New camera: I need some advice and help. I need to buy a camera for my wife. She's not a total beginner. She's out grown her cell phone and a small pocket point and shoot camera. About...

Dt1100

I need some advice and help. I need to buy a camera for my wife. She's not a total beginner. She's out grown her cell phone and a small pocket point and shoot camera. About $ 500 or $600 to spend probably 40% of the photos will be of our dog doing agility runs. The rest just all around pictures. She's not wanting to go pro just a little hobby. Thank you.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

Dt1100 wrote:

I need some advice and help. I need to buy a camera for my wife. She's not a total beginner. She's out grown her cell phone and a small pocket point and shoot camera. About $ 500 or $600 to spend probably 40% of the photos will be of our dog doing agility runs. The rest just all around pictures. She's not wanting to go pro just a little hobby. Thank you.

Assuming you probably won’t be printing any larger than 8 x 10, a bridge camera may be ideal. I don’t think you need a long zoom range either, maybe 24-600mm full frame equivalent or so. Here are quite a few in your price range. Check the specifications and choose the one you think best suits your needs.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?atclk=Wide+Angle+(35mm+Equiv.)_24mm&ci=8612&N=4288586279+4052359762&origSearch=Bridge+Cameras&mnp=300&mxp=600

Edit: Not sure why, but you’ll have to copy and paste the entire URL.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

Dt1100 wrote:

I need some advice and help. I need to buy a camera for my wife. She's not a total beginner. She's out grown her cell phone and a small pocket point and shoot camera. About $ 500 or $600 to spend probably 40% of the photos will be of our dog doing agility runs. The rest just all around pictures. She's not wanting to go pro just a little hobby. Thank you.

Try looking at the Olympus E-M10 mrII. It should be in that price ballpark and offer you future expansion both body and lense wise.

NorthPacific

Dt1100 wrote:

I need some advice and help. I need to buy a camera for my wife. She's not a total beginner. She's out grown her cell phone and a small pocket point and shoot camera. About $ 500 or $600 to spend probably 40% of the photos will be of our dog doing agility runs. The rest just all around pictures. She's not wanting to go pro just a little hobby. Thank you.

a used Sony A6000 or an even cheaper used Sony NEX-6....go to KEH.com.... NEX-6 is just as effective for everyday shooting as the A6000..almost the same camera...I have one A6000 that I bought new ....and two NEX-6 cameras bought recently in the last 3 months....

No need to spend a fortune....the NEX-6 is a sleeper bargain right now!!!

good luck...

ddetloff Loc: Fair Haven, MI

Deleted

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

RWR wrote:

Assuming you probably won’t be printing any larger... (show quote)

Put the url and /url tags, each enclosed in brackets, at the beginning and end of the link - and you will end up with the entire link highlighted as a link and not a partial broken by a line feed:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?atclk=Wide+Angle+(35mm+Equiv.)_24mm&ci=8612&N=4288586279+4052359762&origSearch=Bridge+Cameras&mnp=300&mxp=600

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

Gene51 wrote:

Put the url and /url tags, each enclosed in brackets, at the beginning and end of the link - and you will end up with the entire link highlighted as a link and not a partial broken by a line feed:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?atclk=Wide+Angle+(35mm+Equiv.)_24mm&ci=8612&N=4288586279+4052359762&origSearch=Bridge+Cameras&mnp=300&mxp=600

I just knew someone would come along and do it for me!! Thanks, Gene!

WayneT Loc: Paris, TN

I don't think you can go wrong with a Nikon 5300 or 5400 at this point. You can find good sales and refurbished units on both. This will give her the ability to add lenses as she whishes later and have a faster more adept camera than a bridge camera. I personally prefer the flexibility of the 5300 or 5400 over a bridge camera.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Dt1100 wrote:

I need some advice and help. I need to buy a camera for my wife. She's not a total beginner. She's out grown her cell phone and a small pocket point and shoot camera. About $ 500 or $600 to spend probably 40% of the photos will be of our dog doing agility runs. The rest just all around pictures. She's not wanting to go pro just a little hobby. Thank you.

Along those lines, what outfit would get your mouth water? Think about it for a minute and then get that one for her!

BuckeyeBilly Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

Dt1100 wrote:

I need some advice and help. I need to buy a camera for my wife. She's not a total beginner. She's out grown her cell phone and a small pocket point and shoot camera. About $ 500 or $600 to spend probably 40% of the photos will be of our dog doing agility runs. The rest just all around pictures. She's not wanting to go pro just a little hobby. Thank you.

I just checked Canon's refurbished cameras and there's one on there that would be EXCELLENT for her to have. Refurbished simply means that a product has been returned to Canon for some reason but then its own technicians check the condition and then repairs it to the point of being as good as new; in fact, Canon then gives you a one-year warranty on it just like its new cameras have---you simply cannot beat it!
The one to get is a T5i that has an 18-135 mm lens on it, which is an excellent lens to begin with, and it also has enough reach on the lens that would allow her to use it all the time instead of changing lenses. Honestly, you should get this camera as soon as possible because I know it won't last very long.
https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/eos-t5i-18-135mm-is-stm-lens-kit-refurbished

And just how good is the T5i? Good enough for a National Geographic photographer to use in capturing animal photos! This article has 10 photographers with their camera choices. Look for Steve Winter, #7 on the list.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/travel-photographers-favorite-cameras/

wcmoorejr Loc: Birmingham Alabama

Hey,

The first thing that jumped out at me from your post is 40% will be doing your dog's agility runs. I shoot agility and flyball. You are not allowed to use flash in either and most are indoors or arenas. If you use a stock lens, you will need a camera that does good high iso pics to compensate for the slow lens. You will need to shoot at 1/400 to 1/800 to stop motion on the faster dogs. I use a 7Dmkii as my dog sports body. I have a friend who uses a Nikon 8200. both can go high enough on the iso to get good images with slow lens. I used the 7D for years before the mkii came out and it was a great body for both sports.

Regards,
Willie

Dt1100 wrote:

I need some advice and help. I need to buy a camera for my wife. She's not a total beginner. She's out grown her cell phone and a small pocket point and shoot camera. About $ 500 or $600 to spend probably 40% of the photos will be of our dog doing agility runs. The rest just all around pictures. She's not wanting to go pro just a little hobby. Thank you.

Dt1100

Thank you.

Cabriodad Loc: Sacramento, CA

I spend a lot of time photographing our dogs outdoors. I have a "rain" camera, a Fuji S2940 that I don't mind if it gets trashed. Unfortunately I get a lot of dog butts. The auto-focus is slow and the subject is usually out of the frame before the camera focuses. Don't have that problem with my old Sony A390 or SLT-A55. The auto-focus capture speed isn't published on most cameras.

I.A.Teacher

If you want a very good camera, try a Kodak PIXPRO AZ522 Digital Camera. I bought one at a cost of a little over $200.00. it comes with a DVD that takes you through all the various features. Although I am not a professional photographer, I do appreciate taking good pictures. It has 16MP with 52X optical zoom. You can find it on Amazon. Good luck.