Should I buy a Canon EOS Rebel T5 DSLR (only with kit lens), or a Canon Powershot S540 (non intercha

I am looking to buy a camera and I'm having a hard time choosing either the Canon EOS Rebel T5, (comes with kit lens 18-55 mm), or this Canon Powershot S540 (non interchangeable 24-1200mm lens). I want to be able to take good portraits, but once I buy the DSLR, I have to stick with the kit lens and my budget does not allow me to buy another lens. But in the long run, I'm afraid that the powershot will be outdated in a couple of years and it doesn't have interchangeable lenses, and I think the DSLR will be useful in the future when I earn more money to buy lens. But then I'm going to be stuck with the 18-55 mm lens for a while. So which should I buy?

If you are looking to take photos for fun, then the p&s would do.  The benefit of the dslr with the larger sensor would ideally be the shallower depth of field when paired with a large aperture lens.  Downside is large size of camera, more post processing work, and changes in lenses.

So depends on what you want from photo experience  you can pick whichever camera as a tool. There are always 2nd hand DSLRs as options too.

ivyphoto wrote:

I want to be able to take good portraits

You'll still get better bokeh with the DSLR and kit lens over the super zoom due to the DSLR having a larger sensor so your portraits will look better with the DSLR. Plus you'll also get the other benefits of having a larger sensor.

ivyphoto wrote:

I am looking to buy a camera and I'm having a hard time choosing either the Canon EOS Rebel T5, (comes with kit lens 18-55 mm), or this Canon Powershot S540 (non interchangeable 24-1200mm lens). I want to be able to take good portraits, but once I buy the DSLR, I have to stick with the kit lens and my budget does not allow me to buy another lens. But in the long run, I'm afraid that the powershot will be outdated in a couple of years and it doesn't have interchangeable lenses, and I think the DSLR will be useful in the future when I earn more money to buy lens. But then I'm going to be stuck with the 18-55 mm lens for a while. So which should I buy?

welcum to the forum

if you was going to do a bit of everything on  a tight budget i would say  the s540 (or similar} this type of camera tends to be a jack of all trades but master of fuw ....

however you mentioned portraiture that a different kettle of fish

you mentioned the T5   or 1200D in the UK ...the T5 is a VERY stripd out camera and not so good value

have a look at the SL1 /100D...in the UK   the SL1 was cheaper than the T6 was at launch  and the SL1 out spects it in every way never mind the T5

the SL1 normally comes with a much better STM 18-55 IS lens ..some lenses i see with the T5 are not even image stabilized .. the SL1 gets you  canons VERY good touch interface,  auto sensor cleaning,,a slightly better sensor ,much better LCD ,bigger viewfinder ,much better LV/video AF, bigger buffer (12 vs unlimited jpeg)  faster FPS ,better build, external mike jack .spot metering....SL1 has the Digic 5 processor as opposed to the Digic 4 of the T5....this should make the SL1 a bit more snappy to use    and its still the world's smallest DSLR

when funds permit if you do portraiture the 1st lens to get is the 50mm F1.8STM  $125 new or less S/H on ebay or gray market

a DSLR and a 50mm stm will be in entirely different league compared to the S540 for partairture

+ 100 to all of this (incl the "welcome to the forum" bit)  

Here's what the Canon Refurb site has to offer right now...

SL1 deals

R2

davev8 wrote:

welcum to the forum

if you was going to do a bit of everything on a tight budget i would say the s540 (or similar} this type of camera tends to be a jack of all trades but master of fuw ....

however you mentioned portraiture that a different kettle of fish

you mentioned the T5 or 1200D in the UK ...the T5 is a VERY stripd out camera and not so good value

have a look at the SL1 /100D...in the UK the SL1 was cheaper than the T6 was at launch and the SL1 out spects it in every way never mind the T5

the SL1 normally comes with a much better STM 18-55 IS lens ..some lenses i see with the T5 are not even image stabilized .. the SL1 gets you canons VERY good touch interface, auto sensor cleaning,,a slightly better sensor ,much better LCD ,bigger viewfinder ,much better LV/video AF, bigger buffer (12 vs unlimited jpeg) faster FPS ,better build, external mike jack .spot metering....SL1 has the Digic 5 processor as opposed to the Digic 4 of the T5....this should make the SL1 a bit more snappy to use and its still the world's smallest DSLR

when funds permit if you do portraiture the 1st lens to get is the 50mm F1.8STM $125 new or less S/H on ebay or gray market

a DSLR and a 50mm stm will be in entirely different league compared to the S540 for partairture

First, I can't find an S540, so presumably you mean an SX540 (which is 24-1200).

Second, you made no mention of needing the telephoto reach, so it's difficult for me to recommend the SX540. Also, I'm a telephoto junkie, and I wouldn't buy the SX540 for myself because I think that long a reach is difficult to use. The lenses that I primarily use are 55-250mm and 18-250mm. On an APS-C camera like the T5 (and my cameras), that's about 400mm, and starting to get very difficult to handhold. My SX210 is 28-392 equivalent and I find it hard to handhold at the high end.

My recommendation...get a decent body and the EF-S 55-250mm STM lens. This lens is recommended by many, and should be fine for portraits at the low-end, and provides some telephoto reach at the high end. The lens is more important in many ways than the body.

Steve

MikeJ9116 wrote:

You can buy the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM prime from Canon's refurbished web site for $90 and it will make for an outstanding portrait lens on a Canon DSLR. My advise is to forget about buying any cheap point and shoot cameras.

https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/ef-50mm-f-18-stm-refurbished

Thats actually a great idea.

For portraits with blurred backgrounds, the DSLR will do better. If you just want to have one camera to carry around and which probably has easier wireless xfer of pictures to your cellphone, the superzoom is probably better.  If you can hold off until Black Friday, you might get a better deal, especially on refurbs.