For portraits, stick with the primes. 55mm Zeiss, 35 mm Zeiss, the Sony 85mm G-Master and the new 100 G-master will be killer lenses. I have all but the new one which makes my mouth water. It was just introduced at the WPPI and I dont think its out on retail yet. I use the 55 in studio, 35 for curvey ladies indoors and out, and the 85 for for outdoors. The f-stops on these lenses range from 1.4 to 2.8 and I would not go higher than that for portraits. For landscapes, the wider the better and a good telephoto and your set.

If looking for a mirroless, check out the Sony's. They are reasonably priced and with an adapter, you can use your Canon lenses. The a7II is a full frame, or even the crop cameras are very good and easy to travel with. The 6000 series (6000, 6300 or the 6500) fit nicely into a small bag or purse, great for walk abouts. These cameras are used by many world renowned pros, (WPPI winners this year) Jason Lanier who uses many different lenses on his, Scott Robert Lim uses mostly Sony lenses, Miguel Quilles uses a mixture of lenses as well. Check out their web sites and you tube channels.

How many is a large group? 20, 50, 300? Indoors or out? Daytime or nighttime? This will decide your lens and lighting, your camera should be fine up to 8x10 photos. Lighting will be your biggest issue. Check out the location if indoors to see how high the ceilings are, color of the walls, floor and ceiling, check for window light, what is the ambient lighting? How will you pose your group? Will there be steps or will they all be on the same level? All of this will come into play.

Instead of a large group photo, if the group is really large, you might suggest a photobooth set up. Popular with large groups and weddings. We did this recently and had everyone take photos with their phones and post it to the class website with their names and tags. They had a blast doing it. Volunteer to take photos for those who do not have a good phone camera or would just rather have someone else take the photo. This seems to be a new trend. You can even provide props to make it fun!

Lol, sorry Im laughing but this is the most asked question by beginners including me 40 yrs ago. It is not a bad question to ask because the settings are what make the photo the way you want it and so it is something you have to learn. Now settings have no magic #. There are rules of course like the "sunny 16" rule but Im one of those rouge photographers that never pay attention to rules. So what do you do? Read your manual and get to know where everything is on the camera. Find a buddy to mentor you. Walk beside them to learn the settings used for each situation you are in. Buy Brian Peterson's book on Learning Exposure. ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed are your 3 keys to proper exposure. If you do not have a mentor, shoot in Program, the camera will pick the exposure, look at the settings, write them down, then play with those settings, what happens when you change the ISO, take some shots, set the ISO back to the original setting and change the Aperture, again what happens? Do the same with the shutter speed. Which photo did you like best? What were those settings? How did they differ from the original? Write those settings down. Watch your light meter in the camera. If you move the Aperture to get that nice blurry background you want but the shot is way to bright, then change your shutter speed to bring the light meter back to 0. Next time you are in that same situation, start with those new settings and tweek from there. It takes practice, and lots of it. Shoot anything just to get used to the camera. Join a local photo club and most of all have fun.

Wow great deal!

Get a sony and a lens adapter so you can use your Canon lenses. If your budget allows instead of the 6300 go for the 6500 if not the 6000 or 6300 is just fine! If you want full frame, I suggest the Sony a 7II.

Read the manual and fined a buddy to shoot along side of. Auto is good but then its just a point and shoot for an expensive camera. So find a buddy or join a local photo club or take some beginners classes. You will amaze yourself at what awesome photos you will be taking in a very short time.

lighting! without it there is no photo no matter what you are using to shoot with or where you are shooting. Even night shots require some light.

Yes, the best camera is the one you feel most comfy with. Im curious though, why did you go back?

I have totally switched from Nikon to Sony. I have 2 cameras (a6000 and the a7II) and by the end of this year, probably a 3rd. (The new a7s, if it comes out). I love the electronic view finder, the weight, the auto focus is very fast, the 5 way stabilization, the low light capabilities. I shoot RAW and manual all the time and it is supper fast in getting the right exposure. Mine are all e-mount lenses and I have mostly Sony and Zeiss lenses, all very sharp. I do not have an adapter for the Canon lenses since I shot all Nikon prior to switching. I shoot fine art portraits, weddings and some landscapes. I shot Nikon for 45 years prior to switching so I took this switch very seriously. Love my Sonys.

Can never go wrong with Zeiss. I saw a Zeiss 35 mm 1.8 for less than 600 on Amazon. Sony had one for less than 400. If .4 does not mean a lot to you, you might look at these. I bought the Sony. It will be here next week. We will see how it does. I usually shoot 2.8 for portraits so the 1.8 was OK for me.

You want a nice wide angle for the landscapes and the 50mm for portraits would be awesome to have.

What time of day was this? Looks like it was taken during the golden hour or early morning toward the east, and heron was back light by the sun. If I have the time right, the white balance is most likely correct based on your exposure settings. If this was not during the times I mentioned above, then your settings may be off a little. As mentioned by others, metering on the bird would give you a better exposure for the bird but the background would be much lighter. Setting your camera for the ambient light you want and then using fill flash on the bird would give you great results when the bird is back lighted.

Google images of the Sonya7RII and see for yourself. The images are awesome and you can crop in as far as you want and still have an awesome image. You can use a wide variety of lenses on the sony with an adapter. Rent one and try it first if you want. Im sure you would be pleased.