What camera do you RVer's use?

[bobkatmsu]

Not exactly a RV question, but we will be retiring next year and heading out in our RV for 6-8 months at a time. Heading to Alaska in 2018. RVer's know equipment. I want to buy my wife a nice camera for our trips. Budget, about $1000. What suggestions do you have?

[Campfire_Time]

What is your end goal? Personal memories viewed on a tablet, or 4x6 prints? Of are you looking to print 20" - 60" framed prints? If it's the later, get a dSLR. If it's the former, all you need a decent quality P&S from a decent manufacturer, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic...

[NCWriter]

I'm also a pocket camera fan. My current Panasonic Lumix was about $200 during a pre-Christmas sales period a few years ago. It's a point & shoot but has some easy settings that are fast to switch into. (One I like' for example, is "shoot through glass" - got some fun photos of a bear swimming in the Yellowstone River once, taken through a window.)

Charge lasts a long time, hundreds of pics on one memory card, Incredible zoom, easy to use, and it's ALWAYS with me. I use it constantly on trips. I download the photos to my iPad so we can enjoy them as we travel, and back home onto my desktop PC.

The bulky, heavier, expensive cameras with pricey attachments my relatives have seem to get left behind fairly often because it requires a conscious decision each time whether or not to drag them along to a restaurant, river raft trip, railway trip, hike, etc.

Haven't used a smart phone camera but same principle - it's with you when you need it.

[subtroll]

I'm not a camera buff but I take thousands of photos while traveling in our RV. I have a better camera stored in the MH but almost always carry a simple point and shoot camera (Sony DSC-H55)in my pocket or on the dash when driving.

I shoot through the windshield at traffic problems, interesting road signs, city skylines and especially beautiful countryside scenes. No adjustments just point and shoot. Many aren't worth a ****, but most are great for my blog/journal.

My I-phone takes better photos but on my belt isn't as convenient. At dinner with friends I ask our server to take our photo with my pocket camera. The small camera also takes excellent video at family sporting events etc.

For serious photography, many good cameras are available. For travel logs and convenience, pocket cameras are great.

[tonymull]

I use a Nikon, I think a D-60 with a long zoom, 300. Not a ton of money and since I use it on the water a lot I can live with the fact that it will eventually land in the drink. I get so many good pics while I'm fishing with that telephoto. but it won't focus an fish in my hand, too close, so I also have a Cannon waterproof point and shoot that is an excellent little camera. Were I buying again, I'd go with the comparable Cannon rather than the Nikon because it has video capabilities and shoots almost as good still shots. I compromise in that the Cannon waterproof also shoots video. If you'd like to check out the photos you're welcome to on FB, most are public. I do OK. Those two cameras together run around $1000.

[Busskipper]

bobkatmsu wrote:
Not exactly a RV question, but we will be retiring next year and heading out in our RV for 6-8 months at a time. Heading to Alaska in 2018. RVer's know equipment. I want to buy my wife a nice camera for our trips. Budget, about $1000. What suggestions do you have?

What have you done before?

When I was young and foolish I used those great SLR with FILM - not pixels - took 10's of thousands of picture Had a full bag with all the **** 75lbs + when we started to RV used it for a few years and took very few pictures - just never had the right Lens - tripod - etc .......................

Now I carry a Lumix 10X or the 20X have pictures of everything - great shots - great color - it will adjust to do almost everything - and the Weight is less than a Pound- so I always have it with me, and can always get that shot.

So if I were you I'd put the $700 in the bank and spend $300 on a great travel Camera - carry it always and all you need to remember is Memory and Battery.

Get a belt hook and carry it everywhere - you will have all the pic's and memory's you will ever need.

JMHO,

[Busskipper]

bobkatmsu wrote:
Not exactly a RV question, but we will be retiring next year and heading out in our RV for 6-8 months at a time. Heading to Alaska in 2018. RVer's know equipment. I want to buy my wife a nice camera for our trips. Budget, about $1000. What suggestions do you have?

What have you done before?

When I was young and foolish I used those great SLR with FILM - not pixels - took 10's of thousands of picture Had a full bag with all the **** 75lbs + when we started to RV used it for a few years and took very few pictures - just never had the right Lens - tripod - etc .......................

Now I carry a Lumix 10X or the 20X have pictures of everything - great shots - great color - it will adjust to do almost everything - and the Weight is less than a Pound- so I always have it with me, and can always get that shot.

So if I were you I'd put the $700 in the bank and spend $300 on a great travel Camera - carry it always and all you need to remember is Memory and Battery.

Get a belt hook and carry it everywhere - you will have all the pic's and memory's you will ever need.

JMHO,

[RFCN2]

bobkatmsu - For $1,000 you can get a Nikon D5500 with the 18-55 kit lense + 55-200mm medium telephoto. You can stop there or if you want a really nice low light lens you can get the 35mm f1.8. I have this exact same set up. Plus I have 4 other older SLR high quality cameras. And I have the latest iPhone.

You said you will be heading to Alaska. For that you should have a good landscape camera and the ability to take shots from wide angle to get all the mountains in, to telephoto to catch a shot of Eagles or bears. You need to be able to do that with optics and not an iPhone or similar smart phone. I have an iPhone. It is great for people shots, video, and some landscape shots. But to get great pictures you need an interchangeable lens DSLR. Nikon and Canon are the most common ones. I know Nikon but do not know Canon. I personally think the Nikon D5500 is a stelar light DSLR. Maybe Canon has one as good. I don't know.

Pocket cameras have similar limitations to iPhones. Tiny sensor.

I have looked at all the latest cameras and could afford to spend 3 times what I spent on the D5500. I am not trading it in until Nikon comes up with a successor that is a lot better.

[rk911]

bobkatmsu wrote:
Not exactly a RV question, but we will be retiring next year and heading out in our RV for 6-8 months at a time. Heading to Alaska in 2018. RVer's know equipment. I want to buy my wife a nice camera for our trips. Budget, about $1000. What suggestions do you have?

when I want to take real photos (not iphone snaps) I use a Nikon D-3000. the upgrade models to the D-3000 now take full motion HD video as well.

[DrewE]

I have a Pentax DSLR (K-5). I chose Pentax because, at the time I was first buying, there were some lenses available in that mount that were not available in other mounts.

Many cameras, not just DSLRs, are available that take very good pictures in good light. In low light situations, DSLRs and other cameras with large sensors will invariably outperform cameras with tiny sensors (cell phones and point-and-shoot cameras) simply because the larger sensor and lens collects more of the limited light available. It's a simple question of physics; collecting more photons gives more fidelity to the image. The larger sensor cameras also generally have better dynamic range--that is, they can capture both bright and dark areas without the bright areas being washed out/clipped and the dark areas completely black.

If interested in a DSLR or similar interchangeable lens camera, I would suggest spending the money on good lenses and a more basic body rather than the other way around.

[427435]

Unless your wife is a professional photographer, a $1000 camera is probably a waste. On top of that, it will be much harder to use if she is an amateur (and it will be more likely to be stolen).

I used to use a good quality 35 mm, SLR camera, but my $200 Nikon takes as good of pictures and fits in my pocket. Do get a large memory chip (the chip I bought holds over 500 pictures).

[DSDP_Don]

"bobkatmsu"....You really need to find out how involved in photography your wife will want to be. When I was younger, I had a 35mm Canon AE1 with several lenses and thought I would be quite the photographer. It was good for camping and taking pictures as the kids grew up.

Now you can get a nice digital camera that will fit in your shirt pocket that will take higher quality pictures than some of the older 35's.

We still take a lot of photos, but prefer to just carry around a nice pocket size digital that can zoom, do close ups, panorama shots, video and has a timer, all for about $200.00. I just don't want to carry all the gear anymore, something you need to see how your wife wants to do.

[bsinmich]

I have 7 Pentax SLRs and 14 lenses from fish-eye to 800mm telephoto so I went with a Pentax DSLR so all my lenses could still be used. It has been more thab 2 years now and I still feel good about it. I do have 150 film cameras from 1893 Cycle Poco (4X5), to eberything down to Minox. If ou can use any of the old stuff keep that in your choices.

[moebedick]

DutchmanSport sounds like the old me,trudging around with a big Nikon or Canon with an assortment of lenses,filters,extensions,meters ad nauseum. I think my camera bag weighed slightly more than my first-born when he was twelve.Now,in addition to my Samsung 7 phone,my go-to cameras are a Lieca D-Lux5 and a D-Lux6. These are small,light,easy to use,incredibly fast and have the best lenses and electronics made. They are not cheap,but you will never be sorry that you bought one. You can also stick it in your pocket.They are great for taking candid pictures without getting punched in the nose. The light gathering ability is astounding. I rarely use a flash. Night shots of stars and constellations are a piece of cake,without a tripod. I believe that these are the best,non-professional cameras you can buy.

[J-Rooster]

Apple I-Phone 6 plus, the camera is outstanding!

[CC_Crabman]

I am into nature photography and use both a dslr and a point and shoot. For folks that want to take great photos of scenery and wildlife I really recommend the Canon SX60 superzoom. A relatively light-weight camera, compared to a dslr, with an incredible 1350mm zoom lens. You will get some amazing close ups of wildlife. Be sure to also get either a monopod or tripod. Check out some of the photos in my Flickr albums:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/121951825@N07/albums