Upgrade From Point And Shoot..

[Poodle wrangler]

I'd like to better photos of dog, kids, some sport, some video...

I can borrow husband's DSLR: Canon 500d with 18-200mm zoom and 50mm prime lens.

BUT I hate how bulky the DSLR is and avoid using it anywhere but at home.

Anyone use one of the better spec compacts, like the Sony RX100?

Mirrorless 4/3 cameras?

I have a black standard poodle.

Problems I have in current photos is shutter lag, wrong focus, yellow eyes and "black blob" (lack of definition)

photos.

This is with the point and shoot (one of the middle-of-the-range Canon IXUS cameras).

Appreciate suggestions, thanks!

[persephone]

any help ?

LINK

Edited February 8, 2014 by persephone

[Poodle wrangler]

Thx for link.

Have done lots of reading.

Head spinning.

The Sony RX100 gets a very good rap.

In budget.

Also the Panasonic lumic GF6 (4/3, mirrorless).

Just wondered if dog people could recommend anything smaller than a DSLR?

Especially those with quick-moving, black dogs that can be difficult to photograph well?

[Linda K]

DSLR would be my only suggestion, you get used to the weight quite quickly, and in fact it will help give you better stability and avoid shutter shake.

To understand why your dog is photographing either as a blol or probaly also too light, you need to understand that cameras are based on exposing everything at 18% grey - that means whites look underexposed, and blacks tend to look overexposed. What shooting in manual allows you to do is take control and adjust the exposure compensation, so that you are in fact capturing things the way you want. Post processing (ie on the computer), also allows you (so long as the data is there), to adjust exposure in different parts of an image so you can bring up details in dark areas, or darken areas that are too light. Bryan Petersons book Understanding Exposure, and Scott Kelbys books on Photoshop are invaluable tools to help you understand shooting, and explain it all in simple to understand terms

[tdierikx]

How about one of these?

http://www.cnet.com.au/canon-eos-100d-339343693.htm

T.

[persephone]

also- these tips may help :)

LINK

LINK

[tdierikx]

I find that the larger cameras are actually easier to hold steady to take the shot than the compacts... and the more steady the camera, the better the focusing works... *grin*

My only tip for photograhing black dogs (with any camera) is to make sure you have enough light on the subject for the camera to pick up the focus. when i take photos of a friend's black dogs, I try to get them facing towards the sunlight - tricky to get it right without them squinting, but late morning or early afternoon tend to have the best angle of sun to avoid squinting.

Taken with Canon S5 point and shoot... had the light just right (partial shade), and it helped that the milk added enough contrast for the focus to pick up everything else

Taken with EOS 450D - overcast day... see the better focus under less light?

Taken with EOS 60D - better DSLR than the 450D - and it shows under even lower light conditions...

Seriously - if you are looking for decent performance from a point and shoot, the Canon SX series are giving some very nice results - even at the long end of their huge zoom range... I'd be looking at one if I wasn't already a complete DSLR convert.

T.

[helen]

I have a Fujifilm X-E1 that I love, but the focus is slow, so hard for action shots. The Olympus OM-D has a good reputation as well so might be worth checking out