Camera Deals: Buy Now or Wait?

[Aereldor]

Greetings!

After months of research, I've shopped down a list of cameras and lenses below $500 for my photography and videography work to replace my now seven-year-old Canon Vixia HF20.

The most notable among these results are-

• Canon Rebel T5 with kit lens (refurbished) + Yongnuo 50mm F1.8 - $365
• Nikon D3300 with kit lens + Nikkor 50mm F1.8d (no autofocus) - $450 (and in my country too?!)
• Sony Alpha A5000 with kit lens (no prime) - $450
• (exception) Nikon D5200 with kit lens + Nikkor 50mm F1.8d (no autofocus) - $550

Things I'm looking for are an an articulating screen and 1080p video recording capabilities at 24/30p (I don't care for 60p or 4k).

As an honourable mention, I'm also going to put up a fixed-lens bridge camera, just in case it's gold and I don't know it yet-

• Panasonic Lumix FZ200 - $330

However, I usually do my buying during large sale events, and since I need a laptop as well and have resolved to wait for the Pascal mobile GPUs to hit, I've decided to hold off on buying that until Black Friday. A few reviews for the A5000 camera in particular piqued my interest, as it was shown that the camera had been sold for as little as $250 during a previous Black Friday sale.

I do need a new camera for work, but since I can't justify a large expense, I'm trying to save what I can. Thus, my questions to you are-

• Should I wait until Black Friday in November to buy a camera, or are any of these deals so good that I should jump on them straight away?
• If all of the deals present serious value for money, which would you say is the best of the lot?

Thank you for your consideration.

Regards,
Aereldor.

[Aereldor]

@ALwin- your recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[ALwin]

How urgently do you need a camera for work?

Edit: This could be your deciding factor, if you need it urgently.  But if you can wait (and perhaps squeeze a few more months of life out of the Vivia HF20), I recommend you wait until you get a good deal or perhaps save up some more and get something a bit higher end.

 

Also, some models like the D3300 should be due for a replacement. New models tend to come out every 1.5-2 years'ish for entry level cameras.

[thekillergazebo]

Also keep in mind the price of lenses. The Sony system is expensive as hell for lenses. Plus they only go on sale two times a year. If your looking for value I'm not sure Sony is the way to go. I personally only went with Sony because I like crop more than FF and I like how light it is. If you don't care about weight if look more at canon or Nikon. Also they have some big photo show going on in Germany in like a few weeks where they are going to announce some new stuff is wait till that's over with. They might drop the price even more on some cameras.

[Lincoln_Rhyme]

i will wait unless i need it urgently

[Aereldor]

23 hours ago, ALwin said:

How urgently do you need a camera for work?

Edit: This could be your deciding factor, if you need it urgently.  But if you can wait (and perhaps squeeze a few more months of life out of the Vivia HF20), I recommend you wait until you get a good deal or perhaps save up some more and get something a bit higher end.

 

Also, some models like the D3300 should be due for a replacement. New models tend to come out every 1.5-2 years'ish for entry level cameras.

I thought the D3400 would hit soon, but wouldn't it also be more expensive without offering a proportionate bump to features and image quality? That's what happened between the D3200 and D3300 or the D5200 and the D5300.

At any rate, if my Vixia HF20 gives out completely, I think I'll look into renting an old T3i and a fast prime until November.

[ALwin]

On 9 August 2016 at 8:28 AM, Aereldor said:

I thought the D3400 would hit soon, but wouldn't it also be more expensive without offering a proportionate bump to features and image quality? That's what happened between the D3200 and D3300 or the D5200 and the D5300.

At any rate, if my Vixia HF20 gives out completely, I think I'll look into renting an old T3i and a fast prime until November.

If the D3400 is announced, say by the end of the year, it will start of at about the same price point as the D3300 when it was announced if not more.  But this also means that the remaining stock of D3300 could become slightly cheaper or you can probably find some people selling their used cameras.

[Aereldor]

21 minutes ago, ALwin said:

If the D3400 is announced, say by the end of the year, it will start of at about the same price point as the D3300 when it was announced if not more.  But this also means that the remaining stock of D3300 could become slightly cheaper or you can probably find some people selling their used cameras.

As of now, do you think any of those are good deals? I was leaning towards the refurbished 1200D/T5 kit and the Yongnuo 50mm f1.8 (being the cheapest of the lot).

[ALwin]

Just now, Aereldor said:

As of now, do you think any of those are good deals? I was leaning towards the refurbished 1200D/T5 kit and the Yongnuo 50mm f1.8 (being the cheapest of the lot).

It all depends on what you want to do.  If it's for personal stuff, I say go for it.  But if you are earning money by working with a camera, think carefully about what you need in a camera system.

[ALwin]

21 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

As of now, do you think any of those are good deals? I was leaning towards the refurbished 1200D/T5 kit and the Yongnuo 50mm f1.8 (being the cheapest of the lot).

Also, check to make sure that the 1200D has a mic port.  I know some cameras don't.

[Aereldor]

14 hours ago, ALwin said:

Also, check to make sure that the 1200D has a mic port.  I know some cameras don't.

The 1200D doesn't. It has quite a few downsides, foremost that it lacks an articulating screen. However, I can't find anything else in the same price range as a certified refurbished 1200D kit ($320).