Went to the PhotoPlus Expo at the Javits Center on Friday. Fujifilm were providing not only free camera sensor cleaning and checkup but also camera loans. I spent a few hours with the new XT-2 and the 23mm f2 lens. Here are a few quick snaps I took testing its auto-focus speed:
Well, the Sony is a fine camera and you can’t go wrong with it in terms of image quality and feature set at that price. I always do counsel, however, that you try out the camera in the store before buying just to make sure that it feels comfortable to you. At any given price point, 2 cameras from different manufacturers will have pretty similar specs but they may feel very different in the hand or more or less intuitive to use. Are the adjustments you want to make most often easily to hand? Do the weight and balance and finish of the camera feel comfortable? Those are often more critical to your enjoyment than the technical specifications.
Next, I would want to know more about what you want to shoot, and how often, and under what circumstances and what will you do with the images? You mention wanting wide angle and telephoto but why? What are you shooting? And will you be happy to switch lenses from wide angle to tele and back or would you prefer a single zoom lens that is somewhat wide and somewhat tele? If you’re intending to get much more serious about photography, I’d make a different recommendation than if you wanted to stay pretty much where you are, in terms of your knowledge and time spent on photography, but wanted to be able to take better pet portraits, for instance.
When getting into photography it’s always better to learn more about camera technique and composition before splashing out on a better camera. The time to upgrade is when there are specific things you need to do and you have some idea how you’d do them but your camera doesn’t allow you to – not when you want to take better pictures and think a “better” camera would help.
So I’m afraid the foregoing may not be much help but these are the questions to address first:
– What types of pictures do I want to take?
– What features are needed to get them?
– What do I intend to do with them and therefore is professional image quality a requirement?
– How serious am I hoping to get about photography? (If you will spend lots of time learning all you can about some aspects of photography an investment in more flexible and manually controllable equipment will be worthwhile; if you plan just to shoot in fully automatic mode you should consider different equipment).
If you want, you can email me off the blog at adam.isler1@gmail.com.
Did you like this camera? I don’t think I am ready to go from my Fuji FinePix to a camera like this, but with all the features, it sure is tempting.
Personally, I love it. And you can just put it in auto mode and not think about any of the many adjustments that are available. However, if that is how you’re going to shoot with it, I wouldn’t recommend spending the money. It’s also much larger than your FinePix. Fuji (and others) make much less expensive cameras that offer similar image quality but are not as geared to the professional photographer so you don’t pay for all kinds of options you’ll never use. If you let me know what you want to do with your camera and how much you’re looking to spend, I’d be happy to point you at a few reasonable target cameras. At any given price level, most camera manufacturers’ offers have broadly similar capabilities and image quality. At the end of the day, you should always try out the camera you’re thinking of buying in a shop rather than just going by the specs. The specs can certainly make a difference but whether the camera feels comfortable in your hand, you find it easy to compose and make adjustments, buttons and knobs fall easily to hand, the experience feels intuitive – those are all much more important and are all individual. The perfect camera for me is unlikely to be the perfect camera for you even if they have identical technical capabilities.
That would be fantastic! And it really makes so much sense–I don’t need all the bells and whistles. They sound great but I know I would never use them. I will let you know–thank you so much, Adam.
I have thought about this and wonder if I should just try harder with my camera or buy something else. I want lightweight. I want quick focus. I want more telephoto than my point&shoot can give. Best Buy has a deal on Sony a6000 2 lens kit for $700. Is that what I want? Is that for me? I know it is a good deal, but that is still a lot of money for a little amateur like me. Thanks for your help, Adam.
wide angle! That’s what I want, too–wide angle. My camera now has a ‘telephoto’ lens that does not go too far, but I would love a wide-angle lens.