Getting the best out of your photography
Camera Equipment
Camera Body
Let’s start at the beginning. There are in essence two types of manual cameras to choose from when deciding to up your photography game - DSLR or Mirrorless. Then within mirrorless cameras, you have a decision to make between ‘full frame’ or ‘cropped sensor’. So let’s break it all down.
DSLR
These are full frame cameras that use a mirror inside the camera to create the image. These are the cameras many people have at home from about 10-15 years ago when they decided that they wanted a ‘professional’ looking camera. Think large chunky Canon and Nikon cameras. Heavy and big. These were the camera of choice for professional photographers until recently (and some photographers will still prefer these cameras) but the tide is turning with new technology. You no longer need a big heavy bulky camera in your arsenal to take professional looking photographs.
MIRRORLESS
Mirrorless cameras started to become popular about 10 years ago because they offered a good proportion of the DSLR capabilities without the bulk. As the name suggests, mirrorless cameras differ from DSLR cameras because they do not rely on a mirror within the camera (which is why they can be smaller). Initially, they were manufactured by brands such as Fuji, Panasonic and Sony - but now you can find mirrorless cameras in most camera brands ranges. As their technology has advanced, so too have their popularity and most professional photographers will now have a mirrorless camera in their kit and it is likely to be their preferred camera body in many cases. There is now no distinguishable difference between a DSLR and a Full Frame Mirrorless camera in terms of quality of image resolution or other output. .
Within the mirrorless category of camera, you have a further choice to make - Full Frame or Cropped Sensor.
Full Frame - $$$$ - these cameras have a full frame sensor and as a result shoot with the true lens length. A Full Frame Mirrorless camera is essentially a DSLR just without the bulky body.
Cropped Sensor - $$ - a more affordable entry point into a manual camera with no loss of quality as compared to a DSLR or FullFframe Mirrorless - however, this camera has a cropped sensor within it, which means that rather than the sensor shooting at the true lens length, it crops it. This technology allows the camera body to be much slimmer than the Full Frame version.
WHAT I RECOMMEND:
If you are at the beginning of your photography journey and wanting to explore and learn how to use a manual camera to take better photos than your iPhone, then I suggest starting with a Cropped Sensor Mirrorless camera body. It is a smaller investment to make and has the same capabilities of producing professional looking images. Wait to see how often you use the camera (hopefully a lot) and as you progress your photography you can consider the investment to upgrade to a full frame camera body. But you may never feel like you need to upgrade.
WHAT I STARTED WITH
I learnt photography on a Panasonic Lumix camera body and this was my camera for about 5 years before I upgraded to a full frame. It served me really well and was a great camera.
WHAT I USE NOW
My camera body now is a full frame Sony A7Rii. I love this camera and it’s more updated iterations will be what is available in the market now (I bought mine about 5 years ago so my version has now been superseded).
Camera Lenses
So, that’s the camera body - but what about the camera lens? This is actually where you will notice the biggest differences and if you had to make a choice, you would buy the most affordable camera body and the most expensive lens! The lens is actually what is important and if you were to want to get information from a photographer about their equipment - it is which lens’s that they use that would be the most informative. So much of photography (in terms of equipment) is down to the lens choice.
So lets look at lens choices - they full in two categories : Prime Lens or Zoom Lens.
Prime Lens
Prime lenses do not have the ability to zoom in and out - they are fixed and only shoot in one focal length (so if you buy a 50mm lens, it shoots in 50mm and can’t be zoomed in or out). They are the best quality lens’s for your photography at a price point that (whilst expensive) is not as costly as a high quality zoom lens.
Zoom Lens
Many camera bodies are sold with a standard zoom lens. These lenses will have the ability to zoom in and out and offer a broad selection of lens length - they’re kind of a one stop shop lens for the everyday photographer who wants to shoot their family and landscapes. So whilst it does a bit of everything in terms of it’s capabilities, it doesn’t do any of them amazingly well. That is unless you are prepared to pay serious cash. Professional photographers whose livelihood is built on their photography may choose to spend tens of thousands on lenses of the highest quality that also zoom, but most people don’t.
So when you buy a camera, you also have to decide on a lens (unless you are just planning on doing bog-standard photography of your kids and holidays in which case, you could probably just use the lens the camera came with - just know it’s not the best quality).
If, however, your plan is to take product photography for instance, you really don’t want to use a zoom lens so the lens that your camera came with will need to be replaced.
DSLR
Pros:
Full manual capabilities
Excellent quality in terms of performance and output
Cons
Expensive
Bulky and heavy
Full Frame Mirrorless
Pros:
Full manual capabilites
Excellent quality in terms of performance and output
Smaller body size means it is lighter and easier to use and carry around
Cons
Expensive