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Photographer

Looking for advice on a camera for nature photography under $600. (lemm.ee)

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/photography

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I’m totally new to photography and want to get my first camera. I’ll mainly be using it for nature photography while hiking and traveling.

My only focus is on photos of the highest possible quality.

My budget is around $600, and I’ll also need essential accessories, but don't know what I'd need, like a lens?

Not open to refurbished, as I'm buying in Vietnam.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Seems like Canon EOS R50 is a possibility for me here. Is it a good option? With what lens?

No size or weight limits. Nocturnal adventures is what I'm interested in on top of regular photography so that's a consideration.

Landscapes, macro close-up, portraits of people. Nothing else really.

[–] IMALlama 2 points 3 days ago

If you're on a budget, I would offer two suggestions:

used DSLRs, and especially their lenses, will be way cheaper than mirrorless
if you want to go mirrorless, Sony's e-mount is probably going to be the most affordable option due to a combination of lots of third party options, vs limited third party options for Canon/Nikon. Sony's mount has also been around for a while, which gives you more/cheaper used options

I have no real feedback on the R50 one way or the other. I've never used the camera.

For nocturnal and people, you're probably going to want a "fast" lens. This is measured as a ratio of focal length to physical aperture diameter and is called a f-stop. The number is 1/x, so smaller numbers = bigger ratio.

Generally speaking, the fastest lenses are fixed focal length primes. Not zooms. For an everyday lens, a 35mm or 50mm is going to be a decent choice. On a crop sensor, divide these by 1.5 thanks to the crop factor. The actual focal length you land on will depend on how wide you want to get and how far from your subject you'll be able to get.

There are some "fastish" zooms available, but they aren't as fast/sharp as primes and are usually bigger/pricier.

As for macro, a cheap way of doing that is by adding something like a Raynox DCR-250 to your lens or using an extension tube. You can buy a dedicated macro lens, but IMO unless you're going to be doing a ton of macro or the lens happens to be a focal length you will use for non-macro work I would go the diopter/extension tube route.

Seat of pants suggestion? A Nikon D7x00 series camera. They have a built in focus motor, so you can use any Nikon F-moint autofocus lens. Combine that with a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G or a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM ART and you'll be off and running.

[–] Anticorp 1 points 3 days ago

I'd be wary of his used equipment advice unless you can get a professional to sign off on it. Used cameras often have major issues, or dust on the sensors, or scratched lenses, or other bullshit that'll cause you a lot of headaches.