What camera do I buy? / general gear talk

Archies Grobag and cheapskate insert ftw

... or Billingham for appointments when looking like a designer/wanker is advantageous.

Tempted on cheapskate inserts too

Or a Kånken with photo insert. It's £130, but it'll double up as a backpack

Not used Kanken with photo gear but those skinny straps will not be comfortable with any weight in the bag.

I'd get the laptop version with padded straps

It'll still be pretty shit for carrying it over long periods of time though. I like the ability to open the whole front though, would be useful for finding stuff

Just read a few reviews of the inserts though, and apparently they're utter shit. So far it seems like cheapskate is the best option

My dad has a Canon 60D. The 18-135 kit lens that came with it has broken so I’ve given him my old 18-55 kit lens that came with my 400D for the mean time but he’s not really satisfied.

He was asking me what to replace the broken lens with, his budget is about £500 but if I’m honest I think he should just buy a different camera. He’s not really into photography, he loves taking photos but he just slaps the 60D in auto, he bought an SLR because he thinks they take the best photos. He mostly takes pics on holiday and at weddings.

He’s intrigued by the idea of a new camera but still doesn’t believe there’s something for £500 that’ll be better suited to what he wants to do, and maybe there isn’t, any tips for that sort of budget?

Oh, didn't realize the thicker straps were an option - still though, yeah.

Ugh I come across like a snob above. Soz.

I feel like I’ve left our other info, when the lens wasn’t broken he’d make comments about how it was annoying how bulky all this kit was and he’d fall into that classic thing where taking a big camera out on a day trip was annoying so he’d find excuses to not take it out.

I can’t say this in such a direct way to him, but here I can, he loves tech but he gets frustrated easily so a few times he borrowed a prime off me he got annoyed within 5 minutes, then he’s putting a flash on unnecessarily, and trying 17 different bounce angles which all look fucking terrible and then at home he’s upset because he’s taken shit photos because he doesn’t get what he’s trying or he’s tried stuff where he shouldn’t have. This all should be part of the learning process but he doesn’t do it often enough to learn from it. I sound like a bad son, but he’s also terrible at accepting help so me trying to give him pointers just get met with top quality dadsplaining.

I just want him to have a camera he can carry everywhere, whip out, and snap a good pic.

One of the small mirrorless ones seems to be the answer. A Sony maybe with the E mount. Smaller than a DSLR but you can still point at it having all the bells and whistles and sensor size of a DSLR and the picture quality.

just want him to have a camera he can carry everywhere, whip out, and snap a good pic

iPhone

Ricoh gr2

they felt a bit like old-man-with-a-Leica-and-a-photography-v­est though

Yeah, their "heritage" line and brown / sand colored bags are like that, but there's plenty of other styles like waxed stuff, ballistic nylon and whatnot.
I use a F2 now and it's awesome for carrying a bit more to a lot of stuff, had a F-5XZ before and this was also great, super nice design / handling.

Looks like the F6 could fit my purpose well

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Domke-F-6-Little-Bit-Smaller/dp/B00009R89T/ref=pd_sbs_421_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=X78MN4XFGHT0WCH4TT5J

Quite like the idea of a rucksack though, and the Kånken fits that well, esp the laptop version. It could be a case of that, and home made inserts...

I have a Billingham Hadley small I don't use any more.

https://www.billingham.co.uk/hadley-small.html

It's the black version.

I'd let it go for £80. It's in good knick as I haven't used it all that much.

Happy to meet up if you want to see if it'll fit your gear.

M

iPhone

Thanks! Appreciate the offer, but now leaning towards a standard backpack with custom / cheapo inserts

The search goes on

Quite like the idea of a rucksack though, and the Kånken fits that well, esp the laptop version. It could be a case of that, and home made inserts...

Yea Rucksacks are nice but the thing is basically you always have to strip it off and put it on the ground to get something out of it or put something in it, which gets really really annoying.
Well it of course depends on how often you change lenses etc. or how often you want to put the camera away.

I change lenses quite a lot as I mostly shoot primes, also I put my camera in the bag / often, so I don't have to hold it in my hand and sometimes to "hide" it.
All this in-and-out business works really perfectly with the F series of Domke, hence the majority of photojournalists are using them.
Also they don't look like camera bags which is a good thing.

Ill take that if it’s still available

Buy him a book so he can teach himself. The 35mm photographers handbook was my go-to book loan for friends trying to get into it

That's a good shout, he's just messaged me today saying he's decided to get the 24-70 f4 lens used with a 12M warranty as it's in his price budget so anything to help him use the stuff better. He did go on a 2-day course in the past, it was from Groupon, but after he'd been on it he said it was a bit too low level for him. I think he'd be willing to learn, just from a professional rather than taking any pointers from me.

He does have an iPhone but it's this thing with him where he doesn't believe it to be very good because it's just a phone camera.

Or one of the plethora of books by John Hedgecoe, they tend to be very concise.

Good points, thank you. Will need some thinking.

Not sure how much need I have for putting the camera away all the time. Tbh I can't really say as I've never had a shoulder bag, I've always used a backpack. It might be one of those things that you can't live without after trying it

Been talking to Jason @ Bigxtop as well this morning about a custom version of the daysack. It has the dual potential of both awesome and £££

I've got one of these Golla sling bags https://shop.golla.com/epages/Golla.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/Golla/Products/G1756 which I picked up in the US which should be about the right size.

Much more usable than a backpack as you can swing it round and get stuff out of it and back in without having to take it off.

Sure. PM for details

never had a shoulder bag, I've always used a backpack. It might be one of those things that you can't live without after trying it

I think so. It's very very convenient.
It also fucks up your back if you're not husky and carry several kg of gear for years always over the same shoulder so make it a habit to switch sides (or go to the gym) !

I always thought about getting just a very nice bag I like and put a base and padded insert there like this

..so I can have my very own custom bag (that also doesn't look like a camera bag), but then just got a used F-2 for a very good price and so I just use this.

I think if I were you I would also watch this auction -
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Domke-j2-journalists-shoulder-bag/132481509726?hash=item1ed883695e:g:jyYAAOSwn9VaaJkJ