What camera do I buy? / general gear talk

No fish eye BRO.
The Panasonic LX100 is looking like a decent option...

Yep! posted in the buy/sell thread yesterday

Ok so, I'm looking to buy a second hand Nikon DSLR body - I don't have an awful lot of money to spend (besides, I'm not a serious enough photographer to justify anything fancy) so it's probably going to have to be something older, like a D300. Any thoughts?

I've got a good selection of lenses, a couple of 35mm bodies (FM2, F100) and a cheap digital body (D50) which I bought years ago. The d50 has been all over the world and done a great job, but 6.1MP just isn't cutting it anymore and the camera is a bit worse for wear.

The d300 appeals because it's not too bulky, AFAIK is generally well regarded and you can pick up a body with decent shutter count for ~£250 ish on ebay.

get yourself some uncommon lenses. Everybody is using the classic canon and nikon lenses. We're all used to their characteristics. If you want your pictures to be having an uncommon touch i would look at other lens vendors

? I was asking about bodies, not lenses?

Do you want the AF motor of the d300? They are nice to handle but old now and it shows in the files.

If you don't need the motor a modern d50 equivalent might do the job. A d3300 image quality / iso performance (yadda yadda) is ahead of the d300 now I believe.

I couldn't disagree more, but it depends what you do/like I guess.

Yeah I need the motor for my lenses

A good shout then.

The D7000 is another option I guess - I've not used one.

D300 is a nice body for the money you're willing to spend.
Look at the D300s as well.

don't get me wrong, get a good camera body that you like, it will do you good. I'm saying that it eventually turns out that everyone is used to the looks of the used-by-everyone lenses (canon in my case for instance). you end up with a grain of image that everyone has which is for me something that's worth searching for competitors

That sounds like an excuse for not very interesting photos. Focus on taking better photos than abdicating responsibility to some uncommon lenses.

sorry, think i missed the point here. Prob because i'm struggling more with lenses than bodies.

I haven't abdicated responsibility to anyone here, just giving my personal opinion as a regular user

what computer equipment do people use to edit photos?

I've got a cheap laptop and whenever I do post in Lightroom the images look great on the laptop but as soon as I see them on the monitor of my work PC they're awful. I suspect it's the laptop monitor that's the issue rather than my work PC.

Are Macbooks worth the money or is there cheaper alternatives that work just as well?

Could be the screen settings. Maybe look at a cheap calibration system http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datacolor-Spyder4ELITE-/252373299298?hash=item3ac29ef062:g:aRcAAOSw3mpXJK9G

ahh good shout. I figured all calibration equipment would be expensive.

Nice one.

One 4 all the photographers - http://kustomcaps.com/collections/roadie-caps-1/products/shuttercap

I fancy one, if anyone else is tempted we could club in to mitigate shipping?

Ha, nice..

Much excite!

A decent laptop/desktop will make the world of difference.
I'm using a mid to low range pc screen at work atm connected to a MacBook Pro. The pc screen is awful.

Why don't you just use the MacBook Pro's dispaly?

It's too small. Can't work on less than 27 inches of screen. Monitors 22, laptop 15.

I have a GF1. I mainly use the pancake lens. I like the size. It 6 years old.
Could I get something similar but noticeably better? Perhaps spending 300?

Can't tell you how much I'm enjoying the A6300. Such a satisfying little camera.