Looking to buy a camera - need some help!

Hi yall,

Sorry in advance if this is the wrong forum to post to - if so please could somebody move it for me?
I'm looking to buy my first ever SLR camera, have between 300-600 dollars to spend, and am looking for some help in choosing which one. I've shot photography for awhile on a digital camera, my iphone (using editing apps) and on friends' SLRs, and am finally ready to purchase my own. Please any help is greatly appreciated since I'm very new to actually looking into purchasing an SLR and am very unfamiliar with camera terms/cost/what exactly I'll need to buy. Thanks in advance yall!

any help is greatly appreciated!

Lots to choose from. Have a look at the Nikon D3200.
Go to a Camera store and play around with different brands within your budget.

If you need a weatherproof camera there are some good deals on older (but still pretty recent) Pentax cameras like the K-5, K-5 II, and K-5 IIs (all 16MP). They are a less dominant brand and not the king of fast sports shooting (although not bad IMO) but if you like to hike/ski/bike to remote locations and shoot in harsh environments like I do they are great for that and give good IQ at a good price.
For any camera realize you are buying into a system. So make sure the lenses that suit the kind of shooting you want to do are available and affordable. For nature, landscape, and adventure I really like this system.

Having a DSLR is a long-term investment in lenses, bodies, accessories (flash) etc. In 40 years of SLR ownership I have had 5 different systems fold on me, go out of business, end of life, etc. This has made me - pragmatic. My first rule:

- Choose number 1 or number 2 in the marketplace (that means Nikon or Canon)

It doesn't really matter which you choose, they are about the same. If one edges ahead - the other will catch up soon. But they will both be there, forever.

Technology advances pretty fast. That gives rule number 2:

- don't buy obsolete material unless you know exactly what you are doing

My pro lenses that I bought 15 years ago still work wonderfully well. But the pro body that I bought 8 years ago - well the body still worked just as well but the image quality was just from another age. I gave it away. The new owner is delighted but she likes noise in her pictures.

thank you to all for your help! your advice was well needed!

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Originally Posted by jeshuster14

Hi yall,

Sorry in advance if this is the wrong forum to post to - if so please could somebody move it for me?
I'm looking to buy my first ever SLR camera, have between 300-600 dollars to spend, and am looking for some help in choosing which one. I've shot photography for awhile on a digital camera, my iphone (using editing apps) and on friends' SLRs, and am finally ready to purchase my own. Please any help is greatly appreciated since I'm very new to actually looking into purchasing an SLR and am very unfamiliar with camera terms/cost/what exactly I'll need to buy. Thanks in advance yall!

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I think this guide is pretty helpful

Was there a link ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Franglais

Having a DSLR is a long-term investment in lenses, bodies, accessories (flash) etc. In 40 years of SLR ownership I have had 5 different systems fold on me, go out of business, end of life, etc. This has made me - pragmatic. My first rule:

- Choose number 1 or number 2 in the marketplace (that means Nikon or Canon)

It doesn't really matter which you choose, they are about the same. If one edges ahead - the other will catch up soon. But they will both be there, forever.

Technology advances pretty fast. That gives rule number 2:

- don't buy obsolete material unless you know exactly what you are doing

My pro lenses that I bought 15 years ago still work wonderfully well. But the pro body that I bought 8 years ago - well the body still worked just as well but the image quality was just from another age. I gave it away. The new owner is delighted but she likes noise in her pictures.

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I have to agree with this. I recently sold all of my Olympus equipment because I wasn't interested in their micro line of cameras and they no longer make DSLRs. I invested alot of money over the years and sold, especially the recent stuff, for pennies on the dollar. Went to Canon. Nikon or Canon is what I would suggest.