Need good camera for reviews and night beamshots, for $200

Lightbringer · 2018-08-14T03:21:38.000Z

Good choice. I got a 3000 and 7000, and love ’em both. The old 18mm-55mm kit-lens is a work of art, and opens up to f/3.5 when zoomed-out (ie, wide angle), not too shabby, and has incredible clarity. Not too familiar with the other kit lenses (18-70, 18-105, etc.), so can’t say anything about them.

I mainly use my 28-300 for literally 98%+ of all my shooting, the 70-200 f/2.8 for fast shots (bugs in flight, etc.), and the 18-55 when I need a wider-angle than 28mm gets me (seascapes, etc.).

My first shots of Christmas lights in/around the nabe were all done with the 18-55. Like I said, an awesome lens…

Lightbringer · 2018-08-14T03:27:24.000Z

Oh, word of advice. “Buy the glass.”

That’ll last you nigh forever, and set (or limit) the quality of your shots. The electronix is so much less critical, and suffers “digital rot” from the second it rolls out of the factory.

If you gotta go cheap, buy quality glass and cheap electronix, and you’ll get better results than v/v.

Robowski · 2018-08-14T13:25:30.000Z

I have a Nikon D3100 with 18mm-55mm lens.
Nice camera, but I’m very much a “point and shoot on auto”, sort of guy.
I would like to try some night beam shots as well, and if anybody can give me advice on the best settings to use, it would be much appreciated.

ChibiM · 2018-08-14T13:32:41.000Z

I would go for a pocketable one. I do beamshots, but you need a good and sturdy tripod etc.. and in the dark it could be a bit tricky.

I'd prefer a pocketable camera, that is less heavy... but when I go out I take the bicycle, so I want everything small and lightweight.. just keep that in mind. Otherwise go for any DSLR :)

matik42 · 2018-08-14T18:32:42.000Z

For night you need manual settings.
For Canon you can look to CHDK Wiki | Fandom for what models it are available and use little hack and some script for manual settings (I use CHDKplus in my Ixus 310)

Pete7874 · 2018-08-14T19:05:27.000Z

Robowski:

I have a Nikon D3100 with 18mm-55mm lens.
Nice camera, but I’m very much a “point and shoot on auto”, sort of guy.
I would like to try some night beam shots as well, and if anybody can give me advice on the best settings to use, it would be much appreciated.

Settings will depend on the environment/subject. But for starters, I would set ISO to 200 or 400, aperture to f/6.3, and then experiment with different shutter speeds until you get the desired exposure. Tripod will be required.

You may have to switch to manual focus as well if the camera has a hard time focusing in the dark.

elnino · 2018-08-14T20:02:37.000Z

matik42:

For night you need manual settings.
For Canon you can look to CHDK Wiki | Fandom for what models it are available and use little hack and some script for manual settings (I use CHDKplus in my Ixus 310)

+1 for manual setting

Robowski · 2018-08-15T13:20:36.000Z

Thanks guys for your tips

Many centuries ago while at school I did a photography course and learned all about settings and how to develop film in a darkroom.
But then they invented the wheel, and all these smart cameras and digital photography came along and I became lazy and forgot everything.

I remember our first torches which were a staff of wood with animal skins soaked in tar and fat….then they invented 18650 cells!!

wstrachan · 2018-08-15T16:02:40.000Z

BestBuy and Costco sell a Sony DCS300/500 20.1/32 megapixel cameras that accept additional lenses and go for around $125-150. They also do HD video at a pretty good frame rate. It takes very nice pictures, is super easy to use and a good value. I am not a photographer by any means so anything better is wasted on me.

Sillen · 2018-08-16T01:14:18.000Z

Robowski:

Thanks guys for your tips

Many centuries ago while at school I did a photography course and learned all about settings and how to develop film in a darkroom.
But then they invented the wheel, and all these smart cameras and digital photography came along and I became lazy and forgot everything.

I remember our first torches which were a staff of wood with animal skins soaked in tar and fat….then they invented 18650 cells!!

I think you missed a step in the evolution of man made light. Where on this timeline was the Dolphin invented?

mikelights · 2018-08-18T03:14:30.000Z

well i got this camera just to see what it was like

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-DSCH300-Digital-Camera-Black/dp/B00HTTKSZC

anyone have an opinion?

Pete7874 · 2018-08-18T03:35:06.000Z

Just as long as it has manual exposure mode, manual white balance, and manual focus, it’ll work for beam shots.

ZozzV6 · 2018-08-18T03:48:08.000Z

I have a Nikon D3200.
Made these beamshots with it.
Lens 18-105 Nikon VR

Robowski · 2018-08-18T03:48:43.000Z

Sillen:

I think you missed a step in the evolution of man made light. Where on this timeline was the Dolphin invented?

Ha Ha - the good old Dolphin …I still have one with a flat battery lying in my carport.

Robowski · 2018-08-18T03:51:16.000Z

Great photography Zozz!

mikelights · 2018-08-18T04:05:48.000Z

its got all that so i just gotta mess around with it and see what i can come up with

just wish i could get a camera that takes good night video

The_Flashaholic · 2018-08-21T10:10:41.000Z

I got a YI 4K plus action Cam for my youtube reviews, thinking it’d film better than my Sony 4K phone, it was ghastly, used it once and sold it. A lot of youtube camera reviews look decent when they film cities at night, but when it’s just torch light in a dark forrest cameras like the Go Pro suck.

I’d really like to get into 4k HDR but I’ve only scratched the surface on research.

The new HDR camera phones suck because of the heavy cropping, they won’t do flooders justice

matg · 2018-08-21T13:39:25.000Z

I used to have a sony dsch300. I did not like it. It has a small sensor so when theres darkness the pictures have alot of noise. No full manual settings but the zoom is pretty awesome. I have a canon eos m and love it. Havent tried beamshots yet but it has full manual settings and a big sensor.

The_Flashaholic · 2018-08-21T15:40:35.000Z

matg:

I used to have a sony dsch300. I did not like it. It has a small sensor so when theres darkness the pictures have alot of noise. No full manual settings but the zoom is pretty awesome. I have a canon eos m and love it. Havent tried beamshots yet but it has full manual settings and a big sensor.

I have the Sony A6300 with a 1.4 lens which is fine, wish I’d got the A6500 so I could off the gimbal. The A6000 might occasionally pop up cheap and it’d be awesome for low light fun and frolics.

Enderman · 2018-08-21T21:37:36.000Z

The most important things to have are manual settings for iso and shutter speed.
Next is to have a big sensor.

To get good pictures you need to turn the iso down as much as possible and increase the shutter speed to whatever setting makes the image look like what you see irl. Usually several seconds. To avoid blur you need to put the camera on a tripod and use either an external trigger or the timer. Most cheap cameras have a timer, but only high end ones will have external trigger.