Advice Regarding a Camera Needed

Ant22

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
First of all, I do apologise if this is a trivial question but I've been trying to find a good camera for a while now. Being a complete amateur upgrading from a cheap and simple 'point and shoot' equipment I get more and more confused about the options and reviews available. I asked some friends for advice and maybe I asked too many people becuase their advice was often contradicting. Same thing goes for online reviews. At this stage I am quite confused and I'm beginning to think that unless I learn everything about cameras I will never confidently make my mind up.

I now have an opportunity to claim it as an expense up to £400 so it would be great to have a free piece of equipment :-)

Ideally I wouldn't like to go over the budget but if it will future-proof my experience then I guess pushing it to £500 would be fine. Most, if not all, cameras take great photos in daylight or natural light. Including my 6 years old mobile phone and my old £80 'point and shoot' piece. I'm after something that will take good quality photos when the light is dim, artificial or tricky. Family gatherings taking place indoors and in the evening tend to be blurry or colours are unnatural. Apparently this requires some features that make the camera more bulky and although I'm not committed to pocket size, I don't want a heavy and bulky camera. I'd like to be able to carry it around in my backpack.

The things that are important to me are:
  • Price of up to £400 (could push it to £500 if I reeeeaaaally have to)
  • Ability to take good quality photos in artificial or dim light, including night time
  • Removable battery so I can carry a spare charged battery around.
  • Compact size but doesn't need to be very small.
  • The ability to plug in an external microphone for videos as this is the basis on which I can claim it back
So far this one has been recommended by a few friends but to be honest it seems to be to big and too expensive for a total amateur who just wants to take good quality photos for fun: Canon EOS 800D Digital SLR Camera Body - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo

I like this one more but it doesn't allow attaching a microphone to it: Canon EOS M100 with EF-M 15 - 45 mm lens - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo

If anyone knows enough about cameras, or has a camera that ticks the above boxes it would be super if you could share some info. :flowers:
 
All I can say is I have the Canon EOS 200D with the Canon EF 50mm lens and I'm super happy both for foto and video. It fits your criteria nicely, but it's a bit above your budget though.

One thing to note about the EF50 lens is that it has a natural zoom effect (you can't zoom in or out), which means it can be tricky to get everyone on the foto indoors (in smaller rooms). It does make awesome portraits though, even with little light around.

The Canon EF-S 24mm lens might be even better for your purposes because you have a wider angle (=less problems getting everyone on the pic indoors), with otherwise similar specs as the EF50. It costs a little more though.

Hope this helps a little. I'm sure you won't get confusing advice here and everyone agrees on the perfect camera :lol:
 
Thank you luc! :flowers: I'll check out the ones you suggested above. UK Amazon tells me it's only £29 above my budget so not too bad at all.

Hope this helps a little. I'm sure you won't get confusing advice here and everyone agrees on the perfect camera :lol:

Lol!!! 🤣 I can imagine reaching objective consensus on this is like deciding on the best ice cream flavour (it's vanilla, duuh!) But most of my friends are totally happy with their mobile phone cameras so I don't really have too many people to ask. And online reviews often contradict one another or don't mention the things I'm after.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Zar
The best thing is, take them into your hand and make some tests. And don't get into how many mega pixels a camera has ;-). And it doesn't has to be the newest model as well, when it comes to saving some bucks.

I used many times in the past the following site for reviews:

dpreview.com

What you need to consider: Is changing lenses a priority for you or does a zoom lens cover everything you like to photograph? Because a SLR is huge compared to many very good compact cameras and you are flexible as well.

I still use a Fuji X10 and used in the past a Canon Powershot from the G series. Both served me very well.
 
I will ask even more amateur question, but is average camera from a mobile phone sufficient for photos? :)
Sorry, Ant 22, for writing this on your topic, somehow always wanted to ask this question, but considered it not important enough to make a topic about it.
 
I think Luc and Gawan have given you enough advice on this to make a good choice. Just one thing to remember though, the first camera (EOS800) that you linked to gives a price (£5440 for just the body. So you'd have to add on the price of a lens (of which there are several), which can add a good bit more to the price. If you're not interested in being able to change lenses, but want an 'all in one' that does the job in a general sense, then you might want to look at Canon's Powershot range. Here's one for example.

 
I will ask even more amateur question, but is average camera from a mobile phone sufficient for photos? :)

If it's a relatively new mobile phone and comes with a decent camera, then for sure.
 
Back
Top Bottom