Camera Buying Advice

This is one of a collection of short posts I put on the photographers email list at work.  It was in response to someone asking which camera bundle was better.  Let me add that we had already established the buyer was interested in Canon gear -- I am agnostic about brand for other people.

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Semi-organized thoughts in response:

I don't buy bundles.  I want the gear that I want, not that someone else wants to sell me.

If you buy an APS-C sensor body (most consumer range DSLRs fall into this category), you're automatically biased toward long lenses, because you have to apply a 1.6x crop factor.  That means a 50mm lens becomes effectively an 80mm lens (I simplify, and trust that I can get away with it).  So to get a true wide angle lens you need to get way down: 18mm becomes almost 29mm, so if you want a 24mm wide angle you need to pay for a 15mm lens.

When first buying DSLR gear (a long time ago), I bought at the low end in order to learn what I would make use of.  Now I buy higher end (especially lenses) because it gives me more capability.  Camera bodies are disposable (yes, even with digital sensors in them) -- you will use good glass on multiple camera bodies.  My first price cap on lenses for a DSLR (nearly 10 years ago) was about $300.  I raised it to $700 a couple of years later.  I won't tell you what it is now, but it's more than that 60D body (which, BTW, is what I bought a couple of months ago).

My personal suggestion:
    set a price level (total kit cost) you're comfortable with;
    buy a used Canon body (you can probably get a nice one for $500) -- either from an Amazonian (there's a Rebel Xti for sale on the list right now) or a reputable camera shop (like Glazers at 8th & Republican, or B&Hphoto or Adorama online);
    buy a very wide zoom (18/28/55-250/280/300) for your walking around lens;
    buy as wide a lens (prime or zoom) as you can get for the rest of your money;
    Don't forget that you need (at least potentially):
        memory cards to match your body;
        carrying gear;
        filters;
        software;
        drive space;
        cleaning kit (even just a rubber blower)

You might end up with one or more of these lenses (examples only!  Not specific recommendations):
  Canon EF-S 55-250 f/4-5.6 ($220 @ bhphoto)
  Tokina 16.5-135 f/3.5-5.6 ($300 @ bhphoto)
  Sigma 18-300 f/3.5-6.3 ($400 @ bhphoto)
  Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6 ($480 @ bhphoto)

That gives you a kit good enough to figure out what it is that you really want.  In a year or two, when you've got thousands of images worth of experience, you'll be able to spec a kit that matches your actual needs.

Blog post I wrote on my current gear reboot

Comments

[Neil Kirby]

Right idea, too expensive in the execution. If you know why you want what you want, you can make good rational decisions.

If not, I suggest starting with a "super-zoom" and learn there. In Canon terms: S3 / S5 / SX10 / SX20 / SX30 (all of them IS, image stabilized). Any one of them makes a cheap starter camera that takes fine images most of the time.

Start in Program mode and then take more and more manual control, particularly things like focal length (perspective) and f-stop (depth of field). Use *every* capability the camera offers so that you know what you can get. Shoot all the way to the camera's limits to find out what you need in a DSLR. This much capability will never be this cheap again. The DSLR will let you do any one (or a few) things so much better, but doing them all better costs stupidly serious amounts of coin.

THEN buy a DSLR and start investing in glass.

"I shoot portaits wide open with razor thin depth of field."

"I shoot macro so close that I keep bumping in to stuff."

"I shoot outdoor sports at the longest focal length I can get."

"I shoot indoor theater publicity shots using stage lighting and no flash."

"I shoot candids from across the room with no flash to give it away."

"I walk around from dawn to midnight shooting everything from outdoor vistas to candle lit candids."

Each one of those statements is a different investment in the right glass to get it done, and to a lesser extent a statement about the camrea.