[woodsyi]

My wife has asked for a camera! For years she has laughed at me lugging cameras and lenses everywhere we travel.  Now that she has gotten into posting pictures on social media she wants more than her phone camera.  She was frustrated she wasn't getting the pictures I was getting with my camera.
She wants more exposure control, longer and faster lens and higher continuous FPS (to capture puffins taking off).   She says she wants to learn how to use a camera.  So I am thinking a full auto P&S with higher capability is not what she is looking for. 

Size and weight are something to consider since she considers my D5 with a Tele lens too heavy.  Connectivity is important and only JPEG shooting need to be considered since she is not going to shoot RAW.  Not yet, anyway.

I already have a lot of Canon and Canon mount lenses she can use.  So it would make sense to look at an Entry Canon DSLR.  I guess it's now T6 or a T5 to keep under $500.

OTOH, Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ300K would be smaller with longer but captive lens. It's just under $500.  No NFC (for social media thing) though.

Any other?  ~$500.

BTW,  while on travel my D5 MKII crapped out.  I have to figure out how much to fix it and then decide on upgrading or not -- I hear IV is on the way which would make III cheaper soon, I hope.

[chip]

Since you mention you have a lot of Canon and Canon mount lenses she can use the T5/T6 may be the route to go. You can get refurbed ones directly from Canon or buydig - http://www.buydig.com/shop/list/keyword/canon%20t5.

I recently got the Nikon D3300 and liking it so far. Still learning how to use it but is a nice camera as well. Worth looking at as well.

[JohnR]

Size and weight are something to consider since she considers my D5 with a Tele lens too heavy....

I already have a lot of Canon and Canon mount lenses she can use.  So it would make sense to look at an Entry Canon DSLR.

That does seem a bit contradictory. The difference in body weight won't be much against a 1.5 kg tele lens. I'd look at an all in one package. Actually I'd let her do the shopping.

[thunderbrick]

That does seem a bit contradictory. The difference in body weight won't be much against a 1.5 kg tele lens. I'd look at an all in one package. Actually I'd let her do the shopping.

+1!

[JohnR]

This might help (her to know what to look at first): http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/2016-roundup-consumer-long-zoom-compacts/10

[woodsyi]

That does seem a bit contradictory. The difference in body weight won't be much against a 1.5 kg tele lens. I'd look at an all in one package. Actually I'd let her do the shopping.

I was thinking the EFS 18-200 I have was fairly light but it still comes in at 1.3 lb.  Add the 1.4 lb for the body and we are looking at doubling the weight of Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300.  Panny has a 25-600mm Leica lens at F2.8 throughout and 5.2 continuous shooting FPS over 5 for cannon.  Canon beats Panny with 22 MP vs. 12 but how big do you want your pictures to be if you are uploading to social media primarily?  I will ask her what she prefers but I think I know the answer...

Thanks for letting me think through this. 

[drphoto]

I'm a big fan of the Fuji mirrorless cameras.(the X series) I shoot a Canon 6D, but I will have a fuji someday. My business partner has a an X-E2. It's tiny and the image quality is superb. Even though it is not full frame, Fuji uses a unique sensor that does not require an anti alias filter, so the images are very sharp. More natural color than my Canon as well.

If the Fuji has a drawback, the autofocus is somewhat slow, and manual focus is a bit of a joke, at least on his.

I'm a pro shooter BTW.

A buddy of mine is a pro video shooter and he swears by the panasonic Lumix. He has the new one that shoots 4K video.

[drphoto]

Oh, one more thing, I'm a big fan of KEH.com, they're a used dealer (but they have some new stuff too) in Atlanta. Their gear is always first rate and in better condition than they advertise. I've bought a ton of stuff from them over the years and am always impressed.

For new gear I use Midwest Photo up in Colombus, because I like to support a small independent shop. But you can't go wrong with B&H.

Please stay away from those NY places that offer too good to be true prices! (They're shady!)

A wedding photographer I met said she got her Canons @ Best Buy because if you get their store credit card they give you a year to pay interest free.

[charmerci]

Canon beats Panny with 22 MP vs. 12 but how big do you want your pictures to be if you are uploading to social media primarily?  I will ask her what she prefers but I think I know the answer...

I've made excellent quality 8x10 prints with a 12MP Fuji p&s. Not to worry.

[JohnR]

12MP is plenty, I think one of my bigger photography mistakes in recent years was abandoning a camera that I was getting great results with partly because it was "only" 6MP.

[drphoto]

agree that there are things more important than just pixel count. I shot with an early phase one back, which only had same pixel count as my then state of the art Canon 1DS Mk2. but it was true 16 bit, so it had much better color rendition and a wider tonal range.

Again, I love the color rendition of the Fuji, especially in JPEG mode, although I almost always shoot RAW.

I really do like my Canon 6D. I chose it over the 5DM3, because not only cheaper, but smaller and lighter. plus I can trigger camera from my iPhone. I do a lot of light painted architectural shots. So I can put camera on tripod and walk around with the flash while triggering camera remotely. But still, it's a $1200 camera (was $2K when I got) so a bit overkill for you.

Our website is www.thephoenixphotography.com if anyone cares.

Best of luck to you OP.

joe

[woodsyi]

Thanks for the inputs.  I have looked at Fuji X and the latest X2 looks enticing but way over our budget for this.  My wife and I have discussed it and came to the conclusion that Panasonic DMC-FZ300k makes the most sense.  It ticks everything off our list including being weather proof.  The only thing it doesn't have is NFC but it does have wifi.  She can upload it to a cloud when she gets to a hot spot and go from there. 

I ordered the camera from Photo-4-Now for $420.95 through Newegg. It's the best price that seems legit to me.  It may be a shady sort of store but Newegg is putting their name on it and it's covered by Google buy protection for up to $1000.  Another customer reported the same camera bought in June was NIB and was thrilled. 

We shall see.  I will report back.

[stlrman]

Congratulations!!!
25-600 2.8 lens! Wow!!

[charmerci]

Nice camera - much better than what I have!    And I'm pretty serious about my photography.


Newegg has been around for quite a while. (I think I may have bought something from them years ago.)


Congrats.

[drphoto]

Oh hell, I'm getting old.I remember you woodsyi. From way back when. I think we chatted a few times on the message system. If I remember.....(?) don't you live in the DC area? I used to be over there about once a month for a year. Back in 02.

You should be happy. My video buddy swears by the pannies.  When I was young I always wanted big cameras that looked impressive. Now I want small and light weight!. I now shoot almost all location work w/ speed lights instead of pack and head systems. Faster, cheaper, easier setup and looks just as good. You just don't need as much power w/ these modern digital camera.

In old days I was mostly shooting w/ a 'blad and you needed a ton of lighting power. Even more w/ view cameras in studio.

[JohnR]

Cool, Rim, good shopping too 

[Guy 13]

Oh hell, I'm getting old.I remember you woodsyi. From way back when. I think we chatted a few times on the message system. If I remember.....(?) don't you live in the DC area? I used to be over there about once a month for a year. Back in 02.

You should be happy. My video buddy swears by the pannies.  When I was young I always wanted big cameras that looked impressive. Now I want small and light weight!. I now shoot almost all location work w/ speed lights instead of pack and head systems. Faster, cheaper, easier setup and looks just as good. You just don't need as much power w/ these modern digital camera.

In old days I was mostly shooting w/ a 'blad and you needed a ton of lighting power. Even more w/ view cameras in studio.

Hi drphoto.
In the past I have owned Bronica 645, Mamiya RB67, Cambo and Toyo 4X5
I still own a two Mamiya 645E bodies with four lenses, I also have a Nikon D200
but for the past few years I've been using my Nikon Coolpix S3300 for all my documentary pictures
(Internet, etc...)
I rarely use my Nikon D200 because it doesn't fir in my shirt pocket and it takes more time to set up.
Am I getting lazy ? ? ?
With my business on planet Vietnam I am the exclusif distributor for PhaseOne
and I can get at factory price a 80Mpix+ body,
but I was never interested in such a extremely high resolution unit,
I just the see the purpose.
I did some enlargement of landscape taken with my Nikon D200 - 10Mpix
and it was more than just good enough for me.
However, I did like to take picture with my Cambo 4X5 because of the perspective controls.
The other think that I miss is the Agfa 25 and Kodak T-Max 100 black & white roll films.

Sorry for the interruption,
now back to normal scheduling.

Guy 13
 

[viggen]

FZ series are good.  i was going to suggest a sony mirrorless with use of a canon adapter to take advantage of the canon lenses u already have.  either a7 or a6000 depending on whether she wants full frame.

i use a7II with leica autofocus and nikon adapters.