First camera for photo and videowork, $500-$600

[djdelarosa25]

Hi there! I'm a student, and I'm looking for my first camera. I will only be sticking with the kit lens, since my only aim is for casual photography and for casual videowork (we also make video projects at school, but the kit lens will do more than enough since our teachers won't expect top quality cinematography anyway).

I am fine with either DSLR or mirrorless. An articulated screen is a nice feature, and so is a touchscreen. Silent lens is a must. Good autofocus performance is also welcome.

Basically, a cheap camera that leans more into the video side, but is a solid performer for stills as well.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[astroNikon]

bump

It's Saturday night not many are online that work with video a lot.

But "kit lens" and "Silent lens is a must" don't go together.
Unless the Nikon AF-Ps are silent enough not to be caught by the onboard camera microphones, unless you add an external mic. But I'm not a video expert.

 

[KmH]

Kit lens AF motor s aren't anywhere close to being silent when they AF.
I shoot video with a kit lens.

I use a Nikon AF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 G VR II.
I zoom the lens out to 55 mm, Auto focus on something quite distant, turn off AF so the camera is Manual focus mode and won't try to refocus, and usually then zoom back in to 18 mm and use 18 mm to shoot my video. I don't have to refocus at any time because the entire scene is in focus (I set the lens aperture to f/5.6) unless I try to shoot an extreme close-up.

The point is using that focus technique the lens doesn't change focus when I zoom in or out. Not all kit lenses will do that, and with my lens I can't AF at 18 mm, put it in Manual focus, and then zoom out to 55 mm and expect the zoomed out scene to be in focus.

With your budget look at a Nikon D5300 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II Auto Focus-S DX NIKKOR Zoom Lens (Black)
The newer D5500 is a bit over your budget.

And I use an external microphone - a RØDE VideoMicro because it gets it's power from the camera and not a battery in the microphone.

 

[djdelarosa25]

Kit lens AF motor s aren't anywhere close to being silent when they AF.
I shoot video with a kit lens.

I use a Nikon AF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 G VR II.
I zoom the lens out to 55 mm, Auto focus on something quite distant, turn off AF so the camera is Manual focus mode and won't try to refocus, and usually then zoom back in to 18 mm and use 18 mm to shoot my video. I don't have to refocus at any time because the entire scene is in focus (I set the lens aperture to f/5.6) unless I try to shoot an extreme close-up.

The point is using that focus technique the lens doesn't change focus when I zoom in or out. Not all kit lenses will do that, and with my lens I can't AF at 18 mm, put it in Manual focus, and then zoom out to 55 mm and expect the zoomed out scene to be in focus.

With your budget look at a Nikon D5300 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II Auto Focus-S DX NIKKOR Zoom Lens (Black)
The newer D5500 is a bit over your budget.

And I use an external microphone - a RØDE VideoMicro because it gets it's power from the camera and not a battery in the microphone.

There are variants of the D5300 here with the new AF-P kit lens, should I go for that one?

How about the Canon 700D? It has a touchscreen, which is pretty neat.

 

[goodguy]

No camera in your price range will be perfect.
Good video AF is either Canon or Sony.
Canon 70D is the cheapest Canon camera with good continues video auto focus and no 4K
Sony a6000 has also good video continues AF but it has overheating issues, no touch screen, very poor battery life and no 4K
Panasonic G7 is the good video camera with no seriously usable continues video auto focus and its kit lens (14-42mm) has no VR
Nikon D5500 is also very good with touch swivel screen but no 4K and not a good continues video auto focus.

Hard to recommend one video camera as I said, none is perfect, I chose the Panasonic G7 but if you plan on moving a lot with it you might need a gimbal and for that you need a good video AF and that will be Sony or Canon.

 

[djdelarosa25]

D5300 and 700D are the only ones with articulating screens in my price range. Everything else (A6000, D5500) is out of my budget (here in the Philippines, at least).

Which is better?

 

[KmH]

I would recommend the D5300, mainly because of it's much better image sensor.
However, the D5300 can do 1080P video at 60 fps while the 700D (T5i here in the US, Kiss X71 in Japan) can only do a max of 30 fps in 1080P.