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.
 
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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