New Camera - I could use some advice

Karin1984

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 5, 2012
Hi all,

Next year I'm going to make a 3-week trip to the US which will include Disneyland, Disney World and a Disney Cruise. And I want to take my photography skills to the next level now to make sure I am ready for the trip next year. For the last 5 years, I have used a Sony Cybershot HX300, which has served me well, but it is getting slow and I am looking for a new camera. What I love about Disney are the shows, parades and characters, therefore I was looking into cameras suited for sports photography as my subjects move :) Does this make sense?
After talking to friends & a professional, they say that a system camera is probably going to be my best choice, and after looking into some options and my budget, I am leaning towards Sony Alpha A6400, it comes with a 16-50mm lens. Any thoughts or opinions on this camera? Would you suggest to get other lenses right away, or get used to a camera first?

Other problem I have, which makes me hesitant to spend so much money: I'm scared to shoot manual.
I usually put my camera to auto, as I think then there isn't much that can go wrong. With shows, parades & characters you only get one chance. Even if I have seen the parade a dozen times, there is always the chance something unexpected happens. So better safe than sorry.
I have tried to read into the different topics as shutterspeed, aperture etc., trying to understand what they do. I have tried taking pictures in auto-mode, look at the settings it used and then try manual, adjusting the settings to see what happens, what's the difference. However, I never think the pictures come out better in manual. So, either I am doing something wrong, or I suck at this and I need a different hobby ;-)
I mean, everyone I speak to says that you have to shoot manual to get the best results and make the most of your camera, but I'm scared. And I know the only way to overcome this is probably to keep trying and hoping one day I'll get the hang of it, but if anyone has some advice or re-assuring words, it would be much appreciated!

Thanks!
 
The automatic modes are pretty amazing on today's cameras, no need to jump into manual until you're ready. In fact, I rarely do full manual mode except on my Df or FM. 99% of the time, the camera is at least running something for me.

When looking at cameras, the A6400 is OK, but you're really let down by the lenses. The Nikon D5600 is about the same weight (it is a deeper camera due to the mirror box) but definitely has better lenses both in the kit and available for it, and the PDAF system is still better for sports than the A6400. If you really want mirrorless, a much better choice would be any of the Fuji APS-C options: their lenses are the best APS-C lenses with a broader selection that are much better than anything Sony. This makes Fuji my 100% recommendation for general amateur photography today, with AF that's very good, and lenses that are hard to beat. I'd take the Fuji over the Sony any day of the week. Oh, and it helps that Fuji pays attention to ergonomics, something that Sony really doesn't, so the Fuji is much more comfortable to use and easier to control.

Beyond general photography, when it comes to strictly sports, action, long telephotos and the like, the D7500 is the camera to beat. At 8 FPS with a professional level AF system and a price under $1k, coupled with the Nikon telephoto glass available such as the 200-500 or 70-200/80-200 models, the only models that beat it are things like the 7D, 1D, D500 and D5. But that's much more a niche product than a general purpose camera that the Fuji X series are.

As for what you should get for lenses: usually you can get a kit with an additional telephoto lens in it for a pretty steep discount. Pick that up, and practice with them both. :)
 
Hi all,

Next year I'm going to make a 3-week trip to the US which will include Disneyland, Disney World and a Disney Cruise. And I want to take my photography skills to the next level now to make sure I am ready for the trip next year. For the last 5 years, I have used a Sony Cybershot HX300, which has served me well, but it is getting slow and I am looking for a new camera. What I love about Disney are the shows, parades and characters, therefore I was looking into cameras suited for sports photography as my subjects move :) Does this make sense?
After talking to friends & a professional, they say that a system camera is probably going to be my best choice, and after looking into some options and my budget, I am leaning towards Sony Alpha A6400, it comes with a 16-50mm lens. Any thoughts or opinions on this camera? Would you suggest to get other lenses right away, or get used to a camera first?

Other problem I have, which makes me hesitant to spend so much money: I'm scared to shoot manual.
I usually put my camera to auto, as I think then there isn't much that can go wrong. With shows, parades & characters you only get one chance. Even if I have seen the parade a dozen times, there is always the chance something unexpected happens. So better safe than sorry.
I have tried to read into the different topics as shutterspeed, aperture etc., trying to understand what they do. I have tried taking pictures in auto-mode, look at the settings it used and then try manual, adjusting the settings to see what happens, what's the difference. However, I never think the pictures come out better in manual. So, either I am doing something wrong, or I suck at this and I need a different hobby ;-)
I mean, everyone I speak to says that you have to shoot manual to get the best results and make the most of your camera, but I'm scared. And I know the only way to overcome this is probably to keep trying and hoping one day I'll get the hang of it, but if anyone has some advice or re-assuring words, it would be much appreciated!

Thanks!


definitely go with mirrorless - they are smaller and lighter. I use a Canon mirrorless and small "pancake" style lens for travel, cycling and visiting resorts
go to a store like Best Buy and try them out .... and don't be afraid to practice using manual settings
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless
 
Don't feel bad at all about not doing manual everything - we can let machines do the work! To start with, you might dive into setting one parameter or another depending on the effect you want. For instance, setting shutter speed priority for the amount of motion "freezing" you want. For this parade, I set a moderately fast speed of 1/250 to generally freeze the action but allow a small degree of motion blur to give the impression of movement:


Or sometimes on roller coasters, I'll set a really slow shutter speed for some crazy motion blur

I'll second jec6613's recommendation to take a look at the Fuji line. A particular recommendation to start with: the X-T30 bundled with the 18-55mm f/2.8-4 zoom. The X-T30 has the same sensor and most of the same features as the higher end models, in a nice compact form. The 18-55mm is an excellent mid-zoom-range lens with better quality than the "kit" zooms that come with most other brands.
 


Thank you all for your advice! I've watched some comparison videos online about your recommendations and maybe the X-T30 is a good match for me. I'm off to the store where they have these cameras to see them in real live and then decide. They have the option to try products for 30 days and if they don't match, I can return them and get a full refund.

(And thanks for reassuring me about shooting manual :) )
 
(And thanks for reassuring me about shooting manual :) )
As you start getting out of auto mode, one of my favorite tricks is to set the ISO to automatic, and control the aperture and shutter speed. This lets me control the depth of field and lens aberrations (lenses perform better at less than wide open aperture) and control the shutter speed for the amount of motion blur. But it still lets the camera control the final exposure using its autoexposure system by adjusting the ISO. With modern sensors, ISO1600 is very good on all of them, so you have a lot of leeway, with the Fuji having nearly state of the art high ISO performance and only the purpose built for high ISO Nikon 20MP sensor outperforming it in APS-C. In fact, ISO6400 on those Fuji cameras has more dynamic range than a cell phone camera at ISO 100, let alone the extra detail by having a better lens!

The other mode I like to use with more static subjects is aperture priority, and control the ISO manually, letting the camera determine the shutter speed. This is great for controlling the depth of field and lens aberrations just like above, but I can also control the ISO to keep high ISO noise to a minimum - great for when I want to print big or do a lot of post processing and need to keep the ISO down.

The two occasions where I go fully manual on a regular basis (controlling both ISO, aperture, and shutter speed all myself) are first with my Df, where I want to have tight control over what's happening and is why I bought the camera to begin with, and normally use manual focus lenses as well! It's a lot of fun, and your Fuji will easily let you do that all if you want to in the future. And the second case is when shooting panoramas: with panoramas you want the exposure to remain 100% consistent for better stitching later, and I have the time to lock the exposure in anyway.

One other important thing is to shoot in raw, not in JPEG. This lets you capture the raw data off of the sensor, which has many times more dynamic range than comes out in JPEG image. It means you'll have to bring it into a PC to post process it, which will take practice to get good at, but it's worth the effort to get the most out of your images. And of course, you can have the camera record both raw and JPEG so you have both an image available immediately and one to play with later.
 
Ok, completely torn now.
Apparently the Fujifilm XT30 and Sony Alpha 6400 are so similar, there are dozens of websites & youtube videos comparing them.
When I look at one video, I think: Yes, it's going to be Sony!
Then I watch another and think: Yes, it's going to be Fujifilm!

When I get nitpicky, I like that Sony is better protected against the weather & dust (I am a local at Disneyland Paris, it rains here more often), face detection seems to be better. On Fujifilm colors are better, skin tones are more natural, FPS is higher. On the other hand, color can be fixed in post-process....
When I look at lenses: Sony is also compatible with Tamron etc. Fujifilm is only compatible with Fujifilm?

The current offers are:
Sony + 16-50mm = $1.150
Sony + 18-135mm = $1.625

Fujifilm + 18-55mm= $1.450
Fujifilm + 15-45mm = $1.125
There is a sold out special offer, I've send a message to ask if the offer will return.
Fujifilm + 15-45mm + 55-200mm = $1.785

Any more advice to give? :)
 


Any more advice to give? :)
Most reviewers will try to find positives in both sides, it gives them more clicks by not alienating one set of viewers. I will say they're right on one point: the sensor quality is much of a muchness, both are using basically state of the art sensors. Fuji is a bit newer and better, but it's nothing to write home about.

When it comes to weather and dust sealing, mine and others past experience has been that I'd rather have the X-T30 in a light rain than any Sony camera. Even their full frame lineup has very poor weather sealing, the A7II's would actually pool water right where there was a gap in the seals and let water pour into the battery compartment. But, if you're worried, you can move up the Fuji lineup to something beefier, and there are more options to do so, while the A6400 is the end of the line for Sony APS-C. And, importantly, you can get the X-T30 now, and decide you want more camera later - to do that with Sony, you're moving to full frame and having to replace lenses as well.

Tamron, Sigma, and Tokina don't make X mount lenses, but there's a good reason: they can't compete against the Fujinon ones, either on price or performance. Zeiss, Samyang, SLR Magic and Mitakon do make X mount lenses that nicely fill out the few gaps in Fuji's lineup though. And, besides that issue, Sony doesn't have many first party lenses available: there are more Fuji X mount lens models than Sony E mount, with 36 vs 18 lenses on the market. And every Fuji lens handily outperforms its Sony equivalent, and has a more appropriate focal length: Sony basically makes 18 convenience lenses, with maximum zoom apertures of f/4 and primes of f/1.8, usually with the focal length being a bit too long for the task. Fuji has all of that covered with higher quality lenses, plus has f/2.8 zooms, and f/1.4 and f/1.2 prime lenses, and even specialty lenses like the 200mm f/2.

I shoot Nikon for similar reasons by the way: A good lineup of bodies up and down, so I can have smaller lighter cheaper bodies and more expensive bodies (and I do have several), and a lens lineup of superior lenses for APS-C. Obviously, I bought into it some time ago at this point and Nikon has neglected their APS-C lenses lately so that Fuji has pulled ahead in that regard, but in terms of image quality even my 15+ year old Nikkor lenses pretty handily beat anything Sony makes in APS-C even today. There's no way I would be happy in the Sony lineup, and it comes down mostly to the available optics, not the bodies themselves.

Oh, and of course, when you pick up a Fuji camera, it definitely feels better in the hand and is more pleasurable to shoot, with less nonsensical menu diving. Sony's ergonomics were designed by people who make Blu-Ray players, and it shows, while Fuji's were designed by people who take photographs.
 
Ok, completely torn now.
Apparently the Fujifilm XT30 and Sony Alpha 6400 are so similar, there are dozens of websites & youtube videos comparing them.
When I look at one video, I think: Yes, it's going to be Sony!
Then I watch another and think: Yes, it's going to be Fujifilm!

When I get nitpicky, I like that Sony is better protected against the weather & dust (I am a local at Disneyland Paris, it rains here more often), face detection seems to be better. On Fujifilm colors are better, skin tones are more natural, FPS is higher. On the other hand, color can be fixed in post-process....
When I look at lenses: Sony is also compatible with Tamron etc. Fujifilm is only compatible with Fujifilm?

The current offers are:
Sony + 16-50mm = $1.150
Sony + 18-135mm = $1.625

Fujifilm + 18-55mm= $1.450
Fujifilm + 15-45mm = $1.125
There is a sold out special offer, I've send a message to ask if the offer will return.
Fujifilm + 15-45mm + 55-200mm = $1.785

Any more advice to give? :)


yes, ---- remember the 30 day return policy !

www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless

Untitled by c w, on Flickr
 
To the O.P., I would encourage you to be slightly wary of too enthusiastic bashing of any particular camera brand - the truth is, any mirrorless model with an APS-C sensor or full-frame sensor is going to be extremely capable, with the minor differences between any model imperceptible to almost any photographer. It's very de rigeur now to bash Sony cameras - but they're as capable or more so as anything on the market, and have a huge number of models and lenses available. Things like 'Sony makes Blu-Ray' tend to be unfortunate bias against the brand name that goes back a long way and has nothing to do with photographic quality or ability, and there's often a big misunderstanding about lens lineups since Sony's e-mount has both APS-C and full-frame models in its lineup - ALL e-mount lenses are native and compatible for the A6400 - whether the lens covers the full-frame sensor or APS-C sensor. There are 17 Sony APS-C dedicated AF lenses, plus 30 more Sony FE AF lenses designed to cover both full-frame and APS-C, for a total of 47 native e-mount lenses - and with good third party support, there are also 41 autofocusing e-mount lenses made by Tamron, Sigma, Rokinon, Tokina, Meike, Zeiss, and Viltrox...that's 88 autofocus E-mount lenses. A common misconception is that a lens designed for full-frame is going to always be bigger or heavier than a lens designed only for APS-C - but that doesn't always end up as reality - some Sony FE full-frame lenses are the same size as APS-C versions from other manufacturers - sometimes even smaller or lighter, especially as the focal lengths get longer.

Ergonomics are a very personal thing. It's 100% wrong to state that ergonomics of one body are poor or great for another person, because there's no way to know what will fit the hand of, or feel good to, another person. Statements like 'menu diving' attributed to Sony cameras is usually made by those with no actual experience shooting the bodies, as most Sony shooters will confirm they almost NEVER need to go into the menus - as the bodies have high levels of customization of controls and buttons, quick access 'Fn' menus to get at key features, and even a 'My Menu' custom first page menu that can be set up to store all the deep menu functions you may need regular access to. Fuji's control style is more 'retro' - which some film camera users and enthusiast-types like - Sony's control style is more modern, which some newer camera shooters and digital photography folks find more favorable and more customizable, and sometimes much faster to use and switch between settings, or use more of the camera's auto or computational functionality. Neither is 'better' for all people - it's up to what you prefer.

Most reviews and tests you'll find out there will reveal the inconvenient truth that Sony's cameras are always top rated and well reviewed, often class leading - but reveal another truth - the difference between the worst reviewed and best reviewed Aps-C camera on the market are just a few percent...there simply isn't a 'bad' camera out there, especially coming from a small-sensor P&S, in which ANY other APS-C body out there will perform many orders of magnitude better.

Personally, I'm a long-time photographer, since 1977 with film SLRs, and into digital starting in 1997...I've been through many different brands of film cameras, and a few digital cameras. I have been very happy with how Sony digital cameras have fit me and worked for me, and that's what I currently use. But I don't find any need to, or any value in, bashing other brands. Simply put, Fuji make some brilliant cameras and lovely lenses. So does Nikon, and Canon. And Olympus and Panasonic. And Sony. And Pentax. All have their advantages and disadvantages, but none are bad. They're all different degrees of excellent, with slightly different design approaches and plenty of lenses for just about any photographer save a high-end professional, who might have a specific reason to want or need a particular brand or body, or need one specialist lens only available in a particular mount.

Try them out, pick them up, read the reviews and user opinions, toss out the top 2 or 3 overly enthusiastic reviews and the bottom 2 or 3 most negative or anti-brand biased reviews, and don't put as much weight on a final 'score' or 'award' as the specific positives and negatives for the model you're considering, and how those specific positives and negatives will apply to how YOU intend to use the camera.
 
From my personal experience, the Fuji edges out the Sony models. Between the build quality, IQ and even customer service, I've found Fuji to be a much sounder purchase. The XT30 is a phenomenal camera (though I think the leap to the XT3 is worth it).

Even their 'point and shoot' (Fuji X100F) is incredible for someone who wants a smaller form factor for many trips. I've gotten so many incredible photos with it.
 
To give an update, I am at the moment waiting for my new camera to be delivered within the next 2 hours. It took a lot of thought and discussions what would be best. In the end, I decided to go for a Sony Alpha A6000, the package included a 16-50mm and a 55-210mm lens. I had initially my eye on the A6300, but this was about 250EUR more expensive. Which made me still hesitatant to take a decision. Then decision was basically taken for me. The A6300 was taken out of the assortment of the store. Of course I could go look for another store, but I decided to take it as a sign not to go for the A6300.

When I went to the store and had some models in my hand, I decided that Sony was the best brand for me. It felt the best in my hand.

In the end I decided not to go for the more expensive A6400 or the Fujil-Film XT30. At the moment I do not know if I will be able to keep up this hobby over a longer period of time, so after my big holiday next year, to justify the more expensive models camera. Maybe in the future I'll upgrade again, but I think for now this will be good enough.

Thank you all for giving your thoughts on this dilemma! :)
 
Congrats on the purchase, and hopefully you'll get some great enjoyment from it. Any camera from the past 5 years is going to be plenty capable and there aren't really any bad large sensor cameras out there...getting them in your hands is an important step to finding out which one fits you well.
Read up on some of the cool features of the A6000 which could come in handy, especially great tools like the 6-frame multi-frame-noise-reduction mode that can really make using high ISO in dark situations very clean and easy, the HDR modes which can take, stack, and align 3 frames at different exposures in the camera, and all of the various button programmability, and Fn menu where you can set and store all your most-used functions so you don't have to go digging for them in the menus. And have fun!
 
Excellent choice. You clearly chose correctly because you bought my camera. :p

Before your camera even arrives, I'm going to help you spend even more of your money. I started with the same two kit lenses and used them for the next trip to WDW. The 15-50mm kit lens makes for a nice compact kit. I brought the 55-210mm on that trip, but never used it. However, you may find it perfect for parades.

I upgraded to the 18-105mm lens and use it 95% of the time. The extra reach makes it a perfect single lens for the parks. Some people prefer the 18-135mm, which has a longer reach and is lighter. I recently added the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 to use on dark rides.

I agree you shouldn't worry about manual mode. Use shutter priority for parades to make sure you stop motion, then don't worry about it. Look for a video that explains all the automatic modes.

Two inexpensive things you should pick up for the trip:
1. A glass cover for the LCD screen. They're $10-$15 on Amazon and will protect the plastic LCD from scratching.
2. A blower to remove dirt from the sensor - don't use a cloth on it. My favorite is the Giottos AA1920 Rocket Air Blaster Small-Black.

About dust:
- Try to keep the sensor pointed down when you change lenses. But no matter how hard you try, you'll eventually get some dust on it.
- Check the front of your lens every morning before going to the park. Nothing worse than finding the dust on the after a full day of shooting.


Enjoy your trip!
 
Excellent choice. You clearly chose correctly because you bought my camera. :p

Before your camera even arrives, I'm going to help you spend even more of your money.

I agree you shouldn't worry about manual mode. Use shutter priority for parades to make sure you stop motion, then don't worry about it. Look for a video that explains all the automatic modes.


Enjoy your trip!

Thank you for all the tips and advice! I'm going to have a first test on Saturday at the zoo, and on Monday at DLP. I hope for good weather and low crowds :-)P as if during the summer), we have a very colourful summer Jungle Book show with an Indian vibe to it, the costumes of the dancers look great. So hopefully I'll be able to capture this properly :)

I'll first try a few things and then see what other lenses and things I need. But I can see the cover for the LCD and the blower being useful already.
 
To give an update, I am at the moment waiting for my new camera to be delivered within the next 2 hours. It took a lot of thought and discussions what would be best. In the end, I decided to go for a Sony Alpha A6000, the package included a 16-50mm and a 55-210mm lens. I had initially my eye on the A6300, but this was about 250EUR more expensive. Which made me still hesitatant to take a decision. Then decision was basically taken for me. The A6300 was taken out of the assortment of the store. Of course I could go look for another store, but I decided to take it as a sign not to go for the A6300.

When I went to the store and had some models in my hand, I decided that Sony was the best brand for me. It felt the best in my hand.

In the end I decided not to go for the more expensive A6400 or the Fujil-Film XT30. At the moment I do not know if I will be able to keep up this hobby over a longer period of time, so after my big holiday next year, to justify the more expensive models camera. Maybe in the future I'll upgrade again, but I think for now this will be good enough.

Thank you all for giving your thoughts on this dilemma! :)

The newer models like the a6400 have better auto focusing but if you're not shooting sports or wildlife then the older original a6000 should work fine for Disney. Smaller and lighter mirrorless cameras are definitely good choices.
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless
 
Excellent choice. You clearly chose correctly because you bought my camera. :p

One more question, as you have this camera :P Is it in any way possible to turn off the shutter sound on this model? I've looked through the manual and online, but can't seem to find it.
 
No - the 'shutter sound' is actually a shutter for real - no way to turn the sound off without turning the shutter off - which means no photos!

The newer cameras starting from the A6300 added a feature called 'Silent Shutter' - which rather than using the mechanical shutter switches to an all electronic shutter when you need to be quiet - but it can only be used with slower shutter speeds and subjects not moving too quickly, as it has a fairly slow readout speed. All cameras with electronic shutters experience this issue except a rare few that have special, fast readout speeds - those are usually very expensive flagship cameras, like the Olympus E-M1X, and Sony A9.
 

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