Camera Labs

Hi guys, I bought a canon G10 last august for going back packing. Its an excellent camera and I have got some awesome photos from my holiday, festivals and generla everyday stuff. I am going to morroco in two weeks, staying in a hotel this time sadly, so no crazy backpacking adventures. Anyway I'm looking to upgrade to an dslr now and would like to get one for when I go away on holiday. I've been looking about on the camera labs reviews and watched the videos, plus looked at other review websites. The cameras that I have narrowed my list down to are:

Sony SLT-A55
Sony A550
Panasonic Lumix G2
Canon EOS 550D

I'll mainly use the camera for taking travel photos, portraits, landscape, animals, photos of everything really. Movie recording would be a big bonus as I also do animation and would like to take videos that I can use for compositing cgi shots into. My head hurts with all the information and new things I have learned over the last couple of days. If anyone can suggest one of the cameras above or even one I havent considered, that would be great.

Oh, my budget is about £600-800, I can push it to £1000. But the less I can spend would be better

Thanks in advance.

Hi Bumbaboss, sounded pretty much like me a few weeks ago! ( my thread; `My Head Hurts` may help you decide)

Good luck choosing

Thanks Carlos, I had a quick look through your thread, quite helpful. So I have a look at more reviews of the cameras I was looking at, here are my thoughts:

Canon 550D
Excellent all round camera.
1080 HD Movies
18 Megapixels
Tons of excellent reviews
Price is pretty good as well
I havent actually held the camera yet so I dont
know about the size and feel of it yet.

Sony SLT-A55
Lots of excellent reviews
Fast AF/10FPS
1080 HD Video
Video AF
Smaller, Light body

Panasonic Lumix G2
Small/Light compact body
720 HD Video
Lots of available lenses
Choice of body colours ...(j/k)
Lots of great reviews
Price is reasonable

Also I read in one of the threads that thew Sony A580 is a pretty good contender with great battery life and general all-round good camera.

I havent had any hands on testing with these cameras but I am going into some camera shops tomorrow to look at them and see what feels good. If anyone has any of these cameras and had experience with them, what are your thoughts and what should I look out for?

Thanks.

if you can do with only 720p video, i'd look into the Canon 500D and pikc up a better lens with the money saved. the sigma i have is a nice all around lens. Glass matters more then the camera body does imo.

_________________
Check out: http://www.eagle1337.deviantart.com/
Camera: Canon Rebel T1i
Lens: Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, Sigma 17-70mm OS DC HSM f/2.8-4, ef-s 18-55mm IS, ef-s 55-250mm IS. EF 50mm F/1.8
Tripod: Giottos MTL9351B with a MH 5001 head.
Bag: lowepro Slingshot 202 AW. Cards: Sandisk Ultra 2, Lexar MicroSDHC.

Dont forget the Nikon D5000 and D90.
The D90 is a very good dSLR but it's replaced, so the price will fall to a low point.
The Sony A550 is also worth to have a look on its review here @ cameralabs.com

_________________
Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

Canon 550d. I have one and it is a very good camera. I would definately buy it if I where you. If you can stretch I would go for the 550d with 18-135mm lens. You can get it for around £1000 and is a very good bundle. I wish I had bought that bundle and don't know why I didn't.

_________________
Camera: Canon 550D with battery grip
Lenses: Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 18-55mm, Tamron 70-300mm,
Accessories: Manfrotto 055XPROB with 808RC4 head, Canon 430ex II speedlite, Lowepro Nova 180AW and Lowepro Pro Runner 450AW

Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer -Stewie Griffin

Because of you have the 550D it doesnt mean the 550D is holy.

In my opinion the D90 is better than the 550D, but if you really want that good video, ok. But the A550 (Sony) is really if you want that speed, if you want from both a bit: D90, it has video and fast cont. shooting.

_________________
Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

Hi guys, thanks for your input. I had a good look at some cameras today, messed about with them as much as I was allowed. I got to try these cameras, the Lumix G2, NEX-5, SLT-A33 and 550D. I really like all these cameras, in order it would be:

1) A33
Like the size and weight, like the features too.

2) NEX-5
Georgeous looking camera, compact, really nice results, simple but awkward interface. (Didnt realise it had a HDR mode until I just read Gordon's review on it!)

3) Lumix G2
Like the size, weight and material of the body, again good results, nice articulated touch screen, bit gimmicky though.

4) 550d
Excellent sturdy camera, just a bit chunky for what I have in mind though.

Just now Im torn between the A33 or the NEX-5. Im going to get a camera on friday as its my only day off before I go on my travels. So I have all day tomorrow at work to make a decision on what Im going to get. If I go for the A33 Id probably go for the higher end A55 instead though.

I did manage to buy a camera today though, it was a compact for my girlfriend as her camera was getting a bit old and outdated.

Hey folks, I finally bit the bullit today and bought a camera. I got the Sony Alpha a55 Twin Lens Premium Bundle, which includes:

Sony Alpha a55 with 18-55mm Lens
Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6 Di Lens
Sandisk Extreme HD 8GB SDHC Card
Lowepro Nova 160AW Bag
Joby Gorilla Pod, SLR
Plus a couple of uv filters and a screen protector,
All for just over £900, also sony is doing a deal on all their products where you can claim back the vat, so it'll be even cheaper. Not a bad deal I think

Well I only got to play with it a little bit until the battery ran down. Im really liking this camera. Hopefully it'll do me well in morocco and in future adventures.

That sounds good! Congrats on your first DSLR!

Remember to always keep your U|V filters on, at least if you don't want to replace your whole lens if it gets damaged! It's always better to replace a $100 filter than a $1000 lens! (Although frankly I don't think that the 18-55 is $1000, none the less, keep it on).

Also, perhaps you should consider getting the Gorillapod SLR Zoom as opposed to the SLR, the Zoom model is stronger and you always want to try your best to keep your prized possession safe when it's sitting on a tri-pod!

_________________
-Evan

Gear: 7 Nikon Nikkor AI-S and AF-S lenses, SB-700 flash, Nikon D7000, Nikon FM, variety of accessories

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."
- Ansel Adams