Hi peeps,

I'm thinking of investing in a decent camera. At the moment I have an 8 megapixel Samsung point and shoot. It does the job ok, records videos and takes decnet pictures.

However, I'd like something that takes good pictures at night and also one that would allow me to have a long exposure as well as decent action shots. I have a budget of around £300 and just wondered what people suggested? My brother reccomends an SLR but I'm thinking I don't need it to be that amazing...

Have a look here.

A DSLR will give you the ultimate in flexibility using differing lenses, however that can be VERY expensive (having just bought a cheap lens for £327) and once you chose a brand of DSLR you are more or less stuck with it unless you want to sell the entire collection of lenses & accessories.

So if like me you choose Canon, you can only use the Canon mount lenses, but even then not all Canon & 3rd party manufacturers Canon mounts will not fit all of the Canon DSLR bodies, if you were to choose a Canon 5D or higher you can't use certain lenses and you're stuck with the mid - high end lenses such as the L-lenses which are very expensive.

The same applies to Nikon, Sony, Pentax etc.

I've got a 60D 18-megapixel body with a selection of lenses, from a 10-20 Sigma, through to the daddy which is another Sigma lens a whopping 50-500 which due to the APS-C (x1.6) sensor is actually the equivalent to 80 - 800mm lens, it's also capable of full 1080p HD video!

You can stick to a compact camera, but you will be restricted in what you can do with it, in comparison to a DSLR. You will find that some compacts do have a very limited ability to change the lens, but the lens range won't be as extensive as those for a DSLR.

So it really depends on what you want to do with your camera, but just remember that if you go the DSLR route, you may find that buying lenses and accessories very addictive. I know I've spent about £4,000 on equipment.

This is what I have LINKY

Gives you fantastic photos and has the versatile LCD display too. :yes:

I have seen the Nikon P500...looks like it has a lot of features...

I have seen the Nikon P500...looks like it has a lot of features...

You're compromising on the features you require but getting some others that are good to have.

There's also a few other 'bridge' cameras available for decent money if that's the way you want to go.

If you are happy with a 'point and shoot' style, I can highly recommend a Canon G series camera. I have a G12 which takes fantastic photos, but is 'only' 10megapixels. Full manual control of just about everything. It can take excellent night time shots using manual mode and a steady base/tripod. manual focus, adjustable flash. You can even get wide and telephoto adaptors for it. The digital zoom is quite amazing. The optical zoom is 5x.

It is the camera pros take when they leave the DSLR at home, and I can see why.

Look on fleabay and there are some UK suppliers at more than £100 less than Jessops. Might be slightly over budget but worth checking it out.

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I have a G12 also, and remember that megapixels aren't the key to a quality photo, THAT'S all in the optics, and the optics on the G12 are simply AWESOME.

If you want I can send you some sample photos that were taken on the G12 so you can see how crisp and detailed they are.

I'd like something that takes good pictures at night and also one that would allow me to have a long exposure as well as decent action shots. I have a budget of around £300 and just wondered what people suggested? My brother reccomends an SLR but I'm thinking I don't need it to be that amazing...

Sounds like you are already half way to making your decision: not an 'amazing' SLR (at least not on your budget)!

So if like me you choose Canon, you can only use the Canon mount lenses, but even then not all Canon & 3rd party manufacturers Canon mounts will not fit all of the Canon DSLR bodies,

The Canon 60D you have features an EF-s mount which will take any current Canon lens (EF or EF-s mount) - EF mount is indicated by a red 'dot' around the lens collar on the camera body & the EF-s mount is indicated by a white 'square' on the lens collar.

I agree that 3rd Party manufacturers do seem reluctant to make EF-s mount lenses (probably because all Canon cameras will take EF mount lenses!

if you were to choose a Canon 5D or higher you can't use certain lenses and you're stuck with the mid - high end lenses such as the L-lenses which are very expensive.

I have a Canon 5D Mk1 and can use any EF mount lens from any manufacturer from the £90 50 mm f1.8 through to the £11k 600 mm f4 IS (these are the two extremes of the current Canon range of lenses). I don't see why you are 'stuck' with any particular lens (except the EF-s lenses which are not always cheap) having a Canon 5D or any other Canon SLR (digital or film)?

You can stick to a compact camera, but you will be restricted in what you can do with it, in comparison to a DSLR. You will find that some compacts do have a very limited ability to change the lens, but the lens range won't be as extensive as those for a DSLR.

Agreed that 'compact' cameras (which do not feature interchangeable lenses) are quite limited in their 'quality' but do tend to be easier to use and have more 'features' built in. Take a look at the Canon Powershot s100 or the ever popular G12.

The next step up is a Compact System Camera (CSC) which is a step between compacts and SLR's. They are smallish in size and feature a range of generally very expensive lenses for the aperture and range they deliver. The new Nikon J1 series or the Olympus Pen range for example.

So it really depends on what you want to do with your camera, but just remember that if you go the DSLR route, you may find that buying lenses and accessories very addictive. I know I've spent about £4,000 on equipment.

It doesn't have to be that expensive if you know what you want to be able to do and limit yourself to just the essential equipment!

It can be very confusing buying a camera at the moment, but if you have a clear idea as to what you want to be able to do then I could advise better.

What do you want to photograph at night? Stars, portraits, landscapes?

What do you consider a 'long exposure'? A few seconds, 30 seconds or minutes?

What sort of action do you want to photograph? A shutter speed of 1/1500s will freeze a car doing 60mph at 20m!

How big are you likely to print your images? There is a correlation between sensor size, pixel count and output size!

If you can answer these questions, then look for a camera that has the required specs.

I was always told that you can't use certain lenses with the full frame cameras such as the 5D due to the way the lens works.

Go for a bridge type camera, unless you plan on photography on becoming your next hobby you'd probably never use most of the high end features on a DSLR. Not only that if you want decent zoom then you have to carry around the extra lenses etc which can be heavy. As an owner of both I tend to always pick up my bridge camera before my 7D. In all round terms it is a better performer.

Two very good prosumer cameras in your price range right now

Nikon Coolpix P500 - 12.1MP, 36 x Optical zoom, HD Video, 120 FPS shooting, HDR Mode, Flipout screen, - around £200. I've tried this one and for the money has great features & performance.

Fuji Finepix HS20EXR - 16MP, 30 x Optical, HD Video, - again around £200.

I was always told that you can't use certain lenses with the full frame cameras such as the 5D due to the way the lens works.

All EF lenses are based upon designs from 35mm (full frame) cameras that have been carried over with modifications (generally to optical coatings to reduce ghosting inside the digital camera mirror box) to suit digital. All EF lenses are compatible with all cameras featuring an EF mount.

The only exceptions are the EF-s lenses which will only fit entry level or pro-sumer camera bodies featuring sensors less than full frame (APS-C in Canon's case).

Take a look at Wikipedia

Back to the OP!

I would second the compact or bridge camera route as it is unlikely that you will use most of the features (gimmicks) on most of the current crop of cameras any way. As the output quality of even a cheap compact (c.£50+) will be good enough to produce great pictures up to A4 in about 95% of shooting situations.

It is only in difficult situations (back lit, dark rooms, continuous shooting) that you will notice the trade off.

Both the camera's suggested by Triolgy2k are really good cameras and might fit the bill (unless you decided you need to work in some difficult situations).

I quite like the look of the P500. I want to be able to take good pictures of landscapes in the dark (I.e a village from a hill looking down) a busy motorway where you can get the lines of the car lights as one continuous streak etc)

I quite like the look of the P500. I want to be able to take good pictures of landscapes in the dark (I.e a village from a hill looking down) a busy motorway where you can get the lines of the car lights as one continuous streak etc)

To be able to do that you'll need a way of having the shutter open for a long time together with a small aperture. Easier done with an slr.

Another vote for any Canon "G" series. They all surpass the normal budget compacts and number of pixels don't matter, lens quality does.

You definitely need a tripod for timed exposures , done plenty myself. Hint - the twilight is the best time, lights on cars and buildings and still some light in the sky.

The P500 has a Manual control setting so you can predefine the exposure time upto 8 seconds which is long enough to capture any low light / trailing tail light scenarios you might want to try out. I've tried it myself and have some very high quality output from it.

Obviously you would need to affix it to a decent tripod, unless you can keep 'completely' motionless for that amount of time!

Even your heartbeat can make for a slightly blurry image on a much shorter exposure!

Panasonic TZ20 or a second hand Nikon D40 for an SLR.

To be able to do that you'll need a way of having the shutter open for a long time together with a small aperture. Easier done with an slr.

Most cameras, even compacts, will go to 30 seconds on the shutter speed. For longer exposure times, look for a 'bulb' mode on the camera - something many compacts are lacking, but CSC's seem to have.

"A long time" for motorways may be 10-20 seconds, but for star trails it might be many minutes.

A small aperture (lower f/ number e.g. f4) is not ideal when photographing landscapes as the it limits the depth of field in the picture. A larger aperture (bigger f/ number e.g. f16) allows for everything to be in focus.

Agree that this is easier to achieve with a (more expensive) SLR - film or digital - and it gives more options to control creative exposure than most other camera types.

I'd look to the second hand market or even refurbished (there is a Canon refurb agent on eBay that I would recommend, otherwise I'd go to London Camera Exchange or other retailer that will sell second hand with a 6 month warranty).

A small aperture (lower f/ number e.g. f4) is not ideal when photographing landscapes as the it limits the depth of field in the picture. A larger aperture (bigger f/ number e.g. f16) allows for everything to be in focus.

You're correct in what you're saying apart from getting small/big the wrong way round.

ie. a smaller aperture is a higher number and vice versa.

My bad! Well spotted.

I fell into the trap a lot of beginners make: thinking a small f/ number = a physically smaller hole!