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What is the best Mirrorless for my newborn baby.

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Band of the Red Hand

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I am wondering what the best mirrorless system would be to take pictures of my soon to be arriving baby. I would like to take a lot of video too. Currently I use the a6000 with the 35mm f1.8 lens the most, but I don't know that I always like the video that I get and I would like to take a lot of video as well. What would you recommend? Is it worth the 4K, should I upgrade to the 6300 or is it better to go with the IS of the EM-5II or the new GM85? Please your input and advice would be very helpful. (I do use other lenses too, but that lens makes everything so easy). I would like to stay in the $1000 or less neighborhood so the super fancy sony's are out for me. Thank you again.
 
KarlSalt said:
I'd personally avoid the EM-5II for video, I love it for photos but the autofocus and touchsceen focus are shocking (you will need good focusing once your child starts running around). Its a real shame as the quality is great and with the stabilisation it would have been a fantastic camera for video. I'm thinking of getting the gx85 when released, just waiting for a few more reviews to see how the video focusing is. The a6300 video quality and focusing looks fantastic but the lack of touchscreen and the price puts me off.
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I'm looking forward to a stills' image quality comparison between the A6300 and the GX85. On the A6400, with close to 400 dedicated pixel points for PDAF, the sensor's image quality must be slightly degraded.
 
The question is: "What is the best Mirrorless for my newborn baby."

For baby's first mirrorless, consider something with a touch-screen. Remember, baby's fingers can't grasp and turn all of the control dials, and buttons can be hard to press. Also, baby will almost certainly be learning how to use a smart-phone, so those touch-screen skills will transfer well.
 
cameron2 said:
The question is: "What is the best Mirrorless for my newborn baby."

For baby's first mirrorless, consider something with a touch-screen. Remember, baby's fingers can't grasp and turn all of the control dials, and buttons can be hard to press. Also, baby will almost certainly be learning how to use a smart-phone, so those touch-screen skills will transfer well.
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That baby is an 'early-adopter.'
 
Yes you are all very funny (and very helpful). Thank you. I did mean to take pictures of the new baby... just to keep anyone else from offering the very helpful, but unnecessary advice relating to the baby using a camera.
 
Seriously, any camera will do for your newborn (congrats!)! You can practice and work on your technique. You will be taking this na of pictures and video.
 
I have a 15 month old so I think I can answer some of this. Her first photo was taken in the delivery room with my E-PM2 (by one of the nurses). That camera has also taken most of her photos but I also have a Nikon D5100. The Nikon has a 17-70 (so a 24-105 FF equivalent) 2.8-4 zoom on it which at times makes life much easier. I prefer primes (as much new baby photographing is indoors) but sometimes a zoom just makes things easier in tight spaces. My Olympus 45 1.8 takes the best portraits.

So, do you have a flash you can bounce off the ceiling? That's probably the most useful for freezing motion. You're not going to want to be flash crazy when he/she is brand new but as they get bigger, its' really helpful in getting photos which aren't blurry. That would be my first investment. IS helps if you're moving (shaking hands). It does nothing if the baby is moving though. You need a faster shutter (more light) or a flash to freeze motion.

In terms of video I do occasionally use the Olympus or Nikon (or even my iPhone). However the camera used most for video is a GoPro Hero 4 session. It's waterproof / crush proof and I can put it on the floor next to her. If she picks it up and throws it or tries to chew on it, it doesn't matter. We had a Hero for a bit, but the session has better audio since it doesn't have the lock in plastic case. This was also helpful for her first time in the pool photos :). I got the suction cup mount which I put on her pushcar/wagon and we do timelapses of her and me driving around the neighborhood.

Right now my challenge is that she's figured out walking at 75 mph and if she sees me on the floor with the Olympus, she charges me, sits in my lap and plays with the pilot button on my flash (pew pew). Which is really cute but doesn't leave me with photos. The Nikon is going to get pulled out again as the Olympus just can't focus fast enough. But that won't be an issue with a brand new baby.

I think your A6000 is fine (I wish my mirrorless had hybrid autofocus). Get started and see what you feel you need to get the photos/video of your child you want. I'd consider getting a bounce-able flash if you don't have one and get good at taking those.

Any for everyone joking about 5-6 years - my 15 m/o daughter works the Pen Mini fine. Touch screen, click on what you want the photo of. Boom. :).
 
Keep in mind that video takes a lot of time to be processed and shared.

4K ? if you are asking the question, you probably should forget about it. 4K makes sense for people who take video really seriously with time and skill to edit, recompress, store, backup, and share.

Not to mention that it makes no sense to have 4K video with the crap audio from internal mics.

Most practical way for photo and video when you have no time : smartphone. That is what most people will look your photos and videos on : they won't pixel peep.

If you really want to do better quality videos, a stabilized lens on a panasonic or sony camera with added shotgun mic will be better, but only if you take the time to learn how to make the most of it and optimize your workflow to edit the videos before your hard disk crashes.

Other than that, I use the 25f1.4 with em10 which is similar to your setup, but stabilization does help a treat, also during video.

A system that allows good Manual focus is also best for video.
 
First of all, congrats on newborn baby.

Consider perhaps a compact mirrorless like a Panasonic GM1 or GM5 that has dials and not menus. Set on Auto everything mode.

Enjoy the moment.

Lena

--
Like others here, I suffer from chronic GAS.
Gear Acquisition Syndrome.
a few hundred nautical miles SW : 17º 52S, 149º 56W
 
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In general, staying with a system to build up the lens collection is better than keep switching platforms just because the other side at a particular time has something better. Your system will catch up later (then you see other people going the other direction).

The 35/1.8 lens you have has in-lens stabilization, if I recall, so you are good. The only issue with the A6000 is AF indoors, but if it is working OK with you, there is no reason to spend so much more to get the A6300.
 
Band of the Red Hand said:
I am wondering what the best mirrorless system would be to take pictures of my soon to be arriving baby. I would like to take a lot of video too. Currently I use the a6000 with the 35mm f1.8 lens the most, but I don't know that I always like the video that I get and I would like to take a lot of video as well. What would you recommend? Is it worth the 4K, should I upgrade to the 6300 or is it better to go with the IS of the EM-5II or the new GM85? Please your input and advice would be very helpful. (I do use other lenses too, but that lens makes everything so easy). I would like to stay in the $1000 or less neighborhood so the super fancy sony's are out for me. Thank you again.
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I know ZERO about the Sony cameras. But if you're were to go to micro four thirds, I'd strongly recommend the GX85. Dual image stabilization would be fantastic for video recording plus the Panasonics record very, very good quality video. The flip-down rear screen and touch AF will be very useful for photographing/recording from your child's height.
 
congratulations :)

I started photography thanks to my baby girl and now love it.

What I would like to suggest since you'll a lot be inside is to have good image stabilisation or a flash that you can point to the top (even just pull it back with your finger if it is a built in flash that allows you to do so).

Please don't forget to remove in the menus the focussing light that is quite strong for babies eyes.

And shoot raw ! I started to shoot raw after a year when I started to care about photography. Even if you don't use it yet (then shoot raw+jpeg), you maybe will be happy to have the raw files later. And keep your memory cards, they are so cheap now. It will be an extra save.
 
I forgot the most important : take something small, you don't want to miss any important moment that can happen anywhere and you'll have enough mess to carry now :(
 
addlightness said:
I think you'll have to wait until your baby is 5 or 6 years old before he/she can handle a MILC.

At least that was the case for my two kids (Sony NEX-5N and Nikon V1)

:-P
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You beat me to that one.

And I'd like to add (nicely if possible) that sometimes I see these threads and wonder how people can even make up their minds what to order off a restaurant menu. We're talking about a baby here. It's not moving at 90mph or performing a ballet recital in low light, and there's only so much video you really need of a baby. Baby cries, baby smiles, baby gets a bath, most of these things are captured as well with photos as video anyhow.

Congrats to the OP on the new family member. My wife and I were blessed with a son 4 1/2 years ago and believe me the most important thing you can do is know your existing equipment fully and keep it handy to use at those important moments. Nobody is going to regret not having 4K video or some particular lens when all is said and done. I found that when I couldn't or didn't get a shot I wanted it was because I screwed up using my camera in some way or overlooked something in the process of hurrying to take a photo - not because I didn't have a fancy lens or the latest camera body.
 
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HornOUBet said:
Let me go ahead and say it.....OM-D EM-5 II

edit to add: ....and the 12-40 pro and 40-150 pro....and the 45 f/1.8 and 75 f/ 1.8 and 12 f/2.0 will get 95+% of everything you will ever need photographically......
Click to expand...
 
Band of the Red Hand said:
I am wondering what the best mirrorless system would be to take pictures of my soon to be arriving baby. I would like to take a lot of video too. Currently I use the a6000 with the 35mm f1.8 lens the most, but I don't know that I always like the video that I get and I would like to take a lot of video as well. What would you recommend? Is it worth the 4K, should I upgrade to the 6300 or is it better to go with the IS of the EM-5II or the new GM85? Please your input and advice would be very helpful. (I do use other lenses too, but that lens makes everything so easy). I would like to stay in the $1000 or less neighborhood so the super fancy sony's are out for me. Thank you again.
Click to expand...
I would suggest a EM5II or EM10II and an Oly 45mm prime lens.
 
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