Buying my first camera

[eugen0619]

I am looking to buy a camera. I like taking photos of food and fashion stuff (beanies, gloves and small knitted garments). Occasionally, I will take photos outside as well. I think I want a balanced camera that has both portability and performance.

my maximum budget is $600. I was looking at mirrorless cameras but after reading some threads and reviews, I am sure if I want to buy a dslr or mirrorless.

can anyone give me some list of cameras that I want to look into further?

Thank you!!

 

[goodguy]

For your price I would recommend the Nikon D3300
Excellent camera, good low light performance and dynamic range.
To that you can add the Nikon 40mm 2.8 Macro lens for obvious macro work and product work which seems like what you want to focus at.

 

[Dave442]

I usually recommend the Nikon D5500 with the kit lens, but right now it is about $100 over your budget.

There is a very good deal going on right now for the D3400 with the 18-55 AF-P and 70-300 AF-P lenses at $500. To that I would add a couple of good 16gb memory cards, an extra OEM battery and a small camera bag to fill out your budget.

 

[Derrel]

The D3400 kit Dave442 is talking about above,for $499, is right at $500 below its normal retail price before December: this seems to be ****the kit**** that Nikon has selected for the 2016 retail season. Knocking $500 off of the price has allowed all retailers/dealers to make some money selling accessories, and to keep Nikon in the forefront of the minds of consumers during the holiday season. The D3400 has a neat NFC/WiFi feature set, allowing you to beam 2-megabye files directly from the camera to a smart phone, which is handy for social media AND for sharing / e-mailing via your smartphone.

 

[Dave Colangelo]

I usually recommend the Nikon D5500 with the kit lens, but right now it is about $100 over your budget.

There is a very good deal going on right now for the D3400 with the 18-55 AF-P and 70-300 AF-P lenses at $500. To that I would add a couple of good 16gb memory cards, an extra OEM battery and a small camera bag to fill out your budget.

He beat me to it but this would be my suggestion as well. I actually just recommended that very kit a friend its a solid deal. I would just go for the 32GB memory cards (over the 16) as they are pretty cheap now.

Regards
Dave

 

[Solarflare]

The D3400 lacks sensor cleaning ... to me a sign that Nikon has gone nuts. Personally I would avoid it.

Yes I know that classic cameras like the D3 dont have sensor cleaning either, but thats because it wasnt invented yet.

And yes I also know sensor cleaning isnt reliable.

 

[manishsoni]

Nikon D3300 and D5300 is the Best Option for Your Work and Also that will suit your budget. You can Go With One of These two Top Models. Because both are Nikons Camera and Nikon will Gives Quality Lens on their Camera.

 

[lunchbox468]

hello everyone i thought i would post here instead of making a new thread. I recently bought an Nikon D5300, 55-33mm vr 2, 35mm 1.8 , and an 55-300mm camera and lenses. I was wanting to make sure i have most of my bases covered for starting off in photography. I am using it for family photos, landscapes, and a little bit of everything. my questions is, am i missing anything? I would like a macro lens but have no idea what to get. but i think have the rest of my bases covered just looking for a little advice.

 

[Dave442]

Welcome Lunchbox, I expect you meant 18-55mm and not 55-33mm as your first lens in the list. I think you have enough to cover the family and landscape shots. I recommend you put one lens on the camera and use just the one lens for a month, then the other lens and then the last lens. Three months from now you will have a better idea of what you need to do to make each lens give you the best results.

I would skip the macro lens for now. A macro was my fourth lens and is very good at what it does, but you have to dedicate a lot of time to using it. Every year that lens comes into use on about 10% of my photos, and that includes all those extra shots for focus stacking.

 

[lunchbox468]

Welcome Lunchbox, I expect you meant 18-55mm and not 55-33mm as your first lens in the list. I think you have enough to cover the family and landscape shots. I recommend you put one lens on the camera and use just the one lens for a month, then the other lens and then the last lens. Three months from now you will have a better idea of what you need to do to make each lens give you the best results.

I would skip the macro lens for now. A macro was my fourth lens and is very good at what it does, but you have to dedicate a lot of time to using it. Every year that lens comes into use on about 10% of my photos, and that includes all those extra shots for focus stacking.

Thank you very much for the input. I will do what you recommended it sounds like a good plan to dedicate myself to one lens for a long period of time so i can get a feel for it and know when to use it.

 

[beagle100]

I am looking to buy a camera. I like taking photos of food and fashion stuff (beanies, gloves and small knitted garments). Occasionally, I will take photos outside as well. I think I want a balanced camera that has both portability and performance.
my maximum budget is $600. I was looking at mirrorless cameras but after reading some threads and reviews, I am sure if I want to buy a dslr or mirrorless.

can anyone give me some list of cameras that I want to look into further?

Thank you!!

I agree, a Canon 760D could be the best for food and fashion but it also depends on the lens and lighting
But mirrorless cameras are the future and they take DSLR lens (along with small and light 'pancake' lens so why not get a "balanced" camera for portability

 

[birdbonkers84]

I recently took up photography and bought a Nikon D3300 as I read online it was a good introductory camera and relatively cheap. It comes with a standard 18-55mm lens. Since getting it 2 months ago, I've added the 50mm prime lens and recently the 55-300mm zoom lens.

If you were to go down the D3300 route, I would recommend reading the book - Nikon D3300: From Snapshots to Great Shots by Rob Sylvan. It really explains the camera well and how to get the best out of it.

Kind Regards,

Mark