My 16 year old daughter wants to get into photography and wants to buy a good starters camera. Problem is, i am not sure what to look for be it brand , specs, price or the likes.So any advice you might have would be much appreciated
A piece of advice please
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A piece of advice please
Gday all ,
My 16 year old daughter wants to get into photography and wants to buy a good starters camera. Problem is, i am not sure what to look for be it brand , specs, price or the likes.So any advice you might have would be much appreciated
My 16 year old daughter wants to get into photography and wants to buy a good starters camera. Problem is, i am not sure what to look for be it brand , specs, price or the likes.So any advice you might have would be much appreciated
Re: A piece of advice please
Is she actually interested in taking cool photos or does she just wanta snap pics?
If she just wants to snap pics something like a cannon powershot (see powershot series) should be enough... i wouldn't spend more'n 300 USD for snapping a pic.
If she wants to do something cool - I'd go with a Cannon Rebel XS or better say 500 for body and maybe one lense after that she can add lenses. Make sure you buy a starter body that uses lenses that are compatible with higher grade bodies. I'd get a starter SLR for say around 500 if you want to go this route. You can spend 500-740 on amazon for a 10-12 megapixal canon body with 1x lens. I strongly suggest doing some shopping before you buy, I mentioned amazon as its a great place to read reviews and get price ideas.
I'd go digital... some might argue starting out with a old 35mm nikon is the way to learn... I think digital age kids will do better with a digital camera. Either the picture snapping kind or semi serious....
It all depend on how serious you think she is and how much you want/are able to spend. If she's semi serious and you can spend some cash get her a decent canon and a couple lenses and if you can find it a class from someone who is a decent photographer and uses canons.
Best wishes for your budding photographer.
If she just wants to snap pics something like a cannon powershot (see powershot series) should be enough... i wouldn't spend more'n 300 USD for snapping a pic.
If she wants to do something cool - I'd go with a Cannon Rebel XS or better say 500 for body and maybe one lense after that she can add lenses. Make sure you buy a starter body that uses lenses that are compatible with higher grade bodies. I'd get a starter SLR for say around 500 if you want to go this route. You can spend 500-740 on amazon for a 10-12 megapixal canon body with 1x lens. I strongly suggest doing some shopping before you buy, I mentioned amazon as its a great place to read reviews and get price ideas.
I'd go digital... some might argue starting out with a old 35mm nikon is the way to learn... I think digital age kids will do better with a digital camera. Either the picture snapping kind or semi serious....
It all depend on how serious you think she is and how much you want/are able to spend. If she's semi serious and you can spend some cash get her a decent canon and a couple lenses and if you can find it a class from someone who is a decent photographer and uses canons.
Best wishes for your budding photographer.
Re: A piece of advice please
Has she done some courses at school?
For comprehensive camera reviews dpreview is one of the best places to go. Many of the artsy photo crowd hang out at Deviant Art IME. Or Flickr.
For comprehensive camera reviews dpreview is one of the best places to go. Many of the artsy photo crowd hang out at Deviant Art IME. Or Flickr.
Represented by Senator Riyo Chuchi
Re: A piece of advice please
What Wolfee says is pretty much the advice I would give.
If you do decide to go down the SLR route, then consider a second hand or old stock of a dicontinued model.
The best thing you can do is to spend as little as possible on the body, but as much as you can afford on one or two quality lenses.
Kit lenses that come bundled are generally pretty crummy, and limit the capabilities of the camera. Get the body on its own and look for lenses seperately.
A really good starting all-round lens kit would be;
- 28-135mm ~f4.5-5.6 ($) or 24-105mm f4 ($$) --a good walk around lens for most everyday use.
- 50mm f1.8 -- a good 'fast' lens to see how apertures (the f-numbers) can be used to affect depth of field.
I would highly recommend either a photography class or series of tutorials on how camera and lenses work in combination with this.
If you do decide to go down the SLR route, then consider a second hand or old stock of a dicontinued model.
The best thing you can do is to spend as little as possible on the body, but as much as you can afford on one or two quality lenses.
Kit lenses that come bundled are generally pretty crummy, and limit the capabilities of the camera. Get the body on its own and look for lenses seperately.
A really good starting all-round lens kit would be;
- 28-135mm ~f4.5-5.6 ($) or 24-105mm f4 ($$) --a good walk around lens for most everyday use.
- 50mm f1.8 -- a good 'fast' lens to see how apertures (the f-numbers) can be used to affect depth of field.
I would highly recommend either a photography class or series of tutorials on how camera and lenses work in combination with this.
Re: A piece of advice please
You might also want to consider something like the Sony SLT line, the A33, A55, A35. They are sold as a DLSR, but they are not a true one.
They they somewhat bridge the gap between the higher end point and shoot, and the DLSR.
They generally have less buttons, and smarter auto shoot modes like you would find on a point and shoot. But like a normal DLSR they can shoot full auto, and has a full line of interchangeable lenses (Alpha Mount)
It is also one of the only camera lines with interchangeable lenses and continuous auto-focus in both video and high speed shooting.
They they somewhat bridge the gap between the higher end point and shoot, and the DLSR.
They generally have less buttons, and smarter auto shoot modes like you would find on a point and shoot. But like a normal DLSR they can shoot full auto, and has a full line of interchangeable lenses (Alpha Mount)
It is also one of the only camera lines with interchangeable lenses and continuous auto-focus in both video and high speed shooting.
Re: A piece of advice please
Thanks so much everyone.
The advice has really simplified and clarified things .shes does seem pretty gung ho and wants to invest time and effort into doing it properly. so its not just a snap a pic type of exercise we are talking about over here.With that in mind , we will start doing loads of research and see if we can come up with something workable that doesn't break the bank as well.
Wolfee , you were almost prophetic with that digital and today's youth quote .My daughter and I were discussing many of the different options mentioned here. she happened to mention in passing , she wants something with a lot of memory.That said , I couldn't resist pulling her leg and mentioned why not a good old film camera . you know 24 or 36 shot type.Like the ones i grew up with . The horrified look she gave me could have curled milk.
Being a father is fun sometimes.
The advice has really simplified and clarified things .shes does seem pretty gung ho and wants to invest time and effort into doing it properly. so its not just a snap a pic type of exercise we are talking about over here.With that in mind , we will start doing loads of research and see if we can come up with something workable that doesn't break the bank as well.
Wolfee , you were almost prophetic with that digital and today's youth quote .My daughter and I were discussing many of the different options mentioned here. she happened to mention in passing , she wants something with a lot of memory.That said , I couldn't resist pulling her leg and mentioned why not a good old film camera . you know 24 or 36 shot type.Like the ones i grew up with . The horrified look she gave me could have curled milk.
Being a father is fun sometimes.