 BetterPhoto Member |
Buying a camera I'm an aspiring photographer. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to make a living with photography but love to take photos. I'm beginning a photography course at a local college. I am searching for a camera that will best prepare me for every situation. I want the most out of the equipment I buy. I already have a profession and know this is an investment. Any suggestions on what to look for? I don't want to have to buy several different cameras because I didn't purchase right in the first place.
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Fern |
I was in your same situation a few years back and luckily I spent the time and effort to do my homework. I've been an amateur photographer more or less for 6 years and in my opinion Canon offers excellent performance for reasonable prices. If you're on a limited budget as I am then your choice might be the Canon Rebel 2000. It offers you an excellent array of professional features with plenty of automatic settings if you want to no-brain it. A step up is the Elan IIe which will be more expensive but offers more sophisticated features. Not a huge leap on the Rebel 2000. This might be for you if you don't want entry level but don't want to shell out the big bucks. Next is the Eos-1N. Its a big jump from the Elan in price and performance. This near top of the line in all aspects, hard to be disappointed by it. Finally is the Eos-1V. Top of the line in every respect, hundreds of features, thousands of dollars. That very long winded answer is a brief overview. For more info visit: |
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Richard Campbell |
Teresa, It is not the kind of camera, but the person who stands behind it, that truly makes a difference. When I used to sell photo equipment I would ask the person first, what do you want to do with the camera? Are you predominately taking action shots? (auto focus is handy) or do you see yourself taking portraits, etc. Determine the kind of photography you plan to practice. What is your final format. Do you plan on blowing your pictures up to large prints for exhibition - maybe you should consider going right into medium format. Use some other people's cameras to get a feel for them, talk with someone in a good photo shop. Is the question complicated? Yes. Can you be prepared with your first camera for every situation? No. For general purpose 35mm introductory photography I go with what 9 out of 12 National Geographic people use when they know the chips are down in any situation: NIKON FM2. You will note that this camera is not billed as a "pro" camera, but there are reasons why it is superior to others. First, since it's a totally manual camera, you really have to know how to shoot pictures to use it... (cont.)
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Richard Campbell |
This is the major stumbling block to lazy people - they want automatic this and that. There is nothing like an auto camera if you're just snap shooting, don't get me wrong, but if you really want to learn, you should use a manual camera first. It forces you to become adept. It forces you to learn how to focus fast, to make decisions yourself regarding exposure. It's a challenge to get a good picture at first, but once you learn, you can take a picture with any camera. The FM2 is almost all metal, not plastic - it's very rugged. It doesn't rely on batteries, except a small watch battery for the meter. The lenses for the camera are great, and you can buy a lot of great used Nikon lenses. You can get a very fast 50mm starter lens 1.4 or 1.8 f-stop for easy money. Do not make the mistake of buying an off brand lens that is slow - or a cheap zoom lens that is slow. Buy a fast 50mm lens first and then build on it. 2.8 is the slowest you should go with a 50mm lens. 1.4 is ideal. 1.8 is very, very good. With this speed lens you can walk into a museum of average lighting and shoot with 400 speed film and get great pictures. The camera is light, compact, and sturdy. You can walk around for hours
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