Camera suggestion for newbie

[Conndog]

Hi, maybe in next year or two, I’d like to get a good but affordable camera (and lens?) for trips including possibly safari. Probably looking at used equipment. Budget would be $500-$1000 including everything. Is this enough?

I know nothing about photography, the only camera I have now is my I-phone and that seems complicated. How does one learn how to operate camera and take good pictures. Do they come with manual? Are there clubs I could join, or do colleges teach it?

Would like to be able to take wide variety of pictures including long range if on travel. Do cameras let you send taken photos via email? Are any good at organizing photos so it’s easy to find particular shots? Are used cameras sometimes too used? How can you tell? Thanks!

 

[dogpause]

Considering your budget and travel plans, look into Micro Four Thirds camera and lenses (Panasonic (Lumix) and Olympus). Compact size, lower cost and terrific lenses. Used equipment is the way to go IMO, as most photographers tend to take good care of their gear.
Another thing about M43 cameras is they went mirrorless long before the other major manufacturers.

 

[Yorkeez4]

When considering your budget don’t forget to include an extra battery, so cards, card cases, lens filters, a case or backpack, lens covers and possibly a tripod. B&H is a great source for all of these.

 

[Yorkeez4]

I forgot to mention - I also use a fly fishing vest to carry equipment on hikes instead of carrying a case/backpack.

 

[Fishy]

The Canon M50 is a great starting DSLR camera in that range (5 years ago I bought it for like $800 new).

There are a number of auto settings if you don’t want to do anything manual, just point, focus and shoot.

But also easy enough to mess around with the manual settings if you get a little bit more into photography and want to play around with ISO, f-stop and shutter speeds or shooting in RAW.

As a bonus it also does decent video as well (4K is an option but it sucks up memory cards super fast).

If you’re going to be out shooting all day, definitely get a spare battery or 2.

Edit: if you’re shooting long range you may want to consider a second lens.

The EOS-M was literally just discontinued.

I have a bunch of them in a drawer somewhere….as a lightweight vacation camera, they were absolutely perfect.

With the news that they’re not going to continue, I might look to pick up the lens or two I didn’t get initially.

 

[Dove]

The EOS-M was literally just discontinued.

I have a bunch of them in a drawer somewhere….as a lightweight vacation camera, they were absolutely perfect.

With the news that they’re not going to continue, I might look to pick up the lens or two I didn’t get initially.

A few months ago I wanted two lenses for my camera. Never were in stock. I'll check again.

 

[Conndog]

A couple of things that were mentioned in camera reviews I’ve seen are ergonomics and stabilization. Making cameras smaller and lighter (which is good for traveling) made some cameras to seem too small, buttons are too close together, criticisms like that.

Stabilization (I think I know what it is) seems available through lens or in camera body (?). Is this anything to worry about?

I’m more interested in taking photos and not too concerned about videos. If I wanted to get a basically hood enough all- around camera for travels and it had a lens, what is a good all around lens?

Thanks for all this help, it’s tremendous

 

[jake14mw]

A couple of things that were mentioned in camera reviews I’ve seen are ergonomics and stabilization. Making cameras smaller and lighter (which is good for traveling) made some cameras to seem too small, buttons are too close together, criticisms like that.

Stabilization (I think I know what it is) seems available through lens or in camera body (?). Is this anything to worry about?

I’m more interested in taking photos and not too concerned about videos. If I wanted to get a basically hood enough all- around camera for travels and it had a lens, what is a good all around lens?

Thanks for all this help, it’s tremendous

Stabilization definitely helps. If you get a camera with in body stabilization, you don't have to worry about each of your lenses having stabilization.

Regarding lenses, it's hard to give a short answer. Pretty much all these DSLR and mirrorless camera bodies will give you great image quality. The quality of your lenses has a bigger impact on image quality. If you're mostly concerned with travel photography, that type of photography is less demanding of spending a lot of money on lenses. Sports and portrait photography lenses require some big bucks for the best quality. For travel photography, you're probably wanting focal lengths in the 18-75ish area. Some cameras that you buy come with what is referred to as a "kit" lens. This is an inexpensive zoom lens generally somewhere in the 18-70ish range. That's a good lens to start with just to see which focal ranges you really prefer to use most. Once you figure out your most preferred focal length, you can get a higher quality "prime" (non-zoom) lens in that focal length. Take your time figuring out what lenses you really want. A rule of thumb is, lenses with long zoom ranges will give you lesser quality photos. We would all want a 15-500 mm zoom that is great quality, but that just doesn't exist. Some people prefer the convenience of a big zoom range, and others are picky about image quality and don't mind changing lenses.

Also, the size of your sensor in your camera has an affect on the perspective a lens gives you. For your budget and just getting into things, an APS-C size sensor is probably what you will get. Full frame cameras have bigger sensors, but are more expensive. Make sure you buy a lens designed for your camera sensor size.

Don't try to figure out your whole lens plan until you learn what you like.