Which camera for a beginner?

Hi all.

Lately I have been working on some picture editing with Adobe's Camera Raw converter. I love it, and my interest for taking pictures has grown a lot. Now I want to take a step further and invest in a camera. Can you help me with choosing/recommending some cameras?

- I might take a two week backpacking trip to India, so it would be nice if the camera would be suitable for this

- If so, I would very much like it to be able to record in HD

- Remember that I am a beginner

I have looked onto Panasonic GF1, GF2, GX1 and Olympus EPL1, 2, 3... But I feel lost, especially since this is a completely new market for me. I hope you can help

/Juninho

You should start with a budget so that others can help you better.

My budget is 500-800 USD.

For your budget I would look seriously into an Olympus e-pl5 w/ 14-42 + 40-150mm lenses. At B&H they currently come to about $700 bundled. In fact I'm thinking of such a kit for my own use, to replace my dSLR kit for traveling.

Whatever you choose, it sounds like the trip of a lifetime. Happy shooting.

The olympus epl5 is a good choice but for better videos, the Panasonic Gf5 would be better.

The last two posters made good points, but I think you should pick the one you want based on looks, If you are excited to get the camera you will use it more. IMO the Olympus Pens are cool, they look great, artistic. The Panasonics are too business.

You will find a lot more info on the Micro4/3 forum than here on the Beginners Questions. A few links -

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/8986630048/mirrorless-roundup-2011

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3162169

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3219789

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3289921

Kelly Cook

thomasw333 said:

thomasw333 wrote:

The last two posters made good points, but I think you should pick the one you want based on looks, If you are excited to get the camera you will use it more. IMO the Olympus Pens are cool, they look great, artistic. The Panasonics are too business.

Click to expand...

Have we come to this basing choice on fashion rather than function?

leno said:

leno wrote:

leno said:

thomasw333 wrote:

The last two posters made good points, but I think you should pick the one you want based on looks, If you are excited to get the camera you will use it more. IMO the Olympus Pens are cool, they look great, artistic. The Panasonics are too business.

Click to expand...

Have we come to this basing choice on fashion rather than function?

Click to expand...

For some people yes. I like things that fit my sense of what looks good. I would not be interested in an advanced camera if Olympus did not make an affordable and cool looking solution. I am not a pro and I do not want to get paid to take pics, my family likes the pictures I take, and I feel that a better camera would let me take better pictures. If I got the Panasonic I would say ok, looks like a DSLR mini, it fine. If it took great pics I would be happy at the end of the day. Now give me a PEN, and wow this thing looks cool I want to use I want to take it with me, its so small with a prime lens, I can fit it in my jacket pocket. Buying things should be a highly personal experience. If you go out an buy the technically best thing, you may end up not liking it when you get home, because it does not have the look/feel/appeal yo wanted. At the end of the day, the m4/3 was made with Olympus and Panasonic, the cameras in question use the same sensor, and can swap the lenses. So in this case if one just looks better to you why not get it. I do not know exactly why the Panasonic is better than the Olympus or vice-versa, I know I want to take a Pen with me to D.C. in January.

Case in point look at Apple, my GF just loves the look and feel of her MacBook Pro, even though the CPU is 4 generations old, and it barley has any RAM, and the RAM is slow. But she loves it, she loves the look, weight and feel of the trackpad, she had a DELL XPS and hated it, but it was better than her MacBook Pro.

Hi !!! I am planning to buy canon 1100d. My Q is i) Is sensor cleaning a mojor issue in dslr cams?
ii) I wish to buy a 55-250is lens and a 50/1.8 lens with the cam. Is this combination worth buying?
Plz note that I am an amature.. with interest in Night Frames and Bokeh.
Plz also advice me if there are any better options available arround the same price. I have one S3IS now.