What should I look for when shopping for my first DSLR?

Question

I am thinking of buying a digital SLR camera. What things should I be looking for?

Answer 1

Things to look for when buying your first dslr:

• Price. Far from me to tell anyone how to spend their hard earned cash, but having an idea of what money you want to pay will help.

• Ergonomics. Does the body feel good in your hands? What about when you have your lens attached?

• What brand? I'm a fan of Canon. Nikon is equally awesome. There are other brands as well, but I recommend the big two: Canon and Nikon.

• Beginner/creative modes. Since this is your first camera, having modes that do some automation will ease you into using an SLR.

• Entry Level/ Prosumer Level body. If you have a sufficient budget, consider which would serve you better: Buying a more expensive body now, with features that you can grow with, or a less expensive body with fewer features, leaving you more cash more lenses. In terms of producing great images the chain of importance goes: Photographer >>> Lens > Camera Body.

My first dSLR was a Canon 20D, a prosumer body. I chose it because I have larger hands, and the 20D size and weight felt better (twss), and I wanted something I could grow with.

Answer 2

Find out what brand of cameras your photo friends own. The relative differences between Canon and Nikon are fairly small (and probably don't matter until you get very advanced), so a big advantage when starting out is buying the brand the people you hang out with have bought. That gives you a source of free advice, plus the ability to try out cameras and borrow lenses to see how things work.

Don't overbuy. You can buy a really good camera in the entry level; even if you outgrow it, having a second body around is a good thing, or you can sell it and upgrade. If you get serious about this, you probably WILL outgrow it, so don't overspend. Buying more expensive cameras means buying features you won't need, use, or understand and might make growing into the hobby harder and frustrating. The Canon Rebel is a great way to get started.

Do you really need a DLSR? There are some really nice cameras that just don't happen to have interchangeable lenses. We've used the Panasonic Lumix superzooms for years, the current model is the DMZ-fz35) and it can turn out really nice pictures without many limitations. Another is the Canon G11. Consider whether you need a DLSR or whether you're really looking for a good entry level camera (how badly do you need/want interchangeable lenses?) -- some of these high end point and shoots match entry level in image quality and are less expensive and more convenient.

if you stick with a DLSR, figure out your lenses first, and don't cheap out on them. Assume you'll upgrade your camera body 2-3 times before upgrading your lenses -- if you pick your lenses well. So be willing to spend a bit more on lenses and buy a less expensive body. It's a good investment. Avoid "kit" lenses that come bundled with bodies. waste of money, IMHO.

I like as an entry level set something like the Canon Rebel and a good third party lens with a decent superzoom capability, like the Sigma 18-200 (I wrote a bit about why I prefer that lens to the Tamron I actually own here: http://www.chuqui.com/2010/01/a-few-thoughts-on-lenses/) -- the cost difference between the rebel with a kit lens and the rebel body only is about is about $250-275. You can buy the body only and the sigma for pretty much the same money and get a much better and more flexible lens..

consider renting a camera for a week with the lens you're considering. Make sure you like the results, make sure it's comfortable in your hands.

Answer 3

Most cameras nowadays support much the same options for using an aperture priority or shutter priority modes, as well as your full auto options, so that isn't a great way to set them apart. Most of the major brands will give comparable image quality too.

When thinking about cameras specific to a task, you need to think about how you'll use it; In the case of landscape or wildlife photography you might want to consider features such as weather proofing, and differences between models. It is also important to consider weight if you're going to be carrying it around (along with lenses, tripods, waterproof clothing, kitchen sink, etc.)

Answer 4

The tricky part about landscape and wildlife is that they sometimes imply different, if not opposite requirements. Landscape often demands a camera/lens combo that can capture as wide a scene as possible. Wildlife usually requires one that can zoom as far as feasible to capture an elusive animal from a safe distance.

To take pictures of a large landscape you can either stitch several photos together, or rely on a wide angle lens (in the 15-30mm range for example). The size of the camera sensor here is important. If you have enough resource to buy a full frame (35 mm equiv) camera, you will be able to use wide and ultra wide lenses to their full potential. On smaller-sensor DSLRs, wide-angle lenses have smaller angles of view that depend on the corresponding crop factor.

Most consumer cameras use APS-C sensors, which effectively "zoom in" by a factor of x1.6. What it means is that your new 16mm lens behaves like a 25.6mm. Your 50mm like 80mm, etc. No matter how wide your lens actually is, you will not capture a scene as broad as if it had been mounted on a full frame camera/sensor. This is not all bad though, since a lens is usually optically better at its center anyway. Ultra wide lenses can also introduce a lot of unpleasant optical distortions.

There are two sides to this coin. What is detrimental to wide landscapes is good for distant wildlife though, because you can zoom even further with a telephoto lens mounted on a APS-C sensor. The crop factor still applies, this time to your advantage. A 200m zoom suddenly behaves like a 320mm, allowing you to get that much closer to a bird and use cheaper lenses.

You didn't mention your budget, so keep in mind that full-frame cameras are usually much more expensive than consumer APS-C cameras. They are bulkier and heavier as well, requiring sturdier tripods. They also demand better lens/glass if possible, since they are using the whole image circle.

I don't do too much landscape, but I take a lot of pictures of large abandoned buildings. In this scenario I really benefit from a 16-35mm lens mounted on a full-frame sensor. I do have a 70-200mm lens as well to shoot from a distance. If I'm willing to compromise a bit of optical quality I can always use small lens extenders to reach x1.4 to x2.0 further.

Of course, it's not one or the other. As jrista pointed out in the comments, you can capture perfectly great landscapes with a telephoto and go for a different, compressed look.

More:

• Field of View Crop Factor (Focal Length Multiplier).
• Telephoto Landscapes by Andy Mumford

Answer 5

The general answer to this question is: whichever gets you done with worrying about what camera to buy the fastest.

For some people, that means get whatever low-end equipment you can afford to start playing around — get an entry-entry level camera which strikes your fancy plus the kit lenses (and hopefully a decent prime). Treat that as basically disposable and use it to figure out your style and needs for the next step. For others, it might mean skipping that and going right to the higher end — short-circuiting years of longing and painful not-quite-there upgrades, arguably saving money overall.

One can actually do very high quality work with any DSLR on the market today. If you're in this for the long haul, what you start with doesn't really matter; what matters is getting started. If you later feel you made a mistake, changing camera bodies within the same brand isn't a big deal. Changing systems can be more of a challenge, but if you go the low-end entry route you won't have as much to worry about, and if you go the higher-end route the equipment should retain pretty good resale value. So don't be too scared to just jump in.

I do understand the desire to research before making a big purchase. There's nothing wrong with that to some degree, but it's easy for people of a certain mindset to go too far — a warning I feel well-qualified to give because I personally naturally fall pretty far on the side I'm cautioning about. So, despite the bold text above, I am going to thrown out a few more things to consider; specifically, I think the following questions and their answers are some of the most helpful on this site for anyone making this initial DSLR decision:

• How much do lens lineups vary across DSLR platforms?
• Are there disadvantages to a prosumer camera for a beginner, aside from cost?

Answer 6

If you already have some lenses, make sure that the camera (body) you're buying will work with (all) your lenses! I found out the hard way that the bargain Nikon D5000 body that I bought as a backup camera wouldn't power my favourite Nikon AF 80-200 f2.8, so I have to manually focus it/

Answer 7

So, I recently bought a used camera. To decide which to buy, I developed this technique:

1. Make a list of all features that are important to you.
2. Assign a point value from 1-10 to each feature. Give a 10 to something essential, a 1 to something that barely matters.
3. Write down the stat for the feature for all of the cameras that you are interested in.
4. Give no points to the camera that does the worst for a feature. Give 1 x the point value for the next worst. Give 2 x the point value to the next camera and so on. Do this for every feature.
5. Add up all of the points for each camera, then divide this by the price.

This method is a little complicated, but it pays off. It made it clear to me which camera was the best deal.