video. I'm not sure if Canon have any new bodies lower down the pecking order in the pipeline that incorporate the 70D AF technology.

A camera from the mirrorless CSC range such as a Panasonic Gxx would still offer DSLR like images but also decent AF for video and a good range of lenses.
 
Hi Columbo. An excellent post for me to reply to, thanks!

I thought I should at least mention the EOS-M in this thread to show I was looking at the whole range and not just focus on DSLRs.

I don't think my colleague is aware that modern DSLRs can record video. I imagine she'll be quite happy about that. They may not be up to manual focusing but I'm sure they can learn if they need to.

As for budget, I didn't ask so I think I'll end up recommending the 700D. I'm not sure what lenses to suggest to them. My colleague started the conversation because of the 50mm f1.8 lens that I used for a photo of her son so it obviously makes sense to suggest that one. Perhaps I should suggest getting a 700D with the 18-55mm kit lens and a 50mm f1.8 so they at least have a wide of a wide-angle lens. I'm not sure if I should suggest a wider prime lens? Or should I suggest a longer zoom prime? Like the 85mm f1.8.

Just one more thing, cool sig!! :cool:
 
Spoke to my colleague today and asked about a budget. She said no more than £300. I told her this pretty much counts out getting a DSLR. I'm looking now at the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ72 and the Nikon D3100.

Which one of those would have the best image quality and best HD video recording capability in terms of FPS? Alarmingly the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ72 implies that it records HD at 5 or 9 fps!! Am I reading that right?! :shock: My guess at the best recommendation to make would be the Nikon D3100. It is at least a DSLR, if only an entry level one, and they could buy themselves a 50mm lens for portrait photos if they wanted?

Just realised the 5 or 9fps must surely refer to how quickly the camera can successive still shots and not its video recording.
 
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