good camera for beginner

[jbuster09]

I currently have a nikon coolpix p510. It was just a camera my mother bought for me for Christmas one year. I've taken a real interest in photography and would love to not have a point and shoot but am not wanting to spend a fortune. I've been told the nikon d3200 is a good camera for beginners. any advice would be great! I mainly just take pictures of sports, my daugter, and family. I want to do more newborn/family shoots for friends and family.


I've attached a few examples of what I have been able to shoot with my camera now.

 

[Derrel]

Well, yeah, the D3200 is aimed at beginning d-slr shooters and those on a budget; prices on this model, now that there is a D3300 out, are very attractive. What you get is a small-body Nikon that has a good image sensor in it, has a pop-up flash, and has a pretty good battery system. You also get entry to the Nikon lens system, as well as the Nikon flash system. There is a lot of price competition among vendors on the D3200 and other lesser-expensive Nikons like the D5200. The D5500 is sort of "new"--it has a touch screen, which is a first for Nikon in a d-slr.

The D3200 with the 18-55 VR kit zoom lens is a good start, very affordable, available from Walmart to BestBuy to a dozen other stores. The secret/catch is that to realllllllllly leverage the camera in tougher shooting situations, a person wants to have better lenses, with wider maximum aperture values, to allow more light in, in order to get faster shutter speeds or to use lower ISO values, or a little of both.

RIght now, the higher end D7100 is also a tremendous value in a simply better body; bigger viewfinder image, better controls, can accept older AF and AF-D lenses and give autofocusing with them.

 

[Designer]

The Nikon D3200 is a fine DSLR for a beginner. They are usually bundled with the 18-55mm zoom, although mine also included the 55-200 zoom as well.

In most cases, I caution first-time purchasers against the commonly-promoted "97-piece" bundle for the simple reason that the retailer is not going to toss in the best accessories for very little added price. As you gain knowledge about photography equipment, you will learn what you need and will be able to discern the better quality items to purchase later. Sometimes the "many-piece" kit is not totally a bad deal, such as when you get something that you can really use for years to come.

But since I can't think of what that might be...oh, wait...I still have my cheap light-weight tripod that I keep in the camera bag. Yes, it's small enough and light enough that I always have it, even though I have two better tripods at home, but sometimes cheap and light beats no tripod at all.

 

[Derrel]

YES--definitely SKIP the "34-piece bundle" vendors...most outfits offering those high piece count sets are bundling in a bunch of high profit margin junk of dubious worth. The vendors selling the basic three-piece kits, like body, 18-55 zoom and then a 55-200 or 55-250 zoom...those are the regular, Nikon-authorized kits. Some of the bigger retailers will add a few items, like a memory card and camera bag as a sweetener, and those are okay too...but those "five lens" kits with two of the so-callewd lenses being screw-in wide-angle adapter and screw-in telephoto or macro lens adapter...ugg...that stuff is rubbish.

Also: be aware, there are Vibration Reduction or VR lens models of the 18-55, and non-VR models, and the tele zooms may be either VR or non-VR; again, price competition is high in this segment, so the non-VR kits will cost less than the VR lens kits.

 

[jbuster09]

I don't understand most of the equipment that you are talking about. I'm still reading and trying to learn. Could you tell me the differences?

 

[goodguy]

Ok let me try to make it a bit easier to understand.

First as "Derrel" and "Designer" said the D3200 is indeed an excellent camera for a beginer.
It has a good modern sensor that will give you good results in good and bad lighting conditions, I had the chance to use it few times and liked it a lot considering its price.

Camera is just one part of the system when you take pictures.
DSLR has accessories you might want or need to use to "get" the picture you want.
Different lenses, tripods, filters, flashes.......etc

Some stores will offer you a deal where they will offer you plenty of these accesories for a rathet tempting price.
My advice for you is dont get these bundles, the accesories they offer aint worth (in most cases) their value and you might not need them anyway.
Best is buy basic package and learn how to use camera correctly, then in time you will know yourself what you want or need.

The D3200 will come with its basic kit lens the Nikon 18-55mm VR, its a good basic lens.
It will do lots of things ok but few things really good.
If you shoot in the house running kids this lens might not be enough for you, if you go out and you want to shoot a bird high on a tree again this lens will not be good for that.
There are lots of different lenses that are design to do different things like sports/wildlife, portrait, Macro.....etc

Many people like buying the D3200 or other entry level camera with more then just the one basic kit lens, they will add the Nikon 55-200mm VR which will give you more reach when you are outside.
Usually there are bundles for that, if price is right then I would recommend considering it but no need to add more for staters.

Good luck

 

[goodguy]

One more thing is (I tell this to anyone that starts in photography) you need to understand good pictures are mainly because of the photographer and not the camera or lens.
Many people buy a good camera with good lens and other accesories and go out shooting expecting their pictures to look better then ther old point and shoot but it doesnt, they blame their gear.
The truth is that camera system is just a tool, by understanding the basic of photography like exposure and composition you really can use the equipment you have and get the amazing pictures you want.
This is a process that takes years, it will not take a day, a week or a month and frankly not even a year (for most anyways).
Give it time, learn as much as you can about photography and most importantly go out, shoot and have fun, if you will be patient and put your heart into this I am sure the results will sure to follow

 

[Designer]

I don't understand most of the equipment that you are talking about. I'm still reading and trying to learn. Could you tell me the differences?

Could you be a little more explicit with your question, please? Differences between what?

 

[chuasam]

Please buy it at a real camera store and not Walmart or bestbuy

 

[Brendan O'Connell]

Another alternative is the Pentax K-50. It runs a little lower of a price and is weather sealed if that's something you would like to have...
Image quality between the two is similar, but Nikon beats the K-50 on the video side. From what you said about shooting for friends, I think the D3200 is the way to go because of the higher megapixel count and rather stable shooting environments.