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Camera Recommendation for a Beginner


jagnew

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I know there are many of you with a lot of experience and quite sophisticated camera equipment.  My early-teen is taking up photography and it is a new world for me/us.  She will be taking classes next year as a school elective and needs a "real" camera for class.  I'd like to get her one that will allow her to learn the proper features of a camera while also being useful as a family until (or if) we need more power in the future. 

All that said... do any of you have recommendations for a brand and overall beginner outfit for a budget up to about $500?

Thanks!

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Since there are future classes in store I'd suggest considering  a "kit" DSLR package.  

I'd suggest sticking with a brand name like Canon or Nikon.  Many schools beyond secondary seem to standardize on Canon in their classes.

A package from an online retailer or a big box warehouse store will typically include the main camera body and at least two lenses.  These are usually zoom lenses that will cover a range from wide angle to telephoto and everything in between.   

As photography classes progress there is typically an emphasis on "prime" lenses.  These are fixed focal lengths such as 35mm, 50mm or 85mm but until you get there the zoom lenses cover these.  The benefit of a popular name like Canon or Nikon will be a large used market for future prime lenses and other accessories down the road.

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I'll second the recommendation for Canon. My daughter took photography at her high school for two years and is going into her third year now, and they are fully standardized on Canon gear. Last year I was able to get a steal of a Cyber Monday doorbuster deal at Best Buy on a Canon T7i kit that included two lenses (one for telephoto shooting and one more for wide-angle / close-in shots), a travel bag, memory card, and a couple of other small items. She loved it and has taken a bunch of really impressive photos on it.

The T7i is a great model, and now it's a model or two older than the very latest so you can find good deals on it if you look around. All the big-box camera places have it -- Best Buy and B&H Photo are probably your best bets. I would not recommend Amazon simply because they seem to have a lot of "package deals" that include third-party items of questionable quality or durability.

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It all depends on what you want to do.  I have a Cannon T3i and love it for most stuff and thought about getting a case for taking it when I dive, but after hearing the horror stories about having a camera end up flooded from having a piece of hair or something like that on an O-ring I opted for a cheap off brand GoPro.

The kits really are great and I got mine a couple years back at Sam's club.  You can also find the kits second hand some places and honestly for a teen and family that may be a good option.  A Cannon T2i is still a decent camera and can use just about any lens intended for a Cannon DSLR camera, the body by itself is about 100.00 and figure 50 per lens and you don't have a bad kit.  Newer camera's get higher megapixels and such but the lenses don't change all that much unless you start getting really high end stuff.  The biggest thing is get a circular polarizing filter for taking pictures outside for sure but just about any picture will benefit from it.  https://photographylife.com/lens-filters-explained

As far as places, I have a bad taste in my mouth over one of the big groups in NYC, LeisurePro is the name of that place I dealt with and the Electronics/Camera arm is Adorama.  Had purchased a brand new item and they kept giving me the run around when on the very first dive a gauge was flooded.  Ended up contacting the manufacturer directly who had no issues getting it fixed and LeisurePro said that was impossible to do as well and that I could only deal with them.  After dropping nearly 1000 on stuff they could have been a lot better.  So I would avoid them like the plague.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As I research, I am seeing a lot of "deals" on the Canon T7, and a lot of reviews that it is pretty basic and the "i" version is much better.

That said, there are a couple of used T6i for sale near me that may be the sweet spot for more feature and less middle school risk.  Any strong opinions on 6i vs 7?

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Of those I'd go with the T6i, it's just a little more versatile than the T7 and gives a bit more room to grow while they figure out what they really enjoy.  LCD, microphone input, better SD card capabilities, and higher iso capability pushes above the T7 for me.  Reality is, don't overthink it too much though, pretty much anything from the last decade is going to be sufficient and allow for a _lot_ of growth to someone just starting out and as they figure out what they like doing a lens/reflector/flash etc will offer a much larger improvement than a new feature in a camera body.  (some exceptions for low light, astrophotography, some sports, etc etc)

I'd second both @twangster and @JLMoran 

Start with a kit lens, while I personally love prime lenses for multiple reasons, let them figure out what they like shooting and what focal length's they tend to go towards before you invest in them.   And avoid a lot of the cheap accessory kits that seem to come with half the cameras online nowadays, most of the time they're really not worth the extra cost.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have always liked the large optics.  Still have the old time 35mm film SLR with a few lenses.  But it hasn't seen the light of day since going digital.  I've been hesitant to carry the larger set-up and carry 2 small cameras (GoPro and a small Panasonic digital movie camera).  They're not the best, but for me, I'm making a space/weight trade-off.  I can carry either in my palm or mount on a helmet during an excursion and capture HD pics or video.  We try to travel light and even will carry on for a 7-day, so these pack nicely in a backpack compartment (with a couple of gig of SD cards I'm set to collect).  Of course there's always the phone too.  But that's too conspicuous sometimes.

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