I am interested in signing up for a photography course, I know nothing about photography.
If you want to get into photography, you do need a camera that allows you direct and quick access to the important photographic parameters.
You might also want a system camera - meaning a camera that allows you to exchange lenses, because that will give you a lot more options. It should be a currently available system with a lot of choices, too. Canon DSLR and Nikon DSLR have the most choices, Pentax DSLR and Micro Four Thirds arent so bad either, Fuji X, Nikon One and Sony E looks okay if you dont need too many or too exotic options. On, and Canon EOS-M is awful (3 lenses total a year after release). Sigma, Tamron and other companies offer lenses for Canon, Nikon and maybe some other companies as well.
If you want a DSLR or not, well. DSLRs are a decade old, well done, well established and very competitively priced type of camera. The still very new socalled "mirrorless" systems cameras are smaller, but still inferior. And these new systems all have their problems now, though Micro Four Third cameras are pretty advanced and would be the best choice if you really want to pay extra for small size, and the Fuji X cameras offers very high image quality, though at a price.
Also, you should realize that digital cameras are cheap mass products that wont last long. You can get maybe 5 or so years out of them before maybe nobody can repair them anymore, or the batteries might no longer be available, and / or the data storage units are no longer available. Thus getting an older camera like a Nikon D3100 might still be okay, but dont get just any ancient camera out there, or you might just have wasted money.
This is not true for lenses. Especially old manual lenses from decades ago can still be used on some cameras, though todays cameras support manual focus rather poorly. Thats also a good chance to save money.
The priorities with a camera are:
- Glass - Without the right glas, you cant get the photograph. Also glas is the most important limiter of your image quality.
- Ergonomics - With a slowly operating camera, which includes all too many expensive flashy new cameras, you will miss a lot of photographic opportunities. Also you would simply not like operating the camera at all.
- Size and Weight - If you dont have the camera with you, you cannot make the photograph. Thats why Mirrorless is so hot. But as I said - right now, you pay extra for less there.
