I am an amateur photographer and I want to upgrade my camera. What are some really great cameras.....?

Question

for photography that are under $500.
I need the BEST camera in that price range.

Answer 1

I'm going off of the assumption that you want a film camera...

First off, you DO NOT need to spend a ton of money for a good film body! I use the Nikon N75 and have been very pleased with it's performance. If you want a step up though, you can get a Nikon F80. The F80 has improved autofocus and metering over the N75 but I haven't had any problems with my N75. So either of those would do you fine.

I would DEFINITELY put a little more thought into the lenses over the body. The benefit of using Nikon is that the lenses will fit on all regular format camera. A lens from 1960 will fit on a brand new F80. The nice thing about that is that if you ever want to go to digital, you lenses for your film will work on your digital.

So getting a good lenses is key.

My final recommendation would be as follows:

F80 body with the 28-80mm Nikon kit lens (for general purpose)
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D Autofocus Lens (the low aperture makes for crystal clear pictures especially for portrait and landscapes, they have an f/1.4 which is better but $100 more)

Answer 2

Since you say "upgrade," I will assume that you are using something now, most likely a point-and-shoot. A DSLR would be a really nice upgrade, such as a NIkon D50, but with a lens, that would probably be beyond your budget.

My daughter has a Canon S2 IS that she really loves. I'd say it takes great pictures under a very wide set of conditions. The S3 IS is the newer version of her camera and all the reviews say it is even better.

It sells for about $400, which leaves you enough money to get a good quality SD memory card, such as a 1 GB Sandisk Ultra II, which I highly recommend for this camera.

http://www.dcresource.com/buyersguide/ likes the S3 IS in your price range, also. Go there and see a few other picks, arranged by price.

Answer 3

assuming that you want a dslr, which is really the way to go if you're doing digital, you don't have a lot of options for that amount of money. i think you'll either have to find something used and/or shop around a bit on ebay.

i would look at the canon digital rebel, aka 300d (NOT the rebel xt), the olympus evolt e-300, or the olympus evolt e-500.

out of those three, i think the e-500 is best. i say this to everybody, but i guess it's worth repeating - you can get an e-500 kit (with lens, software, etc.) on ebay for about $500. i own an e-500 and though it's not the greatest camera out there, it's a really good deal for that price. check this out, for example,

http://cgi.ebay.com/Olympus-Evolt-E-500-Digital-Camera-14-45mm-Lens-E500_W0QQitemZ160036104733QQihZ006QQcategoryZ43457QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

(hope the link works)

for more info check out the cameras on dpreview.com and got keh.com for used stuff

Answer 4

Do you use film cameras or digital?

Get a Graflex Crown Graphic or Speed Graphic 4x5 camera, probably under $200 for a good one with a lens. The photos are 15 times sharper than a 35mm SLR camera.

But it is not very user friendly. Spend at least an hour composing every shot, and use a tripod, and stay at f16 or smaller for great depth of focus.

Answer 5

Nikon is the most user friendly in both digital and SLR. Visit Nikon's site and they will guide you to the best choice for your intrests and needs. Be sure to shop around for the best price, the same camera can vary up to $150.00 in price between stores.

Answer 6

If you're serious about photography - or if want to get into it in more serious way... stick with your current camera until you have $700 to spend. And then get a digital SLR camera.
The cheapest *good* dSLR currently available is the Nikon D50: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=381587&is=REG&addedTroughType=search