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Features

5 Cameras for the New Parent

Chris Gampat
No Comments
03/24/2015
4 Mins read

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Film Photos Kodak Porta Ektar TriX (19 of 55)

“Hey Chris, we were thinking about buying a DSLR.”

“What? Why? No, oh god, why?!”

When it comes to answering the camera-related questions of people who are soon to have children, this is usually how the conversation starts. When someone wants to buy a brand new camera, it’s for a good reason like the fact that they’re having a new kid. But there are parameters in place: it needs to be simple to use, it needs to have professional image quality, and it can’t be too expensive. Typical, right?

I’m going to let you in on a little secret that many of us photographers have known for a couple of years now: you don’t need an interchangeable lens camera like a DSLR for professional looking images.

No, really, you don’t. What makes the images so great are the combination of the sensor and the lens, but there are fixed lens cameras that can do the same job of many of those cameras in an even more affordable package and smaller. Of course though, there are also a couple of DSLRs and mirrorless cameras that do a great job.

Here are five of our favorite cameras for the new parent.

Nikon D5500

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Nikon D5500 product review lead image (1 of 1)ISO 2001-125 sec at f - 2.0

We’re recommending the Nikon D5500 because of its small size, fast 5 fps shooting, great grip to ensure that the camera doesn’t get knocked out of your hand, WiFi connectivity features, touch screen, and the autofocus that is bound to lock onto your fast moving kid.

Pair it with a couple of zoom lenses or nice prime lenses and you won’t have a problem for years to come.

Buy Now: Amazon

Olympus OMD EM10

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Olympus OMD EM10 product photos (7 of 7)ISO 4001-100 sec at f - 3.5

Take the best of some of Olympus’s higher end OMD cameras and some of the higher end Pen cameras and you’ll find yourself with the OMD EM10. It isn’t weather sealed, but it has fast focusing abilities, WiFi connectivity, a small timelapse mode, and most importantly access to Olympus’s great prime lenses.

In our review, we state:

“…we can totally conclude that there is very little reason for anyone trying to get into the mirrorless world to not get the OMD EM10. It’s an excellent camera with kick ass image quality. If you need weather sealing though, then you’ll want to consider other options that are higher up in the line.”

Buy Now: Amazon

Sony A5100

Kevin-Lee The Phoblographer Sony A5100 Product Images (8 of 9)

Sony’s A5100 is the smallest interchangeable lens camera on this list. With a giant touch screen designed for taking selfies with you and the newborn, it also sports WiFi connectivity, the best in class autofocusing, and an affordable price tag. One of the best things about Sony cameras is how easy they are for completely new people to learn them.

In our review, we state:

“Even without considering the Sony A5100 very affordable price, it’s an incredibly well performing camera wrapped into a tiny package. It’s even smaller than a compact Micro Four Thirds camera like the Olympus E-P5. Yet despite the camera’s diminutive size, the A5100 is one of Sony’s best cameras yet thanks to the APS-C sized sensor and autofocus system it has inherited from the Sony A6000.”

Buy Now: Amazon

 

Fujifilm X30

The-Phoblographer-Fujifilm-X30-review-images-product-shots-2-of-10ISO-2001-200-sec-at-f-2.8

Looking for something a bit more advanced? The Fujifilm X30 packs a good sized sensor into a small body with very versatile zoom range. It’s small enough to fit in a jacket pocket and takes some of the best photos that we’ve seen from a point and shoot. With Wifi connectivity, a sharp lens, and lots of manual controls you can’t go wrong with this little camera.

In our review, we state:

“Beyond the dynamic range, we really like the fact that the colors versatility is pretty flexible. But we also have to admit that the images take more work from the user to get them just right. Shifting the color balance sliders around may give you results close to what you want, but what you’ll find yourself doing is trying to work with individual color levels to get the exact look that you want. Because of this, we can say that the color depth is surely versatile, but that you’ll also be working with the images a lot. Again though, we used Fujifilm’s software for this.”

Buy Now: Amazon

Canon G1X Mk II

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Canon G1x product images (7 of 7)ISO 4001-50 sec at f - 4.0

We don’t know exactly what Canon did with the sensor in the G1x Mk II, but it renders some of the best colors that we’ve ever seen come from a camera. It’s a bit bulky, but captures great images, has WiFi connectivity, a sharp lens, a touch screen, and image quality that you’ll be very pleased with.

Did we mention those colors?

In our review, we state:

“There is a lot to love about Canon’s new G1X Mk II: the image quality, the great punch it gives for a small package, the dials, the buttons, the LCD screen, the feel. Honestly, we’re very smitten with this camera. In fact, as a Canon customer for many years, it gives me faith again that the company may return to try to innovate again like they did years ago.”

Buy Now: Amazon

camera canon dslr fujifilm mirrorless new parent newborn baby nikon parent sony
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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