Deciding on a camera

I'm a completely new photographer and i am deciding on what my first camera should be. My budget is around £600, roughly $788. I was considering between Nikon D3300, D5300, D5500, however, if I was wondering if i should get the D3300 with kit lens and 2 other lenses (probably something like a 55-200mm and a 50mm f/1.8) or the other cameras with only the kit lens, bearing in the mind i still have to buy sd card and other camera equipment

Fungao said:

I'm a completely new photographer and i am deciding on what my first camera should be. My budget is around £600, roughly $788. I was considering between Nikon D3300, D5300, D5500, however, if I was wondering if i should get the D3300 with kit lens and 2 other lenses (probably something like a 55-200mm and a 50mm f/1.8) or the other cameras with only the kit lens, bearing in the mind i still have to buy sd card and other camera equipment

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A DSLR is not the best choice for a beginner, unless you want to follow a course,.

If you still want a DSLR, then buy the cheapest of this 3 cameras. (D3300)

An other choice might be an allround camera, like the Panasonic FZ1000. Excellent and fast bridge camera. With a fast zoomlens (25-400mm eq. F2.8-F4). Also good for video with 4K.

This is a versatile camera, with all the features you need to learn photography, without to hassle with lenses.

Rudi

Fungao said:

I'm a completely new photographer and i am deciding on what my first camera should be. My budget is around £600, roughly $788. I was considering between Nikon D3300, D5300, D5500, however, if I was wondering if i should get the D3300 with kit lens and 2 other lenses (probably something like a 55-200mm and a 50mm f/1.8) or the other cameras with only the kit lens, bearing in the mind i still have to buy sd card and other camera equipment

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Hi Funago. Welcome to photography.

You might want to keep in mind that DSLR's arent your only option if you want to get serious about photography. Try looking at some mirrorless cameras as well. They are basically cameras that have had the mirror removed and use an electronic view finder instead of the optical view finder used on DSLR's. They come in fixed lens and interchangeable lens options.

A large part of what lenses you need will depend on what you want to shoot. While I normally recommend prime lenses over zooms I think for somebody starting out you will probably want a multi purpose zoom lens so you can shoot a wide variety of subjects and discover what focal lengths work for you.

Speaking of lenses, a side benefit of mirrorless is the ability to shoot almost any vintage film lens ever made for the 135mm film format (basically all the lenses from those old SLR's from Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Minolta and many others). These lenses are plentiful and many times can be had for a fraction of the cost of modern glass. Many of them are incredible lenses still capable of cracking images if you dong mind manual focusing. This is a great option for a beginner photographer who wants to experiment with different focal lengths while learning the basic foundation of what makes a beautiful and compelling image.

A couple of cameras I would recommend you research are the Sony a6000 and anything by Fuji that fits your budget. The Sony is one of the best deals going now in photography, especially from a cost vs versatility factor. For Fuji look at the XE1, XE2 or possibly and XT10. Although that last one might blow your budget with a kit lens attached. By the way, that Fuji kit lens is amazing. Fuji glass in general is pretty spectacular and they have a well thought out, comprehensive selection of really good prime lenses and some very nice zooms. Sony has a good selection of lenses as well, but I would put Fuji ahead in this category.

Mirrorless cameras are pretty cool overall and offer an interesting alternative to the tried and true DSLR. Dont think that they are pretenders or toys, they are powerful image creation tools that offer photographers one more amazing option for capturing photos. And with adapters they can even shoot all the modern AF glass from Canon and Nikon. Its simply crazy the amount of versatility these cameras offer.

Below in my sig is a selection of work from my Sony a7. Here is a link to my older work from my Sony NEX 7, which is two generations before the Sony a6000 I recommended to you. Keep in mind that a6000 is a much better camera then my old NEX 7 was. The body is almost identical but the sensor is way more advanced. Also, all I shoot on my cameras are old film lenses. The electronic view finder on these cameras make this easy peasy.


I hope some of this helps. If you have any other questions about mirrorless or photography in general just let me know.

Get the D3300 and the two kit zooms. Spend any balance on a good book (read it of course) and tuition.

You can buy any camera tou want , but at least , look at it's lens library first.

after you choose your system either compact , mirrorless , dslr

forget buying any other lens , and start shoot using kit lens first , at least 3000 shots

thats how to learn , kit lens is not bad at all

cheers