Entry-Level Camera Buying Guide For New Photographers

So from time to time I’ll get an email or Facebook message from a friend, asking me to recommend a camera and some lenses because they want to pick up photography. The questions usually go something like:

“Hi Duncan, I was wondering if you could recomend a good digital SLR I can grow with. I don’t know too much about photography. I’m looking to get a few lenses too.”

It’s pretty funny because now I actually have an email that I keep in my Gmail archives that I forward to them before I answer any questions. I just recently sent out this email to another friend, so I figured that I should just touch up the email and just post it up on my blog and link people here.

//Disclaimer: I’m not a tech or specs guy when I give my advice. I’ve never been a guy to know how the latest Canon 1D Mark IV specs up to the Nikon D3s, but I give my recommendations more on shooting styles, and which set-up that I think will suit that style; And remember, this article is for new photographers looking for entry-level cameras!
That said, happy reading =)

Preliminary Questions:

The first questions that I like people  to figure out first-

  1. What is your budget?
  2. What kind of photography do you like/want to take? (Lifestyle? Portraits? Events? Landscapes?)
  3. Do you have any friends that are doing photography? Do they use Canon or Nikon?

Canon or Nikon?

I have quite an ‘odd’ method of advising on the Canon/Nikon question that isn’t exactly based on the ‘lastest’ camera out, or how which camera out-spec’s the other.

“Which brand do your photographer friends (hopefully you have some photographer friends) use?”

As an entry-level photographer, looking for an entry-level camera, both Nikon and Canon will serve you perfectly; ultimately, they’re both good companies. Pick your poison? =) More important is being able to borrow lenses from friends. This will help a lot in the budget area as well, since you’ll be able to focus in on the lens ranges that they’re lacking, and hopefully be able to borrow lenses from then to play around with.

Camera Body Recommendation

I can’t give an actual recommendation on which camera to get; just because I’ve been out of the market for so long.

As an entry-level photographer though, go for what fits your budget.

Honestly, the camera that you get isn’t going to make-or-break a shot. Having an awesome pro-sumer/professional camera will definitely make a difference over using an entry-level camera in picture quality, but an experienced photographer is going to be able to use any given camera. Start with what fits your budget, and go from there.

Used Equipment

I strongly recommend buying used or refurbished equipment because camera equipment racks up the bill really quickly!

It’s also not a bad thing; all of my current camera equipment is used, and all of my photography friends have bought and sold used equipment. Below are some links to used/refurbished sections of stores.

*Fred Miranda forums are a paid forum, so you need to register before you use it to buy/sell equipment, but it’s a good place to go to look up the going rates for used equipment that you’re interested in getting.

Lens Set-Up

Sorry, these are going to be Canon recommendations because I’ve only shot Canon, but the range recommendations still apply to recommended Nikon lenses.

  • All-purpose lens: Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS (~$700 used)
  • Portrait/Landscape Alternative Set-Up: Canon 50mm f/1.4 (~$300 used) + Canon 20mm f/2.8 (~$350 used)
  • Events Alternative Set-Up: Canon 85mm f/1.8 (~$300 used) OR Canon 135mm f/2.8 (~$250 used) + Canon 20mm f/2.8 ($350- used)

Lenses and Shooting Style

‘Zoom Lenses’
Zoom lenses are lenses than can ‘zoom’ (ho ho ho) in and out through a range of focal lengths. For example, the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS is a zoom lens that can utilize any focal range from 17mm-55mm.

‘Prime Lenses’
Prime lenses are lenses that can not zoom in and out over a range of focal lengths. For example, the Canon 50mm f/1.4 is a prime lens that can only shoot at the focal length of 50mm.

Zoom Lenses vs. Prime Lenses
Why would anyone get a prime lens then? The advantage that prime lenses have over zoom lenses is that they’re generally:

  1. Cheaper
  2. Lighter
  3. Faster*

*What ‘Faster’ means, is that prime lenses generally have a larger aperture than zoom lenses (because there are no moving parts inside, so I guess it’s easier to design the optics and fit in lens glass that allows prime lenses to have larger apertures).

Aperture and Depth of Field
The aperture of a lens dictates how much light the lens will let in. Nicer (and more expensive) lenses will let in a lot more light, so that you can shoot in low-light situations. The symbol ‘f/’ tells you what the largest aperture of the lens is. Also, the lower the number after the ‘f/’, the larger the aperture of the lens is.
For example, a lens with the symbol ‘f/1.4′ , has a larger aperture than a lens with the symbol ‘f/2.8′. In other words, the ‘f/1.4′ lens can let in more light than the ‘f/2.8′ lens.

Something to remember about aperture, is that the wider the aperture that you’re shooting at (say, f/1.2), the smaller the depth of field will be. When the depth of field is small, only a small portion of the foreground and background of the picture will be in focus, and everything else will be blurred out (this blurring is called bokeh). Having a small depth of field can be used especially when taking portrait pictures, because only the subject will be in focus, which will isolate and center the attention in the portrait picture taken.

Wide Lenses and Telephoto Lenses
When someone is talking about shooting ‘wide’ or ‘long?’ (I actually don’t think I’ve heard of anyone saying that they’re shooting ‘tight’, in reference to using a telephoto lens), they’re referring to the focal length of the lens. The focal range of 50mm is considered to be ‘normal human perspective’. Therefore, anything less than 50mm, such as a 24mm lens, is considered wide-angle; respectively, anything over 50mm, such as a 200mm lens, is considered a telephoto* lens.

*Don’t get the terminology of a telephoto lens and zoom lenses mixed up. ‘Zoom’ refers to whether the lens can zoom in and out over a range of focal lengths. It is possible to have a prime (single focal length) lens that is telephoto, such as the Canon EF 200mm f/2.0 lens, which does not zoom.

Shooting Style: Lifestyle

I like shooting lifestyle photography with my Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 lens, which is a wide lens. For me, capturing ‘life’ means capturing the subject, and the environment that the subject is in, which gives context to the subject.

The thing about shooting with a wide lens is that if I need to take a close-up picture of someone, I’ll need to walk up (aka. sneaker-zoom) to that person and shoot, because the Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 lens is a prime lens and can’t zoom. However, these close-up shots with a wide lens will give an interesting perspective where objects closer to you appear larger. This makes the picture viewer feel like they’re almost ‘in’ the situation themselves (at least, thats what I like to think; heh).

An example of my lifestyle type photography can be seen on my Facebook Album from the OIL Conference (you’ll need to login to Facebook to view these pictures by the way. I can upload these pictures onto this post if people are having trouble viewing/accessing Facebook).

Another type of lifestyle photography can be captured using a longer (telephoto) lens. An example is shown on my friend, Alex Roy’s, Facebook album, where he’s probably shooting with a Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 or a Canon EF 135mm f/2.0. When shooting with a longer lens you can get a close shot by standing further away and shooting without being an intrusion; but the perspective is different. Objects in the picture will seem flatter and more isolated. It’s not a bad thing though, it’s  just different styles!

Shooting Style: Events
To shoot events, you’ll need a longer (telephoto) lens so that you can sit in the audience and snap away. Generally an 85mm-and-up focal range would be recommended when shooting events. Also, keep in mind that most events are going to be indoors with dim lighting. This is where you’ll want to consider getting a lens with a bigger aperture. Basically, you’ll need a lens with at least an aperture of f/2.8.

Shooting Style: Portraits
Generally for portraits you’ll need  lens thats 50mm of longer. Having a longer lens allows you to isolate out the surroundings a bit more since the focus is the person. Don’t forget that having a lens with a larger aperture (and smaller depth of field) can also help you take better portraits since only the subject will be in focus, while everything in the background and foreground will be blurred out.

Shooting Style: Landscapes
Choosing a lens for landscape photography is pretty much the opposite with that of choosing a lens for portrait photography. When you’re shooting landscapes, generally you want to use a wide focal length, perhaps 24mm, so that a wider/larger portion of the scenery will be captured in the picture. Moreover, having a large aperture lens isn’t as important, since you would want to have a large depth of field so that the whole landscape is in focus and sharp.

Budget

As you can see from the above, your budget for a complete set-up could easily be around $1000, and this is for used equipment too. This is kinda just a reality check to let you know how much you will probably end up spending (if not more). There’s still time to back out =p

I Want To Upgrade: Where do I go from here?

So you’ve been shooting for a while, and you have some cash saved up for an upgrade… “do I get a new body, or more lenses?”

Always upgrade your glass (lenses) before you upgrade your camera body.

(I guess this also depends on what lenses you already have). But, if you only have one lens, always upgrade your lenses first until you’ve got at least some general focal range coverage, or one fast (prime) lens, before you upgrade your camera body.


Suggested Links:

Fred Miranda Buy/Sell Forums
This is a paid forum, so you’ll need to register before actually participating on the forums. However, this is a good place to search and look up the going rate for used equipment.

You can search for equipment (the search field is somewhere near the top on the main buy/sell forum page) to find out roughly how much they’re going for. Don’t type in the whole lens or camera name, just the keywords: “brand-name keyword” and that should be enough. You can also specify the f/ number if you want to narrow searches.

Search keyword examples

  • “canon xti”
  • “canon 17-55″
  • “canon 50mm 1.4″

Also here is some of the lingo used on the forums

  • FS: For Sale (The poster is looking to sell equipment for money)
  • FT: For Trade (The poster is looking to trade his equipment for another equipment)
  • WTB: Want To Buy (The poster is looking to buy equipment)
  • FEELER: The poster isn’t selling yet, but just ‘feeling’ for how many buyers may be interested by replies to the post

The Digital Picture: Canon Lens Reviews
I read The Digital Picture a LOT when I was first getting into photography- It was pretty bad actually. I used to peruse over this site for hours; it’s a great resource!

The Digital Picture: Canon Lens Recommendations
(I would trust the site over my recommendation; heh. So take a read!)

The Digital Picture: Photography Tips (General Reading)



Thats it-

Thats about it- if you have any further recommendations, feel free to post them in the comments below and I can make revisions of this post. Also, please do ask questions if you have any!

-Duncan

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