SusyPhoto wrote:
Greetings and thanks in advance for your suggestions. I know how to use an iphone and a Nikon D4s but nothing in between. My cousin, a novice, is looking for a camera with zoom capability, best she can get, for $500 or less. I suspect she will be interested in editing so if the camera can take RAW images that would be great. She lives in the middle of nowhere so she would probably order the camera. Cheers!
First things first...
DSLR? Compact Point n Shoot? Mirrorless?
Your cousin needs to first decide what type of camera she wants. Each type has it's pluses and minuses.
Wanting to be able to shoot RAW will significantly limit choice among Point n Shoots... but is pretty standard in DSLRs and Mirrorless.
Next, she needs to decide any specialty needs such as portraiture, macro, low light/available light shooting, etc. Lenses and other accessories available for any particular camera type or model line will also help narrow choices. Maybe her limited budget doesn't allow her to buy some of these things right now, but she can plan for the future.
And, $500 isn't much to work with, but there are ways to make dollars go a bit farther such as refurbished, buying used, etc. (from trustworthy sources). There are also brand new cameras on sale at significant discounts to clear the shelves of previous models that are being superseded by new models. For example, there are deals on Canon Rebel T5i and 70D DSLRs, because T6i/T6s and 80D are now available. Of course, those older models are still just as capable as they were the day they were introduced.
Tell her to beware of "too-good-to-be-true" deals on the Internet, since she will likely be ordering that way. While there may be some good deals, there are also a lot of ripoffs. She should check out any seller carefully, before giving them her credit card number! A rule of thumb might be that any prices offered that are much less than you see on Adorama and B&H Photo websites, be very cautious and look closely at what's really being offered. It's unlikely that other stores can offer much better prices without some sort of compromise. Worst case scenario are "bait n switch", "fly by night" Internet sites.... that can all too easily waste a buyer's money.
I'm not going to point to one brand or another, or to any specific model. Too often on forums like this, when advice is asked, you'll get Nikon users recommending Nikon, Canon users telling you that's the only brand to buy, Sony fanboyz and fangirlz telling you to get a Sony... and the same with Pentax, Olympus and every other manufacturer. Truth is, all these manufacturers make good products and can probably meet her needs. If she has a brand preference, she should look online for more info about it. There are plenty of detailed model reviews and lots of user forum discussion about just about anything, these days. Of course, there's also a lot of B.S. and hype. It's just human nature, that everyone wants their own decisions and choices to be validated by other users. And few users actually have experience with brands other than their own, making comparisons pretty difficult or just based upon what they've read and heard.