MovieChat Forums > Photography > URGENT Should I buy this camera?

URGENT Should I buy this camera?

posted 14 years ago by ahalala_8
1 reply | jump to latest

I hope somebody can answer me on this before it's too late :).

I want to buy a professional camera as I have a major interest in photography and want to get something which will take better quality pictures than the camera I do have (Canon digital camera, some sort of Ixus, don't remember which one by heart).

My boyfriend promised to get me a professional camera for Christmas, one that would cost no more than 800 or so. I didn't mind getting a second hand one so whichever camera we could get for a few hundred euros from some desperate person that quickly needed cash.

My boyfriend's friend has this one for sale;

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0608/06082412fujis9600.asp

His friend is selling it for 150 . I think it should cost 300 or thereabout while new.

While it's a FujiFilm (somehow I was stuck on getting a Canon) the pricerange kind of gives an idea of the quality I guess. As far as I know about this camera as well, it's not quite a professional camera but also not the most standard and simple one, it's somewhere in the middle.

What I don't know is if I should get this one or keep my eyes open for another one. Me asking for advice clearly states that I'm not an expert and need advice, but at the same time, when I bought my guitar I got a Fender straight away and not an imitation and couldn't have been happier with it.

Why spend less at first, if you're still going to spend a bit more later one? You don't have to be an expert to buy something that is good quality and a bit pricy.

So for me, that takes a LOT of pictures and have a keen interest and want to take a photography course; should I buy this one or wait a bit and get a better one?

Get off the couch and give me a scale!
My blog www.wecangetwild.blogspot.com

[–] Prelude_in_C_maj 14 years ago

To Steve ---

With all due respect -- and you do know your equipment at pro level, so I do respect your response to the OP -- it's not really necessary for someone just starting into serious photography to obtain the high calibre of equipment that you're talking about.

Excellent work can still be achieved even with digital SLR cameras coming in under $1,000. Of course, this is an area in which the sky can be the limit and if you really want to and have the cash, you can indeed spend $7,000 on a body alone.

But honestly? The calibre of your pictures is still going to be perfectly acceptable for artistic purposes with a camera and lens a fraction of that cost.

David Bailey once said something like "it's not about the camera, its about the eye behind it."

As long as the OP has something capable of decently high resolution and a decent range of options and settings, and glass that isn't ToysRus calibre, she or he will be fine. 7,000 dollar stuff can come later.

It's elitistly excluding to suggest they cannot do anything of worth at all with anything less. Quite frankly you ARE trying to scare the OP off and it's not necessary.

Many students taking their first courses, as it appears the OP is interested in, are working with much cheaper cameras of what you would deem non-professional level, yet they're perfectly adequate for the purpose.

Once past a certain point of necessary quality and options, anything more is often lovely to have but quite frankly superfluous, as what actually matters at the end of the day is the talent, not the thousands of extra dollars spent on perfecting the equipment you took your picture with.

When I think up a decent sig...I'll let you know.