Emmasmom Loc: Missouri

I am a amature and currenty I have just a simple cheaper Canon Rebel and I want to upgrade a little, I would like to stay between $1000 and $1500...any suggestions on which one I should get?

gdwsr Loc: Northern California

Oh Emmasmom are you going to get a list!!! How about a Sony A55 or A65. More seriously, check out what the "Camera of the Year" is given by the various photo magazines for a start. More importantly, when you get it narrowed down, handle them. One that feel good in your hands will mean a lot in terms of enjoyment and enjoyment will make better pictures. Check how intuitive the settings, dials, etc are for you.

Let us know what you decide.

CanonJC

Just inform... New model of Canon 650D (T4i) will come in June.

Fly'n Fish Loc: Jacksonville, Florida

I find digitalcamerareview.com a great source to compare digital cameras and prices. very comprehensive.

There are tons of choices in your price range to choose from. Do you have any strong interests in subject matter? There are tons of cameras and accessory lenses on the market that offer unique uses.

I would suggest Canon, Nikon or Sony.

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

I guess it depends on why you want to upgrade? What problem are you trying to solve with your current setup? For me it was ergonomics. I upgraded from an XTi to a 50D because of the way the camera feels in my hand. The XTi was just too small for me to grip. Picture quality wise, I couldn't really see a big difference.

Having said this, I think the 60D fits into your budget, and it has an articulated LCD that I wish my 50D had. Good luck.

tramsey Loc: Texas

If you have a significant investment in lens, I would stick with Canon. Like CanonJC mentioned a new Rebel is due out in June. Go to a website called 'Snapsort' there you can compare the different cameras that you are interested in an it will give you reasons why to buy or not to buy.
You are going to get a ton of recommends. Good luck on you search

Festina Lente Loc: Florida & Missouri

Given your familiarity with a Canon DSLR, your budget, but not knowing your specific reasons for wanting to upgrade, I'd consider the 60D. Especially if you have any additional Canon lenses!
Most importantly, go out and hold what you are looking at and play with the controls. Weight and ergonomics are important if you do any serious shooting.

Emmasmom Loc: Missouri

The issue I am having with my camera now is that the flash is entirely too bright and I don't think the quality of the pictures are very good they seem a little blurry to me for some reason and I have used a Canon 50D I believe and the quality of the pictures were so much better. I mainly shoot portraits.

larrycumba

60D or 7D would be a good choice. I would probably wait and see what the T4i offers. The 60D is a good all around camera but, when you hit the high speed servo on a 7D and hear that shutter go to town.....

tramsey Loc: Texas

When you were using that 50D were you using the same lens that is in your camera? You might go for an upgrade on lens rather then the body.

Peekayoh Loc: UK

The plain fact is that any fairly modern DSLR is capable of delivering a decent image. A more expensive camera will give you more bells and whistles and some useful features.

Blurry pictures! Are we talking Camera shake, motion blur or focus issues? Importantly what lens are you using and what settings did you choose.

Too bright flash! What mode did you use? How close were you? Did you use flash compensation? Did you use a diffuser?

Bottom line, I can give you my opinion on camera/lens preference and you can spend a whole lot of cash but it won't do you a whole lot of good if the problem is user error.

glojo Loc: South Devon, England

Portrait photography has never done anything for me but reading your comments about why you are considering a new camera would suggest the issue is not actually the camera that needs replacing..

I have found that you can tell someone their breath stinks, their wife is ugly, or they have no dress sense, but woe betide anyone that criticises someone's driving.

Might I very tactfully suggest the fussy or blurry pictures might be down to your 'driving' skills? Please do NOT think I am being overly critical as I have not seen the pictures you are describing but if it was the fault of the camera then we would be reading hundreds, if not thousands of complaints. The camera however could be defective??

I take it that if you mainly take pictures of people's faces you have some type of extra lighting as opposed to the simple flash that comes with the camera? If not then would that be a better consideration as opposed to replacing the camera?

final observation.
I am possibly being unfairly hyper critical as I tend to replace my digital camera every three or four years but.......

Glass, glass and glass is the way to go if you want exceptional images. I hear folks saying that it is 80 - 90% down to the photographer but trust me, good glass is more than worth the investment and if it is a case of buying a better camera or a better quality lens, then to me it is a no brainer.

A thousand apologies if I have been too blunt,

Best wishes,
John from sunny Torquay

Vlb

I hate having to use my flash at all. Have you tried turning it off and getting your subjects in natural light only?

Festina Lente Loc: Florida & Missouri

Dear Emma's Mom:

Please carefully review the comments made by Peekayoh, Glojo and Vib in previous messages to you. I think they represent a very good cross section of what many other experienced photographers might suggest to you.

You said that your flash is too bright. As indicated above, there are a lot of ways to adjust it. Using the on-camera flash for portrait photography is not the best approach. Natural diffused light is so much better as Glojo and Vib state. You may even want to add an off camera flash to give you more options. Blurry pictures could come from a camera that was dropped or needs servicing, but have you consulted with your local camera shop to see if it is something that you may not be doing correctly (like hand shake with a show shutter speed)?

All those being said, if you want a new camera, then by all means get one. But if you have not explored your current Rebel's capabilities and know how to use all of its features and image adjustments, you may struggle even more with a new camera with more capabilities and complexity.

If you wanted lots of advice, you sure came to the right place. Good luck to you no matter what you decide. And please hang in there with us. Everyone here wants to help you be a better and happier photographer no matter what you do or what equipment you use.

trapper jim Loc: Tacoma

I am a Nikon guy. Been using all the upper end Nikons since Vietnam starting with the F series and moving up through the D series at the beginning of the new century.

So when I took a fun trip to the islands last year I chose the Canon SX-30is over the Nikon Coolpix 500, because the 500's were sold out everywhere. (Ended up paying About 425.00 with a good class 10 chip) It had an optical 24 to 840mm fixed lens!! I found it to be a great camera for the use intended. With the super zoom you could really reach out and touch someone. In addition it shoots pretty good video. I actually did some HD video for a commercial job with it.

This year a friend of mine was going on a road trip and wanted a camera to take with him. I let him take the SX30is. 4 days later he emailed me some of his photos. His image quality was pretty good, but since he has never really taken many photos, his composition was pretty bad. He liked the camera so much he sent me a 400 dollar check for it.

Now, I am without an inexpensive pretty darn good camera. So I again purchased a simular camera. I was thinking of the new Nikon Coolpix 510. It had a 24 to 1000mm optical zoom lens. but Nikon decided to up the megapixel race which resulted in poorer performance on available low light. This along with along with the lack of not having a hot shoe for an external flash, and poor battery life led me back to replacing the Canon SX30is with another one. I opted for the new Canon SX40 HS. It has some big improvements over the SX 30. Canon reduced the megapixels from 14 to 12, thus improving low light performance and less noise in higher sensitivity settings.

The Canon cameras discussed above really can't compare to the Nikon D3. But again the cost of a Canon power shot SX40HS with the super optical zoom lens with a digital 2x zoom feature which puts the camera capability of 48 to 1680mm at 6 megapixels, only will set ypu back about 400 plus dollars, compared to the Nikon D-3 at $20,000 bucks with FX lenses to compare to the one Big super zoom lens on the SX40. Here is the real kicker. The SX40HS would weigh 30 pounds less than a Pro D3 with case and lenses, and immage quality being quite acceptable.

SX40HC image of the moon


SX40HC Close-up back yard flower


SX30is Our two hounds