Newbie Camera Suggestions

[McCree]

I love photography but know nothing about it. I'm always taking pics with my phone etc. and I'm ready to get a good camera and take the next step. I'd like to stay around $1000 with a decent lense...suggestions?

 

[Camera Land]

good afternoon
There are great options available. The whole market is going mirrorless. The Canon M50, Sony A6000 are both great options. Both have a wide assortment of lenses available. The M50 is slightly better for video, shoots 4k.
I am here today until 5:00, rest of the week 9-6
Give me a call and we can discuss all the options available

 

[ssoutdoors]

Both my wife and I run Sony A6000's they are light, and relatively easy to use. Sony has a great suite of apps you can add for things like night shots, time lapses and landscape photography.

The Sigma 30mm prime lens that my wife runs is super sharp. I personally use the Sony G 18-105. allows for some zoom and slightly wider field of view in one lens.

The wifes is 5 years old and is still running great, mine is just over a year old now. She has used it to do product photos for marketing campaigns and catalogues with no issues in detail and clarity.

 

[Camera Land]

The G18-105 is an excellent lens

 

[RyanC]

Following this thread as I am in the market for a new camera (I'm very inexperienced in camera world) and am intrigued by the new Sony a6400. I was sold on getting the a6500 but when I saw the price difference and what you get with the a6400, it seems to be the way to go. I want to use the camera for backpack hunting while shooting video and taking photos. Now..... which lenses to get? The Sony 18-135mm that comes with the camera seems to be a good starting point? Thoughts?

 

[Camera Land]

The 18-135 is a terrific lens. Gives you a lot of versatility. Plus the lens is stabilized.
Of course we will work out a great deal for you once you decide what you need.
Happy to discuss with you. Give me a call

 

[uteranga]

Depends a lot in what kind of photography you're gonna do, and how serious you want to go.​

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DSLR are still slightly on top for very demanding use, especially wildlife photography, or extreme cold temperatures.​

Depending on brand, you can have easy access to a lot of fine lenses for quite cheap if you're ready to buy some used material, canon and Nikon mainly.​

Thinking about a 100-400 v1 canon with a 7D for exemple, should cost less than 1000usd, with a versatile quality lense for wildlife and even birds, and a still good camera body if you learn how to use it properly.​

Or a used 6D with a wide zoom for landscape like 24-105​

Or two cheap but fine zooms in good conditions like a 55-250 and 18-55 v2, should allow you to do both landscape and wildlife, and those cheap zooms can be excellent if you choose the settings wisely and in good conditions.​

Rather easy to find solution, plenty of different great lenses available for not too much, not the absolute best available today, heavy but durable, possible to evolve at your own rythm by changing stuff gradually.​

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Mirrorless camera are lighter, some almost as good or even better than dslrs (but forget about your 1000$ budget), promising but not always as good as they say, probably worth the investment for some if you're gonna be very serious and assiduous about photography, most of it is new so not much lenses and almost no access to secondhand material, in other words still pricey but very promising.​

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And after that you've got smaller sensor camera, like micro four third and so on, relatively cheap, not possible to upgrade slowly, good quality but don't expect too much if you're into low light scenes and if you're a perfectionist, usually not much zoom and reactivity so forget about most wildlife pictures.​

But super light, easy to put in your pocket, quality good enough for most stuff, will probably soon appear some great quality compacts in the line of the gx1 III canon (apsc sensor on a compact body and a bit of zoom)​

Though I don't know too much about this category.​

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You also got bridges, but for the moment, you get the quality of a micro four third with the bulk of a dslr, not really interesting although it may become a promising category once someone will make a full frame wide range quality zoom on it, but not today).​

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So not too much infos about the best set for you, but I hope it'll help you a bit to choose in which category you want to start, and what are the possibility to evolve once you'll want to go further.​

Don't forget that when you'll start to have a little bit of material, if you decide to change brand it'll cost you a lot, so read a lot of review, try to find who's heading the way you want, and then take your wallet and spend your 1000, but read a lot before​

Anyway, have a lot of fun with it, take time to learn, and keep an eye open, the material sure helps, but it still very possible to make awesome stuff with (quite) simple gear​

 

[Camera Land]

Great post. Lots of good info.
I would stay away from the bridges as the sensor is smaller then any interchangable lens whether traditional SLR or Mirrorless.
The market is going mirrorless. Canon has put the bulk of their R and D and marketing $$ behind mirrorless, Sony is all Mirrorless, as is Olympus and Fuji. Nikon is putting their energy behind the Z6 and 7 and not much else as they also see where the industry is heading

 

[elkdog]

Camera Land NY is a great online source for a lot of optic needs.

 

[uteranga]

Indeed, the camera world is going mirrorless, and I admit I can't wait to see what Sony will release with their A7S III.
But it still remains a pricey option if you want some quality that equals dslrs, with few lenses available (although Sony bodies are compatible with many other brand lenses with the right adaptor don't know how much reactivity you loose though)

In my humble opinion, traditional dslrs are not going to disappear soon nevertheless, and they make a great way to start cheap with an unbeatable quality/price ratio if you go for secondhand market (which will grow bigger, and so cheaper as everyone's going mirrorless at least in the first time), and if you want brand new stuff, even a rebel T7i with a 55-250 18-85 will allow you to make awesome pictures for your budget if you take some time to learn the skills and knowledge (which is really important, that's how you make impressive and personal pictures, using the auto mode will greatly lower the overall).

the weight factor between these two categories is not such a big deal, if you're hiking in the mountains and wildlife is your subject, choosing the right optics will be much more important to keep your backpack bearable (and if you do more than day hikes, weight and bulk will soon be a really important factor)

If it was me starting all over, I'll do the same as I did, start little with a nice secondhand semi pro body (if you shoot in RAW there's sometimes not much difference with the latest version, but huge for the wallet), and a good secondhand lense chosen according to what's your favorite subject of the moment, one cheaper versatile one for the rest, that's less than 1000$ if you're patient.
And from there, make the most out of it, take the time to see where you're evolving (sometimes the subjects that attracted you at first might change, and you need to get other optics, much money needed again) and in a few years, see how the market has improved, how the mirrorless world evolved, and evolve along according to your true needs, not the perpetual new needs the market is constantly trying to sell.

Remember that brand new camera bodies loose their values real quick, but good lenses' price don't drop much on the secondhand market.
So a bit of investment at first might save you some money in the end when it comes to optics

 

[Camera Land]

Professional DSLR's will be around for the long haul. You will see non pro DSLR's slowly go away. Canon will be replacing the 80d and 7D Mark 2 with 1 camera to cover both while the 77D will slowly go away.
When you have the #1 selling full frame camera company in the USA, Sony, only selling mirrorless (Since January of 2018) and the #1 overall camera manufacturer (Canon) putting all their efforts into mirrorless, it says a lot. Nikon also has put the bulk of their efforts into the Z6 and Z7.
There are 4 companies that only make mirrorless cameras, and their collective market share goes up worldwide EVERY month and no company that only makes traditional DSLR's
Feel free to contact us with any questions.

 

[uteranga]

Agree with that, though OP didn't told us about his needs so it's hard to tell what would really be the good solution for him.

 

[Camera Land]

That's why I said he should call me to discuss it. I have been doing this since 1975!!! My dad did it from 1949. It's in our blood

 

[Wrench]

Remember that most of it falls on the trigger tripper. These were shot with a pentax k5 and mid grade 300mm lens. I have since moved up to pro grade stuff, d800 and $$ glass.....but I still screw it up plenty often.

 

[sneaky]

Following this thread as I am in the market for a new camera (I'm very inexperienced in camera world) and am intrigued by the new Sony a6400. I was sold on getting the a6500 but when I saw the price difference and what you get with the a6400, it seems to be the way to go. I want to use the camera for backpack hunting while shooting video and taking photos. Now..... which lenses to get? The Sony 18-135mm that comes with the camera seems to be a good starting point? Thoughts?

You get better focusing on the 6400 but you lose in body stabilization. If you want to shoot video you have to decide which one is more important to you.

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[travispe]

I’m also interested in starting to film and photograph hunts. Been learning a lot on this thread. Thanks for all the info.


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[Camera Land]

With your $1000 budget the Canon M50 is a GREAT option. You get 4k video IS on many lenses and it's small enough not to be a burden to take with you, as is the Olympus E-M10 MK3
Other then a meeting offsite today from 9:45-11, I am here all day if you want to call to discuss options

 

[Mizzou3339]

PM me


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[Bear_b23]

+1 for the Sony a6000 if your looking for a good entry point on a nice camera

 

[sridenhour]

I'm a newbie to photography as well. I bought a used Olympus OMD EM1 to start out.