What type of camera should I buy for trainspotting??

[JackOnTheMove]

Price budget would be under £700

 

[Bletchleyite]

Depends what you want to do. Do you want decent quality photos of trains, or do you want to enjoy the process of photography specifically by e.g. selecting lenses, setting the exposure and focussing manually?

If the former, you should buy an iPhone 14* - there is no better compact camera. Just using a phone will also reduce the hassle you might get from some staff compared to setting up a proper camera on a tripod. If the latter, some sort of dSLR (I'm not an expert in these!)

* The Pro's third camera is mostly about close-up pics (macro). Close-up pics of trains may get you killed

 

[JackOnTheMove]

currently I am using an iPhone 7 camera .I am looking to upgrade to an iPhone 11.
My mate is using a canon eos 2000D but I don't know what the camera quailty is like because I love high depth images with very nice resolution.

 

[Bletchleyite]

currently I am using an iPhone 7 camera .I am looking to upgrade to an iPhone 11.

I would go to a 13 at least if you can afford it. The camera on the 13 is absolutely superb, in particular its handling of low light is near-unrivalled. The 7 is pretty basic in comparison. The 14 is a smaller step from the 13. The 12 is still good but not as good.

 

[43066]

If the former, you should buy an iPhone 14*

I would agree with this. With a budget of £700 for a camera, I’d consider putting the whole lot towards the phone and not bothering with a separate camera.

 

[JackOnTheMove]

sadly the prices are too steep at the moment but which 'Camera' brand should I purchase from (mainly looking to be affordable)

I would agree with this. With a budget of £700 for a camera, I’d consider putting the whole lot towards the phone and not bothering with a separate camera.

problem with the phone option is the monthly pay aswell as how much space I would get. Current phone has 32gb internally and is very close to gone

 

[Bletchleyite]

sadly the prices are too steep at the moment but which 'Camera' brand should I purchase from (mainly looking to be affordable)

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Apple-iPhone-mini-128GB-Starlight/dp/B09G96QDHX/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2P24YNQFL9KBP&keywords=iphone+13+mini&qid=1669202318&sprefix=iphone+13+mini%2Caps%2C64&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

iPhone 13 mini, £649 on Amazon, within your budget of £700. It's a smaller phone (which I personally like but I know some don't) but the camera is identical to the full size 13. £639 for a red one for some reason!

Or get one on a contract and you don't have to spend the chunk of capital.

 

[JackOnTheMove]

thank you for the prices. How much internal storage does it have?

 

[Bletchleyite]

thank you for the prices. How much internal storage does it have?

That's 128GB. 256 would cost more, but if you use iCloud (OK, admittedly this is not free) you needn't keep everything on it. 128 is plenty though, that's what mine is and it presently has 60GB free and that's with a ton of apps.

 

[JackOnTheMove]

thanks i will defo look into that but i will need a camera for a photography and graphics design course i will be studying next year at college. Any good recommendations?

 

[Bletchleyite]

thanks i will defo look into that but i will need a camera for a photography and graphics design course i will be studying next year at college. Any good recommendations?

Ah, OK. In which case it's back to others to advise on a good value dSLR, because you'll want all the manual stuff if you're actually going to be studying photography as an art-form in itself.

 

[Andrew*Debbie]

Price budget would be under £700

Panasonic DMC-FZ1000. £550. This is a bridge camera with a 20Mpixel 1" sensor and a good quality 16x zoom lens. It easily outperforms the camera in any cell phone. Zoom range is 25mm to 400mm equivalent. This is going make a real difference when you are not close to the train or need to zoom in on a detail.


Edit:

>>i will need a camera for a photography and graphics design course i will be studying next year at college.


If you want interchangable lenses, it will be hard to stay in budget with new kit.

Look for a good used Panasonic GX-8. Expect to pay about £350-£400 for the body. The kit lenses (the one that was bundled with the camera) are mostly ok and usually very cheap.
They also make a budget 45-200mm zoom that you can pickup for about £150. That keeps you in budget and you've got a camera that can use some top notch lenses if you ever need them.

Even the budget lenses are waay better than anything on a cell phone.

 

[JackOnTheMove]

Ill have a look thanks for the recommendation

 

[dosxuk]

If you're starting a course next year, I would hold off buying now and wait until you've started and got some experience with proper cameras. For now, get yourself a decent cloud storage account and set your current phone up to auto upload to there so you can free the space on the actual device (you'll need to get used to transferring files around when you get a proper camera), and go practice the composition of pictures - you can do that on a rubbish camera absolutely fine.

Once you've got started on your course, you'll find out how expensive proper cameras are, and how rubbish the cheap ones are, and be able to make an informed decision about what you want to spend your money on (do you go cheap body but fancy set of lenses, or do you go fancy camera with cheap lenses? Do you want to spend extra on certain features because they're useful for the types of pictures you're taking, etc, etc).

Also get yourself a decent photo editor application - you can make such a difference to the picture by processing it in different ways that the software is almost as important as the hardware these days for a high quality image.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Capturing the image is one thing.

Post-processing in image software is another. Depends on how much time and effort you wish to use

Also think about what you want to use the images for. You don't need a high resolution camera to post on web pages

 

[etr221]

thanks i will defo look into that but i will need a camera for a photography and graphics design course i will be studying next year at college. Any good recommendations?

If you are signed up/accepted for such a course, I would ask the college for their recommendation(s) as to what they require/expect/suggest you have for it.

Look a this as a photography, not a railway, project. Take a look at Amateur Photographer - a quick glimpse at their website showed they are offering a 'best cameras, lenses and accessories of 2022' free guide, and more - or similar. If there is a good camera shop near you (see ads in AP), go in and ask their advice.

Have you seen what results your mate is getting with his Canon? (For your price range/level, I would say it's worth serious consideration)

Essentially, any make that is also offering a several thousand pound camera - and an upgrade path to it - will be a decent choice (you may only be paying a few hundred now, but they will hope for much more in the future).

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Also of consideration, "should" you decide on a dSLR or "R" (mirrorless) camera, you are buying into a "system" that delivers lenses and other accessories. This requires investment if you can afford it, so I could consider very carefully at the outset which manufacturer to go for

 

[Ken H]

I use a compact. Cant be bothered with an SLR. It fits in shirt top pocket so easy to carry. Wish it had a viewfinder but they dont exist these days
It can take very high res pix. But can also take lower res ones.
It saves to an SD card so i have 64meg one. Downloads to laptop in seconds.
Check on my pix on the bus day out thread in the buses section. But not my last one where i used my rubbish android.

I use paint,
Microsoft photos pre-installed on my pc quite a few years ago which is good for small rotations
FastStone Image viewer. Quick cropping, rotating, renaming. It interfaces with my scanner so tgats easy. But it has a mass rename function and also a batch convert (image size, rotate, and other functions.
All 3 are free.

 

[davidknibb]

London Camera Exchange currently have a 2nd hand Nikon Z50 with a 16-50 lens at their Chester Branch. The Z50 is a brilliant mirror-less camera, and the 16-50 lens (equivalent to 24-75 on a full frame machine is pretty good for a kit lens..
Beats the spots off any phone/camera. I've had a z50 for several years and it really is good.