holmesml

Now that I'm retired I've decided to get serious about photography. First task is to find the right camera to get started with, however, the choices are truly mind boggleing!!! I'm not ready to invest thousands of dollars in a camera that I'll spend all my time just trying to figure out how to use it, yet a simple point and shot will not improve my picture taking skills as most have limited features. Hoping this forum will offer some discussions on where to start. Michael

Woodsman Loc: North of Peterborough Ontario

Welcome to the forum. Before jumping into buying a camera consider a few other things first. Set a target price range. Your like me, retired, how is your mobility and ability to hold and handle heavier equipment or would you be happier with a lighter mirrorless or bridge camera. Do you intend to do post processing and might want to shoot in RAW format or would JPG only suit you. What type of subject are you most interested in, portrait, landscape, wildlife, general interest.

I have point and shoot pocket cameras, bridge cameras and DSLR's including some pretty heavy body and lenses. I use them all and each has its benefits for me depending on where I am or what I am doing.

DPREVIEW.COM is a good source of hardware reviews and whats out there. You will find a lot of helpful people here as well.

holmesml

Thanks for the good advice. I plan to start out simple focusing initially on landscapes , wildlife, and of course our 3 yr old granddaughter, so I'm thinking a mid level DSLR under $1000. Lots to choose from and the suggested website offers excellent product reviews. Should narrow my search down to a final choice in a couple weeks then build up an inventory of cameras and lenses as my experience and interests expand. Thanks again for the assist.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

I would suggest you go to a local camera store, or some store like Best Buy and handle the camera yourself. Select according to your budget. You can select a Bridge camera which has an unremoveable fixed lens with various focal lengths and generally two sizes of the sensor. Or the DSLR camera that is capable of interchanging lenses from wide angle, to 600mm. There are very good Bridge and DSLR cameras in the crop sensor category. Then read reviews on the camera and make your selection. Good luck. Oh, welcome to the forum too.

holmesml

Thanks mas24. Sound advice. Glad to become a part of the forum.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Yes, if the camera and controls do not feel comfortable, it might spend more time in the camera bag...

Woodsman Loc: North of Peterborough Ontario

Most of my DSLR's were entry level with kit lenses and they have served me well. I still use an old Canon I got with airmile points and a cheap 55-250mm lens I got on ebay quite often and am impressed by the quality I can get once I learned the cameras quirks. Sure I may not get a large multi shot buffer or a fast shutter recycle rate but for most shots you can get some outstanding results without spending a ton of money. Sounds like your approaching the project properly and I am sure you will be saving lots of great memories.

holmesml

full frame sensor or APS-C for a beginner?

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Welcome to the UHH.

Hmmmmmm! Landscape and wildlife plus action (little kids moving) that covers about the whole range of dslr cameras. Landscape, most use wide angle lenses and only a Full Frame will get the most out of those, and the FF bodies that do well at action are at the high end price wise. Wildlife/action calls for fast focusing and high frame rates plus the "extra" reach of APS-C sensors unless you are looking at the extreme high end FF bodies. And then you have to buy bigger, more expensive lenses to get that reach.

APS-C (smaller sensor than FF which is the size of 35 mm film frames) can do landscapes, just the lenses will not have as wide an angle of view as they would on a FF body.

Being a Canon user I will speak of those. Your $1000 budget, plus or minus a few hundred would be the T7i, 77D or 80D. You could look at the T6i, T6s or 70D, those are the last generation but still available new or refurbished from Canon. There is an even less expensive T6, but it is the bottom end budget body with fewer features and an older sensor design.
The T7i has fewer control dials, you do things through menus on the screen. Light weight and almost no weather sealing.
The 77D (replaces the T6s) has more control dials but is not as rugged and weather sealed as the 80D. But more so than the T7i.
80D controls almost the same as Canon's high end APS-C, the 7DII, newer sensor with 20% more pixels and fairly well weather sealed. Very good Auto Focus but not in the league of the 7DII, 5DIV or 1DxII. It does one thing better than the 7DII, will AF on 27 focus points at f/8 as opposed to only 1 for the 7DII.

If you can, get the 80D, if not the 77D or T7i.

One thing, if looking at Nikon (which are great cameras, just different) be aware that any model below the D7000 series will only AF with lenses that have their own built in AF motor. Which leaves out a lot of Nikon lenses, esp older ones, unless you are OK with Manual Focus.

holmesml

thanks. Lots to absorb here so I plan to read and review each several times over.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Depends on how much you want to spend. New full frame cameras are usually much more expensive than crop frame. For example, the Canon EOS 80D, crop frame sensor, costs around $960 to $1100 new, body only. A new 5D III will cost between $1960 and $2400, body only. A new 5D IV goes for around $3500, body only.

The 80D is a great camera and you can get really nice images from it. If you go Canon, and plan on getting a full frame at some point in time, be sure to get EF lenses not EF-S lenses. The EF-S lenses are specifically designed for crop sensor cameras. They will not mount to a Full Frame body. EF lenses will mount to both Crop and Full Frame bodies.

terry44 Loc: Tuolumne County California, Maui Hawaii

welcome

joehel2 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

Welcome to the forum.

creativ simon Loc: Coulsdon, South London

Welcome and enjoy

MikeMck Loc: Southern Maryland on the Bay

Welcome!