My personal recommendations for a beginner camera (and lenses)
I try a lot to be camera manufacturer neutral when writing articles. I know people like many different makes of cameras. That is fine, because they all work pretty good. However, I do have a strong opinion in regards to what makes the best beginner camera for someone to use. So I decided to write this page to give my personal recommendations. A side note, if you find that you like the recommendation for one of the models I will mention and are looking to get it, please follow the links to the side. These are affiliate links and I will get some affiliate credit which will help cover costs for more things for the website. And the nice thing is it does not cost you any more to use the affiliate link.
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Nikon D3300 with 18-55mm kit lensNikon has really blown me away with the latest entry in the DSLR entry level camera. The D3300 is an amazing camera! In the past there were a couple features that caused me to recommend the next step up in DSLR. In the D3300 they are there. The biggest is the 11 focal points. This is amazing. It is more than the 3 in past low end models and yet is not so many as to get a beginner really confused. It also will help get better focus too.
The second thing that I love about this camera for beginners is the LCD panel. As you adjust things on the camera they have graphics that help to understand what is happening. The layout of the LCD panel is the best I have seen in a DSLR. The camera is a joy to use because of the layout of the buttons, the menus, and the main display. The camera has wonderful high ISO performance. And the Nikon has an incredible implementation for auto ISO that I can easily recommend using. Between the two it will be easy to get family photos using natural light in even fairly difficult situations. You can get the camera in red too! This might sound like fluff, but if you are in a group of photographers and you set your camera down it is much easier to spot it when it is not just one more black camera. And there is just something splashy in a red camera. The kit lens that comes with the D3300 and D5300 is stunning for a kit lens. I have even taken some pretty decent macro photography with the kit lens. If you are going to do major macro work then you will want to get a dedicated macro lens. But this will be nice to get you started at least. You can also get a double lens kit. The second lens is the 55-200mm lens. This is the lens you would need if you want to shoot like kids at sports events. Both the 18-55mm and the 55-200mm kit lenses for the Nikon are surprisingly sharp and focus fast. Sony Alpha A58 with 18-55mm lensSony is a more recent entry into the DSLR market. And they have taken the market by storm. The alpha line have been very good. The entry camera for them is the A58. It is a 20 megapixel APS-C sensor that can shoot 5 frames per second and has a top end ISO of 16,000. One of the nice things for beginners is that as you adjust the exposure you can see in real time on the screen or in the viewfinder what it will look like. This is very handy for beginners.
There are a couple drawbacks with Sony. One is that there are not as many accessories made for it, as in flash units etc. as there are for Nikon and Canon. The other is that the lens availability is more limited than Nikon and Canon also. But the price is really good, and the camera performs very well. If you are planning on shooting video this is the better choice. The follow focus is really good in the Sony cameras. Follow focus is the ability for the camera to track moving objects and keep them in focus, or change from one object to another and re-focus. For both Nikon and Canon when you shoot video you will see the camera often hunting for focus if there is any change in distance to the subject. Sometimes it can take a couple seconds for it to actually shift around and lock focus again. The Sony will hold focus really well, and if it is a sudden shift the Sony will lock focus way faster on the new subject. Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lensThe biggest challenge with the kit lens is that the aperture cannot go extremely wide, and as you zoom in the maximum aperture gets narrower. So at 55mm you can only do a max of f/5.6 aperture. There are a number of zoom lenses that can do a consistent maximum aperture of f/2.8 through the entire zoom range, but usually they are very expensive. Tamron though has one offering that is a bargain. It is the 28-75mm f/2.8 lens for $499. You can often find it on eBay for around $250 if you are patient.
The lens is tack sharp and the wide aperture really helps get a good fast shutter speed in even low light. The shallow depth of field is wonderful when taking portraits and family shots too. It focuses fast enough that I have even shot sports with it. Get this lens and the kit lens will probably stay in the bag most all the time. Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Macro - $399The kit lens is nice on a camera to have, but it is not going to cover telephoto focal lengths. There are a couple ways around this. The first is that you can get a second "kit" lens in the 55-200mm range. This works pretty well, but that means you need to take two lenses with you and switch back and forth. This can be very cumbersome when you are on a vacation or out on a day trip and want to get some easy shots.
A nice alternative is what is called a super zoom lens. This is a zoom lens that covers a very wide focal range. The Sigma 18-200mm is one such lens. Keep in mind that with a super zoom lens you will not be getting a great quality image lens. You are buying it for the convenience of a wide selection of focal lengths. With that said, the Sigma does a very nice job for it's price. It is a good price and will take pretty decent images, well very decent for what it is. The lens is heavy. That is one downside. It also tends to creep out on focal length if you hang it pointing down. So they have a lock to lock it at 18mm when not in use. But it does focus fairly fast. It is clear and sharp, although not as sharp as more pro level lenses. The aperture is not all that wide, but you won't find any super zooms that are. You will find though that you can easily shoot kids sports games with it. At 200mm you can shoot down the long distance of a football or soccer field and get a good image most of the way down the field. Shooting across field or from the stands works really well too, especially if you are mid field. |
So of all the choices out there, those are my recommendations. Once the D5100 is gone (and I will watch for that and try to update this page accordingly) I would recommend the Nikon D5200 instead. The Nikon D3200 is less expensive, and the high ISO is just about as good as the Sony A58. It will do video too. So if you think the D5200 is a touch out of your price range and want to stay with Nikon then it is an awesome choice. On top of that you can get it in red too... how cool is that!
Make sure when you purchase the camera to get an SD memory card or two. I would recommend a 32 GB class 10 card. It will be fast and will hold a lot of photos. If you don't have a camera bag you might want to pick up an inexpensive one of those. An extra camera battery is nice to have but not mandatory. But think about the family holiday get together. You don't want to run out of battery power half way through the day. They take a few hours to recharge and you could miss a number of good photo or video opportunities during that time.
Make sure when you purchase the camera to get an SD memory card or two. I would recommend a 32 GB class 10 card. It will be fast and will hold a lot of photos. If you don't have a camera bag you might want to pick up an inexpensive one of those. An extra camera battery is nice to have but not mandatory. But think about the family holiday get together. You don't want to run out of battery power half way through the day. They take a few hours to recharge and you could miss a number of good photo or video opportunities during that time.
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