Home › Forums › Photography Q&A › Best Cameras for Beginning Enthusiast!!
- This topic has 24 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 2 months ago by
James Staddon.
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October 4, 2022 at 11:44 pm #72687
Warrior Princess
ParticipantHello everyone!
I have just completed the lesson about the different factors of a good camera in the course “Foundations of Photography”, and was wondering if any of you could recommend some cameras based on this list I made up of my preferences.
What I Want in a New Camera…
Under $800
No touchscreen
DSLR or Mirrorless
Ability to add lenses
Flip out screen optional
APS-C, Full-Frame, or Micro Four-Thirds sensor size
12 MP (megapixels) minimum
Large size of pixels
Good ISO performance (at least a length of range of 100-3200)
RAW and JPG file formats
9-39 Focus Points
8-12 FPS
3 inch or larger screen
Screen res of 920k dots or more
Wifi (optional) and GPS (desirable)I am at a total loss of where to start researching, and see so many neat cameras out there!
Also, where would you recommend I look online? Are Amazon and Best Buy good places to purchase from?
Thank you so much and God bless you all,
BrieannaOctober 5, 2022 at 9:14 am #72692James Staddon
KeymasterGo you, Brieanna! This is fantastic!
I hear ya. There ARE so many cameras, especially now that mirrorless is taking the market by storm and there are no longer two top dogs, Canon and Nikon, to choose from.
I’m going to start with “type” of camera first. I’m going to choose “mirrorless” because that’s the direction technology is going. CameraDecision has a list of mirrorless cameras out there here: https://cameradecision.com/bodytype/Mirrorless-cameras The highest rated ones (like the Canon R3) are like in the multiple thousands of dollars, of course. So I wish I could sort by price. So, I search on DuckDuckGo “camera sort by price” and I happen to find Versus.com (never been here before). They have a price filter so I set that to $1000 (usually you can find things cheaper than list prices, so I’m going to go high). They have some other filters . . . wow, look at that! Just about every filter you could imaging. I go through and select everything that you have listed. It narrows all the cameras down to 21! Let me know if the following link works for you:
Now I can sort by “score”, putting the Fujifilm X-T30 II first. I’ve never heard of this camera before so it means I’m going to have to research it. I “add to comparison”. The second one with the highest score is the Sony A7 II. I have heard of this camera before, so I’m more likely going to gravitate toward this one. I know a lot of folks with Sonys and have heard a lot of good things about them so I add it to comparison too. I scroll down a bit and see a Canon. I like Canon, so I’ll add this one (the M50, and look at that, the M50 Mark II is there too, so I’ll add that instead since it’s probably newer) to comparison too.
I click “compare” . . . and you can take it from here! It takes a long time to find just the right camera for you, but at least maybe these tools will help you narrow things down a bit. 🙂
October 5, 2022 at 9:20 am #72693James Staddon
KeymasterBy the way, I just plugged in what I think would be an ideal upgrade for me (under $1000) and came up with the Sony A7 II. I think that’s the camera I would recommend. 🙂 It’s $873, a little over budget, so that’s when you’d go look for (or wait for . . . black Friday’s coming up!) a good deal, coupons, etc. I look around on Amazon, Adorama, B&H, and Ebay . . . and ask my friends where they find good deals too. 🙂
October 5, 2022 at 10:19 pm #72732Warrior Princess
ParticipantOh my, James! Thanks ever so much for all the effort you put in! I am going to look at that link right away. 🙂
October 5, 2022 at 11:10 pm #72734Warrior Princess
ParticipantThe link worked, but I can’t click anything on each camera’s page… (By the way, my family and I use DuckDuckGo too! And our emails are through ProtonMail)
I tried looking up Versus.com myself and putting in all my specs, but the Sony A7 II didn’t show up. Perhaps I put in more filters that the A7 II didn’t have. Here is my link. Are any of these good?Would you recommend Sony over Canon? I have always heard of how good Canon is, but I’ve never known that Sony was as good. Do the Sonys have good lens compatibility like Canon and Nikon?
Also, does the Sony A7 II have an optical viewfinder? I forgot about that feature that I really like- it’s old-fashioned, and something I’ve never had in a digital camera before.
And one more question, how many grams should a camera weigh to be in the medium-weight range? Is a weight of 475 grams (about 1 pound) or 915 grams (about 2 pounds) good?
Again, thank you for your time, and helping me find a great site to compare and find the perfect camera on, God-willing!
October 5, 2022 at 11:41 pm #72735Warrior Princess
ParticipantI clicked the link, and that worked, but I couldn’t press anything on the camera pages.
Then I added more filters, like the optical viewfinder, (which I really like since it is old-fashioned and I’ve never had it in a digital camera before) and it narrowed it down to 3- two Nikons and a Canon- which I was happy about since you mentioned in the course that they are compatible with more lenses and other add-ons than any other company. I have had Sony, Kodak, and, most recently, a lovely Olympus olympus sp-810UZ bridge camera that broke in one place on the front a couple of years ago (exposing wires and such things) and was partly the reason for putting my photographer dream on hold (the other reason was that I didn’t have a teacher- and now I do, and the photographer dream has reawakened, praise God!)
Anyhow, I thank you so much for you godly teaching, my brother in the Lord! and also for your encouragement in my just-begun search for the perfect camera.
Here is the link to the three cameras my search was narrowed down to. Will you please let me know which you think is best?
October 6, 2022 at 5:43 pm #72741Warrior Princess
ParticipantDid my last message get through? I sent two, but I thought the first one didn’t work so I sent a new one.
October 12, 2022 at 8:20 pm #72934Warrior Princess
ParticipantHi James! Did you see my messages? Lydia said the ones with the links were in the spam folder, but she recently put them in the post.
October 12, 2022 at 9:41 pm #72937Warrior Princess
Participant@james-staddon what do you think of this camera? Is it worth getting?
October 12, 2022 at 9:41 pm #72938Warrior Princess
ParticipantOctober 19, 2022 at 4:21 pm #73053James Staddon
KeymasterHi @warrior-princess, sorry I hadn’t gotten back to you on this! Yes, the “spammed” messages have been “unspammed”, and I can respond!
* Yes, I would say Sony is as good as Canon, in many respects.
* I don’t believe many mirrorless cameras have optical viewfinders. The digital ones are really good now, though. Not like the old days. 🙂
* 1-2lbs is fine weight! I am used to carrying around 3-4lbs all the time with my DSLR + lenses.
* About the links you sent, the one with the list of cameras, that first one, the Sony Alpha a6500, is a great camera! At this point, with your parameters plugged in, probably the next thing would be to see which camera that has the highest rating is in your budget. If you need another determining factor, you could choose a brand, and then find the highest rated camera of that brand that’s in your budget (Sony, or Canon, or even Nikon).
* The 6D is a fantastic camera. Probably overkill for a starter camera.
* I’m not really a fan of the Canon 2000D (The T7). If you can find the T7i, or T6i, those would be better cameras.
October 19, 2022 at 6:55 pm #73056Warrior Princess
ParticipantThank you so much, James!
I am sorry for all the messages. I didn’t know which ones had gone through and which hadn’t. 😀
One more thing, is Panasonic a good brand? I recently researched the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G85 and I really like it, but am not sure if the brand is dependable.
October 26, 2022 at 2:32 pm #73145James Staddon
KeymasterPanasonic is a good brand! The main thing to consider with brand is usually lens availability. Looking at CameraDecision, the G85 has 119 compatible lenses. The typical entry-level Canon DSLR lineup has 333 available lenses (https://cameradecision.com/compare/Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-G85-vs-Canon-EOS-Rebel-T8i). However, the Canon R lineup (Canon’s mirrorless cameras) has only 34 available lenses at the moment. At least, that’s what it says.
The Panasonic G85 has a pretty small sensor (a Micro 4:3, even smaller than the APS-C of most entry-level DSLRs).
However, if the specs are same/similar between two cameras, than it’ll be a good camera, regardless of whether or not it is a Canon or Panasonic.
October 26, 2022 at 10:03 pm #73155Warrior Princess
ParticipantThat is great information to know. Thank you!
November 19, 2022 at 3:21 pm #73457Warrior Princess
ParticipantI have finally decided on a Canon Rebel T7 and found it on Amazon. However, the least expensive kit is an international model.
@jamesstaddon should I trust that it is the same as the US model?Also, is “renewed” all right, or should I get brand new?
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