Congratulations on considering getting into photography! It’s something I find to be incredibly fun and rewarding. Something people often ask me is how to pick a good first camera. There are so many different manufacturers and models, I get it, if it feels overwhelming. When I bought my first camera it took me months of research because I wanted to make sure I get the best bang for my buck. This article will speed up your time up to a week.

Here are the main topics you should be primed for before making the decision. I will cover them in enough depth for you to make an informed decision. We will start with a big funnel and start saying no to things not necessary for a beginner in order to get our choice MUCH more manageable. And you will learn some camera lingo, too!

types of digital cameras
budget
sensor size
tier
megapixels
features
size

The most important things a beginner needs in their camera is: relative portability, mid-range image quality and that it fits the budget.

Why Camera and Not your Phone

The reason smartphones take such great photos today has to do with the global market. Almost everyone has a smartphone, but a significantly smaller portion of people have a camera. The high amount of money that phone manufacturers have allows them to rapidly invest into the features of a phone at a faster pace than cameras. You can often get great image quality with just your phone alone. Here are a few reasons why the phone will never replace the camera:

More responsive shooting experience
More consistent quality
More tactile feel of buttons and dials rather than touchscreen
A dedicated device that will make you feel you are taking photography seriously

The components which most effect the image quality are the lens and the sensor. Comparing the lens and sensor of a phone to that of a camera, you can see there is no competition. In order to compensate, phones use subject detection to optimise the shot, for the subject. This gets phone photos to often look overprocessed, oversharpened and unnatural.

What type of camera

An important distinction beginners might not be familiar with is that some cameras have an integrated lens, while others offer a removable lens. The latter is referred to as an Interchangeable Lens Camera or ILC for short.

Integrated Lens

The advantages of an integrated lens is that you usually get a more optimised package. The quality will be higher and the weight and size will be lower - when comparing with the equivalent of a ILC.

Interchangeable Lens

Despite the above, I recommend going for an interchangeable lens model. The weight and quality improvements you get with integrated lens are not enough to overcompensate what changing the lens lets you do. If you end up getting more into photography, it’s likely you start to explore different lenses, each with it’s own unique way of rendering the world onto your sensor. This is a whole “side-quest” within your camera journey that is worth exploring.

DSLR or Mirrorless

This is another important distinction that will eliminate a lot of cameras from our plate. It’s all about how we preview the image in the little monitor on top. It’s called an Viewfinder although technically an Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) on Mirrorless cameras. For this all you need to know is that:

DSLR

Digital Single Lens Reflex. The preview works by a mirror which reflects what your lens sees into the Viewfinder. The distinction here is you see what your lens sees so you are unable to preview the image as it will come out after processed by the sensor. I advice against this. They are usually older and bulkier.

Mirrorless

Mirrorless because it lacks the mirror which reflects what the lens sees to the Viewfinder. Here, the Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) previews what your lens sees, PLUS how your sensor renders it. It’s a bit harder on the eye because you are looking at a tiny screen rather than a periscope but for this you get a smaller body and the ability to preview the photo, almost exactly as it will be saved - before you take the shot. This is useful as it lets you do adjustments on the fly, rather than taking a photo and hoping you get it how you would like it (this is possible but usually takes some experience).

How much money do you need to spend

Around 700 Euro, 600 GBP, 750 USD will get you a great first camera and lens combo that is second hand. Double it if you want it new. There are sites like mbp.co m which offer a 6 month warranty makes the buying of second hand stuff, risk free.

Is more expensive, more better?

Generally you get what you pay but luckily when making a decision for any large purchase, the only two things you need to consider are your budget and needs. If your needs are satisfied with less, then go for less.

When it comes to cameras and lenses, the word “quality” is often synonymous with weight. In other words, the more features, the more physical glass within the lens - the heavier the model. This is a problem for beginners who are still fanning the flame of their photography fire and having something heavy will make it inconvenient and will mean you will often leave the camera at home. Do not go for cheap but don’t go for high-end either.

Sensor Size

We’ve discussed that our camera needs to be a mirrorless model, but within the mirrorless type, there are two types (simplification) of sensor size. The size of the sensor effect the light gathering potential and the size and weight of the body. When the sensor has more light, it’s usually a happier sensor and can produce a better quality image. There are many caveats to this so I will make a simple distinction for you to progress easier.

Full frame

Arguably the “best” image quality but not important if you are just starting out. This is because they are usually bigger, require bigger lenses and more expensive. It's a long and expensive lesson to learn that objectively the “best” may not be the best for you. I would steer away from getting it as your first camera. You could make arguments for it though.

Crop sensor

A crop sensor is another way if saying “smaller than full frame” in other words, the full frame size had been cropped. There are two sizes (simplification) of cropped sensors.

Full frame refers to the frame of a 35mm piece of film with dimensions of 24 mm x 36 mm. Prior to digital cameras, this was a very popular format (although not the first.) When you think of analogue photography, you most probably think of this format. The full frame digital sensor is the same size as an analogue film frame would be.

APS-C

Size: 25.1 mm x 16.7 mm

A good compromise between size and maximum “quality.” I recommend this for beginners. As well as the next one down.

MFT (Micro Four Thirds)

Size: 18 mm × 13.5 mm

If you are getting your camera because you want to primarily shoot landscapes, then avoid MFT. This is because landscapes feature a huge range in dynamic range in the scene which the smaller MFT is not best suited for. It still does a good job, and a beginner would be totally satisfied with it - but if landscapes are 100% your thing, then it makes sense to go to for at least the APS-C sensor size.

If you want to shoot anything but landscapes, then MFT is an attractive format because you can get a really light body.

Which tier; budget, midrange or high-end.

I recommend Midrange. High-end would be throwing money away and most likely increasing the difficulty curve of the experience. The budget option, would likely give you a hampered experience in the other way.

Do I need to get the newest and latest.

New cameras are coming out every year. This is a good thing because it means for most people, a camera with enough features for them came out several years ago, meaning you could get the maximum features you could ever want in an older model which would be cheaper for you.

Do I need a lot of Megapixels?

More Megapixels let you digitally zoom more without seeing the underlying pixels which make up the image. Too many Megapixels and you file sizes would be massive, require a serious machine to edit, and mean you would have to spend more time compressing them before you can send them to people on WhatsApp or upload them to Instagram. For reference: the jpegs my Fujifilm X-T5 makes are 40 MB. It's given me lots of headroom for cropping but overkill for beginners. For a beginner 16-26 Megapixels is enough.

There is a perceptual law when it comes to megapixels in that if the image is small enough in your eye’s field of view, then more pixels doesn’t offer image quality advantages. It also works the other way: if the image is printed big, you usually stand far back enough to be able to appreciate the whole thing.

What other features should I look out for?

It depends on what you want to shoot. If you're a beginner, you probably don't know what interests you most.

Autofocus type

If you are getting your camera to shoot mostly portraits. It makes sense to steer away from Panasonic. Until 2023, they didn't have a auto focus technology called Phase Detect. This is important to have when shooting faces. You could still get by without it, I didn't need it and I shot a lot of portraits, but since it's very useful and ALL other manufacturers have it - if you're exclusively shooting portraits it makes sense to go for another brand.

Camera controls

There are two popular ways of controlling the basic settings on your camera. These are what distinguishes a camera ‘body” from a smartphone.

PASM

Stands for Program, Aperture, Shutter, Manual. This is what most manufacturers use. Each stands for mode which a user may enter by turning the dial to it's position.

Want to let the camera choose for you? Go to P.
Want to control the aperture? Go To A.
Want to control the shutter speed? Go to S.
Want to control everything? Go to M.

Dedicated Shutter Speed dials

Mostly seen on Fujifilm and Leica. These give the impression you are shooting on an analogue camera which also have dedicated shutter speed dial with values ranging from 1 second to 1/1000th of a second and higher.

Some Fuji models (“X-T” series) even have a dedicated ISO dial. If you enjoy a tactile experience where you can look at physical dials rather than the screen showing values - Fujifilm would be a good fit for you. It can be more confusing to a beginner but it’s something you will learn about anyway.

A word on size

The bigger and heavier the camera, the more it’s going to feel like a chore to take it out with you. but taking it with you everywhere and taking photos daily is the best part! it’s how you will most improve which is incredibly gratifying. i recommend your camera and lens combo to be around 400 - 600 grams if you can. going too small however will likely make it more uncomfortable to shoot with because of the space saving, you could end up pressing multiple buttons because everything is so compact or you might end up wishing there were more buttons.

In summary

Most people would do well to get an interchangeable lens camera with a cropped sensor. Look for something in the 700 Euro, 600 GBP, 750 USD range, with around 16-26 Megapixel. It shouldn’t be too big or heavy either, on either side of 500 grams is about right.

If you’re getting your camera to primarily shoot landscape - steer clear of the MFT sensor size.
If getting your camera to shoot portrait primarily - steer clear of Panasonics models released before 2023.

It makes sense to spend 25-50% of your budget on the lens because that's where the image quality comes from.

Click here to go to part two where I will help you pick your first lens.

Picking your First Digital Camera (Part 1/2)