Beginner Gear Question/Dilemma

[kata2012]

Wonder if the OP appreciates the wisdom we've showered down on them? Crickets chirping...HAH!

I actually do appreciate it. It's a lot of common sense that I need as it's really easy to get caught up in the idea that more megapixels or a better lens or a different camera can make you better, when really I just need to learn the basics and get as much experience as possible

 

[MartinCrabtree]

My favorite photo (so far) was taken with a well used Nikon D90 with a 25 year old Nikon 28-85 f3.5-4.5 AF (full frame) lens. Newest camera I own is a 15 year old D3100.

Go have fun with what you have. Take lots of photos. Even ones that may seem dumb. Surprise yourself.

 

[wfooshee]

Personally I have never bought new camera since my first auto-focus film camera back in the 80s, a Nikon N8008; all of my digital cameras have been second-hand, and I upgrade as I run into limitations. The D50 I started with would miss focus in action shots because it only had 5 focus points and I wasn't always able to ensure that the desired subject was on a focus point. The D5000 that replaced it was better, but then I ran into poor frame rate when shooting continuously. Replaced it with a D7000 which had a better frame rate but ran out of buffer after only 8 or 9 frames. The D7200 improved on that, but I've always found its low-light capability quite limited. My current D500 pretty much took care of that issue. Now this didn't happen over a matter of weeks or even months; the D50 was fifteen years ago, and I've had the D500 for only four months now. The longest-used body was the D7200, which was my daily from

I have not replaced any lenses in that time, only added as I felt a need for something. I replaced a very poor 70-200 kit lens with a rather nice 70-300 Nikon lens, new, back in 2012, which is still my go-to lens for sports and wildlife. I kept the 18-55 kit lens that came with the D50 through all of the other cameras, as it was actually quite nice, even without VR. My only other lens purchases have been some specialty lenses, like a fish-eye, a 10-24 super-wide-angle, a 30mm 1.4 for speed, and a 70-200 2.8, again for speed. None of those was new except the 10-24, and it was reduced to nearly half when I bought it. The others were eBay or pawn shops. I also have a number of other pawn shop legacy lenses from Nikon's film days, like an 85mm f:1.8 manual focus and a couple of different50mm lenses, one AF one MF.

My point is that I got stuff when I saw a true improvement against a limitation I had encountered with then-current equipment, not just because, "Oooh, this is the latest and greatest and I need it!" I have a number of lenses, but only two that I bought new, and each one had a purpose for me, even though I don't make my living with this; they represented something I could afford, and something I wanted to experiment with. My longest-lived camera was the D7200, from late 2018 into this year, although the D700 went almost as long.

 

[smoke665]

Thanks, sometimes I just need a dose of common sense. I have a tendency to over think things and plan way to far in advance.

Everyone has been there in the beginning, its a common misconception in photography that you have to have the latest greatest to take great shots. Tools improve your ability to create, but they don't create anything on their own.

Pull out the gear you have, take some shots, and post them here with any questions or advice. Lots of helpful people on TPF

 

[24megapixseal]

Another vote for using the wife's Canon kit.....it really is the person clicking the shutter for at least the first several YEARS!...Once you mastered the lil' Canon, and can get your desired results, you will have figured out your desired genre of photography and can then start to specialize your equipment....those first few years will be fun, you'll learn a ton, and you'll like your photos....OR....after that period you decide that photography ain't something you want or enjoy

Although I love it and it's simply a part of my life, I've introduced others and they simply didn't want to "learn" photography, they just thought it would be easy to take great photos...I think you either "got it" or you "don't".....

But throwing money at it doesn't automatically mean great photographs.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

If I could only have one.....it would be a tough decision.