Beginner Budget camera advice

Bonham

Bonham

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Simon
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I'm just in the process of taking up photography, mainly wanting to do studio stuff as I have a space I can use as a studio.
I'm wanting to start as cheap as possible as I have just bought my house.
I have seen a cannon 500D with lens second-hand at a good price would this get me started?
https://www.lcegroup.co.uk/Used/Canon-EOS-500D-+-18-55mm-II_154181.html
Any help or advice would be great.
 
Hi Simon,

Welcome to TP. You can start off with any camera and lens but if you start off with the best you can afford then you will have some time before you feel the need to update. Problem with studio type images is that you may have to invest in lights, stands, etc.

Before you decide it may be worth going to a camera store and having a look at both Canon and Nikons and other to see what feels comfortable to use. I use Nikon so not sure how good the camera is, hopefully some more experience users will pop in the thread and provide additional information.

Thanks
 
If you are starting up, and don't know much about photography, and you're starting on a budget, I'd say a DSLR is the very last thing you should go for. And certainly not one that's getting rather 'long in the tooth' like the 500D. I'd say start with a 'point and shoot' that has enough manual overrides to allow you to learn the basics at your own pace.

You could pick up a Lumix LX7 for a reasonable price, which despite its quite small sensor, gives good results and would lend itself perfectly to a studio environment. Or then there's the Sony RX100 series which has a larger sensor and will give you results you would love. I wouldn't recommend a superzoom simply because you have said you will be mainly studio based.

If you can afford it, try to buy new rather than second hand. £150 on a new P&S will serve you better than an old DSLR for £99 which needs both lenses and knowledge.
 
First thing to check on any camera make is the number of shutter actuations the camea has done. Think of a camera like a car, all shiny on the outside and the engine is knackered. Try gettng to a camera shop to see what it is like being held in the hand, it makes a huge difference. do a spec comparison between one camera and another this should help

http://www.dpreview.com/products/compare/cameras
 
Bonham said:

I'm just in the process of taking up photography, mainly wanting to do studio stuff as I have a space I can use as a studio.
I'm wanting to start as cheap as possible as I have just bought my house.
I have seen a cannon 500D with lens second-hand at a good price would this get me started?
https://www.lcegroup.co.uk/Used/Canon-EOS-500D-+-18-55mm-II_154181.html
Any help or advice would be great.
Click to expand...

Yes, 500D is perfectly good choice to get you going. Anything Canon or Nikon, depending on your budget, will do the job fine. Depending on what you mean by studio work, if it's people/portraits you'll need studio flash, from £200-ish, or you might get away with continuous lights for still-life/table-top if you have a tripod.

If you're serious about getting stuck in to photography, a DSLR is the way to go.

Welcome to TP :)
 
Frankly you could get an older better camera for less, a 40d is a step up from the 500d but they're getting old now so sniffing out a good one would be harder.

But as @HoppyUK (Richard) says, the camera is just the beginning if you want to get into studio work.

If you're not wanting to get too technical, the standard lens will do fine (unlike with other genres) though you might want to supplement it with a longer lens (85mm 1.8) or swap for a std zoom with more reach.

But lighting is a different kettle of fish, for specific advice you'll need to give more detail of what you want to achieve, but you're looking at anything from £150 to £thousands as a starting point.
 
Frankly as a beginner almost any camera will do what you want and the camera you quoted should be perfectly capable of doing what you want at a good price, especially with a lens like the 50mm f1.8 which optically is easily as good as an L glass lens and will possibly allow you to use natural light for portraits etc.

Lighting is another matter as others have said but you can have a simple setup to start with and expand as needed and as your ability grows.

You can even start with a flashgun or two reflected off white walls etc.
.
 
The 50 and 60d are becoming bargainous now , 200 will get you a 50, and 300 a 60
 
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