What's a great camera for under $500?

[Navymedic]

So my wife's birthday is coming up soon and I was wondering what to get her. This past weekend we took a short trip to Sanibel and Captiva Islands and noticed her taking pics of the birds in the area. She looked to really in joy this even asking the birds to stay still for the camera! She was also very active trying to shoot pics of the Blood Moon. Anyway, I know nothing of photography other than to press a button. I think she would enjoy a nice camera and maybe with the right lenses I can also shoot pics of my tank [emoji12] . Any suggestions would be highly appreciated...

 

[RobZilla04]

I've got a Nikon D3400 (dual lens 18-55mm & 70-300mm) and love it. Takes killer photos once you learn DLSR's.

Avoid Sony IMO. I had an older version of the Alpha model and it was a pain. As with most Sony products, proprietary formatting sucks.

 

[inktomi]

If she is looking for a camera for bird photography, I'd look for a canon or nikon and perhaps a 70-200 mm lens to go along with it. She will appreciate the telephoto lens! To get the overall price down, you may need to find a used body, and then it might still be hard to find the body and lens for under $500 total.

Something like https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/801883596-USE/canon_2578a002_ef_70_200mm_f_4l_usm.html would be a fun "serious" intro to bird photography. You miiiight be able to find a Canon 5D used for around $500 as well - but admitantly this brings the total closer to $1000

Is she interested in anything other than wildlife photography? You'd want a telephoto for moon photos as well, though you can take nice photos of the stars with just a 28mm lens (like mine below from last weekend).

Milky Way & Stars outside Las Vegas by Matthew Runo, on Flickr

As for Sony, I use the A7R and love it. It will be outside your price range though

 

[Musovski]

sony a6000

 

[hockeyhead019]

For that budget I would recommend a Nikon D3400/3500 with lens bundle. The lens won't be the best that money can buy but are definitely enough to start having some fun with.

Look for a combo that comes with the typical 18-55 and 70-300. 70-300 will be a start for bird watching and the 18-55 for general photography. She'll have a chance to learn the different modes and everything involved with it, if she chooses, and can always upgrade to nicer glass (different lens) in the future.

Best of luck!

 

[madweazl]

I "upgraded" to a Nikon D3400 last year from a Pentax Kr and regret it, the Pentax took amazing pictures. The Pentax was far more capable when shooting the fish tank as well Entry level Pentax or Canon would get my vote for that price point. Used bodies are a great choice when it comes to cameras, I wouldn't pass up a good deal on a used body.

 

[hockeyhead019]

I "upgraded" to a Nikon D3400 last year from a Pentax Kr and regret it, the Pentax took amazing pictures. The Pentax was far more capable when shooting the fish tank as well Entry level Pentax or Canon would get my vote for that price point. Used bodies are a great choice when it comes to cameras, I wouldn't pass up a good deal on a used body.

Curious what in particular the 3400 struggles with compared to the pentax. No agenda, just curious lol I don't see the pentax's mentioned often here

 

[AcanthurusRex]

For birds you want a fast camera. A used Canon 7D for example. Check the reviews on DPreview.

 

[madweazl]

Curious what in particular the 3400 struggles with compared to the pentax. No agenda, just curious lol I don't see the pentax's mentioned often here

The sensor and the firmware/software I believe. The Nikon has a smaller sensor (by a very small margin) and is trying to stuff twice the megapixels into it; this is rarely a recipe for anything good but such is life in a world were megapixels reign supreme. The in body software also lacks the same range as the Pentax (both points specific to the Kr), especially in regard to white/color balance. As you go up the Nikon lineup, the software/firmware gets better and you start to get the same white/color balance options that you seen in the entry level Pentax but it comes at quite a premium. You just get a lot more for your money with the Pentax. With that said, I'll probably grab a used Sony A7II in the near future.

Pentax K-r using kit lens with cropping, sharpness, and contrast adjustments in Picasa.

 

[hockeyhead019]

The sensor and the firmware/software I believe. The Nikon has a smaller sensor (by a very small margin) and is trying to stuff twice the megapixels into it; this is rarely a recipe for anything good but such is life in a world were megapixels reign supreme. The in body software also lacks the same range as the Pentax (both points specific to the Kr), especially in regard to white/color balance. As you go up the Nikon lineup, the software/firmware gets better and you start to get the same white/color balance options that you seen in the entry level Pentax but it comes at quite a premium. You just get a lot more for your money with the Pentax. With that said, I'll probably grab a used Sony A7II in the near future.

Pentax K-r using kit lens with cropping, sharpness, and contrast adjustments in Picasa.

Gotcha, I'll definitely agree that the in-camera SW is lacking in the 3400 vs higher level Nikon products. I always just mess with it in post but would be great to see a histogram while shooting lol

Those are fantastic shots btw!

 

[Anchor]

I am using an older D70s from Nikon.. I like the range of lenses with Nikon products. Besides the standard 18-70mm that comes with it I picked up a 60mm Macro. Takes great pics... an off camera flash with a slave unit is a good deal too. Look for used in Nikon is a nice way to start. ,have not looked at cameras in 10 years so something newer might be good too.., just my 2 cents worth, Last thing I might suggest is a screw on UV/ orange filter if you are going to take reef pics.

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

I've spent almost every christmas of my life on Sanibel and Captiva! Hopefully you guys went to ding darling and saw some of the roseate spoon bills, if not make sure to try that next time! For under 500 I personally have no idea, you can shave a lot off by getting second hand but even then the setup I'm going to recommend will probably still be fair bit over but here me out.

I'm really into wildlife photography and was born and raised on canon- between the 2 cameras I shoot on I'd recommend the Canon SL2 for the following reasons:

It's tiny, its the smallest functional dslr camera that I'm aware of and because its tiny its really light! With that said I have fairly large hands and have no issue using it, my girlfriend has fairly small hands and also finds it comfortable.

Its very beginner friendly, I turned off the guides in the settings because I've been doing this for a while but I checked them out before hand and was impressed with ho well it explained the different settings and modes and how they effect your photo which would have saved me a lot of time when I got my first camera. It also lets you use different lenses unlike small point and shoot cameras which means you'll be able to start with less expensive lenses to see if she like it and if she does then this camera can just as easily attach a 10,000 dollar lens (Although because the camera is so small it does look kinda funny but I can live with that as long as the pictures don't;Hilarious).

Its an apsc sized sensor which means although it has less megapixels and lets in less light (not really noticeable to someone starting out) BUT it (essentially) gives you more zoom. If you buy her lens that goes up to 100mm then it will be more like you shooting a 150 and if she's focusing on birds she'll quickly realize you want as much zoom as you can get! Not to mention

It has wifi! that doesn't mean you can goole on it but it means you can download an app on your phone and connect to the camera via wifi and bluetooth. this mean she never actually has to plug the camera in to a computer to upload her photos. You can do it that way if you wanted to and I'm sure its faster when you want to upload a bunch but if you take a photo you really like you are less than 2 minutes away from sending that photo to your spouse, friends or putting it up on facebook and instagram.

For lenses I use sigma because The canon are really expensive and there isn't enough of a difference to justify the 3x4 times price tag IME. The sigma 100-400 lens is 700 US but asides from the price its a fair sized lens and might be a bit much for a beginner to deal with, they have a 70-300 thats around 300 and like someone else said a 70-200 is a great lens as well. I only have one of three I've mentioned though so I'd recommend you check some reviews on the other ones first. Here are some of my bird photos, 2 of which were taken with a camera set up that cost 3 times as much but you'll be hard pressed to tell them apart- I had to crop all of these because I shoot a higher quality jpeg than what the forum upload feature tolerates so they aren't nearly as sharp as they actually are.

Hope this helps!

 

[hyacinth]

Look for a nice used setup from CL or photography forums like fredmiranda.

 

[Diehard reefing]

Cannon rebel series is an amazing lineup of starter cameras with interchangeable lenses

 

[GrouperStupor]

sony a6000

+1. South of full frame prices, then is the only one I'd recommend. Otherwise you're carrying around a lot of bulk for not much gain. Used lenses are pretty cheap to boot.

 

[Navymedic]

I've spent almost every christmas of my life on Sanibel and Captiva! Hopefully you guys went to ding darling and saw some of the roseate spoon bills, if not make sure to try that next time! For under 500 I personally have no idea, you can shave a lot off by getting second hand but even then the setup I'm going to recommend will probably still be fair bit over but here me out.

I'm really into wildlife photography and was born and raised on canon- between the 2 cameras I shoot on I'd recommend the Canon SL2 for the following reasons:

It's tiny, its the smallest functional dslr camera that I'm aware of and because its tiny its really light! With that said I have fairly large hands and have no issue using it, my girlfriend has fairly small hands and also finds it comfortable.

Its very beginner friendly, I turned off the guides in the settings because I've been doing this for a while but I checked them out before hand and was impressed with ho well it explained the different settings and modes and how they effect your photo which would have saved me a lot of time when I got my first camera. It also lets you use different lenses unlike small point and shoot cameras which means you'll be able to start with less expensive lenses to see if she like it and if she does then this camera can just as easily attach a 10,000 dollar lens (Although because the camera is so small it does look kinda funny but I can live with that as long as the pictures don't;Hilarious).

Its an apsc sized sensor which means although it has less megapixels and lets in less light (not really noticeable to someone starting out) BUT it (essentially) gives you more zoom. If you buy her lens that goes up to 100mm then it will be more like you shooting a 150 and if she's focusing on birds she'll quickly realize you want as much zoom as you can get! Not to mention

It has wifi! that doesn't mean you can goole on it but it means you can download an app on your phone and connect to the camera via wifi and bluetooth. this mean she never actually has to plug the camera in to a computer to upload her photos. You can do it that way if you wanted to and I'm sure its faster when you want to upload a bunch but if you take a photo you really like you are less than 2 minutes away from sending that photo to your spouse, friends or putting it up on facebook and instagram.

For lenses I use sigma because The canon are really expensive and there isn't enough of a difference to justify the 3x4 times price tag IME. The sigma 100-400 lens is 700 US but asides from the price its a fair sized lens and might be a bit much for a beginner to deal with, they have a 70-300 thats around 300 and like someone else said a 70-200 is a great lens as well. I only have one of three I've mentioned though so I'd recommend you check some reviews on the other ones first. Here are some of my bird photos, 2 of which were taken with a camera set up that cost 3 times as much but you'll be hard pressed to tell them apart- I had to crop all of these because I shoot a higher quality jpeg than what the forum upload feature tolerates so they aren't nearly as sharp as they actually are.

Hope this helps!

Gorgeous Pics and lots of info. Thanks!!