Two weeks in a row doing a Photography FAQ? Who am I?! Lol well I hope you enjoy today’s topic as it’s a question I find myself being asked more often these days so I figured I’d write about it so I can have some place to direct folks to who ask this question in the future :)
The assumption often is that since you’re a good photographer, you should know all things about cameras. This simply isn’t true- for me anyway lol.
I’m often asked this question and I never exactly know how to answer because to be quite honest, I don’t keep up with the latest camera technology to even have the slightest idea of what’s the best out there currently.
I shoot Nikon because that’s what my brother had when I began shooting so I just stayed with the same brand because we shared lenses. Quite a few of my photographer friends also shoot Canon, and a few shoot Sony and Mamiya (I know there are other brands but those are the ones that come to mind off the top of my head lol). I don’t have brand allegiance so you won’t hear me suggesting you get a Nikon over Canon or any other brand because truly it’s about knowing how to use the camera, not the brand :)
Your camera search will begin when you get an idea of the kinds of things you want to use the camera for. If you find you’re not interested in becoming a photographer, you may not even need a professional DSLR camera. Digital technology has advanced tremendously in recent years and you’re able to get great quality photos with a regular digital camera, so this will save you loads of money. If you are looking to get a DSLR camera, my suggestion is always to google “best beginner DSLR camera” or things like that so that you can begin your search with more information in the area specific to what you’re looking for. That will help you narrow down your selection.
Once you’ve found a camera you’re going to move forward with, the greatest piece of advice I can offer here comes from what my brother told me when I was looking to purchase my first camera- buy the camera BODY ONLY and then use the money you would have put towards the full camera + kit lens towards the purchase of a quality lens. Kit lenses aren’t really that great (which is why they’re included for free), and once you progress in your photography, they will never be used… so skip that step and move forward with a lens that you will actually be able to use for years to come :)
Lenses… are another topic altogether, but some great (relatively inexpensive) portrait lenses are 50/1.8 and 35/1.8. Which lens(es) you choose to go with will ultimately depend on the types of things you plan to shoot and there are wonderful articles on the interwebs that have been written to take you much more in depth on that :)
Hopefully this helped get your search started!
-Danni