Beginner Camera and a lens for a budget.

@Phil V So in a way a camera is like a eye, the DSLR is more like eyes wide open and a phone camera is like squinting and guessing what the rest is like?
 
Milk said:
@Phil V So in a way a camera is like a eye, the DSLR is more like eyes wide open and a phone camera is like squinting and guessing what the rest is like?
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Not bad.

Although, scientifically, what the iPhone does is not even close to what your brain does. Your eyes aren’t working like you think they are ;)

IIRC about 70% of what you’re currently ’seeing’ is being invented in your brain based on the last time your eyes actually recorded it.
 
I signed up here to learn more about camera and photography and now im learning about the human body @Phil V, the good news is my camera body is down to 2 things compared to a list of about 30, one of which is the Nikon D3200 and the other is a Pentrax K-50 which a family member has one laying around unused which looks decent from what I can see, although the internet seems to be full of Nikon and Canon stuff and these don't seem to get the same attention so im figuring out why.


once that's finalised then its onto the bit im the most nervous about which is lenses as ive now got a small grasp on the language of camera bodies but lenses is like a complete other language to me
 
Milk said:
I signed up here to learn more about camera and photography and now im learning about the human body @Phil V, the good news is my camera body is down to 2 things compared to a list of about 30, one of which is the Nikon D3200 and the other is a Pentrax K-50 which a family member has one laying around unused which looks decent from what I can see, although the internet seems to be full of Nikon and Canon stuff and these don't seem to get the same attention so im figuring out why.


once that's finalised then its onto the bit im the most nervous about which is lenses as ive now got a small grasp on the language of camera bodies but lenses is like a complete other language to me
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If the Pentax is free and with a lens take it. More Nikon & Canon are/were sold so there’s bound to be more s/h on the market. I think its already been said but there are no bad cameras, some may be better than others for what you want to do but since you are not really sure about that it’s a little irrelevant. Many people swear by Pentax.
 
Milk said:
I signed up here to learn more about camera and photography and now im learning about the human body @Phil V, the good news is my camera body is down to 2 things compared to a list of about 30, one of which is the Nikon D3200 and the other is a Pentrax K-50 which a family member has one laying around unused which looks decent from what I can see, although the internet seems to be full of Nikon and Canon stuff and these don't seem to get the same attention so im figuring out why.


once that's finalised then its onto the bit im the most nervous about which is lenses as ive now got a small grasp on the language of camera bodies but lenses is like a complete other language to me
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When I had SLR's and DSLR's the first decent lens I got was a Tamron 17-50mm f2.8. That lens was a real step up from anything I'd had in my life before and when I took a picture of my then GF with it on my Canon 20D it was the first lens to convince me that a lens can be too sharp for pictures of your partner :D

I'm very mostly a prime user (but that Tamron seemed better than a lot of primes I've used) but I do think that one of the cheapest and most effective upgrades for an interchangeable lens camera is a decent f2.8 zoom. Or a nice f1.8 prime :D
 
Milk said:
.. from what I can see, although the internet seems to be full of Nikon and Canon stuff and these don't seem to get the same attention so im figuring out why.
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Marketing! If you go with the K50 you'll find a huge number of lenses available. Look for any lens that is Pentax K mount.
 
Milk said:
Pentrax K-50 which a family member has one laying around unused which looks decent from what I can see
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Grab it!

IIRC the K50 will be a better tool for learning photography. A key feature is that it has 2 control wheels (1 for aperture, 1 for shutter speed) which most entry level cameras do not. From the brief occasion when I handled one, it's also well laid out and a nice tool to use. My first film SLR in the mid 80's was a Pentax P30.

There's a review here: https://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/pentax_k50_review
 
Milk said:
And a final question for people way more experienced than me, my choices are out of a Nikon D3200, Canon 500d and also maybe a Canon 50D, which one is the best quality and also ease of learning.
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There's probably very little between them in terms of image quality or ease of learning. They'll all be as simple (or complicated!) to use as each other. In your shoes (if possible), I'd visit a shop with a decent choice of bodies and lenses so you can see which feels nicest in your hands and buy that one with a suitable lens.

Good luck with your kit hunt.
 
JohnX said:
Marketing! If you go with the K50 you'll find a huge number of lenses available. Look for any lens that is Pentax K mount.
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That’s just not true though.

They ‘fit’ but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to use or even functional.
 
I made a mistake and it’s a Pentax k5 not a k50 if that makes much of a difference
 
The K5 looks better to me - it's a bit older (so live view etc. isn't as good) but is better built, has a handy LCD on the top plate and a slightly higher frame rate, etc. I think the sensors are the same.
 
So update…. The k5 is a no go as I found it it had a issue with with mirror. Back to Mpb to look again.
 
Phil V said:
That’s just not true though.

They ‘fit’ but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to use or even functional.
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Any K mount lens will fit and work on a Pentax K mount camera, assuming there's nothing wrong with the lens.
 
Milk said:
And a final question for people way more experienced than me, my choices are out of a Nikon D3200, Canon 500d and also maybe a Canon 50D, which one is the best quality and also ease of learning.
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These are all capable cameras and the choice is more likely to revolve around personal preference then any real pros and cons. I'd pick the one that feels best/most comfortable in my hands and get on with it. Don't invest too much at the beginning, wait until you've built up a bit of experience before making any further decisions, and enjoy your new hobby! That's the main thing. :)
 
JohnX said:
Any K mount lens will fit and work on a Pentax K mount camera, assuming there's nothing wrong with the lens.
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But beware of the old Ricoh lenses, apparently they can get stuck.

Shame the K-5 had a fault, it is an excellent camera, much better than the K-50 (as they have a known fault)..

Good luck with your search
 
Thankyou. So looking on mpb it will be a case of the various cheap Nikon’s and canons as recommended by many people and I have questioned about and maybe a Pentax k50 which I might be able to squeeze in.

So lots of reviews. Comparisons and YouTube will be in order
 
JohnX said:
Any K mount lens will fit and work on a Pentax K mount camera, assuming there's nothing wrong with the lens.
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The word ‘work’ is doing some heavy lifting there. If you mean you can mount it and take a picture, that’s true, if you mean that all K mount lenses will work as designed on all Pentax cameras, that’s simply a lie.

When I took the plunge to go AF, I bought a Pentax as I owned several K mount lenses, I knew they’d fit but they wouldn’t AF, but I wasn’t prepared for having to rely on stop down metering in one case, or that I couldn’t use P mode (with my other lenses that had behaved perfectly on older cameras).

It’s a fact that some very old K mount lenses maintain more functionality with a Canon adaptor on an EOS DSLR than they do with some modern Pentax cameras.

Pentax like Nikon maintain a myth of everything being backward compatible, but it’s only true if you accept a load of caveats. The reality is they’d have been better off designing a new mount so that only lenses that fit can be used.
 
So this thread hopefully is coming to an end, after a night looking on MPB I have narrowed down to 4 bodies,

Canon EOS 550D, Nikon D3300, Nikon D7000 and the Pentax K-50,
 
I admit to being a mainly nikon user in the interests of honesty

as you are looking to get to grips with a move to a real camera the d3xxx series dron Nikon has a useful guide mode on the dial that walks you through the technical settings on the camera to get the image you are trying to achieve. i think this would potentially be very helpful to transition from point and shoot phone through semi auto to full manual mode

suggest a ’… for dummies’ would be handy also but in the field the guide mode adds something for a learner

my first camera was a d3100 with 18-50 and 55-200 kit lenses about 10-11 years ago.
 
I guess nothing that YouTube, google and here can’t yrlp
With when stuck
 
Since everything I've posted in this thread has been met with idiotic questions and comments, I am done with it!!
 
Winslowe said:
Since everything I've posted in this thread has been met with idiotic questions and comments, I am done with it!!
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On the slender possibility that your question was serious, @Phil V wrote:

Camera phones cheat this a bit by using software to examine the scene and draw in what it thinks the image is. which is amazing technologically, but strictly speaking it's no longer a photograph. This isn't snobbery, like most people, I use my camera daily to take photo's, and rarely get out a proper cam

(my bold)

So he’s talking about the camera in his multi-function pocket computer that is sometimes referred to as a phone ;) .
 
So update…


I placed an order on MPB which should be arriving tomorow. I decided to get a better well used camera and just a single zoom lens to start with. And slowly add to it as I go Along
 
And my Camera body and a single lens for now arrived today courtesy of MPB.

Its a Nikon D7000 and I got a Nikon 18-70mm lens just until I get to grips with what im doing then more lenses will be acquired.

Now I guess its many hours playing and reading the manual figuring out what im even doing.
 
Milk said:
And my Camera body and a single lens for now arrived today courtesy of MPB.

Its a Nikon D7000 and I got a Nikon 18-70mm lens just until I get to grips with what im doing then more lenses will be acquired.

Now I guess its many hours playing and reading the manual figuring out what im even doing.
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As Toni said, enjoy it!

The "kit" 18-70 lens is one of the better kit lenses, far better (IMO) than the newer 18-55, although it lacks the VR that some of the 18-55s has. The D7000 is also supposed to be pretty competent, although it's getting fairly old now (in these days of [too?] frequent updates/upgrades).

When I started out with digital (having been a film user for a fair few years/decades1), I kept the manual beside the bog so I could familiarise myself with the functions I felt I'd need - once I'd read it through.
 
I have the manual saved as a pdf so whenever I’m on my Mac it’s open ready to read.

Already had a play with it though. And the results where shocking hence reading the manual for figure out what everything is
 
Milk said:
I have the manual saved as a pdf so whenever I’m on my Mac it’s open ready to read.

Already had a play with it though. And the results where shocking hence reading the manual for figure out what everything is
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Make sure you stick it in Program or aperture priority mode to begin with and let the camera figure out exposure while you concentrate on things like composition and subject, at least to begin with. A cleverly exposed and perfectly focussed image of a dull scene is just a dull scene at the end of the day. :)
 
Milk said:
@ancient_mariner that's really good advice that I will try out later, just figuring out all the focus options too
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It's often easiest to stick it on centre point, single shot AF mode: hover the central point over the thing you want in focus, press the shutter button half-way to set focus, then recompose & take the picture. Or you can leave it up to the camera in multi-point mode, but it will usually just focus on the closest thing under a focus point. You can try this to start off, then make changes as you grow and develop.
 
Not the most helpful response but I honestly believe you'll struggle to find a truly 'bad' camera these days, it all depends what you need from them. I'm a working (professional) photographer and my daily camera is an old Canon S100 (though I use a 'big' camera for client work) so don't get 'too' hung up on gear, lot's of capable cameras out there inside your budget :)
 
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