Beginner's Guide to Choosing Your First Camera

Choosing your first camera can be overwhelming, so let me break it down.

Friday, March 1, 2024

You want to get into photography but don’t know where to start? There are so many different cameras, some cost $500 while others cost $3000?? Can I even afford one? What is a DSLR? Which brand should I get?

Don’t worry, let’s break it all down so you know which camera is right for you.

Camera Types

The first important thing to learn about cameras are the different types. We are going to be discussing digital cameras in this post (not film cameras). There are 3 main types of digital cameras:

Point and Shoot

This type of camera is slim and small. It’s designed to be easy enough to use that you can just point and shoot. It generally comes with only one type of lens that has a certain optical zoom level and which you cannot detach and swap out (The other 2 camera types are also called interchangeable-lens cameras because the lens can be changed). This camera has become less and less common as our smartphones have become good enough to replace its function of being small and easy to carry around. However, this size factor has also found its place as a very convenient and compact vlogging camera. If you’re looking for something like this, Sony’s ZV-1 is a great option (pictured above).

DSLR

This type of camera has been around for the past 30+ years, and actually started in the film days as an SLR or Single-lens Reflex Camera. DSLR is the digital variant, or Digital Single-lens Reflex Camera. It is called this because there is a mirror inside the camera body, so that when you look through the viewfinder, the mirror reflects what you see out the lens of the camera. When you take a picture, the mirror flips up, exposing the sensor, which takes a picture. This design was more ideal for film, where the film needs to be hidden before taking a picture. Otherwise, it doesn’t make much sense with a digital sensor, that can always digitally display what the camera sees even while not taking a picture. This is why Mirrorless cameras were born.

Mirrorless

As the name suggests, unlike DSLRs, Mirrorless cameras do not have a mirror in them. Instead, the camera sensor is directly exposed. This brings a number of advantages. The camera shows a live preview on the screen and through the viewfinder of exactly what a picture will look like before it is taken. Burst pictures can also be taken faster, since a mirror does not need to be flipped up everytime. Mirrorless cameras are now the standard for interchangeable-lens cameras and it is probably what you want if you are buying a modern camera.

Sensor sizes

The most important part of a camera is its sensor, which is what enables it to take pictures. The bigger the sensor, the more light that the sensor can let in. This allows pictures to be taken in lower light with less grain and a higher shutter speed. It also makes the depth of field shallower, meaning that out of focus backgrounds in pictures look more blurry. This is desirable in portrait photography. However, lenses play the biggest role in depth of field. Note that the bigger the sensor, not only is the camera more expensive, but so are the lenses for that sensor size, because the lenses have to be bigger.

There are 3 main sensor sizes you should be aware of: Full frame, APS-C, and Micro four thirds (pictured above from left to right). Full frame is the biggest out of the three, most common in professional use. Cameras with this sensor size are the biggest, heaviest and most expensive. I would not recommend jumping into full frame as a beginner hobbiest unless you have a budget for it and are willing to spend thousands on a professional camera setup.

The good news is that APS-C cameras have gotten really good and can be used in an equally professional setting with a much less investment into gear. As a beginner, you probably would not even notice the difference between Full frame and APS-C cameras anyway. Spending less on the camera body here will allow you to allocate more budget into buying different lenses, which makes a much bigger difference anyway.

Micro four thirds is less common and is an even smaller sensor size than APS-C. This category is most commonly held by brands like Panasonic and Olympus. It is also generally used more for video, since high shutter speeds are not needed.

Brand

People have their opinions and like to argue about which brand is best, but this is truly because they each want to justify their camera gear purchases. Each brand has their strengths and each compete with each other to make the best camera. Choosing which brand to go with is up to you. However, this can be unhelpful as a beginner, so let me give some pointers.

Canon and Nikon have been around forever and are probably the most known brands. Sony has begun producing cameras more recently but have quickly become one of the leaders in digital mirrorless cameras. Fujifilm is close behind these 3, following with Olympus and Panasonic. All these brands produce high quality cameras that you can trust. There are other less common camera brands too.

You can’t really go wrong with any brand, I would suggest to do your research and pick a camera you think looks the coolest, has all the features you needs and feels the best in your hands. However, something else to consider is the lens selection of these brands and their respective camera mounts. Choosing a particular camera body has a particular mount attached to it in which only certain lenses are compatible. (There are also adapters, but this is not complexity you want to deal with at the start). Note that choosing a particular brand with a mount means you are limited to that mount’s selection of lenses. This is important because the types and prices of lenses available to you may differ.

For example, Canon has been notorious for not allowing third party lenses on their mounts, meaning you would always have to buy whatever prices they charged for their Canon branded lenses. Although, it seems that has now changed. However, their third party selection appears smaller than other mounts as of now. Nikon, Sony, and Fujifilm have done a great job of allowing a wide range of third party lenses to choose from. Often times, third party lenses may perform worse or have a lesser quality than those directly from the camera brand, but in exchange for a lower price. Although, this is not only the case. For example, Sony APS-C users have had access to an amazing lineup of lenses from Sigma for many years now.

Features

If you know what you need and what you want to shoot, picking a camera based on its features may be what you want. However, most beginners do not know what all the features are and what they allow you to do. Most even entry level cameras come with great all around features that will suit your needs.

If you know you want to take video, choosing a camera with long video recording times and high quality video formats may be what you want to look for. As a beginner I would not suggest trying to get more megapixel counts or higher continuous shooting speeds because you will most likely not understand their benefits. Nowadays, 20 or 24 Megapixels is more than enough, especially considering your photos are most likely going on social media anyway. As you grow with your camera, you will understand your limitations and decide when it is best to upgrade for yourself. Photographers especially emphasize to upgrade when you finally understand that you need something more.

Lenses

I’d argue that choosing your lens is way more important than the camera body you decide on. Your camera body is useless without a lens attached to it. People always tend to ask photographers: what camera do you use? when they see a cool picture. However, photographers know that’s not what’s important. It’s the lens that enables the picture to look the way it does. However, as a beginner, don’t worry too much about your first lens, as you will grow and understand what types of lenses you need for the photography you like to do.

Note that when picking a lens, you will not be choosing a zoom level such as 2x, 5x, etc. Instead you will be choosing a focal length and f-stop. Focal length is written in millimeters, such as 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and is technically a measurement from the lens’s optical center to the camera’s sensor. More importantly it tells us the angle of view of that lens. The higher the focal length, the more narrow angle of view there will be and more zoomed in it will be. F-stop is a measurement of aperture and tells us how much light the lens lets in. The smaller the f-stop, the more light it lets in.

With that said, there are two major types of lenses that you will choose from: prime and zoom lenses.

Prime

Prime lenses have a fixed focal length which means they do not have adjustable zoom. This means prime lenses generally input more light (they have a lower aperture) and can be used to either shoot in lower light or blur the background more in a picture. These lenses are also the sharpest, lightest and cheapest. They are usually a photographer’s favorite if they can take pictures without needing zoom. These lenses are perfect for any type of photography but are especially a favorite in portrait photography for their ability to separate the subject with a blurry background.

Zoom

Zoom lenses are excellent for their versatility, but there are big tradeoffs you take for that zoom capability. Zoom lenses typically need more light, are heavier, less sharp and longer. As a beginner, it is better to learn with a prime lens, because you will otherwise grow attached to a zoom, which will hinder your creativity. With prime lenses, you zoom with your feet (walk closer). This also allows you to get more unique perspectives and creative shots. As a beginner your first camera will probably come with a zoom kit lens to get you started. However, look into buying a prime lens as your second lens. Nonetheless, zoom lenses have their place, especially when you physically cannot walk closer to your subject, or need to stay out of people’s way.

Wide Angle, Telephoto, Macro

There are subcategories of prime and zoom lenses that allow them to specialize in a certain zoom level or distance. Wide angle lenses are typically categorized as 35mm and below (the 0.5x lens on your smartphone is like a 14mm lens). Telephoto lenses are zoomed in and typically range from above 35mm to extremes such as 600mm (The 3x lens on your smartphone is close to 80mm). Also note that the millimeter measurements are 1.5x more cropped in on APS-C compared to full frame.

There are also lenses that specialize in how close you can shoot to something. A lens that can focus really close to something is called a macro lens. These type of lenses are perfect if you want to take pictures of flowers, bugs, or other tiny things.

Wrapping Up

Choosing a first camera can be overwhelming and confusing. My goal was to break it down for you to understand what to look for. Ultimately, do not stress about buying the perfect camera body, as you can always upgrade when you feel like your gear is limiting you. The good thing is that photography gear does not depreciate much because it lasts for so many years and is pretty battle-tested. So if you change your mind, you can always sell your used gear for a decent price to what it was new, especially lenses. I would actually recommend you buy used gear if possible, as you will save lots of money and help reuse the technology in the world. I buy all my lenses used and even bought my camera body refurbished.

You are probably still thinking, I still don’t know what camera to buy! Don’t worry, I have one last section for you that will be my recommendations for starter cameras and some comments on each one. As for what camera I use, it is a Sony A7III, which is a pricey full frame camera. However, this is not the camera I started on, but the one I upgraded to when I met the limits of my previous one. My first camera was a Sony a6000, which is an APS-C camera that I bought around $500 at the time. This camera is now about 10 years old, but is still a budget recommendation for beginners today. That is just a testament to how long camera bodies can last. Luckily, Sony has more modern options for this type of camera today.

Recommendations

Please note that not all the cameras may come with a lens, or the link to the site may not have the option chosen to have a lens attached. If you don’t know anything about lenses, the starter lens that comes with the camera should be enough to get you started. However, if you want to go for a more specialized look, try looking for a 35mm prime lens for that camera mount.

APS-C

As a beginner, this is the sensor format I recommend going with, as not only the camera bodies are cheaper, but the lenses will be too. This will allow you to allocate more budget to a variety of lenses. In this category, you can’t go wrong with any brand.

Sony a6100 + other a6x00 options

I’m a Sony shooter, so I have to concede my bias towards Sony. However, I’m not the only one who swears by their APS-C lineup, because until recent releases from Canon and Nikon, it has been the go-to for many. The a6100 is the successor to the now old a6000, but the a6000 can still be bought for an incrediblely cheap price used, if you are on a really strict budget. If you want more advanced features, you can go up in numbers and look at others such as the a6400, a6600 and a6700 (the numbers are confusing because there used to be older models in between). However, the prices get pretty steep if you are looking for an entry level camera. If you’re shopping for lenses, Sony’s mount is the E-mount, just make sure you look for APS-C E-mount. The APS-C Sigma E-mount lenses are incredible for this lineup by the way.

Canon R100 and R50

I was pleasantly surprised to see how cheap you can get an entry level Canon camera with the R100. Just $500 with the kit lens included! Although, I would be careful because it seems that there are not that many lenses to choose from yet. I had a hard time looking for different options. The full frame equivalent Canon R mount lenses are perfectly compatible, but you will be paying for the full frame price tag. Otherwise, the R50 and R10 increase in price respectively with more features. The amount of features in these entry level cameras are quite impressive actually. The R50 is just $200 over the R100 and might be the go-to considering it bumps up its features with a relatively small price increase. Canon uses the RF-S mount on these.

Nikon Z fc

Now this is a sweet looking camera that you can get from Nikon. You can even configure it with different colors on the Nikon website. This comes with all the features you might need while looking amazing. If I were buying my first camera, I would probably go with this one, just because of how it looks. After all, a camera that you love the look of will inspire you to shoot more and bring it with you more. Otherwise, the Nikon Z50 looks like a great choice as well if you want a more digital looking camera. Nikon uses the Z mount for their lenses (make sure to specify APS-C). They also have a pretty wide Nikon and third party lens selection to choose from.

Fujifilm XT-30 II

Fujifilm is brand that’s historically created retro-styled cameras, so if you’re into that look, check them out as well. I don’t know too much about their lineup, but I did some research and found that the Fujifilm XT-30 II is a great little camera that people love. The Fujifilm X-S10 looks like another great option. Fujifilm uses the X-mount and they also have a wide range of Fujifilm and third party lenses to choose from.

Full frame

Honestly, full frame cameras are not considered entry-level because their price tags are too steep. I would stick with an APS-C camera if you are just getting started. If you really wanted a cheaper full frame camera to get you started, your best bet would be to buy a used older full frame model. I won’t recommend any particular old or used cameras for this category because I don’t think its worth overwhelming beginners with $1000+ price tags and features they don’t understand. You might not even be sure if photography is right for you!

Full frame cameras have features geared towards professionals, who need high quality, speed and fallback for failure (such as dual SD cards). Trust me, those APS-C recommendations above are incredible, and I honestly miss the APS-C form factor because the cameras are so light and easy to carry around. My full frame camera setup usually weighs over 8 pounds and is an arm workout everytime.

More Questions?

Thanks for reading to the end, and reach out to me if you have any specific questions! I’d love to chat.

Hope to see your photos soon! 📸