What is the best camera for photography?!?

MECOTC24 · Jun 4, 2014

I am a photographer who is trying to get into event shooting. Weddings, parties, babies, kids, engagements, stuff like that. I would like to spend around $500. I know I want it to have a quick shutter speed, the camera I have now is sooo slow I always miss the shot

. The big requirements for me is that it has high resolution, quality images and is quick, I don't want to start charging people and then give them crappy pictures, you know. I do like a manual zoom, but it is'nt a requirement. Also, I want digital. I have read reviews up the wazoo, but they can be extremely persuasive. I would just like to know what other photographers are using and love. I am soo afraid to spend that amount of money and end up hating the product. Any ideas? And please don't respond if you are just going to say the latest camera you heard about, please be an actual user and know something about camera's

chanda95 · Jun 4, 2014

Um. I just purchased a Canon EOS 70D and with the extras I spent around $1700...and when considering the cost of cameras and lenses, I don't think that's bad. I will be honest I am fairly new to the photography world but I did research and anticipated my future needs out of the camera...and then budgeted accordingly. I knew it was going to be expensive but for what I hoped to do..I knew I needed to pay the extra money.

$500 is a drop in the bucket. The body of my camera alone was around a $1,000. I think, for what your plans for your camera are and the budget you have, I am afraid you might be disappointed. You might want to look at used cameras but for what you want and what you want to do with the camera I think you might consider upping your budget a bit.

Are you looking at DSLRs or point and shoots? I am confused with your manual zoom statement. It makes me think you are looking at either point and shoots or medium format cameras. If you were looking at using a medium format camera for shooting weddings, again, not an expert here, but keep in mind these are people's memories and I wouldn't even risk a wedding until I was fully confident in my skills and abilities and those of my camera. Weddings are kind of a big deal. You can't re-do those.

Good luck!

robbins.photo · Jun 4, 2014

MECOTC24 said:
I am a photographer who is trying to get into event shooting. Weddings, parties, babies, kids, engagements, stuff like that. I would like to spend around $500. I know I want it to have a quick shutter speed, the camera I have now is sooo slow I always miss the shot . The big requirements for me is that it has high resolution, quality images and is quick, I don't want to start charging people and then give them crappy pictures, you know. I do like a manual zoom, but it is'nt a requirement. Also, I want digital. I have read reviews up the wazoo, but they can be extremely persuasive. I would just like to know what other photographers are using and love. I am soo afraid to spend that amount of money and end up hating the product. Any ideas? And please don't respond if you are just going to say the latest camera you heard about, please be an actual user and know something about camera's

Well if your serious about doing event shooting, then I'll be honest with you and say your working budget is completely inadequate. If you want to capture quality images indoors in low lighting conditions your going to need a good camera body and some nice, fast lenses - and your not going to be able to put that together on a budget of $500 - at least not so that you have enough of a lens selection to really shoot events properly. For that budget you could afford an entry level DSLR and maybe one prime lens - and that would be about it. To really do events you want two cameras, so you have a backup in case something goes wrong with the first - people can't reschedule a wedding or a birthday party for you to reshoot if something goes wrong with your primary camera. You need to be able to reach into the bag and have a backup available.

My recommendation would be that you buy yourself a good solid entry level DSLR and then learn how to use it first. Take some time to really research running your own business, get a marketing plan together, etc - and in the meantime learn as much as you can about photography.

rudimaes · Jun 4, 2014

Today I bought the Sony A6000, 24mp, APS-C sensor, blazing fast focus(the fastest in it's price range), 11fps burst mode, good low light capacty, but I'm afraid it costs a little more than $500.
Rudi

JustJazzie · Jun 4, 2014

rudimaes said:
Today I bought the Sony A6000, very fast focus, good low light capacty, but I'm afraid it costs a little more than $500. Rudi

I will be curious to see how that works out for you! I nearly chose that one, but was still leery of using it for sports photos. I look forward to seeing what you can do with it!

HitenNainaney · Jun 4, 2014

Here's what you need to consider:

1. Getting into photography if your budget for a 'fast' 'good' cheap' camera is $500. Those 3 words rarely ever fall together for any product. You get what you pay for.

2. Increasing your budget.

3. If you can't budge with the first 2, then considering Getting into photography as a business at all.

As an event photographer you need to be ready for any unforeseen circumstances.

I've had a mojito pour all over my previous camera. That's how I learnt.

It's always best you learn from others bad experiences and not your own.

More over like mentioned above, you'd need a backup camera in case your primary shooter drops dead. Be sure your clients won't be too happy.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Vince.1551 · Jun 4, 2014

MECOTC24 said:
I am a photographer who is trying to get into event shooting. Weddings, parties, babies, kids, engagements, stuff like that. I would like to spend around $500. I know I want it to have a quick shutter speed, the camera I have now is sooo slow I always miss the shot . The big requirements for me is that it has high resolution, quality images and is quick, I don't want to start charging people and then give them crappy pictures, you know. I do like a manual zoom, but it is'nt a requirement. Also, I want digital. I have read reviews up the wazoo, but they can be extremely persuasive. I would just like to know what other photographers are using and love. I am soo afraid to spend that amount of money and end up hating the product. Any ideas? And please don't respond if you are just going to say the latest camera you heard about, please be an actual user and know something about camera's

If you are a photographer, what camera are you using now? Film? I would be more anxious of whether I could handle the events with my photographic skills if I were you then worrying about what camera to use ... aside from that you need spares. What if your one and only one camera breaks down? ;-)

Scatterbrained · Jun 4, 2014

MECOTC24 said:
I am a photographer who is trying to get into event shooting. Weddings, parties, babies, kids, engagements, stuff like that. I would like to spend around $500. I know I want it to have a quick shutter speed, the camera I have now is sooo slow I always miss the shot . The big requirements for me is that it has high resolution, quality images and is quick, I don't want to start charging people and then give them crappy pictures, you know. I do like a manual zoom, but it is'nt a requirement. Also, I want digital. I have read reviews up the wazoo, but they can be extremely persuasive. I would just like to know what other photographers are using and love. I am soo afraid to spend that amount of money and end up hating the product. Any ideas? And please don't respond if you are just going to say the latest camera you heard about, please be an actual user and know something about camera's

Well, I'll say up front that from reading your post you aren't ready for this yet. Slow it down. Take some time to acclimate yourself to the world of photography. Find a pro and try to get picked up as an assistant. You really need to spend some time interning/assisting/seconding to get a proper handle of what you need and what will be expected of you as a professional shooter. Reading your post tells me you are woefully unprepared to step into the professional arena successfully.

KmH · Jun 4, 2014

The least expensive Pentax, Canon, Nikon, etc, entry-level consumer grade DSLRs are all $400 to $500 including an 18-55 mm kit lens.

They all deliver essentially the same resolution, image quality, and pretty much instantaneous shutter release.
In fact, they all have essentially the same performance and features. The few differences they have are nuances most new to using a DSLR won't be aware of.

Note that image quality is almost entirely based on photographer knowledge and skill.

Pentax K-500 16MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with DA L 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 Lens (Black)

Canon EOS Rebel T3 12.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm IS II Lens and EOS HD Movie Mode (Black)

Nikon D3200 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm and 55-200mm Non-VR DX Zoom Lenses Bundle

astroNikon · Jun 4, 2014

For all the events you list, and to provide top professional quality .. you may want to read this thread and pay attention to the Pros who respond. And read all the equipment beyond just the camera itself.
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/general-shop-talk/357750-how-much-money-have-you-invested.html

but, from what I've seen .. just getting started all you need is a camera and the desire to learn.

lambertpix · Jun 4, 2014

KmH said:
The least expensive Pentax, Canon, Nikon, etc, entry-level consumer grade DSLRs are all $400 to $500 including an 18-55 mm kit lens.

They all deliver essentially the same resolution, image quality, and pretty much instantaneous shutter release.
In fact, they all have essentially the same performance and features.

Note that image quality is almost entirely based on photographer knowledge and skill.

While that's true among the kits you mentioned, and while it's also true that the best kit in the world won't get the job done if you don't know how to use it, it's also true that we usually advise people not to try to get into pro photography (especially event photography where there's little control of lighting) without the right equipment.

In other words, both skill and kit are typically needed to succeed as a pro, and by the time a photographer acquires the right skills, they'll know why they need the equipment and how they should use it.

Any of those kits would do just fine for learning, however.

manaheim · Jun 4, 2014

The problem that folks are glancing off of, is you're basically describing a top-end camera... which goes for about 12x what your budget is... and even that won't necessarily do all you ask for.

If you want a CAPABLE camera that will serve you well for around $500, look for a used Nikon D300 in good condition. I don't know what the comparable options are in Canon. Keep in mind you'll still need a lens with that, however.

ruifo · Jun 4, 2014

An used Nikon D300 or a new Nikon D5200 or D5300 will meet your needs, partially, given your budget.
and save a lot for upgrading soon in the future.
best of luck

goodguy · Jun 4, 2014

Lets see, you want to do even photography and want to do it with 500$ budget.

If I was interested in doing this type of work then here is very few things to start with and the emphasis is to start with!!! there is much more you will need to add.

1.Full frame camera, I would recommend minimum of Nikon D610 - 2000$ new
2.Good glass Nikon 24-70mm 2.8G 1800$, 85mm 1.8G 500$,
3.Flash 400$
4.Good memory card 300$ or more

As I said this is a tip of the iceberg.
For a pro it is recommended to own 2 cameras second body as back up or use with a different lens.

Before you are ready to run and get your first gig get your skills going, shooting a wedding is much more then sticking a flash on your camera leaving it on auto, shooting in JPEG..........frankly getting the equipment is the easy part, knowing how to use it is well is the harder part.

manaheim · Jun 4, 2014

Folks, let's try to see through the high level of what the OP asked for and try to use our collective experience to guide him... without suggesting he needs to spend $20K in order to be a photographer. We all know you don't need to do that.