Wife wants a camera for a vacation. Help!

[Masmak]

Friend of mine uses a Sony Alpha a6000. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...s_digital.html

[TX CHICKEN]

I switched from Canon to Sony. Check out this kit and its reviews. If she is the one to use, this lightweight mirrorless camera would likely cause her to use it more. Good luck.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...BI%3A514&smp=Y

I bought the Sony A6000 a few months ago and love it! Takes great pics and I am a rookie at it.

[Wampuscat]

I bought the Sony A6000 a few months ago and love it! Takes great pics and I am a rookie at it.

Did you get the kit with 2 lenses? How is it for quick access and use?

[Wampuscat]

[QUOTE=Deerguy;14138774]Given the history, no way I'd spend a bunch of money on an SLR with a bunch of lenses. Get a good point-and-shoot instead. I'm sure there are several that are good, but I use a Canon PowerShot SX50 HS that is a few years old and love it. Simple to use, not overly expensive, small size, and no extra lenses so a small bag will work. All pics below taken with it. Not magazine quality by any means, but plenty good enough for memories without the expense.


I haven't seen any Canon SX50 cameras for sale. I've seen the SX60, which replaced yours, for $450 and its pretty impressive with 65X optical zoom. Its been replaced too. BTW, your pics are frigging awesome, and the single lens appeals to my Spartan side. I hate over-packing. How is your SX50 less-than-ideal weather and in low light (not night) conditions? Indoors, under tree cover, at dusk & dawn?

I'll be doing a lot of hiking in Washington in the Olympics, which have lots of rain forests, plus in the Cascades hiking up on Mt. Rainier. We'll also be doing a ton of different types of cruise excursions and 5 land days traveling from Fairbanks to Anchorage in Alaska.

I saw what I think is your camera's little brother (Canon SX530), which had decent reviews and 50X optical zoom. Its still out there for sale at $230 new. Its been replaced a couple of times already. I saw one in excellent shape on Craigslist for $110.

I also saw a Canon Powershot SX740 HS, which is a compact pocket camera for $380 new. It has 40X optical zoom which is tempting for a travel camera.

[Bill M]

[quote=Wampuscat;14139642]

Given the history, no way I'd spend a bunch of money on an SLR with a bunch of lenses. Get a good point-and-shoot instead. I'm sure there are several that are good, but I use a Canon PowerShot SX50 HS that is a few years old and love it. Simple to use, not overly expensive, small size, and no extra lenses so a small bag will work. All pics below taken with it. Not magazine quality by any means, but plenty good enough for memories without the expense.


I haven't seen any Canon SX50 cameras for sale. I've seen the SX60, which replaced yours, for $450 and its pretty impressive with 65X optical zoom. Its been replaced too. BTW, your pics are frigging awesome, and the single lens appeals to my Spartan side. I hate over-packing. How is your SX50 less-than-ideal weather and in low light (not night) conditions? Indoors, under tree cover, at dusk & dawn?

I'll be doing a lot of hiking in Washington in the Olympics, which have lots of rain forests, plus in the Cascades hiking up on Mt. Rainier. We'll also be doing a ton of different types of cruise excursions and 5 land days traveling from Fairbanks to Anchorage in Alaska.

I saw what I think is your camera's little brother (Canon SX530), which had decent reviews and 50X optical zoom. Its still out there for sale at $230 new. Its been replaced a couple of times already. I saw one in excellent shape on Craigslist for $110.

I also saw a Canon Powershot SX740 HS, which is a compact pocket camera for $380 new. It has 40X optical zoom which is tempting for a travel camera.

I bought my wife the Canon SX60 last year. Takes excellent photos and at the time was the only P&S that shot in RAW. Can't go wrong with it though the only drawback for me is the max 1/2000 shutter speed.

[Deerguy]

Here are a few more pics taken under less-than-ideal lighting. Sounds like you've taken enough photos to know that lighting is often a limiting element. But, that's usually up to the photographer to deal with rather than the camera. Take a bunch of pics at different exposure points and usually there'll be something to work with. As far as bad weather, I used it for a week in southeast Alaska hunting blacktails where it snowed/rained every day. But, I also took precautions and didn't use under the worst conditions. All in all the Canon PowerShots seems to be great cameras. It's a point-and-shoot with all of the basic functions and great zoom capability. The only drawback I don't like was that is uses a rechargeable battery pack instead of batteries. But, in all fairness there has only been 1 time that I ever drained the battery before I could charge it. You won't need a second battery pack 99.9% of the time, but you can always buy 2 if needed (I shoot LOTS of pics and don't use 2 packs).

[TX CHICKEN]

Did you get the kit with 2 lenses? How is it for quick access and use?

Just got the camera body and bought lenses separate because I wanted to upgrade the lenses a little for a trip to South Africa. The kit lenses have pretty good reviews though.

[tdwinklr]

I can take darn good pics with phone cameras now days.

[dustoffer]

I have the Canon SX60 and am happy with it although it is far smarter than I am. So, I just use it on the auto settings and zoom as I want.

One thing to remember--pixels are free, so shoot, shoot, shoot.

[Wampuscat]

I have the Canon SX60 and am happy with it although it is far smarter than I am. So, I just use it on the auto settings and zoom as I want.

One thing to remember--pixels are free, so shoot, shoot, shoot.

I've looked at a lot of online reviews of the Canon SX60 a lot and its definitely a helluva camera & like that it is 18M pixel and has the "hot shoe" for an external flash or other device. But being 5 years older and only $50 cheaper than the SX70 that is 20M pixel (but without a hot shoe) has me leaning towards the SX70. The SX60 and SX70 are both 65X zoom which reaches crazy far out there. Need to figure out how to mount it on a rifle.

For a while I was leaning towards the Canon SX740 HS which is an awesome smaller camera that's 20M pixel and 40X zoom. I was thinking that the smaller pocket size would be a big plus, but holding it with my finger tips doesn't give me much confidence against drops.

All 3 of these are easily stow-able in multiple backpacks. I'm not the kind to carry a camera bag. I'll probably put it in a Crown Royal bag and bury it in whatever backpack I have at the time.

[austinRecurve]

If she really wants to learn to shoot get the A Year With My Camera workbooks.

https://ayearwithmycamera.com

Also on Amazon.

[one66stang]

https://www.amazon.com/Nikon-COOLPIX-P1000-Digital-Camera/dp/B07F5HPXK4

and a monopod.

Is it top of the line , No. but you will use it and carry it. That's the battle.

[wickll]

I agree with all the others who have recommended a quality point and shoot.
1. Quality will be plenty good.
2. You will be more likely to carry it with you everywhere and have it when you need it.

[Medina19]

You could always rent

[Blitz]

Ok. So here is my take on the camera stuff. All cameras do well when lighting is ideal. When you want something with good glass is when the lighting is low. Just about every point and shoot camera sucks when it comes to low light photos. You need a lens with a good aperature (or as the camera people say, fast lens).

We went to disneyland years ago and during the day, the camera was just fine. When we got to the evening and the light parade, I realized just how much it sucks.

Get a decent DSLR with a 50mm 1.8 lens. Every image will be tack sharp. You will thank me later.