Best Camera for beginner?

ELLA

Afternoon all, I'm after some advice regarding the best camera for a pure beginner. Ive been told I take a good photo and have a good eye for this kind of thing.

Ive always been keen on photography and worked on a kodak lab for many years processing people's photo's. I'm 30 now and have 2 children and would love to learn and do a course about photography. I really want to find a decent camera (within budget) that will be a good starter. Ive seen on Hot UK deals this
http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/5801291/Fuji-FinePix-S5700-7-1-Megapixel-Digital-Camera/Product.html?P36=AQ5QHG

Not knowing too much about camera's (another thing I need to read up on) is this a good starter??
Any advice or pointers would be great.
Many thanks

isofa

If you are serious about doing a photography course, then you should look for a DSLR, rather than a basic compact, however you'll need more of a budget, you might be able to pickup some older Canon and Nikons on eBay for 100 to 200ish, but new ones are more at around £300, try www.camerapricebuster.co.uk

SLRs offer so much more for the true photographer, total control, what you see through the viewfinder is what you take the picture of etc.

I keep a compact for quick shots when we are out and about, but for all big events and any of my professional work, I use my Canon DSLR.

If you can't stretch to a DSLR, then ensure your chosen compact can but put into Program and manual mode, so you can creatively set the aperture and speed.

verbyl.belch

I agree with the above post. If you are serious about photography, a dSLR is certainly the best/most creative way to go.

I suggest you take a look a https://www.dpreview.com , especially the forums which are a brilliant source of info.

Pete

ossie1971

What is your budget?

As said above if you are looking to take photography seriously you really need a dslr and there are some really good deals to be had with the entry level cameras (nikon D40 and canon equivalents) The advantage of these is that they upgradeable in terms of lenses.

When you buy a starter kit you generally get a basic lense included which will see you through the initial stages of your learning. The beauty is that as you progress you can add lenses to your collection.

ELLA

Many thanks for the replies, My budget would I expect only be a couple of Hundred at the moment. Not a lot I'm afraid but If I could get something decent to start with. I would love to create a portfolio to get me going , there are no courses in my area until next year so I need to get as much practice in as I can.

daveyjp

A good independent camera store will sell you some second hand gear - a Canon or Nikon dslr 3-4 years old and a couple of lenses will do for starters.

New gear doesn't make a good photographer - keep in mind 'all the gear, no idea'!

I still have my first 'proper' SLR - a Canon AE1 which I bought second hand about 20 years ago!

ELLA

Hi all, thanks for the replies so far. My friend has a very nice camera (nikon d70s) which looks like a nice camera to possibly get but it's only 6 magpixels! I thought I could get second hand but my husband think a higer pixel would be better.

BillScarab

ELLA wrote: »

Hi all, thanks for the replies so far. My friend has a very nice camera (nikon d70s) which looks like a nice camera to possibly get but it's only 6 magpixels! I thought I could get second hand but my husband think a higer pixel would be better.

No! No! No! The number of MegaPixels is no indicator of quality. DSLR's have much bigger sensors and will collect much more light than a compact with a higher MegaPixel count. Trying to cram too many MegaPixels onto a sensor leads to problems with image quality. The other thing ot consider is that the lenses on DSLR's are generally better quality than most compacts.

isofa

^ Just to second Bills advice, do not be swayed by the marketing babble which is megapixels! One of my older DSLRs is 8 MP, however teamed with a top notch lens, it can easily take pictures of higher quality and clarity than a new 10 or 12 MP DSLR camera with a standard lens. If you were then to comparing with a to a 10+ MP compact camera, the results would be very clear to see.

A good quality lens is hard to beat.

Unless you are shooting for pre-press A3 quality, or high end production, 6-8MP is ample. And if you are just printing to 6x4 and 7x5 prints, with the occasional "enlargement", it's more than enough.

ELLA

Great Many thanks for the advice, so the nikon d70s is a camera to consider putting on my xmas list from the family!

ELLA

Sorry just wanted to bump this up.