10-01-2025 11:03 AM
Hi everyone! I recently started working as an assistant event planner for a very small event planning company, and have been wanting to upgrade from my iPhone camera to get better pictures and videos of the events we plan. We post the pictures/videos we take to our Instagram and other social media accounts, so my boss is very selective; and my current quality is not making the cut. Plus, I've been wanting to explore photography as a hobby for a while now, so...a win is a win!
So far, I've had the Canon EOS R50 recommended to me. I really don't know much about cameras, so guidance is appreciated ❤️
Please let me know if there's anything else you need to know and/or what you'd recommend! I'd like to stay under $1,500 if possible.
10-01-2025 11:47 AM
Greetings,
With your budget in mind, the R50 (photo-centric) or R50v (video-centric) cameras would both be good options to consider. The R50 is geared more towards still photography, while the R50v has enhanced video features the R50 lacks. Both take beautiful 24 megapixel stills. If having an electronic viewfinder is important to you, go with the R50. It also has a built-in flash. The R50v doesn't have an EVF or flash.
If the majority of your content will be still photography, go with the R50. If video content is important, the R50v offers many of Canon's latest Cinema style features in a very affordable package. The kit lenses offered with either of these bodies are not great for indoor low light photography. You may want to consider a third-party option from Sigma like the 18-50 f2.8 for Canon RF. (This lens is licensed by Canon for Sigma). This lens does very well indoors even in dim light due to its constant f2.8 aperture.
One other body worth your consideration is the R10. It is an aps-c based camera that performs similarly to the R50. It is a photo first type body.
The lens I mentioned above will work with all three of these body's. So you would buy the body only and the lens separately. Canon has great refurbished camera deals that go in and out of stock quickly. You can save a little money and these products have the same one-year warranty as new. When purchasing, buy directly from Canon, Sigma or an authorized dealer (only). Avoid marketplace sellers, kits, or retailers offering a deal that is seemingly too good to be true. We can help with that once you identify the body you want to go with. If you have a Best Buy nearby, visit the store and hold all three cameras. See which one you like best.
~Rick
Bay Area - CA
~R5 C (1.1.2.1), ~R50v (1.1.1) ~RF Trinity, ~RF 100 Macro, ~RF 100~400, ~RF 100~500, ~RF 200-800 +RF 1.4x TC, BG-R10, 430EX III-RT ~DxO PhotoLab Elite ~DaVinci Resolve Studio ~ImageClass MF644Cdw/MF656Cdw ~Pixel 8 ~CarePaks Are Worth It
10-01-2025 05:29 PM - edited 10-01-2025 05:30 PM
Hello,
You need to consider very seriously investing in additional software for photo/video editing. And improving on your skills. Otherwise you and your boss may end up dissatisfied with this investment real quick.
Current generation iPhones/Android devices has lots of things going on under the hood before you see the picture/movie on the screen. And with the camera no matter the kit price, to match and exceed the phone IQ ( image quality ) you need to invest much bigger amount of additional time and effort.
Two examples:
HDR with photo and movies - every phone-camera today has by default very good HDR enabled in both picture and movies!
Low light - again every camera-phone has integrated stacking, noise reduction and other techniques which basically with zero effort provide you with night vision like pictures.
So if you have no skills and/or time and money for the software better stick to the iPhone and work over lighting, composition and editing alone.
All this come to say, just buying new "real camera" will not automatically provide you with better results. And you will need to spend much more time and effort with software, to match and exceed the phone images.
For example you can very easily exceed the phone IQ with resolution - but you do not really need very high resolution as you are publishing mainly on-line.
And it will be very hard to exceed the phone IQ with video and photo HDR. Which is like shooting in the bright day, sunset/sunrise, many different lights and etc.
It will be very easy to beat the phone with different focal lengths - much bigger zoom, better work with flashes, macro, ultra wide and with some other conditions.
If you decide to go the camera way and learn it, it will for sure be rewarding, but you need to add to the budget Adobe CC subscription, or some other creative tools for both video and photo editing. And you need to have at least 3-6 months until you start getting something useful from the camera pictures and maybe even more from camera videos.
It is clear that your budget is not big, and you have no idea so far what exactly do you need, so most probably will be good to start with some kit with two zoom lenses. You may need to consider adding tripod to the kit especially for video work. But as said already these lenses are "slow" and not easy to be used in less than day light conditions. but you can use them to figure out what focal lengths do you need. And then invest in more targeted and "faster" and expensive lenses. Or other options is to start with one more expensive lens if you know exactly what do you need. With Canon you can also use adapter and use old EF/EF-S second hand lenses.
But aside to all I can not stress more over the need for additional software and efforts to make this purchase useful.
Hope this info will help you!
10-01-2025 06:31 PM
“ We post the pictures/videos we take to our Instagram and other social media accounts, so my boss is very selective; and my current quality is not making the cut. “
What is the main criticism? Recent smartphone releases have been fairly capable at capturing stills.
If you are mainly posting to social media, then the photo and video content may have to be captured in portrait mode, instead of landscape mode.
10-07-2025 05:06 AM
What are the issues with your current photos & videos?
Answering a few of these might further help us to suggest new cameras and kit, though the EOS R50 / EOS R50 V is certainly a good camera.
12/18/2025: New firmware updates are available.
11/20/2025: New firmware updates are available.
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