Buying your first camera is so exciting! We all remember the feeling of joy and excitement of playing with our first camera. We probably took that camera everywhere, and even though it was a complete piece of junk, it got us learning about photography and taking photos of everything! The goal here though is to get you a great beginner camera you can enjoy that isn’t complete garbage.
Photography is one of the most rewarding and creative art forms out there. If you’re reading this you probably already know this and are excited to get started! Every seasoned photographer will tell you, photography is one of the best skills they’ve ever learned in their life, period. Capturing photos is one of the only ways to truly preserve memories that we can never get back. It really is stopping time, just for a second, to keep that moment forever. I think it’s beautiful at its very core, and I’m excited to share this art form with you all.
Now, enough with the mushy stuff and let’s get down to business. What camera is best for beginners right now? Well, this is a loaded question that needs some unpacking. You have to think about what you’ll be shooting and tailor your purchase based on your needs. You also, most importantly, need to know exactly what your budget is.
I’ll start with this, the camera isn’t the most important part of your purchase, the lenses are. In photography, the camera body doesn’t matter nearly as much as the quality of your lenses and the skill set of the photographer. For this reason, we HIGHLY recommend you invest in a good photography course, and invest the bulk of your money into quality lenses. This is because of a lot of physics and mathematics having to do with light and the amount of light that can enter your camera body. But for now, understand that you can take quality photos with a cheap camera body and a nice lens, but you cannot take quality photos with an expensive camera body and crap lenses. Now here’s our list:
Canon M50
A small, compact crop sensor body that takes excellent photos, and 1080p HD video. A blazing fast autofocus system will never let you down, and the flip out, fully articulating screen makes it a joy to shoot with. We love this camera for beginners because the menu system is easy and intuitive, and you can use the “?” help button to ask the camera any feature while in use. As long as you don’t need to shoot 4k video, this camera is for you (great for YouTube as long as you shoot 1080p, but also see ZV-1 below)! Shop Canon M50
Pros
- Quick, accurate autofocus (dual pixel AF)
- Good sensor, excellent colors
- Small, lightweight body
- Excellent flip out screen
- Good lens selection
- Low cost/ good value
- Cons
- Cheap Plastic body
- 4k Video features (bad crop and no dual pixel autofocus)
Fuji XT-200
Another crop sensor body with an excellent sensor that does everything well. We love the design and look of this camera, it’s one of those that we never want to put down. Fuji has always done an excellent job with color science and sensor quality. Although it’s not the best video shooter on our list, it still takes excellent videos for the weekend warrior. You can step up in the Fuji line once you outgrow this body, and that shouldn’t be for a while with the quality you get. Our only real gripe is the price tag that comes with the Fuji, but if you have the money to invest, this is a fantastic option. Shop Fuji XT-200
Pros
- Quality sensor, stunning colors
- Simple, effective design
- Beautiful aesthetics
- Small, lightweight body
- Good lens selection
- Good system to grow with
Cons
- Cost higher than some
- Not much else!
Sony a6100
This is a camera we truly love. The A6100 is a true “jack of all” and master of none. It’s great shooting stills, shoots high quality 4k video, and does it all in a small and convenient package. The Sony lineup is one of the best in the game right now, so outgrowing this body and upgrading shouldn’t be a concern. However, the sensor is old and unchanged since the earlier predecessors, and still suffers from old technology. The rolling shutter on video is still bad, and the dynamic range is not class leading. For a beginner though, this could be the best overall package on our list. If the end goal is class leading full frame body, Sony is probably the way to go right now. Shop Sony A6100
Pros
- Feature packed, tons of tech
- Best video capabilities on this list
- Small, lightweight body
- Best autofocus system on this list
- Good lens selection
Cons
- Older sensor (still good though)
- Battery life
- Menu system
- Expensive lenses
Sony zv1
The only point and shoot on our list, the ZV-1 is a great little camera that packs a ton of features. The little sibling to the rx100 line of cameras, the ZV-1 does 90% of what the Rx can do for a fraction of the cost. We love the ZV-1 because of it’s blazing fast and class leading autofocus system, the high speed burst mode for action photos, and the fantastic video capabilities. If you’re looking to be a youtuber, vlogger, or live streamer, this is the camera for you! It does it all of those things very well in a small pocketable camera. The only camera currently that packs features like product mode, background blur button, and built in live stream compatibility, this is a great little option. However, it’s still not cheap, and you’re stuck with a fixed focal length lens and small sensor. If photography is your main focus, look elsewhere. Shop Sony Zv-1
Good
- Small, pocketable design
- Excellent sensor
- Excellent lens
- The best built in mic we’ve ever tried
- Fast, quality autofocus
- Stunning 4k video capabilities
- Good touch screen
- Feature packed
Bad
- Fixed lens (can’t change lenses)
- Battery life
- No viewfinder
Canon 5d mark II
The only full frame camera on our list, the 5d mark II is an old but quality workhorse of a camera. Most professional photographers have owned this camera at some point, and that’s because it’s a hell of a camera. When it came out, it was class leading and ground breaking in the digital camera space. The sensor still can put out fantastic pictures with proven Canon colors and punch. Although this camera cannot do video, if photography is your main focus this body could be the perfect choice. Canon has TONS of used lenses floating around the second hand market, and being full frame allows you to get those beautiful bokeh blur with ease. The kicker, you can pick these up used for next to nothing and they’re built like a tank! Shop Canon 5D Mark II
Good –
- Full Frame Sensor
- Study, well built camera body
- Dual memory card slots
- Battery life
- Lens selection
- Colors/skin tones
- Price used/value
Bad
- Video capabilities
- Older system/slower autofocus
- Heavy/bulky design
Canon Rebel T6i
The rebel line has always been a great stepping stone into photography. These are the cameras you’ll find in a bundle, on sale at your local costco. They are proven and are one of the best selling camera lines in history. Canon does a good job tailoring these cameras to beginners, so they’re intuitive and easy to use. However, we also don’t like that about these cameras. If you’re taking photography seriously, you’ll probably outgrow this body fairly quickly. The Rebels have a cheap, plastic design, low frame rates, and just ok sensor quality. The kit lenses Canon sells them with are not bad either, but if you can step up to a fixed f2.8 lens it’ll really make this body a formidable weapon of choice. We like these cameras a lot, we just don’t love them. Shop Canon Rebel T6i
Good
- Proven design
- Good user interface, easy to learn
- Jack of all, does everything good
- Great lens selection
- Battery life
- Canon colors
- Canon aftermarket lens selection
Bad
- Cheap, plastic body
- Kit lens
- Sensor is just ok
- 4k Video capabilities
- Dynamic Range is just ok
Iphone with lenses
In the end of the day, the best camera is the one you have on you and use the most. That phone in your back pocket can probably shoot some amazing photos if you put the time and effort in. With great aftermarket lenses like the ones offered from Moment, you can really learn photography just by using your phone. Save your money, go buy a photography course online, and learn everything you can by using your iphone. In the long run, you’ll be a more skilled, creative, and talented photographer if you can make any camera work for you and your art. We know it’s cliché, but the iPhone is still an excellent option for beginners, it just takes a little more effort. Shop Moment Lenses
Pros
- Computational Photography has made exponential growth
- Picture quality
- Convenience
- Forces and grows creativity
- Always on you
- Price (you probably already own one)
- Tons of accessories and lenses
Cons
- Small sensor size
- Low light performance
- No bokeh that looks good (blurry background)
- Colors usually look processed
In the end of the day, you most likely will outgrow this camera and move on to something bigger and better. Because of this, our number one tip is to invest in lenses that will work with future, more elaborate camera bodies. Try to look to the future and plan ahead for moving up in a brand’s camera body options. This will save you time, effort and headaches in the future should you decide to go full frame. I also suggest you focus on what you’re going to shoot most. Do you need something fast (shooting sports and action), are you shooting youtube videos (more videos than stills), or maybe you travel a lot and need something small? All of this will factor into your decision and help you get the best camera for your needs. The most important thing is to get a camera that you enjoy, that checks off your boxes, and something you’ll use regularly! The best camera is the one you use and have with you.
