Beginner's Stills camera

[degeneration 5]

I'm toying with trying out some stills camera work in the future, and as such am looking into what would be a decent camera to get.

2nd hand SLR cameras aren't cheap, so are probably a little too expensive for just trying out the discipline.

I've seen some of the "mega zoom" cameras that are styled like SLR, which I assume are better than the basic compact point and shoot ones, but are any of them any good or usable for skydiving?

So in short, are there any relatively cheap cameras that can use things like a bite switch that I could get to try out stills work? Then if it is something I like and enjoy I can then look into a more decent camera?

Sky Switches - Affordable stills camera tongue switches and conversion adaptors, supporting various brands of camera (Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic).

[dragon2 0]

Get a 2nd hand Canon EOS DSLR camera if you want to get a camera for skydiving.

Forget about all the compacts (there are one or two options but these need modding) and really forget about the superzooms as those are as good as useless for skydiving. There are a few options with the newer mirror-less dslr-like cameras like sony nex but those are not cheap and need modding too.

Again, get a 2nd hand Canon EOS DSLR camera if you want to get a camera for skydiving.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[degeneration 5]

Cheers for that.

I was worried that that would be the answer.

I guess I'll hold fire on stills stuff until my budget allows me to get a 2nd hand Canon.

Sky Switches - Affordable stills camera tongue switches and conversion adaptors, supporting various brands of camera (Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic).

[billvon 2,426]

>So in short, are there any relatively cheap cameras that can use things like a bite switch

Get an old Canon EOS with the kit lens or a Canon G10/G11/G12. Both will work. Older EOSes are cheap. You don't want zoom, you want the opposite (very wide.)