new to the photography world

[Patrick.hillman]

My name is Patrick A Hillman, im 20 years old and currently serving in the United States Air Force. Currently I am stationed in England and there are a lot of beautiful sights to see here. I'm looking to buy a DSLR camera with great depth and great colors, can anyone give me recommendations on some that are in the 500-700$ range?


Thank you,
Patrick

 

[ronlane]

Welcome to the site Patrick and thank you for serving in the military. There will be plenty of opinions about what camera that you should get. Most will suggest that you at least go where you can touch a couple of different ones and see what you prefer and fits your hands.

I'm not 100% sure of the price point but you are looking at something like a Nikon 3100 with kit lens or a Canon T2i or T3i with kit lens.

 

[Patrick.hillman]

i was actually just looking at the Nikon D3200 and picking up a Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR FX Lens, would that be advised or should i stick with the D3100 w/ kit lens for beginning?

 

[ronlane]

i was actually just looking at the Nikon D3200 and picking up a Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR FX Lens, would that be advised or should i stick with the D3100 w/ kit lens for beginning?

I have Canon gear but I would think that the 50mm is better than the kit lens, so you should be fine with that combination.

 

[KmH]

Great depth and great colors are more about the lens than the camera.

An advantage of DSLR type cameras is the lens can be changed.
Nikon current offers 76 DSLR lenses, from ultra-wide angle, long reach telephoto.

As mentioned by Ron a kit is likely what you want;
This Nikon entry-level consumer grade kit has 2 lenses that cover 18 mm to 200 mm between them and is $600 - Nikon D3100 14.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm VR, 55-200mm VR DX Zoom Lenses and 3-Inch LCD Screen (Black)

This Canon 1 lens kit is about the same $600 - Canon EOS Rebel T3i 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera and DIGIC 4 Imaging with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens
And this is a 1 lens Nikon kit in that same price range - Nikon D3200 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR NIKKOR Zoom Lens (Black)

FWIW - As a general rule, the higher the quality of a lens the more a lens costs.

For example: the Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR [Vibration Reduction] Nikkor Zoom Lens that come with the first kit is a $250 consumer grade lens when bought by itself.
Compare that to Nikon's $2400 pro grade Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens For Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

 

[runnah]

i was actually just looking at the Nikon D3200 and picking up a Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR FX Lens, would that be advised or should i stick with the D3100 w/ kit lens for beginning?

I have Canon gear but I would think that the 50mm is better than the kit lens, so you should be fine with that combination.

I think the 50mm is cheap enough to buy at a later date. The kit lens is better because it offers a much better range for someone to start out with. The 50mm on a crop sensor is going to very tight and make shooting tight places very difficult.

 

[Patrick.hillman]

lol runnah gotta remember im still new to the camera/photography world, i have NO clue what you mean when you say "50mm on a crop sensor is going to be very tight" lol. but over all great advice from everyone, i think ill go with the D3100 with kit lens to start so that i can get the feel for what zoom levels work better with what pictures and can decide on a stationary zoom at a later date

 

[KmH]

In some situations you may not be able to get far enough away from your intended subject with a 50 mm lens, but 18 mm will work.

Digital Photography Tutorials
Camera Lenses

• Understanding Camera Lenses: Focal Length & Aperture
• Using Wide Angle Lenses
• Using Telephoto Lenses
• Macro Lenses: Magnification, Depth of Field & Effective F-Stop
• Macro Extension Tubes & Close-up Lenses

 

[Patrick.hillman]

Thank you Keith for the links to help learn to advance my photography, im still new to it but i would definitely like to get better at it before i leave England as after that im headed to ITALY!

 

[Patrick.hillman]

im looking for a legit SLR camera, not point and shoot, is the Nikon 3100 what im looking for or is that point - and - shoo?

 

[goodguy]

i was actually just looking at the Nikon D3200 and picking up a Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR FX Lens, would that be advised or should i stick with the D3100 w/ kit lens for beginning?

Nikon D3200 is exactly the camera I wanted to suggest to you, its a great starters camera and while its the most basic DSLR in current Nikon stable it is a very good capable camera, I would also suggest getting with it its kit lens the 18-105mm VR lens, this is a very good all around lens and to it you should add the Nikon 50mm 1.8G for low light and portrait shots.
The D3100 is an ok camera but for only 100$ extra you can get the D3200 that replaced it, just makes sense to get the D3200, its simply a much better camera.

 

[Ro3bert]

Patrick

If you are just beginning to get into photography I believe you should buy the least expensive camera that has the ability to replace lenses. The camera doesn't take good pictures, it's the person behind the camera. It also depends on what you want to do, for family or casual snapshots the least expensive camera is just about as good as expensive ones. (You will probably hear howls of dissention about that one).

I started out in the AF in England also. Bought a Kodak Retina IIC 35mm film camera (no digitals in 1958) that yielded excellent pictures and I still have and use it. I wouldn't suggest an expensive camera until you decide you really enjoy photography.

I'd start with a small pocket camera that has the ability to zoom and take extreme close-ups. Almost all brands have cameras like that.

There is a whole lot more to photography than buying the most expensive camera, turning it on, pointing it at something and pressing the shutter button.

I am not a professional photographer by any means but have been doing it since 1958. If you want to contacted me directly you can PM me at any time.

Robert