Help me pick a camera!!

Wasn't sure which forum to post this to.

So ,I was very much into photography up until 6-7 years ago. Life (divorce, work, etc,etc blah blah) got in the way and I sold my gear (5D II, 1D II, 24-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8 lenses)

So anyway, I'm looking at getting back into it. But, so much has changed.

I know I'm not looking at getting into it professionally any more, that ship has sailed, so I'm looking at easing back into it.

Not afraid of aps-c, not afraid of mirrorless, not afraid of buying "last years model", not afraid of spending a good buck on glass, though I admit I'm a zoom guy.

So I'm looking for a camera that will take mostly portraiture pics, though will be used for travel as well.

Nothing too hardcore to start out, I was a Canon shooter, so looked at everything from 6D to 70d, and am also intrigued by the fujifilm lineup (x-t1, x-t10, etc)

I'm f'n lost. When I got into it,the 30D was a no brainer! Lol

Give me some direction!

"Portraiture, and used for travel" could mean pretty much anything. Even the cheapest current Rebel or entry level Nikon, or most mirrorless options will suffice, and blow the images from the 30D out of the water. For non work stuff I'm partial to mirrorless. I take an old Panasonic GF2 and pancake 20mm lens with me most days. Thinking of getting a GX85 as a slight upgrade in IQ. For work or important stuff I'm still lugging the full dslr kit around, but not really enjoying it anymore...seriously considering selling it all and moving to Sony FF mirrorless now that their lenses are more or less sorted out. My initial suggestion for someone who wants to ease into it would be mirrorless of some sort, but it'd really depend on the specifics of what you're trying to do.

Thought up a few questions that might narrow suggestions down some:

Do you shoot your portraiture or travel in low light?
Do you prefer a lightweight kit?
Do you want the ability to crop heavily?
Are any of your subjects moving, or are they mostly static/posed?
Do you have a preference for focal lengths (do you have any lenses already)?
Ambient lighting or strobes for your portraits?
Open to photoshop, or are you looking for "the best results out of camera"?
How many photographs would you say you used to shoot in one day?
Any crazy weather for your travel stuff (ie. amazon, the arctic, north africa, etc)?

I'm sure there's others I should've thought of, but if you can answer some of those it'd help anyone suggesting what bodies you should go look at. Again, anything current (I'd say as far back as 4-5 years ago) can take amazing photos 99.9% of the time for what you want...it's just that some might be better suited for you and your method/goals than others.

Lets first try to narrow it down by size, meaning mirroless or traditional.
Do you need or want a smaller camera? Benificial for traveling or just carrying it around with you more often
Dslr is larger allowing for better ergonomics

Nice to see you back, your live is back and living in Sarnia! I'm stuck in GTA and it isn't something to be proud of...

If you are open for the change, Ricoh GRII on amazon.ca is priced amazingly. It is legendary camera which changed many folks approach for photography. And it is one of the "liberating" cameras.

Best bang for your buck is Nikons D750.

If you're looking to stay with canon look into the new 6d mark2.

If you are willing to jump into the fuji world there is a nice selection of bodies and lenses to choose from. Fuji can produce very pleasant human subject photos and tiny enough for great travel use.

I'd suggest the newer bodies like the X-T20 or X-T2 if you want that traditional looking camera. New 24mp sensor, great video, very good high iso performance for an aps-c sensor. Warn you battery life truly sucks but that's a given due to small physical size of the battery. Buying an X-T20 with 18-55 f/2.8-4.0 kit lens would be a great start. The 18-55 will give you IQ that you'd expect from a Canon 24-105 or 24-70L f/2.8 mk1 generation "pro" glass. I'd take fuji crop sensor image quality over a 1dmk2 or 1dmk3 in a hearbeat.

If you don't mind the f/2 prime glass (newer gen faster and quieter AF) the 35 f/2 and 50 f/2 will be nice portrait lenses. The f/1.4 glass there's the 35 f/1.4, 56 f/1.2, 90 f/2 and some even like the old gen 60mm f/2.4 macro for portraiture application. Some may stretch the use of a 23mm f/2 or f/1.4 prime for potential distortion but used for portrait work.

If you want familiar Canon stuff and reasonably small body I'd say go for the Canon 80D. Dual pixel af for video, new tech 24mp crop sensor, swivel touch screen for convenience, very flexible RAW files, excellent battery life. The newer Canon crop body produces very nice image quality unlike the older gen canon crops like the 30D you had or even upto a 60 to 70D.


You can quickly brush up on the newer Canon lenses. The newer 24-70L f/2.8 mk2 zoom is absolutely incredible zoom that provides new generation micro contrast tack sharp prime lens images. I never though i'd be so impressed with the newer version of the EF 35 f/2 image stabilized prime....must own for small form factor with big IQ.

Too many choices these days but really you must visit a camera store and also check out Sony.

I think telling us your budget will make suggestions much easier

Nobody knows what kind of camera you need. So I suggest you go cheap (and capable) for now until you have a better idea of your directions and preferences. So, buy a Rebel with the 18-135mm STM lens. This combo is versatile and will produce photos that are indistinguishable from pro gear in most cases. It should keep you happy and challenged for a couple years at least.

Mirrorless systems are nice for their small Form factor, but the size advantage doesn't translate to FF mirrorless as the size you save in the body must be added to the lens due to the laws of physics, meaning you can carry one small body and a bunch of large lenses, or a large DSLR body and a bunch of smaller lenses. The only time FF mirrorless makes sense is if you're sticking to small pancake lenses. Adapted SLR lenses exacerbate this size disadvantage, so keep that in mind. Mirrorless APS-C is a great way to save size, however, and was the original intention for mirrorless cameras.

The Canon 80D with 18-135 USM is a great all around camera with all of the recent must-have features, and if you're not sure what direction you want to go it should handle anything you want to shoot.

-Joe

DerekW wrote in post #18395102
Wasn't sure which forum to post this to.

So ,I was very much into photography up until 6-7 years ago. Life (divorce, work, etc,etc blah blah) got in the way and I sold my gear (5D II, 1D II, 24-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8 lenses)

So anyway, I'm looking at getting back into it. But, so much has changed.

I know I'm not looking at getting into it professionally any more, that ship has sailed, so I'm looking at easing back into it.

Not afraid of aps-c, not afraid of mirrorless, not afraid of buying "last years model", not afraid of spending a good buck on glass, though I admit I'm a zoom guy.

So I'm looking for a camera that will take mostly portraiture pics, though will be used for travel as well.

Nothing too hardcore to start out, I was a Canon shooter, so looked at everything from 6D to 70d, and am also intrigued by the fujifilm lineup (x-t1, x-t10, etc)

I'm f'n lost. When I got into it,the 30D was a no brainer! Lol

Give me some direction!

If you can to ease back into Canon, take a look at:

Canon 60D/70D/T6i/M5 (look for it on refurb)
Canon 10-18 STM (look for it on Canon refurb)
Canon 50 F1.8 STM (again on refurb)

Very best,

Canon 6dii is made for you. DPAF touch focus with face detect will help you to nail wide open portraits and combined with articulating screen, it will allow you to take some more creative shots. I do mostly (family) portraits and 24-70ii works great for most uses at 70mm f2.8 (creamy bokeh, great color and razor sharp). Depending on the type of portraits, you may consider adding fast 50, 85 or 135 prime.

I would skip crop bodies for portraiture, best lenses are made for FF.

Sorry for the slow reply to this.. apparently don't have email notifications set up.

So as far as body type, I really don't feel like I can go to the Rebel bodies, always found them too small as far as dalr bodies go. But ironically, I think I could do Fuji type cameras as they are a different animal.

I realize that saying "portraiture and travel", are kind of polar opposites. And what I've recently found is the damn iPhone does 90% of the "fun" vacation photos, i.e. "Cabo vacay Facebook pics".

So really I think I could take "travel" out if the scenario.

For portraiture, I'm thinking low light ability would be needed, and the more I think about it, I think I want to go dslr and not rangefinder. Or maybe not.... crap.

What's making me think mirrorless, is the less obtrusivness of the smaller body.

I think indeed To go to a shop and handle them.

I have a hard time thinking about buying a latest release, like the 6DII, as I don't know if I'll get into it yet, so I'm looking at buying used.

I'm still lost, lol

Buy used... 6D and a 24-70 and 70-200. Pick your poison.

If you're just getting back in and don't have money invested in lenses, and aren't looking to shoot "long", I'd check into the newer Sony mirrorless bodies. The A9, while pricey, is a really nice, full frame sensor body that's pretty easy to hold, etc. I played around with one at a recent photo event, locally; the thing that keeps *me* away from any of the mirrorless bodies is the electronic viewfinders. They are slow to refresh and flicker horrifically. If you're ok with shooting from the rear LCD or aren't bothered by EVFs, though, it's real nice. Also, MUCH more compact than a dSLR

Thats one of the main reasons im wanting to try a sony mirrorless.
Because most of the time my dslr stays home. If i vacation i dont like carrying around the 6d even with only a pancake lens attached. So a sony with a small prime just seems to me would get much more day to day use.

That is a very good direction to be looking. If you want to save some dollars. both those models are excellent,. but have been upgraded to the "2" models, so the XT-1 or 10 used will be very affordable.
They are great bodies for serious hobbyist that appreciate manual control in a familiar (and classy) feeling body.

And Fuji glass is super!