With Summer upon us and this somewhat good weather lots of people will be out and about a lot more, I know myself and my friends certainly have been and what better way to remind you of some of the memories than a new camera?
In the SLR camera market there are two main companies you will see, Cannon and Nikon although other companies such as Sony do make these sorts of cameras, although I have never found them to be of the same quality . I am going to show a few of the consumer favorites and also my own in the camera market that may help you choose a new camera for the future.

 

Nikon D5100

 

Megapixel; 16.2
Full HD (1080p) Movie Capability.
Dimensions; (WxHxD) Approx. 5.0 x 3.8 x 3.1 in.
Weight; Approx. 510 g/1 lb. 2 oz. (camera body only)
Screen Size; 3in with wide angle viewing.

This camera is a Nikon D 5100, I have chosen this because it is actually the camera I use and I absolutely love it – it is also rated the best on most sites like Currys. The screen on the back swivels round (keeps the screen protected when not in use) and you can change from the small viewfinder to the screen if you find that easier to use. There are many settings including HDR, a full on camera retouch menu, and you can take up to 4 continuos pictures per second if you are watching something high speed. It is a streamline camera that has great portability in comparison to the older camera models like the D60 and D90 and with the right amount of time spent on it, very easy to use.

Price inc. lens; About £600

 

Canon EOS 600D

 

 Megapixel; 18
Full HD EOS Movie.
 Dimensions; (WxHxD)  5.2 x 3.9 x 3.1 in
 Weight;  Approx. 570g/ 1lb 26oz (including battery and memory card)
 Screen Size;  3in.

The next camera is a Canon EOS 600D. I am not someone that uses a cannon but I have heard these also come highly recommended by people that use them and is another one of the top rated cameras on most websites. Again this has the flip around screen like the above Nikon so I find that the outside specifications are relatively the same between both cameras. There is not much physical difference for weight or size but it probably just down to preferred customer choice as to what brand you would choose. I’ve always heard decent reviews about the EOS range although I have sometimes found the software for menus somewhat difficult to navigate, after a few goes with using a camera like this, you pick everything up quite easily.

 

Price inc. lens; About £600

 

 

The main point I would like to make about SLR’s is that generally people do not use them to the full potential. The way to do this is to use camera settings of;

  • Large format picture, this means if you ever want to print the photograph out on a large scale it will not pixilate in the process.
  • Use a low ISO, the lower the better – this means that there will not be a lot of noise in your photographs. The only reason to ever change the ISO higher is when lighting conditions are not ideal to use flash and the camera will help compensate for the lack of light.
  • Lastly if you are more of a profesional use the RAW image mode as this will take your photographs completely true to the lighting conditions you are in. If this is a camera you are not using professionally JPEG Fine is usually your best camera setting.

 

Samsung WB150F

 Megapixels; 14.2
HD Video Capabilities (720p)
 Zoom; 18x
 Screen size; 3in.

If you don’t have £600 to buy an SLR the last camera I would like to talk about is the new compact Samsung WB150F camera, and if you haven’t seen the television ads for this camera it is very intreuging as this camera has WiFi capabilities built in to upload your photographs straight to the internet. This is a compact camera so there are no lenses to worry about and it is literally a point and shoot. These are good cameras for festivals especially because SLR’s are actually deemed professional (due to detachable lenses) and no concert will let you in with it. I wanted to talk about this camera though because of how new it is more than anything, although I do feel like the capabilities of this camera mirror what most peoples phones can do,  the battery life will obviously last a considerably longer amount of time. The camera quality from the specs do mirror those of good SLR cameras now and are generally good quality but I think again it is a personal preference as to what sort of camera someone would like to have. I love my SLR cameras but sometimes it is good to have something else that is more compact like this with you instead and this camera seems to do well.

Price; Between £180 – £240.