Please help me choose a camera for photography

[g335]

Hello,

 

I want to start using a camera for photography.  I will take pictures of things like outdoor, action, music events, people(model stuff), cars, etc.   I will use pictures for print and the web.

 

Please help me choose cameras in the 100-500 dollar range. My experience so far with DSLR cameras are the entry level DSLR from Nikon from the past 8 years.

Is DSLR still good? Should I go mirrorless? 

 

[SupaKomputa]

6 minutes ago, g335 said:

100-500 dollar range

for that money you probably can only buy an 8 year old camera.

there are newer camera like panasonic g7 / g85, sony a6000.

i recommend mirrorless, dslr is huge.

[Vilacom]

On 9/5/2022 at 3:07 PM, g335 said:

Hello,

 

I want to start using a camera for photography.  I will take pictures of things like outdoor, action, music events, people(model stuff), cars, etc.   I will use pictures for print and the web.

 

Please help me choose cameras in the 100-500 dollar range. My experience so far with DSLR cameras are the entry level DSLR from Nikon from the past 8 years.

Is DSLR still good? Should I go mirrorless? 

 

In all seriousness, for your budget you’re far better off simply getting a year or two old phone, especially with the iPhone 14 coming out there will be available 13 and 13 pros coming to eBay and other resellers.  Extremely inexpensive cameras are out there, but the experience you’ll get from using them will be very very subpar and you’ll be investing in systems that are no longer getting any real support from the companies that made them as they have all moved to new mirrorless systems that are well out of your budget.

You’re listing a very large number of use cases all of which can be specialized in and could use very different gear.  Action and cars require extremely fast glass and usually some amount of telephoto that is EXPENSIVE, outdoor shooting landscapes is vastly different from shooting wildlife, modeling and portraits typically use prime lenses, etc, etc.

The point is if this is something you are hoping to make money doing then dont throw away $500 into a camera that you’ll be looking to replace literally the day you get it.  Find the kit you’re looking to use at a rental house and use rented gear(a mirrorless camera and lense can usually be rented for under $50 a day) for gigs while you save up for a decent mirrorless camera and one good piece of glass, maybe a 24-105 F4 or a 70-200 f2.8 if at all possible.  Glass is the most important part of your kit and will last you a very long time, its what’s worth investing in.  

 

If this is just meant to be a hobby that you have some fun with and you prefer the feel of an actual camera body over a phone thats obviously quite different and I’d say look around your local area for some camera stores and see what they have used, they’ll often let you try a few shots and do a good job explaining what is available. 

[g335]

6 hours ago, Vilacom said:

In all seriousness, for your budget you’re far better off simply getting a year or two old phone, especially with the iPhone 14 coming out there will be available 13 and 13 pros coming to eBay and other resellers.  Extremely inexpensive cameras are out there, but the experience you’ll get from using them will be very very subpar and you’ll be investing in systems that are no longer getting any real support from the companies that made them as they have all moved to new mirrorless systems that are well out of your budget.

You’re listing a very large number of use cases all of which can be specialized in and could use very different gear.  Action and cars require extremely fast glass and usually some amount of telephoto that is EXPENSIVE, outdoor shooting landscapes is vastly different from shooting wildlife, modeling and portraits typically use prime lenses, etc, etc.

The point is if this is something you are hoping to make money doing then dont throw away $500 into a camera that you’ll be looking to replace literally the day you get it.  Find the kit you’re looking to use at a rental house and use rented gear(a mirrorless camera and lense can usually be rented for under $50 a day) for gigs while you save up for a decent mirrorless camera and one good piece of glass, maybe a 24-105 F4 or a 70-200 f2.8 if at all possible.  Glass is the most important part of your kit and will last you a very long time, its what’s worth investing in.  

 

If this is just meant to be a hobby that you have some fun with and you prefer the feel of an actual camera body over a phone thats obviously quite different and I’d say look around your local area for some camera stores and see what they have used, they’ll often let you try a few shots and do a good job explaining what is available. 

 

[g335]

Thanks for the reply.

 

Why no just buy a good DSLR camera and lenses for it?  Taking pictures and downloading pics to computer for editing, what else is needed?

[Vilacom]

4 hours ago, g335 said:

Thanks for the reply.

 

Why no just buy a good DSLR camera and lenses for it?  Taking pictures and downloading pics to computer for editing, what else is needed?

Because for the budget you have you really cant get a “good” DSLR and lenses, can you tell me if you’re trying to earn money with photography or is this just a hobby?