What would a good starter camera be? My BF wants to get into photography but I don’t really know where he/we would start
It's hard to give you a good custom answer without knowing your budget restraints and what aspects of photography you are interested in exploring. Depending on what you want to shoot I may have different advice.
If you like landscapes, you might need a wider lens, if you like portraits you might need a cheap prime lens, and if you like small birds you might need to sell an organ or two.
The main tool you need is an interchangeable lens camera or "ILC." People used to just say DSLRs, but once they started yanking out the mirrors from cameras, that catchall term didn't make sense anymore.
You just want a camera that allows you to change out lenses. Whether you get a DSLR or mirrorless, depends mostly on your budget.
The cheapest way to get into photography is to buy used gear. Photography equipment is wonderfully robust. You can get a used camera from 10 years ago with 100K shutter actuations and it will probably still run another decade without much issue. Camera gear is also cool in that it retains resale value. So if you get a basic system to start, you can sell it and upgrade without taking a huge hit on depreciation.
The big decision in the current market is going to be whether you get the cheapest system possible or save up for something mirrorless and modern.
There is a huge issue with people starting photography, getting frustrated with the learning curve, and then their camera permanently sits on a shelf collecting dust.
The same thing happens with guitars. Parents buy the cheapest acoustic in the store. It is poorly built, very hard to play, and doesn't sound very good. If they had bought the cheapest "good" guitar and not the cheapest cheap guitar, their kid may have had a chance at falling in love with the instrument.
It sucks that the beginner friendly cameras with the shallowest learning curve are more expensive. Though mirrorless cameras are starting to become reasonable on the used market.
Mirrorless cameras have two big features which make the beginner experience much less frustrating. IBIS and eye-detect autofocus.
IBIS stands for in-body image stabilization. This allows you to take pictures in more challenging situations without a tripod. It saves you from getting blurry shots because you messed up the settings. And if you have shaky hands, it can adapt to that movement.
Eye autofocus is kind of like an aimbot in a video game. The camera's focus system can see a person, a dog, a bird, a lion, a tiger, a bear and just stick the autofocus on the nearest eye.
When you are first starting photography, there are a lot of variables you have to consider when taking a photograph. And having two of the more technical and less artistic tasks completely taken off your plate allows beginners to concentrate more on composition and artistic thinking without worrying about blurry, out-of-focus results.
That said, if you are willing to learn and put in the effort, you can buy any ILC and get amazing results. You will need education and practice, no matter what. And if you are determined to learn this craft, it won't matter if you have the modern features.
I have written a few posts which you may find helpful.
This is a general buying guide.
💬 1 🔁 55 ❤️ 147 · Frogman's Camera Buying Guide · A few weeks ago someone asked if I could recommend an interchangeable lens camera (ILC)
This is a buying guide geared more toward landscape shooting.
💬 5 🔁 15 ❤️ 50 · Landscape Buying Guide · Recently I took a panorama of the Pittsburgh skyline at night that got a positive response. That
And this post tells you everything you need to know about lenses and also has some advice on what to buy.
💬 1 🔁 21 ❤️ 67 · Note from Future Froggie... · Hi Froggy, I hope you've been well! I wanted to reach out and first say that you inspired
Remember when I give buying advice, I am giving representative examples. I am not telling you exactly what to buy, but rather how to figure out what to buy. The examples in these posts are 2 years old, so you may be able to find newer gear that you can still afford.
If you want to tell me about what you two hope to photograph and a budget range, I can give you more custom advice.
