So, the kiddo (13 yr. old girl) loves photography and wants a good starter camera for Xmas. What are some good non-bank breaking suggestions. Thanks ! Cheers, Lee S.
I found a canon t5 on Cosco.com a couple months ago with 2 lenses and a carrying case for like 550ish. My uncle and friend that do a lot of shooting said it was about as good a deal as you'd find for a good dslr starter. It does everything I need it to. As for canon vs Nikon. Everyone I talked to said it doesn't matter but is more of a personal preference on how the camera feels in hand, etc.
Maybe look at some micro 4/3 cameras. Like a Panasonic. They are generally a little smaller and lighter the a full on dslr. Another nice thing is with cheap adaptors you can use old manual dslr lenses, and those are really cheap nowadays.
Something like this. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...c_dmc_g6kk_lumix_dmc_g6_mirrorless_micro.html I have an older gh1 and I love it. I use manual lenses all the time. I have a great cannon 28mm f1.2 that is just awesome, and a 50mm f2 that is also a great lens. I paid less the $50 for each lens and about $10 for the adaptor. It is kinda fun looking for lenses at swap meets and thrift stores.
Do you have one? If so, I'd stick with the same brand. Canon, Nikon. Cant go wrong with either. Not to up on the new entry level stuff (they keep "upgrading" them about every 6 months it seems) but Nikons D3*00 series is pretty decent for learning.
You're better off buying a body and lens separately. Kit lenses generally suck. Start with the glass. Forget buying a car's worth of high-end Nikkor or Cannon Red stuff, pick up the awesome everyday-go-to-bulletproof lens that costs about $300: buy the Tamron AF 28-75mm f2.8. This is hands-down the best lens for the money on the market. Whether you go Nikon or Cannon, consider getting her this lens! Check out the reviews. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/284402-REG/Tamron_AF09NII_700_28_75mm_f_2_8_XR_Di.html The guys who took these shots were recommending it on the forums when I was shopping it--I bought it without a second thought and am glad I did (warning--that link will destroy your productivity for the day): https://www.flickr.com/photos/ippei-janine/ My "perfect setup" is that lens plus the Nikon D600. The prices on the D600 have come WAY down. Even when new, it was the first "affordable" full-frame high-end DSLR, and I was up-upsold by reviews when I started shopping the D300 series. It's about 2x the cost of a 300, but she will NEVER outgrow it and they put an AMAZING amount of stuff into that body for the price. It's waterproof, SOLID and the electronics package is Nasa-worthy while being easy to use.
No offense, but you are insane. This is for a 13-yr. old girl, and her first DSLR and you want to go with a $1K prosumer body with a $300-500 lens. :crackhead: Seriously, get the girl an entry-level Canon or Nikon kit with an 18-55mm (or whatever the kit typically comes with). That is PLENTY to get started with in learning the basics of photography. If you're feeling really generous, pick up a simple 50mm f1.8 prime lens if she wants to get artsy and play around with shallow depth of field. People are unloading these cameras all over Craigslist and used online once they quickly find out photography isn't for them and go back to their cell-phone. The micro 4/3 cameras are nice, but still pricey for what you get compared to a DSLR. I'm still shooting with my "ancient" D300s, which technically is outgunned by any new entry-level DSLR on the planet and can still get great shots.
Water resistant, D600 isn't a beginner camera, it is a good camera, and I certainly prefer full frame. But I wouldn't buy it for a 13 year old that likes photography. I'd look at the Nikon d3300 pkg or the canon t5 pkg. The kit lenses are budget lenses and will always be a compromise. But that whole kit is less than half of the cost of the 70-200 I bought last week. The 4/3 cameras would be a good choice too, I have a Sony nex, now called the a5 series, there are several options. Look at the reviews on dpreview.
Just picked up an entry level DSLR for our family, Nikkon D3200 off ebay, came with everything needed to start, was 465 shipped. Did a ton of reviewing and compared it to the T3i/T5 but reviews were better for price point. The T5i would have been nice, but wasn't dropping that coin on our first one. It handled 1080 video too, and that was a big plus over the T3i or T5 I forget, but only shot in 720. Also had higher fps and pixels. We used it for my FIL's birthday and some random shots and compared to our packet camera its night and day, not to mention shoots so much quicker. Think we got 2 tripods, case, body/nikkon lens, cleaning kit, 2 memory cards, memory card case, remote control, 3 other lens adapters i.e. wide angle, battery(given), and all kinds of other stuff I have no idea how to use. Was new, not refurb'd but read online that refurb'd cameras are one of the better refubs to buy. 100% happy with ours so far, and for less than $500, it was a deal compared to even the black friday deals, which I shopped hard on and this was still cheaper than D3200's at stores.
Jeez guys! I was suggesting starting with the lens. You can pair that lens with a D300 or a mid-range Cannon, just need to check motors. Ok, yeah, my idea of gifts for kids is a bit skewed. I got the 13-year-old we were tutoring a GuitarCenter scratch-n-dent Martin.
Nikon has 10% off their refurb stuff right now if anyone is interested. http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Store/Refurbished-Cameras.page?cid=EML-121114-Refurb My perfect set-up wouldn't be a D600. More like a D4s and a D800 E, of course I'd also need the 14-24 and a 200-400 to go along with the lenses I bought this week. Just bought a D750 with a 24-70 and 70-200 2.8. Had to settle for the 750 since the D4s is over 6K by itself.
