Hi all
Nice to see a good photographic enthusiasts group within our community. Another person who's opinion is valued is FM Ajay124. He is a excellent photographer and like me has been putting together his system for the last few years.
I moved from DSLR full frame cameras (Canon 5D and 5D Mark 2) to the mirrorless micro 4/3 system (Olympus OMD-EM-5) and have never regretted it. The portability of the system was the first reason as the DSLR with various lenses was very heavy and cumbersome (even when packed into my camera bag). But the image quality has won me over. There are some great small cameras nowdays worth trying. I have recently personally become a fan of fixed focal length cameras (Fuji x100 and Sony Rx-100) but these are not for everyone. I also use a Foveon sensor digital camera for some work, which perhaps may be considered a specialist camera - fabulous colours and details but a very limited and buggy piece of equipment.
Your choice of camera (and lenses of course) should be dictated by the type of photographs that you like to make. There is no need to pay for extra high frame rates (for example) if don't take much action photograph, for example. Nowdays unless you are professional (and even then) you can find many photography enthusiast cameras (some less and some more than DSLRs in price) that can make superb images and have all the functionality without the hassle of a full fledged commitment of looking after and growing a DSLR-based system. Buying good quality lenses are expensive too.
I spent the last month looking at tripods and eventually settled with Manfrotto 293 alu kit 3-section with ball head. I bought it from Discount Vu (and I don't recommend buying anything from them). The tripod had a faulty clip on one of the legs and Manfrotto took care of it directly (as there was no reply from Discount Vu). Manfrotto's customer service was exceptional. Kind , courteous and they replaced it with a new one in a couple of days. Be careful with tripod weights, you will be surprised that the tripods just over 2 kgs actually feel rather heavy and unless you intend to put some heavy duty tele lenses on the camera you are better off getting a slightly lighter one (but a good stable one) rather than a too heavy one, which can become a pain to walk around with. Vanguard also make good tripods.
Lastly, I recommend you spend a little time reading the articles and asking questions in the forums on
Digital Photography Review. I have always found the members very friendly and helpful and there are many camera reviews to help you make your selection.
but again, whew the idea of carrying a large camera and lenses once more....just rather stitch using my DP3Merrill. I am enjoying learning what all the new software can do, especially Nik Collection. I use Camera Raw which comes with CS6 but Lightroom should be absolutely fine.
