Micro system or DSLR

[melissa]

Hi all,

I really love photography and thinks it's about time I upgrade from my Sony compact. The only question I have is which camera to buy?? I know, same old question!! I have a budget of around £500-600 and like to take landscape shots and photos of friend and families (not to mention the family dog!).

With my budget I don’t know if it would be best to get a micro camera or go the full hog and get a DSLR. What are everyone’s thoughts on micro camera? I don’t want to spend that amount of money only to find I want to upgrade again in 6 months time. I quite like to look of the Lumix G2 but I don’t know if I'm being swayed by the fancy touch screen and HD recording. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks :)

[Will54]

Hello Melissa,
I have two camera's one a PanasonicFZ7 the other a Nikon D5000.
I use both for different reasons.
Although not a micro four thirds the FZ7 is similar in that the frame/shutter lapse is slower than my dslr, therefore my dslr is much better at catching action shots.
I am happy to take the FZ7 on the beach but I dont take my dslr anywhere near sand.
The shots taken in low light will be a bit better with a dslr generally owing to their larger sensors.
The photo's are usually better straight out of the FZ7 (need less retouching) but most dslr's consider that the user will retouch via photoshop or similar,so they do tend to underexpose a little,having said that my D5000 has actions I can take to adjust my photo's to how I want them straight out of the camera.So I would say that if you just want to take snapshots go with the micro but if you want to be more creative go with a dslr. Again having said that some of the top micro 4 thirds are really impressive but you are looking at a lot of money(Panasonic GH1or GH2).Most dslr's offer similar spec,s across the range,for example the Nikon D40 is well regarded, see Ken Rockwell's site.