Whats the best camera for a beginner?

Z

Zuba

Messages
60
Edit My Images
Yes
As the title really, want to take professional quality shots but am new so would need the camera to be fairly simple to use, would be used for mainly portraits. Any help much appreciated :)
 
It sounds like you are looking for an entry level DSLR (Digital SLR) camera.

A few questions first,

What sort of budget do you have ?

Are you looking mostly at portrait or is anything else likely to be of interest too ?

For portraits, are you talking about studio type shots, or general people shots ?

What camera do you use now ? What do you use that for ?
 
Zuba said:
As the title really, want to take professional quality shots but am new so would need the camera to be fairly simple to use, would be used for mainly portraits. Any help much appreciated :)
Click to expand...

Need a bit more info to be able to help. What budget have you got, what type of camera? Point and shoot, bridge or dslr. Oh and welcome to TP.
 
Right well budget not a problem really, although would prefer to keep things as low as possible in case I am absolutely rubbish :lol: So under £500. Also to cut a long story short, my child is a baby model, his agency requests updated shots every 4 weeks, I have professional photos taken every time but the last two times I have been unhappy with the pictures, mainly due to the photographer having time restraints and my son not being in the right mood. I feel I have not only the time to spend getting the right shots also my son is happiest with me, so I have hundreds of fantastic snaps however they are poor quality and useless for his portfolio. I guess at the moment I am just looking to take shots of my son, dog, family, etc but may change as I grow in confidence. I currently use a digital compact. I really wouldn't know what type of camera would be best, the pictures would need to be printed to a minimum of A4 size though. The pictures for the agency are studio shots, the pictures for his portfolio can be general.
Thanks for the welcome and help :)
 
Zuba said:
As the title really, want to take professional quality shots but am new so would need the camera to be fairly simple to use, would be used for mainly portraits. Any help much appreciated :)
Click to expand...

You need to give us more info...
DSLR or P&S?...
a budget?...
Have you used either a P&S or DSLR before?...
Simple to use, what one that includes automodes? (portrait, landscape ect, so maybe a P&S or beginner SLR...
If DSLR, budget for lenses...


But best advice is get down to you local camera shot and try ou as many of the camera's available. At the end of the day your buying the camera, so it something you have to feel comfortable holding and using.

Peter
 
Have tried a DSLR in shop felt good, had automodes however wasn't sure if the guy was trying to sell it to me because it was the best for me or because of commission.
 
Thanks for the added info. There are 3 things to consider here then.

The first is picture quality i.e. camera output. This is largely governed by the choice of camera body and lens, both of which contribute to the quality of the output. Most, if not all, DSLR camera bodies will be capable of giving you A4 output. They are mostly 6MP + resolution which is more than sufficient. The quality of output from the camera, as you'd expect, can improve with price but still depends on a competent user (see 3 point below). The more expensive the camera, the more skill required to use it is a good rule of thumb, although not absolute. The choice of lens is very important too, and price is not always the deciding factor. For example an 85mm prime lens (i.e. no zoom) at £300 may be better for portrait than a £600 18-200mm zoom lens. However, you limit yourself on what you can do with a fixed 85mm lens versus and 18-200mm.

The second factor is lighting. If you want studio quality shots then you need studio lighting. These are the large lamps with umbrellas or shades and a vinyl backdrop. These start at c. £200, require a lot of space to use properly (probably 10 foot square of clear space), and require a degree of practice and expertise to use.

The third factor is the ability of the person using all of the above kit. You can have the best and most expensive kit and still be the worst photographer in the world if you don't know how to use it. you could be a natural from the start, or it could take months or years of practice to get it right.

I would recommend finding a good independent camera shop and talking them through what you are looking to do, and let them show you what's available.
 
to be far defiance has covered all I was going to say. I think you will be suprised at how hard it is to produce good portraits. Good luck with your quest and post some examples when you start out.
 
It'd be interesting to see the sort of shots you're trying to emulate.
If you want white background sort of stuff, then the lights you use and the space you have to do it all in will be more important than the camera.
It could be that you can get away with window lit head shots on a dark background, which requires no lighting gear leaving a bit more cash available for the camera.

I'd urge anybody in your position to avoid any talk of megapixels, due to forum rules, any picture you see on here is 0.64MP or less (yes, less than 1MP).
DO NOT get sold on megapixels.
 
If you end up at Jessops be aware that they don't stock Pentax anymore
Only saying that because their recent K-m is a nice starter DSLR with a decent kit lens

But as mentioned above, check them out to see which one feels right
 
Thank you everyone for your help, have invested in a Canon EOS 1000D, for several reasons I chose this over the others, being sony Alpha 200 and the Nikon d??. Firstly the cost, the Canon was best value, the sony was cheapest however the lenses were twice as expensive so in the long run price wise the canon was better. The weight was also a factor as I am slight of frame and a little wimpy :lol: the canon was lightest although I'm sure the Nikon was much more robust. Also resale value, canons and Nikons seem to hold their value a lot better than sony. Obviously this is all based on the bottom end of the market so cant be said for the expensive cameras.

I also managed to get some white vinyl so I'll have some perfect pictures soon!

thanks again :clap:
 
You also need off camera lighting and lights.

Now you've settled with Canon, you're going to need:

2 x flashes
2 x light stands
Light modifiers, at least 1 umbrella, at least 1 home made grid, at least 1 home made snoot (very easy to make.)
Background + background stands.
Some sort of off camera trigger system.

Personally, I'd have gone with a Nikon D90, if only because (assuming you'll normally shoot indoors) you'd have avoided the cost of the trigger system and could have used dummy mode on the lighting while you were learning how to light portraits correctly.

If I were you I'd now go on a portrait lighting course. Quite a few places run them at reasonable prices.
 
The other option is 2nd hand, some good quality kit and you can look at the next model up on the kit you are looking at. The other thing is that you will end up spending more on lenses and other accessories (flash, lighting, etc) so you might want to cut the cost of the body and look at good quality prime lenses.

Must agree with the above, portrait/studio type shots are very difficult and could take a lot of time to master!
 
Well have posted my first attempt - meet Zuki, she is my dog let me know what you think? Cant be bad considering all I have is a camera :thumbs:
 
400D/450D in my opinion. It's what I started with.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top