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Maybe you don't need an expensive camera either

SchwarzeWolke

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I see what you mean, and I've heard a lot of good things about the Nex Camera's.
Well, I bought it because it was one of the cheaper options available at that time. I also use some vintage old Minolta glas and adapting is always funnier with a larger sensor.

For better or worse digital is the medium I'm in so... I'm thinking Megapixels are important as displays aren't getting smaller
One thing I've also learned about Megapixels: I tend to downsize my pictures and sharpen them in two to three downsizing steps. That is my way of getting extra sharp and crisp pictures. This benefits greatly from the MP count, especially if you plan to print the picture. This applies for landscape pictures or those, where everything should be tack sharp. For portraits or something with a lot bokeh not really.
Speaking of bokeh->Again the bigger the sensor the better.
 

mshenay

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Well, I bought it because it was one of the cheaper options available at that time. I also use some vintage old Minolta glas and adapting is always funnier with a larger sensor.


One thing I've also learned about Megapixels: I tend to downsize my pictures and sharpen them in two to three downsizing steps. That is my way of getting extra sharp and crisp pictures. This benefits greatly from the MP count, especially if you plan to print the picture. This applies for landscape pictures or those, where everything should be tack sharp. For portraits or something with a lot bokeh not really.
Speaking of bokeh->Again the bigger the sensor the better.
Thankfully I didn't get the tiny sensor'd T5i, I'm glad the 200D has a larger sensor and more MPs than the other options from Canon
 
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amirm

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Here are some of my images taken by D3300 + kit or 50 mm prime (cheap Yongnuo one) - Images.
Very nicely done. You are doing very well with 1.5 years of experience. This is one of the nice things about digital: you see the results of your work immediately, letting you refine your technique very quickly. I learned more about photography with digital in 6 months than I did after years of shooting film (slides).
 

StevenEleven

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New cameras (Canon anyway) have focus micro adjustment (FMA) to deal with inaccuracies of the mount. It is not a great system but does let you put in one bias factor per lens in camera memory.

This is my second post here! Pleased to meet you! Hope you guess my name!

I have a Canon M5 (Canon mirrorless) and the focus is deadly accurate, no MFA required. Razor sharp pictures every time. You just have to figure out which of ten dozen different ways you are going to use the camera.

I have an old Canon XSi that still takes a great picture. The new softwares can pull up the picture quality from a raw file more than was anticipated when the camera was made, I believe. I take most of my pictures with a cheap Sony compact. It really is what's behind the camera that counts the most. : ) But hardware that doesn't focus right is an awful thing even for a talented photographer.

To drive the point home though, the Canon mirrorless cameras have a focus accuracy that's phenomenal. They've started sticking their better sensors in them too. Of course the Canon sensors are behind Nikon and Sony but although the difference is demonstrable and measurable, the major variable at this point is the eye behind the camera, IMHO. Since I started digital photography in 2000 the technology has gone insane. If I can't get a good picture out of one of today's cameras I need to take a good long look in the mirror.

And I am quite sure a Canon SL2 will blast my old XSi a million miles out of the water for image quality and performance. They truly are about the same size. I'm not sure the SL2 will focus spot on with any Canon lens like my M5 though. (I'm kind of hiding the ball. . . I have a 70D also. . . for that down-home SLR feel. . . but I am not going to mess with the messiness and uncertainty of MFA on my 70D when I can just pull out the M5. I know which lenses go well with my 70D. Any lens goes well with my M5.)
 
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amirm

amirm

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My understanding is that the mirrorless APS-C cameras of any brand that are focusing from the plane of the sensor will tend to be sharper than one that is using a different reference point for focus by reason of the mirrors in a DSLR. The fact that you can touch the screen for your focus point also gives the M5 a big leg up for focus accuracy, the focus is excellent and exactly where you want it.
My Canon 5D mark IV has that feature and it is wonderful.
 

Soniclife

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My understanding is that the mirrorless APS-C cameras of any brand that are focusing from the plane of the sensor will tend to be sharper than one that is using a different and aproximated reference point for focus by reason of the mirrors in a DSLR.
That's true of any camera type that is using contrast detection (assuming good software), and not another method, it's an inherent advantage of this approach. There are disadvantages to this system, the lenses need the right type of motors to focus quickly for instance.
 

restorer-john

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My Canon 5D mark IV has that feature and it is wonderful.

I remember my Sony DV video camera back in 2000ish had touchscreen focus area overrride- it was awesome back then. It seems so primitive moving focus points any other way, especially now there are so many of the damn things. :)
 

j_j

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Well, for me it boils down to the question of how big the picture should be you want to print. I have printed one around 90cmx60cm and would call APS-C the minimum sensor size for this size of print.
And this one really on the edge of the performance of my NEX-6:
View attachment 17854
Looking at it in a browser doesn't show the problems, looking at it in full resolution does.
Alternatively, you can use multi-frame merges and print 20x60 razor sharp. Yes, I have done it, thanks Photoshop and Costco.
 

Jim B

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Oh my, my, my....... There are a few cameras that do make a difference! Just like listening to a car stereo, and an audiophile’s setup. Perhaps you can’t see or hear a difference today. But when you learn to see, and know what you are looking at, or you learn to hear and can distinguish the air rushing out of a hihat cymbal. Subtleties do arise, and it’s often the perfection of their use that puts the polish on both art forms.

Having a choice, and knowing what to use to accomplish the work can be critical. Certainly not every subject is worthy of a Hasselblad, or a Leica, and not every image that comes out of them guaranties perfection, but when you find the ones that are Oh my, Oh my.

One year, a few years ago I was perusing the global scene on the internet. ( I’ll admit, I wanted to see what was happening in Paris at the time. Some working photographers actually do have an edge as they get to see what the latest products are if they are photographing them. So in fashion, and cosmetics that means the up coming color palette! All I’m saying is that that orange, yellow, burnt sienna, YSL nail polish still hasn’t made it to America.)

Sorry to digress, anyhow I kept coming across images that I really liked, loved, spoke to me! They had this look, they only way to describe it was it looked real, I mean really, real! Turned out after checking the exif, They were all taken on the Leica medium format S type 007 with the CDD sensor.
We all know CDD had its issues but those images were phenomenal!
 
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