Best camera for beginner photographer

[bravenole35]

Hi everyone,

So I really want to get into photography. The camera I have right now is a Nikon Coolpix s3000. It's a good camera for taking regular pictures. But I was wondering what would be the best camera (but not super expensive) to get for a beginner. Thanks ahead for all the input!

[eyalg]

It really depends on your budget and your needs.
I'll assume you're talking about a compact camera.

The best camera I know, which is excellent for learning is the Canon G12.
It has dedicated buttons for many functions - making it clear for you what you're doing.

If that's over you budget limit, then the Nikon P300 is also very good and has full manual controls.

-eyalg

[inkista]

New cameras come out every six months. It's tough for anybody to tell you what would be the best fit for you, because only you know what you want to do with the camera and how much you're willing to pay. To me, as someone who has options in a Fortune 500 company, and who shoots with a full-frame dSLR, my "not super-expensive" is probably a little different from yours.

I will say, that to me, if you're serious about photography, there are two features you absolutely want any camera you purchase to have: full Manual mode (or the so-called PSAM modes: Programmable Auto, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and Manual), and the capability to shoot RAW.

The former will let you control the aperture, shutter speed, and iso of the camera directly, which is key in some ways to mastering exposure. You don't need to shoot in M all the time, but you will at some point need to be able to dial in exactly the numbers you want, without having to guesstimate at how your camera gets there. And RAW gives you the largest amount of data for post-processing manipulation, and doesn't make you so dependent on the camera's processing/compression algorithms for your image quality.

The third "cool" feature would be a flash hotshoe, so you could go Strobist more easily, but that's not the path for everyone.

You do not need these three features to take good photos. But they can make it a lot easier to control what you get vs. the auto "nanny" modes that P&S cameras tend to come with these days.

[ObsessedwithPhotos]

Hello,

Since you didn't specify whether you wanted a Point and Shoot, SLR, or DSLR I will assume a DSLR is what you want. DSLR ( You can interchange many different lenses of the same brands as your camera for longer or shorter distance shooting )

I personally have and like the Canon XS - Amazon.com: Canon Rebel XS 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Black): Camera & Photo

It is a nice lightweight quality build. It shoots very nice high quality pictures. And it is easy to use.

Just my .02