Camera noob looking for recommendations!

[Entropy.]

Hello hello, 

 

Let me just start this out by saying I'm a total newcomer to photography. I'm not well situated with most terms, and am not familiar at all with more technical terms. Outside of a store, I've never touched any camera besides a point-and-shoot. Please keep this in mind, and perhaps try to explain as completely as you can your response to me while not being too harsh. I'm working on my knowledge of this sector currently, and I'm open to all comments and feedback. If you'd like, I'd love to have you guide me through this sector. Thank you!

 

lately I've been really unsatisfied with the photos coming out of every device I have access to. Old Camcorders and traditional point and shoots, phone cameras(IPhone xs, redmi note 8 pro) what have you- more specifically by their poor shots in any unfavorable conditions (glare, low-light ect), and especially for the older cameras that I've seen, well, just the poor picture quality. I'm quite tired of that, and I want to move on to taking better photos. Let me define what I'm looking for in a camera, and provide you with more specifics:

Im looking for a camera to take various shots, usually in outside environments of various objects, or inside close-up portraits, and shots of things such as my setup. I'm not vlogging or anything, video, battery life, compatibility with other devices, storage (all of these to some extent), can be more or less forgotten. Weight isn't an issue, as long as the camera isn't extremely hefty. I value good shots in many/all conditions (especially low-light), the ability to take good shots while zoomed in, ease of use and autofocus (since I'm very new to photography), the ability to scale for a more advanced user, and just pure image quality (I anticipate that you might want to correct me here or ask further questions, if you please feel free). Currently my budget hovers at a tentative $750 USD, I reside in the united states. I'm fine going with a used camera. Any suggestions? 

 

Again, I'm sure I missed or possibly misconceived something. Please feel free to ask me more questions, and correct me, and if you'd like, comment, regardless of the content of it. Thank you! 

[Chris Pratt]

I did an Intro to Photography on my blog a few years ago when I took up photography that I think will help you a lot. I tried to condense the most important things you should know into a relatively short piece. I'd encourage you to take a look.

 

The actual camera recommendations are a bit dated now, but the core info on photography is timeless and still applicable.

 

https://cpratt.co/getting-started-in-photography-on-the-cheap/

[AntiTrust]

40 minutes ago, Brok3n But who cares? said:

 

 

Im the same way, I wanted to get a "good" camera, meaning better than point and shoot and cell phones. I managed to find a starter kit of a Nikon D3400 with an 18-55mm and a 70-300mm lens, bag and extra battery used that was really reasonable (like $450Cdn) I then watched this guys video on youtube to set it up and never turned back. 

 

highly recommend getting some sort of box kit like I did. I love the 2 lenses I had and I bought a 3rd lens (a 35mm 1.8 aperature) for doing astral photography

 

[GDRRiley]

your a bit on the low end for a decent body. I'd avoid any of the current nikon or canon DSLRs at this point. and I'd avoid any canon EF-M mirroless so no M50 or M200

Panasonic got a bunch of options and you can often fine them used for super cheap, but with a small sensor you are going to struggle with low light

I'd look at a fuji X-T200 with the kit 15-45mm, then you can get a the XC 35mm F2 for a first prime

get first party batteries, the 60$ hurts but almost all the 3rd party batteries suck.

at least with fuji you can charge it with the USB-C decently well
 

[VFXGuy]

On 5/20/2021 at 2:07 AM, Brok3n But who cares? said:

Hello hello, 

 

Let me just start this out by saying I'm a total newcomer to photography. I'm not well situated with most terms, and am not familiar at all with more technical terms. Outside of a store, I've never touched any camera besides a point-and-shoot. Please keep this in mind, and perhaps try to explain as completely as you can your response to me while not being too harsh. I'm working on my knowledge of this sector currently, and I'm open to all comments and feedback. If you'd like, I'd love to have you guide me through this sector. Thank you!

 

lately I've been really unsatisfied with the photos coming out of every device I have access to. Old Camcorders and traditional point and shoots, phone cameras(IPhone xs, redmi note 8 pro) what have you- more specifically by their poor shots in any unfavorable conditions (glare, low-light ect), and especially for the older cameras that I've seen, well, just the poor picture quality. I'm quite tired of that, and I want to move on to taking better photos. Let me define what I'm looking for in a camera, and provide you with more specifics:

Im looking for a camera to take various shots, usually in outside environments of various objects, or inside close-up portraits, and shots of things such as my setup. I'm not vlogging or anything, video, battery life, compatibility with other devices, storage (all of these to some extent), can be more or less forgotten. Weight isn't an issue, as long as the camera isn't extremely hefty. I value good shots in many/all conditions (especially low-light), the ability to take good shots while zoomed in, ease of use and autofocus (since I'm very new to photography), the ability to scale for a more advanced user, and just pure image quality (I anticipate that you might want to correct me here or ask further questions, if you please feel free). Currently my budget hovers at a tentative $750 USD, I reside in the united states. I'm fine going with a used camera. Any suggestions? 

 

Again, I'm sure I missed or possibly misconceived something. Please feel free to ask me more questions, and correct me, and if you'd like, comment, regardless of the content of it. Thank you! 

 

I would recommend the Canon EOS M50.

[GDRRiley]

4 hours ago, VFXGuy said:

I would recommend the Canon EOS M50.

no the m50 and m50mk2 in 2021 aren't great buys.
the mount is dead end and has limited glass without adapting to EF

if you want video at all you can do a lot better

[VFXGuy]

2 hours ago, GDRRiley said:

no the m50 and m50mk2 in 2021 aren't great buys.
the mount is dead end and has limited glass without adapting to EF

if you want video at all you can do a lot better

I would actually disagree. EF-M lenses aren't a good investment but an adapter to EF lenses works great and is quite cheap if you get a good quality second hand one. It is quite sturdy, has a flipable touch screen, can capture 24MP (RAW & JPG) images and FHD in 25 and 50fps and 4K in 25fps. 2nd hand lenses is something I really like and you can easily save the money spent on the adapter when buying good quality second hand lenses from companies like mpb.com.

[GDRRiley]

1 hour ago, VFXGuy said:

I would actually disagree. EF-M lenses aren't a good investment but an adapter to EF lenses works great and is quite cheap if you get a good quality second hand one. It is quite sturdy, has a flipable touch screen, can capture 24MP (RAW & JPG) images and FHD in 25 and 50fps and 4K in 25fps. 2nd hand lenses is something I really like and you can easily save the money spent on the adapter when buying good quality second hand lenses from companies like mpb.com.

18-24mp are on almost all of canons crop body cameras going back to the T3i or T5

the 4k on it sucks, its got a very heavy crop and doesn't look good

 

[VFXGuy]

7 hours ago, GDRRiley said:

18-24mp are on almost all of canons crop body cameras going back to the T3i or T5

the 4k on it sucks, its got a very heavy crop and doesn't look good

 

The crop is a downside. Do you mean the appearance of the camera or crop? The camera doesn't look bad. Canon and Nikon cameras are definitely more sturdy and look better than the equivalent Sony one amoung other brands.

[GDRRiley]

17 minutes ago, VFXGuy said:

The crop is a downside. Do you mean the appearance of the camera or crop? The camera doesn't look bad. Canon and Nikon cameras are definitely more sturdy and look better than the equivalent Sony one amoung other brands.

a sony or fuji or MFT won't have it.

I'm saying the video doesn't look that good.
looks are 100% subjective

as for build quality, most build their sub 1k cameras the same mostly plastic with 0 seals