Gear for basic baby photography

[Rory]

We are going to be grandparents for the first time soon.  I want to get my son and daughter-in-law a good camera to take quality images of their baby.  I'm a long time Nikon shooter, and more recently, a Canon shooter for wildlife.  My son and daughter-in-law are not photographers, although my son is a computer scientist, so we need to keep things fairly simple for acquisition, but not worry about image transfer, data storage or the processing part.  Because I have a lot of Nikon equipment, including numerous flashes, I'm thinking of getting them a D7200 with the 16-85mm and add a SB-800 flash from my collection.  I'm thinking I will set it up to shoot both JPEG and NEF.  They can save the NEFs for me and use the JPEGs, and they can wifi transfer JPEGs from the camera to their phones for immediate sharing.

I don't have much experience with the mirrorless options.  Does anyone have an alternative?  If so, could you explain how it might work better in this user instance.

Many thanks in advance
Rory

[Hulyss]

Hello Rory,

If your son and daughter-in-law aren't photographers (not their hobby nor passion) then you should think about this gift as a non photographer. Giving them a dslr who will be hardly used compared to their smart-phones isn't the good option IMHO.

Buy them a Nikon coolpix A or a Nikon DL24-85. It will be far sufficient for their need trust me. In + they are very good cameras... you'll want to play with it too

Hope this help !

[petermfiore]

Hello Rory,

If your son and daughter-in-law aren't photographers (not their hobby nor passion) then you should think about this gift as a non photographer. Giving them a dslr who will be hardly used compared to their smart-phones isn't the good option IMHO.

Buy them a Nikon coolpix A or a Nikon DL24-85. It will be far sufficient for their need trust me. In + they are very good cameras... you'll want to play with it too

Hope this help !

I agree and simple, small, light and pocketable. Otherwise it will be a cellphone all the way.

Peter

[degrub]

iPhone  .

[Rory]

Hello Rory,

Buy them a Nikon coolpix A or a Nikon DL24-85. It will be far sufficient for their need trust me. In + they are very good cameras... you'll want to play with it too

Hope this help !

Do you know when is the DL24-85 going to be available in Canada?

[Hulyss]

Probably by the end of June everywhere.

Edit: The Coolpix A is available at a lower price and is kind of a good camera itself. It is also APS-C while the DL series is CX based. I think the DL18-50 might be a better choice, more wide, but here I drift in the "photographer's way". You might know what kind of fov your son like the most before your choice.

[DanielStone]

I'd just buy them a PAIR of hard drives to back up all their cellphone pictures, then in addition: an online cloud backup plan, say for a 5 year term(to start, they pay after that). Then TEACH THEM HOW TO USE BOTH!

A friend of mine just "lost" about 15,000 photos she has taken over the past 5 years or so, mostly on her Iphone. She was devastated. Unfortunately, she had NO BACKUP PLAN, and now only has social media(IG/FB) to rely on for the pictures she has actually posted there.

With film, you had negatives as a backup plan, if the prints were lost/damaged. Now with digital, a solid backup plan to save digital files is IMPERATIVE, if you want to reprint/save those digital files, which can easily get lost/damaged/corrupted if you simply look at the device wrong.

Forget the tech, the parents won't want to futz with a camera, they'll use a cell phone most likely. Go with the backup plan, especially one that's locally-stored, but also backed up on the cloud.

Just my $.02

-Dan

[Rory]

I'd just buy them a PAIR of hard drives to back up all their cellphone pictures, then in addition: an online cloud backup plan, say for a 5 year term(to start, they pay after that). Then TEACH THEM HOW TO USE BOTH!

Great advice.  However, as I mentioned, my son is a computer scientist, so the tech side is not an issue, and he has the backup stuff covered.  He helped me set up my own backup system.  Again, as I mentioned, the issue is acquisition of good quality images.

[dwswager]

Questions to answer:

Are they interested in this endeavor...having a quality camera for shooting images of their child?
What is their tolerances for size and weight?
How much does convenience matter versus quality?
Is it likely they would pursue any sort of post processing?

Answering these is required to select an appropriate option from:

1.  You going regularly to photograph your grandchild, editing and printing or sharing digital the images
.
.
4. A DSLR or mirrorless camera with lenses and accessories.

My personal recommendation is to discuss it with them first.  Explain the options they have and what you want out of the deal as well as what they can expect from it.  You mentioned you shoot wildlife so that means you have action cameras and long lenses.  Maybe that means grandpa goes to the amusement park and shoot them riding rides so we can take that off the table for them. 

One of the new 1" sensored Nikon cameras looks like the best middle road solution. 

[Rory]

Questions to answer:

Are they interested in this endeavor...having a quality camera for shooting images of their child?
What is their tolerances for size and weight?
How much does convenience matter versus quality?
Is it likely they would pursue any sort of post processing?

Answering these is required to select an appropriate option from:

1.  You going regularly to photograph your grandchild, editing and printing or sharing digital the images
.
.
4. A DSLR or mirrorless camera with lenses and accessories.

My personal recommendation is to discuss it with them first.  Explain the options they have and what you want out of the deal as well as what they can expect from it.  You mentioned you shoot wildlife so that means you have action cameras and long lenses.  Maybe that means grandpa goes to the amusement park and shoot them riding rides so we can take that off the table for them. 

One of the new 1" sensored Nikon cameras looks like the best middle road solution.

Excellent points.  Thanks.