What camera should I get?
I often get asked “what camera should I get?” from several friends and family. And while I have been pondering how to answer this in a short thirty second video for social media. I feel that wouldn’t really clarify my answer very well. Now what some people mean buy “what camera should I get?” Is what brand should I buy? But I will come back to this question as well.
To begin answering the first question, I have to ask, what do you plan on shooting as a photographer? There are several genres of photography and depending on which one intrests you will depend on what camera and gear you should consider.
For example; a street photographer will most likely want to travel light. Only need 1 or 2 lenses, and a tripod. A landscape photographer will want a heavier more sturdy tripod, a wide range of lenses, and an arsenal of filters. An astro photographer, will likely need everything the landscape photographer needs plus tools to combat the colder elements. For themselves and their gear. If you want to capture your young ones running around that will also require its own set of lenses and tools. And so on…
There are plenty of genres and depending on what you are interested in shooting will demand what tools are right for you. That said, here are some key things to keep in mind as a beginner into photography.
LENS,LENS,LENS
A good lens will outlast your camera body. Invest more on the lens than the the camera body especially your first one.
YOUR CAMER IS OUTDATED
You can spend all the the money on the latest camera body and it will be outdate within months so don’t worry so much on spending it on newest model. I recommend looking into used gear from a reputable seller. You can get great used gear that can last you a long time. Pros love to take care of their equipment because its an investment. just make sure you get it form somewhere reputable and you should be in good shape. Many will have some kind of grading system to better identify the condition of used equipment they are selling. I am not saying don’t buy the newest brand new fresh out the box, I am saying think harder on your lenses.
TRIPODS
Like your lens a good tripod can outlast your camera body easily. I have had my workhorse tripod for over twelve years and its still outlasting my other gear.
BATTERIES
Buy extra! at least one extra to start. i currently have two for my canon r6 and three for my nikon z6ii. do i always used all of them, no, but you will never find me short on batteries. You do not want to be out on the field and you can’t continue shooting due to dead batteries.
MEMORY CARDS
You want to pay attention to read and write speeds, this is why you will find more expensive memory cards with less space and cheaper memory cards with more space. all the money spent on a good fast writing camera won’t mean much if the memory card can’t keep up.
CROP SENSOR vs FULL FRAME
While either can fit your needs knowing how crop sensors work compared to a full frame could become a deciding factor for you. First of all in most cases the full frame camera can handle higher iso with less grain, so if you want “cleaner”images full frames can handle up to 6400 natively without looking too bad, meanwhile the crop censor can handle 3200 iso natively before getting too grainy for most peoples taste. That said how grainy is too grainy will vary form person to person. Secondly, if you get a crop sensor camera and you get full frame lenses remember there a a crop factor on those lenses. The exact crop will vary depending on the camera but a rule of thumb is 1.5 times crop. So say you have a 50mm full frame lens and put it on a crop sensor camera. Well at 1.5x crop factor that 50mm is 75mm. So if you are looking for a 50mm equlivant on a crop sensor you would want a 35mm full frame lenses on a crop sensor camera. They do make special crop sensor lenses so if a crop sensor lens says 50mm then its 50mm. On the Nikon f mount lenses these are denoted by dx for crop and fx for full. Point is just make sure you look at all the information on the lens before you buy. Full frames also tend to be more expensive compared to the their crop sensor counterparts. But they also tend to have faster shooting and buffer speeds. This is where that used marketplace comes in real handy.
MIRRORLESS vs DSLR
While mirrorless is the new, right now as the market is transitioning into mirrorless means that dslr is going to be discounted. Another thing about dslr is it is open to all third party lens manufacturers. So finding a really good used and affordable dslr has never been easier, and with current lens mount adapters you will likely be able to carry the lenses you spent so much on with you if you decided to transition to mirrorless later. As For mirrorless, the technology has made leaps and bounds when it comes to handling higher iso even in crop sensors, and as auto eye tracking becomes the new norm and in body image stabilization both in the lenses and in the camera we are able to shoot things we previously haven’t been abet without a tripod or monopod. A downside to mirrorless is unless your Sony most reputable third party lens manufacturers aren’t making native lenses for mirrorless. CURRENTLY! eventually this will change but for now it will be some time.
SHOOTING SPEED
Now if you are interested in freezing action such as sports, cars, or birds most current dslr and mirrorless cameras will have a decent shooting speeds to get started, that is the frames per second in which the camera can shoot in bursts. However if you plan on doing a lot of posed images such as portraits, product photography, or any other kind of still life well then shooting speeds won’t really be that important.
WHICH BRAND
Now to answer the question on brand. I honestly wouldn’t get hung up on which brand you should buy. In truth most major brands are good, yes it is an investment. And you will likely be buying into the same brand for a very long time; so pick one that you know will be around for the lifetime of your journey as a photographer. But to say one is better than the others I just can’t justify that statement. I will say if you have friends already into a specific brand you may consider jumping in with them for this next reason. Having friends with the same camera system allows you to share each others equipment, namely the lenses. Lenses will get pretty pricey new or used so you you have been eyeballing a certain lens and a friend already has that lens there is an opportunity to try before you buy without grabbing the wallet. The other nice thing about this is if you run into any trouble with your specific camera having others in the same system means a better chance of finding a resolution to your camera issues. keep in mind as i know i say brand but more importantly stay in the same mounting system. the market is shifting from dlsr to mirrorless and if you friend “the pro” has a new canon rf mount and you have the old canon ef mount system you will not be able to borrow your pro photographers friend rf glass and shoot it on your ef camera. both are Canon in brand, but not the same mounting system. Same with Nikon and the DSLR f mount vs their new mirrorless z mount.
I hope this helps you as you begin thinking about your journey into photography, If you want to explore a deeper dive into camera and gear for a specific kind of photography then I would invite you to continue to read my blog series, what camera should I get: street photography. Where I get into what a beginner street photographer should consider when getting their first camera.