Looking to buy a camera

[softball07]

I am stepping up from my phone camera to a more professional camera. I am not quite sure what to look for. I'm eventually wanting to have my own photography business. Any suggestions on where to start?

 

[tirediron]

I'd start with a budget and what sort of things you like to shoot. You can get into a basic entry-level consumer body & kit lens for < $750; even less if you with used gear a generation or two old.

 

[sscarmack]

Nikon 3200 or 3300

 

[Stradawhovious]

What do you plan on doing with it?

And by that I mean, is there a specific type of photography you are looking at getting in to, or more of an all purpose image maker?

 

[MSnowy]

Jump in the deep end. The new Nikon d750 with Nikon 24-70 2.8 and Nikon 70-200 2.8 vrii

 

[waday]

Also, spend a few bucks to get a class in photography for beginners--something to introduce you to your camera and to NOT use auto-mode. Some local colleges/universities may have no credit classes for cheap, or local photographers may offer classes.

 

[Stradawhovious]

Jump in the deep end. The new Nikon d750 with Nikon 24-70 2.8 and Nikon 70-200 2.8 vrii

Which leads to another question... What is your budget? If you have a small fortune to spend, the above would be awesome.


Honeslty you could find a used Nikon D90 for $200-$300. That takes great pictures, has decent HIGH ISO characteristics and opens up the use of 30 years worth of Nikon lenses due to its internal focus motor. That's a lot of glass to choose from, and some of it is REALLY affordable.

Is it the most recent, flashy, high end camera with all the bells and whistles?

Nope.

Will it get the job done?

Youbetcha.

 

[Solarflare]

A "professional" camera is a camera thats used by a professional.

What camera is best for you really depends upon what kind of photography you want to do. And a lot on personal preferences, too.

For example an artist might decide he prefers to use the good old large format film cameras, as they have been around since the 19. century. A reporter/sports photographer will probably prefer the fast and reactive modern DSLR plus bright and high performance f2.8 zooms. A portraiture photographer might prefer a mirrorless camera and bright primes. Etc.

 

[mcap1972]

I would go with either DSLR and a fixed lens or one of Fuji X cameras.

 

[softball07]

I am wanting to shoot portrait and landscape. I've been looking at the Canon Rebel t5i body. Any thoughts? And what lense(s) should I get for portrait and landscape photography?

 

[Solarflare]

Well - if you are really serious about photography, I woudl advise to rather get a used older semiprofessional DSLR, like the aforementioned Nikon D90. For Canon, that would be a 50D or 60D.

The main reason is that if you are really serious about photography, you will not feel the need to upgrade too quickly, because you will already have advanced features like HSS, which you very likely will want very urgently once you get a bit into the field. Also these cameras have quite a bit more controls and thus allow you to work much faster.

All you really lose by using an older camera is some (really not too much, unles you go for the really old cameras) high ISO performance. Since you want to do landscape and portraiture, you can basically always work at ISO 100 anyway, so that doesnt matter much. You can also basically use good old (and cheap) manual lenses as well, since you wont work with fast moving subjects (*).

Lenses, hrr. Well theres generally 3 philosophies:

- Get a kit or convenience zoom, plus a tripod, for landscape, and a "nifty fifty" 50mm f1.8 for portraiture.
- Get a 2.8 normal zoom for both. Theres a pretty good cheap lens from Sigma for that.
- Get a wide zoom and a telephoto zoom(*). Either ignore the gap in between or, if you later find you actually miss it, get a 35mm f1.8 for that.

A comment on the fields:

Landscape means you want a lot of range in the focal lengths. Basically 18mm, even better 16mm, and maybe even less for wide angle. And some telephoto range, too. You also want a tripod and very likely set of filters - like traditionally a gradient neutral density and probably also a polarizer. Make sure you get only one such set of filters, for the largest size you need, and get translation for your lenses with smaller filter threads. A tripod is really essential for landscape photography - for example you can get great effects by long exposures, and often you'll have drastic dynamic range and will want to do braketing - multiple exposures at different levels, so different parts of the picture are correctly exposed and can be combined into one picture later in the computer.

Portraiture happends at any focal length, really, but the many people love to have a prime, because they are very bright and allow shallow depth of field. This means the background will drown in blurr and the viewer of the picture will be forced to focus the attention on your subject, i.e. the person portrayed. For portraiture, you might quite quickly want a good flash that can do HSS and can be turned in order to provide indirect light.


(*) Only an option for Nikon - Canon lenses are all autofocussing.
(**) You might prefer Canon for this option - they just released a great APS-C wide angle zoom thats very affordable. For Nikon, the only really cheap options are from third party, like the famous Tokina 11-16mm f2.8.

 

[Bobby Ironsights]

I am wanting to shoot portrait and landscape. I've been looking at the Canon Rebel t5i body. Any thoughts? And what lense(s) should I get for portrait and landscape photography?

I love my T5i, and the new image stabilization lenses. I also like that canon leaves the focus motor in the lens, so if the lens motor goes, you don't need a new camera and being from a bigger company with better camera sales than nikon gives you plenty to choose from if you do look at getting used lenses or accessories. EF lenses from the film days also work with the new bodies.

Also, the t5i is also on sale right now for $550 with kit 18-55.
Canon EOS Rebel T5I DSLR Camera with EF s 18 55mm F 3 5 5 6 Is STM Lens | eBay

Being a good photographer depends more on what you know, than what you shoot with though, like being a good painter doesn't merely mean owning a good paintbrush.

 

[Tabe]

If you're unsure, there are deals all the time for refurb Nikon D3300 with kit lens in the range of $400 all the time. That's an excellent starter camera that will allow you to do some learning and, when the time comes, recoup a good portion of your investment should you choose to sell.