Newbie, advice on what sort of camera.

Hello, I recently retired and would like to get into stock footage as a hobby. I want to buy a 4k camera and I am not too concerned

about stills. I wish to shoot short video clips. I can't afford lots of money, I think I could afford up to around £600 but would like to

start with something worth having that would last a few years. I am a complete novice to this and only want to enjoy my retirement.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you.

I see that you did not get any replies to your question, which I think is a reasonable one. I shoot a lot of video and a lot of photos, and I do both professionally. About 2.5 years ago, I got a Panasonic Lumix ZS100 (I think it's called the TZ100 outside the US) and think it would be a good camera for you. The ZS100 is still available, but has been replaced by the ZS200. Looking at Amazon, the ZS100 goes for around US$550 and the ZS200 is around US$750.

I like the ZS100 because it is a point-and-shoot camera with a 1-inch sensor, which is significantly bigger than the sensor in a typical point-and-shoot camera. Thus, the ZS100 takes better photos and gets MUCH better video than the typical point-and-shoot. In particular, it does excellent 4K video with the ISO set to 200 or less. You start to see a bit of noise at ISO 400 for video, and it's definitely noisy but still usable at ISO 800. I do a lot of wildlife shooting and can do almost all of that at ISO 200 -- and it looks wonderful. Here's an example: https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/93083386/tiger-swallowtail-butterfly-flies-different-flower-sun1-4k.html

The ZS100 also does nice 120fps video at HD (1080p) resolution. In 2.5 years of use with the ZS100, I have taken nearly 100,000 photos and videos, and it still works fine. It fits easily in a jacket pocket, but is a little bulky for a pants pocket.

Hope that helps!

Bob

The Sony RX100 Mark IV, V or VI. They're a bit pricey but take amazing quality photos and videos. Great little point and shoot camera. Mind you there are limitations shooting 4k with the over heating and 5 minute clip limitation. Other than that, great P&S camera.

Canon Rebel T7i, with a kit 18-55mm lens. My camera quit so I recently did a lot of research on this and my budget was limited. I Got the Canon 80D instead, it isn't 4K, but the quality for video and stills has been great. The 80D fit my needs better than the T7i, do to the ISO settings have more increments. The T7i I think only has whole numbers, which wouldn't work for me. But I think it had 4K. Canon tech support is free and they are wonderful, even if you don't have a $10,000, they treat you like you do. Most point and shot cameras have limited focus abilities and photos and footage are very often rejected by most stock sites. The more material you can get up each week, the more likely you are to be successful.

No, the T7i/800D does not have 4K but it does have 1080p 60fps and also builtin timelapse. There has been a rumor that Canon be adding 4K to some of their cameras in next years production.

FWIW, most Panasonic Lumix cameras have built-in timelapse capability, and it works very well. I have three such Panasonic cameras: ZS100, GX8 and GH5. All three do nice 4K video (especially the GH5!) and have built-in timelapse capability.

Having built-in timelapse isn't a big feature as I have always used an intervalometer on all for four of my Canon cameras including my Sony RX10ii. I do own a Lumix GX85 with a 12-32mm lens which I mounted inside on the car's windshield. Because it's so small compared to Canon and Sony and still gives me a full unobstructed view of the road and it also works better than my Hero 4.

Jason, just so you are aware of the timelapse feature built into the Panasonic cameras, you should know that the camera itself assembles the photos into a 4K video. When I do a timelapse with one of these cameras, the result is a 4K video created automatically by the camera. And the 4K video files are beautiful. (I can choose HD if I want, but I always choose 4K.) Of course, I can make the video manually in editing software, but it's nice to have a finished 4K video file from the camera.

I'd rather do the stitching myself and also be able to make any adjustments in post. Problem with Panasonic's small mirrorless cameras is that the max resolution is too small as well.

Not to be argumentative, but all the Panasonic cameras with the timelapse feature have resolution far in excess of what's needed for a 4K video. The three cameras I have (ZS100, GX8 and GH5) all have 20+ megapixel sensors, while 4K video has 8 megapixel frames. If there is any benefit from sensors with more resolution, it's pretty small. Getting a 4K timelapse straight out of the camera can be a real convenience... I've done it many times.