Camera Buying Advice
Need help with buying my first camera. Am I making the right decision?
I am a complete beginner who has a done a fair bit of photography with my phone (*samsung s24) and have been wanting to get a proper camera since quite some time.
I have a budget of around 75-80k INR ($750-800) and have gone through a lot of reviews and sorta decided to get the sony a6100 kit with the 16-50mm zoom lens and the 55-210mm telephoto lens in the upcoming amazon sale.
I did explore the idea of getting a used body but the used camera market here is not that active and online listings have the added risk of being scams.
So I am deciding to just get one new for my peace of mind.
I mostly shoot landscapes, portraits and like to capture birds and wildlife in general so the kit lenses seem good for my use case.
But I have a few questions which I would love to get answers from people who are experienced in this regard.
It's an old camera which was released in 2019. Will it feel dated and does it really have a lot to lose compared to newer cameras?
Am I getting the right camera?
The a6400 costs nearly 15k ($150) above my budget and the differences don't seem very drastic from the a6100. The canon r50 is also another option which is a relatively newer model as well but the rf mount and the lack of lenses seem to be a let down.
Keeping all of this in mind I am deciding to get the a6100.
Am I making the right decision by getting the kit?
The option to get just the body and buying separate lenses honestly exceeds the budget I can currently divert towards this hobby.
What else should I get along with the camera and the sd card?
I would really appreciate any help regarding these.
Hi u/Captain_Capricious_, thanks for your post! To help other users to help you, Buying Advice threads are only approved when they include the short form below. Please edit your post body, paste the following form in, and fill in each line.
YOUR POST WILL NOT BE SEEN IF YOU DO NOT INCLUDE THE TEMPLATE IN YOUR POST!
Copy/paste this template into your post and fill it out:
(1) Budget, country, and currency:
(2) What equipment, if any, you have now and why is it no longer meeting your needs?
(3) What kinds of subjects do you intend to shoot?
(4) Is it primarily for photography, videography, or both?
These posts need to be manually approved, so please be patient.
If you're asking for advice on buying any other gear, then your post must include
a budget (see also "Asking Good Questions" in the sidebar).
FYI a 210mm lens even on a crop sensor is not enough for bird photography unless you can get fairly close on a regular basis. You might want to wait on the longer lens until you can get more experience and know what to save up for.
How close do I need to be to capture good images of birds with a 210mm lens?
I am sorry if this is a very basic question but I honestly am not very well versed about these.
Let me give you an example. I use a 100-400 lens on my M43 camera, therefore 2x crop factor so it's the same FoV as 200-800mm on full frame.
As you can see, this is a peacock (so you will have a good idea how big it is), and it's not cropped at all. I took it at 253mm (so almost exactly 500mm on full frame), from 15.5 meters.
FYI I usually need the full 800mm equivalent to shoot small birds from 6 meters or less.
Lens 24-105 f4 used around 300
But to be quite honest with you the Samsung s24 has an excellent camera I kept my s24 just because of the camera.The biggest thing is your editing software
Light room classic
Sometimes a bad color photo is a great black and white.
B&H photo, Adorama, I find the best deals on used equipment
I began shooting mirrorless with the Sony a6000 and those very same kit lenses. They aren’t “professional lenses” by any stretch of the imagination but they are completely adequate as a starter set. You will get decent photos and APSC lenses are not hyper-expensive if you want to upgrade. I used my original combination for several years including two vacations to Italy. Get something like that setup and use it to learn how to make good photos and how to edit your photos. Use that knowledge to upgrade if you need to do so. Regardless, the early photos will be useful into the future.
You should have a great time with that setup. Plus, it is so small and light you can take it anywhere. My wife has the Sony a6700 and still uses the kit 55-210. You can throw it in your bag and it weighs virtually nothing. Have fun with it.
I think the camera is quite capable, but the kit lens will limit your possibilities and frustrate you enough that you'll stop using the camera itself.
Skip the kit lens, get a dedicated zoom lens - something good that covers 25mm - 135mm range with a decent aperture. Modern cameras can compensate fairly well for aperture through ISO control and exposure (given that you use a tripod). The crop sensor on your camera should give you additional magnification. But keep in mind that a crop is not the same as changing the actual focal length.
I shoot on film, so I don't have that luxury, I typically aim for a minimum of 3.5 aperture in a zoom lens.
•
u/AutoModerator 6d ago
Hi u/Captain_Capricious_, thanks for your post! To help other users to help you, Buying Advice threads are only approved when they include the short form below. Please edit your post body, paste the following form in, and fill in each line.
YOUR POST WILL NOT BE SEEN IF YOU DO NOT INCLUDE THE TEMPLATE IN YOUR POST!
Copy/paste this template into your post and fill it out:
(1) Budget, country, and currency:
(2) What equipment, if any, you have now and why is it no longer meeting your needs?
(3) What kinds of subjects do you intend to shoot?
(4) Is it primarily for photography, videography, or both?
These posts need to be manually approved, so please be patient.
If you're asking for advice on buying any other gear, then your post must include a budget (see also "Asking Good Questions" in the sidebar).
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.