topic Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners. in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

Kbonier2007 — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 16:32:17 GMT

What is the best option? Dslr or mirrorless if I want to shoot videos landscape and animals? Looking at a price range 300-700 max

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

stevet1 — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 18:56:31 GMT

Kbonier2007,

In the DSLR vs. mirrorless discussion. I don't think there is a "best" option. It's more a choice between features you like and features you don't like. There are plenty of people who will tell you that mirrorless is the wave of the future, and if you want to plan for future upgrades and accessories, that's where you should invest your money. I think DSLR will still be around for a while.

Considering your price range, an SL3 might be a good choice in DSLR and an R100 might be a good choice in mirrorless.

Steve Thomas

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

Kbonier2007 — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 17:00:29 GMT

Thank you. Just trying to figure out where to start

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

JFG — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 17:19:42 GMT

Hi Kbonier2007,

I recommend the Canon EOS R50 Mirrorless Vlogging Camera (Black) with RF-S18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM Lens, 24.2 MP, 4K Video, Subject Detection & Tracking, Compact, Smartphone connection, Content Creator. It sells for $699.00 at Amazon. I have one and love it. I use mine for street photography, architectural, and wildlife shooting. I lovev to take it when traveling due to that it's compact and doesn't take much space for the camera body and 3 lenses.

Compact, lightweight RF mount camera with a 24.2 Megapixel CMOS (APS-C) sensor and DIGIC X processor.
4K uncropped movie with Dual Pixel CMOS AF II at up to 30 fps oversampled from 6K and Full HD High-frame rate movie at up to 120 fps. Movie for Close-up Demo Mode quickly switches focus when a product is brought close to the camera.
Dual Pixel CMOS AF II covering up to 100% x 100% area with 651 AF zones with auto subject detection and tracking of people, animals, and vehicles using deep learning technology
Continuous shooting with 12 fps with Electronic First Curtain and 15 fps with Electronic Shutter.
Take great shots even in difficult settings with Advanced A+ Assist which offers an expanded array of auto-compatible scenes enabling greater expressive capability in auto mode, and built-in flash for shooting in dark environments or with backlit scenes.

Check it out, it's worth looking at.

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

Kbonier2007 — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 17:42:33 GMT

Did u buy any other lenses?

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

Tintype_18 — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 18:18:08 GMT

Good luck as there a bunch of options. Re: Amazon, where to go for service? Warranty?

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

JFG — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 21:24:15 GMT

Yes, I purchased a Canon RF-24-105mm f4-7.1 IS STM for Canon Mirrorless RF Mount Cameras, Versatile Zoom range, Compact, Lightweight, Optical Image Stabilization, for Landscape, Portrait & Travel Photos, wildlife/Videos. I also have the Mount Adapter EF-EOS R and use it for my EF 70-300 f4-5.6 III and other EF lenses.

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

shadowsports — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 19:22:47 GMT

Greetings,

I'd recommend an R50 or R10 (minimum) with an RF-S 18-150 to start.

Here's why. The R100 is the absolute entry level mirrorless. The R50 costs about $100 more, but the bump in features is well worth your money.

Better native ISO

Double the FPS

Fully articulating LCD vs fixed

Focus Breathing correction

LCD has 55% greater res

Unlimited video recording vs Limited

Max shutter 1/8000 vs 1/4000

AE bracketing +5EV vs +2EV

Focus Bracketing, Focus Stacking (R50)

Animal Eye Tracking, Vehicle Tracking (R50), (R100) is human only

Anti-Flicker Shooting

The extra money is worth it. The RF-S 18-150 is a good entry level walk-around lens that offers ample wide angle coverage, perfect for landscapes and architecture (18mm-35mm), good coverage for video (35mm-50mm), and enough reach for not too distant wildlife up to 150mm. At some point, the RF 100-400 could be added for additional reach for animals or birds at greater distances. For even more range a Sigma or Tamron 150-600 c or G2 could be considered. Of course there are other lens options available, depending on budget.

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

JFG — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 20:11:36 GMT

Amazon is an Official Canon Retailer and you get the full Canon Warranty as well as 30 days from the day of delivery to return it if you're not satisfied or received it damaged, at no charge. I've purchased an EOS R6MkII, as well as several Canon Lenses and have not had any problems with Amazon. I also purchased from Canon directly when they have the item in stock. Either way is good. If you purchase it from Amazon make sure that it says : Sold by Amazon and Shipped by Amazon and you'll be just fine. Best of luck in your decision and purchase.

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

Kbonier2007 — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 22:22:42 GMT

I looked at the r50 on the canon site looks like it's not for birds or landscapes. Which I'm looking for a camera that is

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

shadowsports — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:32:13 GMT

@Kbonier2007 wrote:

I looked at the r50 on the canon site looks like it's not for birds or landscapes. Which I'm looking for a camera that is

Greetings,

What makes you feel the R50 is not a good camera for wildlife?

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

Tronhard — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 19:10:53 GMT

I am a bit late to this one, and although I have browsed the responses, I hope you will be tolerant if I repeat advice already offered. This may seem long-winded, but I am trying to guide you in aspects of use and benefits and that takes us to the technical options. People often buy on specs or the advice of others (often base on their own preferences) that may not render good value for money. This is YOUR decision but it is based on your purpose and how you will use it, not just tech specs.

First, if you have no existing dedicated camera equipment, you are in an enviable position of not having an investment in legacy equipment. It is thus easy for me to wholeheartedly recommend that you move to the R-platform of Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras (MILCs). Simply put, the DSLR system has stopped development about 4-5 years ago, and all of the new effort (and thus future) of cameras and lenses is on MILCs.

Given you need the funds to cover a camera body and optics, that budget is an extremely limiting value - my first reaction is to consider saving more funds to afford a wider range of choices and a better camera base, and spend the intervening time learning some of the principles of photography. When I first started, for exactly that reason, I spent months studying material on exposure, composition etc., and these days there are many sources of such education from You Tube videos to on-line articles and books - likely your library has some.

That takes us to the next questions. You have already indicated, you want to take videos, and photograph wildlife and scenery, but what are your priorities and do you want to produce? The output is critical as it has a huge impact on what equipment is needed - for example, with stills, will you produce images for social media, digital display and small-medium prints, or do you have aspirations for extremely large, high quality images - as we work our way along that list, the demands and thus investment will be likely to rise. For video, do you have an idea of the formats you want for those: 1080p, 4k, 8k etc - or to put it another way, what is your target audience?

Taking the issue of subjects... Cameras will, to some degree, be biased towards the types of subjects. For example a larger, heavier body might be better for balancing a long, heavy telephoto lens for wildlife, but not so good for doing run and gun video. I am a wildlife/scenic photographer (and so are some of my colleagues) so my own purchases are made from those perspectives. Subject type has a huge influence of the lenses and, to a fair degree, the sensor size you will be heading for.

However, the term wildlife itself offers a myriad of options: from insects to birds and large, macro predators. In the former, shorter telephoto lengths may be an advantage, but with the latter you want very large, long focal lenses to give you distance from your subjects - to avoid scaring them off or attacking you. Long zoom lenses tend to be big, heavy and expensive and at the moment outside your budget by a considerable margin.

On the other hand, if you have a bias towards video or vlogging, a light, compact camera with short focal length lenses is better. Choosing photography gear is based on a set of compromises and priorities that are, to some degree, offset by the choice of lenses you make.

So, what I would suggest for you to start with is a camera body that will allow you to grow but have a lens that is good for landscapes, social events, portrait and some limited wildlife - for example, a good place to learn to photograph animals is the zoo, where they are available, relatively close and will be used to humans. I still go there myself to keep my hand in until I go on my next adventure.

We now come to a decision about the sensor type: there are two broad types - Full-Frame 35mm, which is about the same size (24x36mm) as most film cameras and takes RF (but effectively NOT RF-S) lenses. The second type uses an APS-C sensor and is colloquially called a 'crop sensor' because it is smaller by a factor of 1.6 along each dimension. It can take both RF and RF-S lenses. This makes the bodies more compact, cheaper to make (but not inferior) and RF-S lenses are also smaller and cheaper, but not necessarily inferior. As far as the impact on your images goes, the FF bodies have an advantage for wide landscape shots and are better in low light and to isolate subjects from their backgrounds, while the APS-C 'crop' bodies have an advantage for such things as wildlife, and the lighter compact camera + lenses are much more easy to handle for 'run and gun' video.

Given you have a mix, I suggest leaving aside the wildlife specifically for the time being and not invest in a long, heavy and expensive lens. I would suggest an APS-C 'crop' camera for the benefits above. The question is which one?

The choice is the current flagship APS-C, the R7 - which offers In-Body Image Stabilization (IBIS) to enhance steadiness when shooting hand-held and works with RF-S lenses' own stabilization. This is currently the only body that does have IBIS. That one is outside your budget but might be achievable if you can wait and save.

The next two down - R10 and R50, have a common sensor with the R10 being the higher-end unit. The lowest end R100 uses an old sensor and is a really budget camera - I would choose one of the others, personally.

My respected colleagues have suggested the R50 and that seems to be a camera with benefits for vlogging and stills. You mention that you don't think it's suitable for wildlife, and again I stress that the lenses attached have by far the biggest impact on what subjects can be captured. That is the benefit of an Interchangeable Lens Camera - you change its personality and capabilities significantly by changing the lens.

I would suggest the R10 or the R50. Along with this, you need to decide on a lens to start with. So much depends on where you start as regards subjects. I would suggest not taking on all three genres (video, scenic and wildlife) at once as the subjects each bias towards a different range of focal lengths. Learn the general principles of photography that you can carry across all applications, - learning to measure light exposure and control it (and the composition of the image) by becoming familiar with the 'holy trinity' of camera control: Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO. Start off with a subject range that can be managed by a lens within budget (preferably greater), and is a good teaching environment.

Wildlife is a fairly specialized area both in terms of equipment, and technique and getting long telephoto zoom optics is not cheap. Getting good shots is about a lot more than the camera, it takes years because, unlike scenery, animals are mobile, they are not cooperative like people who want portraits, and you need to study their behaviour to be ready for that brilliant shot.

For economy sake I suggest considering Canon's Refurbished gear site - these units are often essentially new (opened or damaged box, or display unit) but are as good as new and come with a guarantee - there are bargains to be had here, as I shall demonstrate.
Link to the site: Canon Refurbished Cameras & Accessories | Canon U.S.A, Inc.

So, the bottom line is:
EOS R10 or R50 and RF-S 18-150, currently in stock: Shop Canon Refurbished EOS R10 RF-S18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM Lens Kit

I shall finish with one observation... Moving from say a cell phone to a dedicated camera is no small task. Such a camera will offer you higher quality and much more potential for a diversity of subjects and output, but it has a significant learning curve. There is a condition amongst some photographers: GAS - Gear Acquisition Syndrome - that takes the view that technology will overcome lack of knowledge and release their otherwise latent talent. Tech will take you only so far and technique is by far the more powerful. So, accept that fact that you have some work ahead, be prepared to take your time and do the hard yards to understand the principles, and do the practice and you will be rewarded.

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

stevet1 — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 02:38:40 GMT

Kbonier2007 said that he had a budget of $300 -$700 max.

That's going to have to be a pretty basic kit.

Maybe something in the Powershot line like the SX740?

It 's got 20mp, 40X zoom, built-in optical stabilizer, 4K video, built-in wi-fi and Bluetooth. for $479.

That's not a bad beginning.

Steve Thomas

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

Tronhard — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 02:35:15 GMT

Hi Steve:
Thanks, just saw that (chemo brain agiain 😒), so I shall amend accordingly. Yes, that is pretty limiting. I shall stick to my advice but amend my suggestions of gear!

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

shadowsports — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 02:49:21 GMT

Cheers Gents. You've said it all, covering the outlined budget and why we initially targeted the R50.

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

JFG — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 06:52:04 GMT

Like I, Trevor, Stevet and Rick explained, you can use the EOS R50 Mirrorless or the EOS R7 Mirrorless fof birds or any type of photography as long as you have the correct lens on it. If you want to use it for wildlife then you put a Canon RF200-800mm or a Sigma 150-600mm lens then the R50 M or R7 M will become a camera for Wildlife Photography. If you put on a RF14-45mm lens than your camera body will take the characteristics for Landscape, architectural and or still photography. Since your max budget is $700.00 then as Trevor, Rick and Stevet explained, you can start out small, learn the basics while saving your money to later invest on the more expensive lenses for long distance wildlife photography, like the Canon RF 200-800mm which sells for $1899.00 new. Or you may consider purchasing used or refurbished equipment which will save you some money. In any case you need to do some work deciding what lens will best suit your needs and learning the basics.

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

stevet1 — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 11:08:03 GMT

Rick,

The R50 is a pretty good suggestion. You can get one with an 18-45mm lens at B&H right now for $699.

Steve Thomas

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

Kbonier2007 — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 19:21:23 GMT

She

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

lilacflows — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 21:29:55 GMT

I'm planning to buy a new camera too. I will look up SL3. I have a Canon Vivix with an internal battery failure. I've started taking it apart to see about replacing it.

Re: Hi I'm looking for a camera for beginners.

Cantrell — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 21:30:42 GMT

Kbonier2007,

As far as to where to purchase your equipment look at the refurbished cameras and lenses from Canon. You will save some money buying refurbished. Just started looking at mirrorless cameras. This forum is extremely helpful. The responders want you to be happy and satisfied with your purchase. Best wishes in your search.