Best mirrorless under 600

I will be doing basic photography and small videos, need something small and under 600 with mic input, used is fine but would prefer new. I would get the sony a5100 but it doesnt have the mic input, is there any way past that? Thanks for the help.

600 what?

dincz said:

600 what?

Click to expand...

Yup! The internet is a big place.

Sorry about that. Us dollars.

A "Camera feature search" on this site turned up 25 cameras that are "SLR-like bridge," "Rangefinder style mirrorless", or "SLR style mirrorless" and that have an external MIC jack.

Many of these have estimated prices well in excess of $600 USD. However, there is at least one close to your range – the Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ300 (a bridge camera that has a non-interchangeable zoom lens and an electronic viewfinder).

https://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/compacts/panasonic_dmcfz300

What about the samsung nx30? I found one for under $600. I know samsung is done with cameras but... It's so cheap for what it is. Is it a bad idea to get it?

There are a few selling used in the $300 range, even, without lens.

Best general-purpose camera for video a half-decade ago, and used in many professional productions. Beats the pants off of most 2016 1080p cameras for video quality, but also gives you great controls and ergonomics.

Be careful about PAL vs. NTSC if buying used or gray market, if it matters to you.

Pay attention to the video part. You can also find more video specific reviews on the Web

As far as long term. I dunno. Samsung has not officially quit the market. It does seem pretty obvious they are done. If you ever want different lenses, service, accessories you MAY have problems down the road. Then again it seems a good price and hopefully will work for many years. If the line goes extinct you MAY find the current lenses and accessories cheap since few will want to buy in.......speculation. I am not nostradomus

The gh2 may be an option for you.

As far as no mic input. Some manufacturers support hot shoe accessories. Not sure about sony. Of course then your hot shoe is used

That looks good, I'll do more research on it. Thanks

I don't need professional quality videos, so the nx30 might be a good option. I'll research the gh2. Thanks for the help.

I know this goes off the thread topic, but would there be a DSLR in this price range good for video? All DSLRs are good at pictures (for the most part) and I have had some experience with using a DSLR. So maybe there is a good DSLR option. Thanks.

Nope!

For video a DSLR is a very poor choice because you can't use the reflex viewfinder -- the mirror has to stay locked up whilst shooting. Entry level DSLRs are particularly bad for anything but casual clips.

OK thought that might be a problem. Thanks. Mirrorless it is.

dSLRs are worse for video than Sony or Panasonic mirrorless. Mirrorless are designed for things like live view (which is a lot like video), for focus from the main sensor (not a separate AF sensor), and so on. With dSLR, you're also paying for a mirrorbox and optical viewfinder, both of which are useless during video. Mirrorless have lenses designed to focus off of the main sensor. There are a lot of issues around ergonomics as well.

The first serious video from a still camera was a dSLR -- the Canon 5D MKII. It was the first still camera used professionally for things like TV shows. It got eclipsed for by the GH2 I suggested for all intents except DoF control. That's been used in a lot of pro video as well. That, in turn, recently got eclipsed by the Sony A7S/A7SII/A7RII, which are all very nice, but well outside your budget (Panasonic also released the GH3 and GH4, both of which are used professionally as well; I'm not very familiar with the GH3, but the GH4 is in a similar class to the Sonys, but also outside of your price range). Panasonic's technology has trickled down to lower-end models as well. Sony hasn't yet recently lower-end mirrorless with video in the same class as Panasonic, but that said, they're still quite good. Canon continues to update video features, but is a bit behind Panasonic/Sony. And Nikon/Pentax are a step down from there.

Although the truth of the matter is it might not matter. Everything on the market with audio level controls and a microphone input does embarrassingly well. Keep in mind that the Canon 5DMKII is now almost a decade old. Technology has come a long ways since then. You can see some of the rather spectacular shoots taken with it (Google around, or watch the finale of House which was filmed entirely with one). Video from most modern cameras will be even better. GH2 video is visibly sharper than the 5DMKII. Unlike the 5DMKII, it can autofocus during video shoots (which a pro would never do, but which is useful for home videos). It has better ergonomics. But at the end of the day, most cameras, again, with proper audio, are capable of producing spectacularly good video, whether dSLR, dSLT, or mirrorless.

I could get a used gh2 body and then a lens, or find a cheap lens and get a used gh3. what would be better, more expensive lens and then a gh2 or cheap lens and gh3? Keep in mind I would like to do some photography.

For still photography, the lens matters much more than the body.

For video, the body matters more than the lens.

I've never used a GH3. Looking at reviews, from my point of view, the key difference would be audio out jack. If that lets you monitor audio as it's being recorded, that'd be a big deal for me. Others might care about other features.

A few issues to consider:

1. Camera bodies go obsolete quickly. Lenses last a long, long time. The lens will still likely go with your Panasonic GH9 in 2034.
2. You can always buy more lenses
3. "Better" with lenses is highly subjective. What's better? A 14-140mm or a 45mm f/1.8? It depends on what you're doing.

Which specific combos are you considering?

I don't have anything in mind. if it's going to be the gh3 then I have a budget if $150 for the lens, with the gh2 I have a budget of $250 for the lens. I think what I'm trying to ask is what is the best combination of video and photography in terms of a camera body.

If you're spending your own money, unless you need 1080p60 instead of 1080p24, I'd start with a GH2 and a standard kit lens.

There aren't good and bad lenses. There are lenses more or less suitable to a given purpose. The kit lens is designed to be cheap, pretty good, and cover common uses. At that point, once you know what limitations you run into, you buy lenses which resolve whatever issue you're bumping into. Lenses trade of zoom, image quality, size, cost, maximum aperture, and all sorts of things against each other. Right now, you (probably) don't know whether you need a 14-140mm superzoom, or a 45mm f/1.8 prime.

Or you can say more about what you're doing, and people might be able to recommend other lenses. But in most cases, the kit lens is basically a decent way to figure out what you need. And since you're buying used, you don't lose much money if you resell the kit lens.

Here's a pair of good articles:

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2010/07/lenses-dont-collect-the-whole-set/

http://kenrockwell.com/tech/assembling-a-system.htm

I'd ignore their specific recommendations -- which assume both stills and a higher budget -- but I would look at the logic behind them. It gives a good idea of how to think about which lenses you need.

Do keep in mind for video, zoom is much more useful than for stills. You can't crop 2 megapixel video the way you can 16 megapixel stills. Image quality is less important. A 16 megapixel still will show many more defects than a 2 megapixel video.

Ok, I think I will do more research on lenses before anything and make sure I get what I need. Thanks for your help

golfhov said:

https://m.dpreview.com/reviews/samsung-nx30/12

Pay attention to the video part. You can also find more video specific reviews on the Web

As far as long term. I dunno. Samsung has not officially quit the market. It does seem pretty obvious they are done. If you ever want different lenses, service, accessories you MAY have problems down the road. Then again it seems a good price and hopefully will work for many years. If the line goes extinct you MAY find the current lenses and accessories cheap since few will want to buy in.......speculation. I am not nostradomus

The gh2 may be an option for you.

As far as no mic input. Some manufacturers support hot shoe accessories. Not sure about sony. Of course then your hot shoe is used

Click to expand...

Sony does have mic input dongles for selected models that have accessory contacts in the hot shoe. There is a compatibility chart at:

www.sony.net/Products/diacc/compatibilities/microphone/

The a5100 isn't listed, so likely doesn't support that feature.