New to photography

matt.rad

matt.rad

Active member
I'm looking into getting my first camera, and I'm looking for some opinions on what's a good camera for a good price. Ideally I'm looking to keep it under $200. Anyone have any suggestion? Like I said I've never done anything with photography, so I don't know what I'm doing. I'm currently researching stuff, but I thought I'd ask all of you guys on NS what you think. Thanks in advance for the help.

Matt
 
this depends on what camera you want? a DSLR? a point and shoot?

point and shoot, go with canon or sony, they take real quality pics for a low price

DSLR, go with nikon, more expensive, but amazing quality
 
wow , $200 my newest lens cost $2400, but yea your new, okay so a dslr are out of the question with mean your going to be getting a point and shoot, are you sure you cant spend maybe 450, cause then at least you woudl be able to get the 350d, anyways point and shoots, you can most likely get one around 8mp with some manual controls like iso, exposure, white balance and simple stuff...can you get more than $200?
 
Yeah, I really lowballed myself with $200. I'm thinking more in the range of $500 now. I'm really new with this stuff, so I really didn't know what I was getting into. Now that I'm reading more into it, I'd say $500 is more of what I'm looking to spend. Thanks for the quick responses. + karma
 
get a nikon d40. really great camera and its built so beginners can use it with ease. under 500 too
 
ill be the canon lover and say the xt, for only one reason...the d40 allows you to a select range of lenses whereas the xt(350d) you can use pretty much any lens canon has made in the past 5 years...not trying to get into the canon vs nikon debate just raising that point...but yah i know people that have started with much fancier cameras so you should do fine with it....i still use this camera sometimes and ive been shooting freelance for three years now so once you take a month are so to learn everything about it you will be having a blast...anyother questions feel free to hit me up in a PM
 
yeah no debate, i agree that the xt is just as good if not better. whatever brand you choose though you will probably end up sticking with
 
i used to be the biggest canon lover, but then i got the d200 with the f2.8 24-70 ( dont think about buying it unless you have an extra 2 grand lying around) but none the less its a sick setup...and besically everything with the controls is just backwards...and it just takes like a week of use to get to know it....so thats what ive been doing some indoor shooting with although i use my canon for sports:

Nikon d200:

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CANON"

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Thanks to everyone who responded for the great insight and suggestions. I'm looking at everything that was mentioned. Thanks again for the responses, I wish everyone the best.
 
it all depends on how serious you want to get with it, you can get a great camera for like $350 that is a great starter camera (canon powershot s5) its small cheap and it has immage stabilization, spend the other 150 you were going to spend on a weekend trip to use your camera. however, if you are trying to get semi-serious with it, break your bank and get a nice DSLR, canon is your better bet, they have well over 100 different lens choices, unmattched camera quality and RAW ability... look at the canon rebel series, great starter DSLRs
 
here are some samples of my D40. With cameras, really, all it comes

down to is what your going to do with them. If you gona put our

pictures on the internet and show your friends, don't spend more than

$500 on a camera, if your making prints that your going to sell or are

an actual photographer, spend $5000 on a camera and $2000 on a nice lens.
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aaaaah dude what lens did you go with?!!!!

and yeah I shoot with a Canon XTi and it's worked for me. You could always find their 30D/40D for cheaper now that a 50D is coming out. Invest on nice lenses, the camera body is less important.
 
it was my first legit camera, its a really nice camera to learn aperture and shutter speeds on.
 
i wasn't saying you cant take awesome photos with cheaper cameras, I was simply saying, if your trying to take a picture for a billboard, a D40 is not the way to go.
 
if you wanna get a nice point and shoot go with a canon G9. i was talking to tim zimmerman (pro snowboard photographer) and he said he did an entire assignment for transworld on his g9

another good point and shoot is the new sigma point and shoot (i forgot what the model is). It is a little more expensive (like 600) but unlike other point and shoot cameras with compact sensors, it has a full sized SLR sensor (compact sensors are usually like the size of your pinky nail and SLR sensors are like the size of a postage stamp)

if you go with an slr go with either a nikon d40 or canon rebel xt. i've never used either, but i use a nikon and i love it and ken rockwell (kenrockwell.com) loves the d40 and I trust what he says. So i would personally lean towards the nikon, but either is a good choice

and be careful when your ordering, because you'll find a ton of unbelievable deals, and theyre usually too good to be true

order from either adorama.com or bhphotovideo.com

hope that helped

whatever camera you go with im sure that you'll have a blast shooting with it

feel free to PM me if you got any questions
 
if you are really interested in photography then you wouldnt regret getting a less expensive dslr, trust me, you will have so much more fun and control over your shots
 
i'm 14 and my first legit camera was a d80, and i chose it after using both the d80 and the d40

it's great, but it depends how serious you're going to be, and where you'll be taking it
 
^holy shit a d80 when your 14? i would have no idea what to do with it haha.

i just got a d40 and love it. PM me if you want sample pics (just got it this week, so they are limited) but i got it for 450 with the lense kit and a 4 gig memory card.

 
this kid knows what he is talking about. canon xt or xti man do it you wont regret it. and even when your looking to upgrade you can do so in your lenses
 
your not gonna get a greayt DSLR for $200 unless you do what i did i bought it on clearence its worth $500 got it for $170

here are some pics taken with my camera

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its gunna be crazy hard trying to hind a camera under 200

but if you're looking for a film slr then it shouldn't be too hard just go on ebay

but i'm gunna guess that you aren't looking for a film camera

so.... my advice it to go on ebay and find a used digital slr

i'm def a fan of canon

but like i said its going to be crazy hard to get one under 200

but good luck :]
 
dude go talk to your grandmother, have her dig out her old 35mm from the bottom of the closet and start shooting with that. Learn how to control aperture, shutter speed and read a light meter, shoot with film for a while, it forces you to get things right on the camera instead of in post shoot digital editing. Then pick up a DSLR. You don't need a fancy camera body yet, check out the canon 20D, they go for real cheap now that newer models are out. A mid range DSLR like the 20D will be compatible with all the pro range lenses, thats where you want to spend the most of your money. A nice lens is KEY.
 
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