Hi all,
Just looking for any advice towards finding a camera for the girlfriend for Christmas,as I haven't the first clue where to start.
She's stated that she's keen to get into it as both her sister and friend have cameras and are moving forward with the hobby.
Hoping to take advantage of the Black Friday sales in time for Christmas.
She'll probably use it mostly for close up and landscape stuff and shooting 'pretty' things. She would also need to be able to get good images of myself and other friends whilst we're surfing at up to 50/60m away.
Amazon have These

Is this a good start?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

ignore digital zoom figures, optical zoom is what you need [ higher the better ] . My camera is a sony with 12x optical zoom and my camcorder has a ridiculous 70x optical zoom. !! The 12x would be well enough for the purpose you stated. Safe to go with a digital Canon or Nikon .

In addition to Canon and Nikon, I've had very good experiences with Fuji Finepix cameras including bridge cameras (somewhere between a compact and a DSLR) too. Lumix also well thought off.

ps.. My sony has 5.1 mega pixels, I would suggest at least that level, if not higher. Looking on ebay, Nikons seem to have very high mega pixels levels[ in the 20s ], but Canon and Nikon seem to have only 3x optical zooms.

A professional photographer I know has migrated to the Olympus OM-D series 3/4 camera and lenses. I'm still using a full DSLR, but he swears by their quality and ease of use/carry.

They are regularly on sale on Amazon so worth a lookover the Black Friday sales.

I have a nikon d5300 and found it excellent as was the d50 i had before that.

One question to ask is what kit do her friends have assuming thay have DSLRs? It would make a lot of sense to buy the same brand so it would be possible to borrow/ share lenses etc. Canon and nikon probably have the largest ranges and a better range of second hand kit compares to other brands.

With digital SLR's it is not a bad idea to buy bleeding edge, that is SLR's that have recently been replaced. Generally most advances in SLR technology recently have been with regard their video capabilities. So if you don't need the latest and best video recording you should be able to get a very good recently replaced model for a good price.

Earlier this year I bought a Pentax K50 with an 18-135 lens. Cracking bit of kit and I already have a lot of old Pentax glass. My nephew has just gone down the 3/4 route though an he has uploaded some great pictures recently. However as the 3/4 format is quite new there is a limited number of lenses available, especially second hand, and they can also be quite pricey too.

So I would say - recently replaced SLR model, and probably from Canon or Nikon as they are the most popular.

a half-decent DSLR can be picked up for very little money nowadays

I started a couple of years ago with a 24mp D5200 - cost about £400 with a kit lens. I then picked up a D3200 as a second body to save swapping lenses - cost me £50!

I've now upgraded to full-frame, but I'd recommend going for a good mid-range Nikon crop-sensor DSLR (Canon are just as good, if not better, but tend to cost a fair bit more for the same kit - "brand-tax")

Something like a D5200 or D5300, (Currys have the former at under £300 now, so Black Friday deals may give you a real bargain)

this 7D may be on Amazon BFS tomorrow. I've got a 7D very good but has been superceded by the Mk2

Do not be afraid to buy off Panamoz or DigitalRev (UK). Grey imports, significantly cheaper warranted and taxes paid in the purchase price. I've bought cameras, lenses, and a flash with no issue whatsoever.

In the majority of cases, grey imports are OK, but you need to read the small print - some (like Portus Digital) have terms and conditions which mean that you are engaging them as an import agent, but that any duty due is to be paid by you.

This means that if you don't declare the item, you're breaking the law. If Customs intercept the parcel, you'll be liable for the duty.

I very nearly bought my D810 from them until I realised the potential downsides (as well as the warranty differences)

Some fantastic advice guys!Thanks.
As I pointed out above, I've only looked at those on the link really but have considered checking out the D52/300's, so am glad someone mentioned them!
Plenty of food for thought and homework for the weekend!Going to pop into the local camera shop too and have a chat (I can see me having to learn how to use it too!)
Would it be worth investing in some sort of book for her to read to start getting ahead?

People mock me for always asking questions on here, but really, where else can you get such a wide range of expert (and less expert, but enthusiastic) advice given freely and speedily?









So, where? Anyone?

Have you tried asking on the Forum, Jim?

Digital Rev UK and Panamoz sell the items tax paid. Whether they pay all of it is between them and HM Customs .

You could always get her a film camera...

http://www.flashcamera.co.uk/

is good for cheaper high end grey import stuff shipped from within the UK so no duty/tax issues. I bought a Sony camera from them and had no problems.

Um, that was the point of my post...

I would say you are never going to go wrong buying a Canon or Nikon.

In the past I would always have said to go for a D-SLR, BUT, having had a play with an Olympus OM-D thing (4/3rds that looks like an old school OM2 kind of thing), I would seriously wonder now. It was massively smaller than my 7D - and would have to borrow one for and extended test, but I m not so sure now, I might go down that route.

*I* know that, and I know you know I know that...

I use the Fujifilm X-Series cameras and love them, the lenses all have reasonably "fast glass" and are made of metal, quite a few are weather sealed, they are relatively compact compared to a full D-SLR.
Originally they (the bodies) used relatively slow contrast detection for autofocus but the algorithm became much improved on the early ones (I have an XT1 and an X-Pro1). One of the best things about Fujifilm is they adopt "Kaizen", which means they continue to release firmware updates, even for relatively old cameras. Which means that when they released the Graphite XT-1, they also released a firmware update which made my "black" one have the same features...

You can get them at a discount here http://shop.fujifilm.co.uk/refurbished-digital-cameras

Even the relatively cheap X20 and X30 make cracking cameras (they have f2.0 apertures) and even though these don't have an APS sized sensor, you can get reasonable subject separation/"Bokeh" from them.

The XT 10 and f1.4 35mm (1.5 crop factor) would give you some very nice images indeed.

http://petapixel.com/2013/10/30/fujifilm-x-series-made-feel-inadequate/

Bokeh!

I'm currently, very slowly, designing a carbon-fibre bodied 4*5 folding field camera. Probably not what you're looking for, mind!

This was the main reason I upgraded my budget Pentax K-r to the K-50. The K-50 was the only budget - mid range Camera to be fully weather sealed, not sure if that has changed now? Weather sealing really helps with keeping down dust issues, especially if you also buy a lens that covers a large range and thus reduces changes. Dust is probably the biggest drawback to digital photography. It is most visible when shooting at smaller apertures - higher f stop numbers.

Don't forget software. Digital photography is great but some good software can make all the difference between a good image and a great image. Fortunately modern software even makes it easy to remove dust marks too. I am currently using Corel Paintshop Pro - X7 which can be picked up quite cheap now.

The adbobe montly subscription is great value for money, I had used apple's Aperture app but they have discontinued development so I switched to Adobe Lightroom and am liking it, price is £8.57 a month for Lightroom and Photoshop

http://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud.html

Hang on a minute, when did Neil start using smilies?

You're right! Our Barnacle would never use those... things! Who is this doppelganger?

He gave up that battle ages ago, you next!

@Jon13 - although you'll need to pounce PDQ if you want a Black Friday deal, if you want to try a D3200, I'd be happy to lend you mine. Functionality is very close to my D5200 and resolution is the same at 24MP

I can probably find you a lens to lend you as well (on the basis that a body only is not particularly useful....)

My problem is that I only have one charger, which I'll need to keep hold of to charge my D5200 batteries (I bought the D3200 very cheaply to use as a second camera with a short lens, while I was lugging a big telephoto on the D5200 - it came with nothing other than the body) - one charge will do 500-750 shots though, so it'll be a while before you kill the battery

Happy to lend it to you though - will give you a feel for what its capable of, and whether a DSLR is the right choice or a step too far

Can't have been me!

Wow!
What a great offer, thank you very much!You have PM.