I’m totally new to photography and want to get my first camera. I’ll mainly be using it for nature photography while hiking and traveling.
My only focus is on photos of the highest possible quality.
My budget is around $600, and I’ll also need essential accessories, but don’t know what I’d need, like a lens?
Not open to refurbished, as I’m buying in Vietnam.
What kind of nature? Landscapes or wildlife?
For landscape you don’t need much, just get whatever camera body you can afford and the widest zoom (probably gonna stick with a kit lens in your budget). In terms of accessories you might want CPL and ND filters and a decent tripod and you’re good to go.
If you want to shoot wildlife (animals, birds etc), that’s a very different story and your budget won’t work, the lenses needed are very expensive.
For starters, I’d need something versatile. I’m especially interested in the macro photography of fungi.
Thoughts on Canon EOS R50? And the best beginner lens for it?
Yeah the R50 would be great! Then you can just get it along with the kit lens (where I am they’re putting the 18-150mm with it, that would be perfect to cover your bases and get started on most anything).
For your macro needs you can add tube extenders (like the meike MK-RF-AF1 for example) to allow you to get closer to the subjects. Maybe later some small/cheap lights like small battery LED panels, the nice thing with macro is you don’t need big/expensive lights to get really creative since the subject is so small and close.
I think macro is a really fun niche to get started in! Good luck on your journey.
Thank you for the advice. There are a few options in that price range, including Nikon and Fujifilm. Would you say the R50 still stands out?
I’m personally a canon shooter myself (C400+R5C), so of course I can warmly recommend joining that ecosystem if you’re serious about the hobby. Do realize that is what you’re doing though, when you get started with one brand it becomes hard to switch, so think about if the brand is a good fit for you overall and not just your first purchase.
Canon is great, very solid and reliable and has remained at the top of the game for a long time, maybe not always the craziest innovators but workhorse cameras. Not the cheapest… Especially some accessories are crazy overpriced, and the new RF glass can also be expensive but there’s also some really good cheap options like the small primes and you can adapt almost anything to RF mount.
Fuji I’m less familiar with but I hear is great too and great fun maybe slightly more for casual use, which sounds bad but actually you should think about this carefully because it also means the experience will be a lot more fun and you’ll have an easier time getting good looking results than with the specialist gear which gives you full control but if you don’t know what to do with it then your results will be poor.
Nikon is coming back big time kind of like canon as well, we’re in the return of the kings in this space with the classic Japanese companies doing pretty good at the moment, overall you’ll get a very similar experience as canon with them just a different flavour.
The budget can work, but you’d have to get creative. For example, a used A6000 series camera and an “old”, probably manual focus zoom.
You lose some niceties (AF for starters) but it’s better than not having a camera!
I mean sure but that’s honestly a recipe for getting frustrated with the craft and just giving up, shooting birds with manual/old school lenses is gonna be hella complicated, and even manual lenses with enough reach will still be expensive probably… I’d advise getting to grips with the basics of photography with easier but adjacent niches e.g. landscape, nature still life, macro, etc, then progress into wildlife, there’s plenty to do that will still get you out there in nature with your camera which is usually the main goal from folks wanting to get into wildlife. Hell I’m a seasoned pro with experience in a few different niches/gear and I don’t think I could get anything even decent going out shooting wildlife on a 600€ budget… Just trying to be realistic and help them stick to their new hobby long term :)