Any Ideas of a No Fault Camera?

[Been There]

I take terrible pictures and I have bought cameras costing anywhere from $75-$700. Still nothing near as good as some of the pictures posted here. I bought a Nikon just before Christmas in 2022 and it was the most I ever paid, which was around $700. It had most of the bells and whistles and the dude that sold it to me said that even a child could take perfect pictures.

After I shot about 50 pictures, I pulled the card and looked at them on my computer. Immediately, I was disappointed. I was at my wits’ end. I went back to the store showed the dude my pictures and the sales guy, who seemed very knowledgeable about cameras told me I had the settings wrong. He took a lot of time to show me the different settings and we went outside so he could take a few pictures and they were very nice. After about an hour and a half, (glad they weren’t busy), I was ready to have a go at it again.

I took another approximately 50 pictures and they were better, but not as good as I had hoped for and most of them still weren’t as good as the pix printed on here. So, here comes the question, finally. Does anyone know of a “no fault” camera? My friend who takes really good pictures with his older Konica said I needed a “no fault” camera. I guess he’s talking about a camera that all I have to do is point and shoot and there you are, beautiful pictures.

Any ideas besides stop taking pictures?

 

[Lavinia]

This is why I never post pictures on here. No matter how much I try, I just can't match up to the quality of others.
My first camera was a little Instamatic and I managed to take loads of really good pictures with it. Sadly, they are not available any more.

 

[Trish]

A camera with all the bells and whistles is only worth buying if you are going to learn how to use them but, if you just want to take nice photos, a point and shoot would be better. Have a look at the Canon Powershot series. I know a lot of people who have them and they are good cameras. I would also see if the camera shop will buy back the Nikon from you, especially if you are buying a replacement from them, or have a look for a camera shop which will do part-exchange.

 

[David777]

For those that refuse to read manuals or drill down on photography enthusiast sites for setup information, use a smartphone. One of the longest occurring jokes on photography enthusiast sites over decades are people that buy heavy, physically large, expensive cameras and then leave them in all automatic modes. If that is all one expects to do, the wiser strategy is to either use a smartphone or a compact digital camera.

In this digital camera era, creating better images is more than just taking photos with a camera. That is just half of what is usually required. Limited post processing is even valuable using smartphones, especially being able to crop and resize. So there is not a do nothing short cut for anyone interested in taking images that rise above mediocre.

Also note, significant numbers of images posted on this board were in fact not taken by posters but rather are links to aesthetic images they found elsewhere on the web. Easily found on Google or Yahoo after searching and then moving to their "Image" tabs. On enthusiast sites, people are more likely to identify posted images they took as their own or something that indicates such. I always do so.

 

[-Oy-]

^^^^ What he said.

Buying a better camera makes you a better photographer in the same way buying a better guitar makes you a better musician.

A famous photographer was once asked how to improve. He basically said try this and this (two ideas) - take another 10,000 photos and get back to me. In short - Practice Practice Practice. Get feedback from people who take what you aspire to take. Practice Practice Practice. Repeat.

 

[Magna-Carta]

I take terrible pictures and I have bought cameras costing anywhere from $75-$700. Still nothing near as good as some of the pictures posted here. I bought a Nikon just before Christmas in 2022 and it was the most I ever paid, which was around $700. It had most of the bells and whistles and the dude that sold it to me said that even a child could take perfect pictures.

After I shot about 50 pictures, I pulled the card and looked at them on my computer. Immediately, I was disappointed. I was at my wits’ end. I went back to the store showed the dude my pictures and the sales guy, who seemed very knowledgeable about cameras told me I had the settings wrong. He took a lot of time to show me the different settings and we went outside so he could take a few pictures and they were very nice. After about an hour and a half, (glad they weren’t busy), I was ready to have a go at it again.

I took another approximately 50 pictures and they were better, but not as good as I had hoped for and most of them still weren’t as good as the pix printed on here. So, here comes the question, finally. Does anyone know of a “no fault” camera? My friend who takes really good pictures with his older Konica said I needed a “no fault” camera. I guess he’s talking about a camera that all I have to do is point and shoot and there you are, beautiful pictures.

Any ideas besides stop taking pictures?

Don’t stop taking pictures.

The advice I always give to people who approach me about photography, who are taking it up for the first time, or who are revisiting it, is to set everything to automatic. Regardless of how expensive or technical the camera is, forget about its features for a while. At first think of your camera as only having one button – simply the one you press to take a photo.

Don’t overwhelm yourself, just learn one thing at a time – keep it simple. With everything set on automatic you can then just concentrate on composition. Put all your effort into that. YouTube is a wonderful place for leaning photography. Do a search there for composition, you will find hundreds of composition videos – people willing to give their time to not just inform you, but to show you.

When you have leanred some composition rules, concider breaking some of those rules as those broken rules might make for a more interesting photo. Then later set the camera to Aperture Priority (or whatever your camera might call it) and learn aperture settings whilst the camera automatically figures out the shutter speed itself. Again, YouTube is geat for this too. Then move on from that, learning & experimenting with one thing at a time. Pace yourself.

One other bit of advice. If you are out and about taking photos, take time to stop and pause. Then turn around & have a look behind you. It can be surprising how many times you might see something behind you that is more photogenic than what was previously in front of you.

The most important aspect of a camera is what’s positioned a few inches behind it, your eye, then your brain. Learn slowly.

I posted this that I took, on one thread here. Then something different but inside the same building. Look at the composition, then perhaps go to YouTube. I will leave it to youself to decide if you want to later come back & share with us what you have learned.

 

[Seamus]

I agree with Magna-Carta, good advice there. You tube is very good to learn from. If there is a local camera club in your area or your local council evening classes for photography have a go at that as other people will help you and share ideas with you. Good luck, and DONT give up.

 

[Alligatorob]

No great photographer here, most of mine are taken with my phone. I do have a fancier camera, but rarely use it.

I took a photography class years ago, one thing the instructor used to say was one difference between a good photographer and a bad one was the number of pictures thrown away. He thought most good photographs also took bad pictures, lots of them, but discarded most. That was back before today's electronic cameras when every picture cost a lot more than today.

 

[Trish]

No great photographer here, most of mine are taken with my phone. I do have a fancier camera, but rarely use it.

I took a photography class years ago, one thing the instructor used to say was one difference between a good photographer and a bad one was the number of pictures thrown away. He thought most good photographs also took bad pictures, lots of them, but discarded most. That was back before today's electronic cameras when every picture cost a lot more than today.

I took a photography class when I bought my first DSLR and the teacher said a very similar thing but, more along the lines that even the most skilled photographer will go through their photos and discard most of them before finding the few that really stand out.