The beauty about taking up photography as a hobby is that there’s no age limit to get started. If you find yourself bitten by the shutterbug and are looking to pick up your first camera, zeroing on the right one can be daunting given the sheer number of options in the market. You’ll hear many conflicting reports from professional users, claiming that X brand is better than Y and vice versa. The trick is to decide for yourself what you are comfortable with before you settle on a brand’s ecosystem. Before you go out and buy a camera, there are a bunch of things you should keep in mind before committing to your investment.
DSLR vs. mirrorless
The first hurdle would be to choose between a DSLR or mirrorless camera. In the past, DSLRs were preferred by beginners due to their low cost, while mirrorless cameras were generally quite a bit more expensive. The price gap has closed significantly these days as the mirrorless market has grown considerably, while the DSLR market has shrunk. Canon and Nikon are the only ones still making entry-level DSLR cameras, but the price difference between them and an entry mirrorless camera is not much. Don’t get me wrong, a DSLR is still great for learning the basics of photography and if you can get your hands on one without needing to buy it, nothing like it. But you won’t stay a beginner forever and will eventually want advanced features like higher burst shooting or faster autofocus, both of which most entry mirrorless cameras can provide.
Range of lenses
No matter which type of camera you choose, all platforms should have a wide range of lenses for the camera bodies. If you don’t find a good first-party lens, there are always companies like Sigma and Tamron that make lenses for the popular camera brands like Nikon and Sony. As a beginner though, the kit lens that you get with your camera should be good enough for most purposes. These lenses typically have a zoom range of 18-55mm, and are decent for landscape and portrait photography.
Fixed lens vs. interchangeable lens
The point-and-shoot camera category is pretty much all but dead, so you shouldn’t even bother with those cameras. There are some exceptions though which are worth considering like Sony’s ZV series of vlogging cameras. Some of them, like the ZV-1, are technically a point-and-shoot since it has a fixed lens with zoom, but mirrorless-like camera body and 1-inch sensor should offer good room to experiment. The Sony ZV-E10 on the other hand offers similar functions but with a larger APS-C sensor and interchangeable lenses. If you’re seriously pursuing photography, I’d suggest going for a camera with interchangeable lenses. This gives you plenty of headroom in the future for upgrading the lens to suit the situations. For example, you can slap on a fast prime lens for portrait photography and switch to a nice telephoto when you’re on a holiday or a safari.
Price
This is going to be a big factor when choosing a camera. Like I mentioned before, entry DSLRs will be cheaper but might not be able to adapt in the long run as your skills improve. Mirrorless cameras tend to have a higher up-front cost, but they also have a longer shelf life due to compatibility with more lenses and advanced features which you won’t find in DSLRs.
Consider buying a used camera
Because camera technology doesn’t advance as quickly as, say, laptops or our phones, buying a two to three year old flagship mirrorless camera will still be better than a new equivalently priced DSLR. The used camera market is massive, so look for stores near you which sell used gear and check it out yourself. I’d advise against buying a used camera online as it would be difficult to gauge the condition of the body and any damage it might have sustained.
Form factor and size
A mirrorless camera body is going to be considerably slimmer and lighter than a DSLR, and that’s primarily because of the way these cameras are built. A DSLR is based on the old SLR technology which uses a physical mirror and pentaprism to divert incoming light onto the sensor and viewfinder. A mirrorless camera, as the name suggests, doesn’t have these two components, which is why the body can be made a lot slimmer. One advantage of a DSLR’s body is the comforting grip that it provides, which gives you good confidence when using a larger lens. High-end mirrorless cameras have beefy grips too, but many of the entry-level ones don’t. This can make them a little less ergonomic to use, especially with large lenses or when shooting at off angles.
Battery life
DSLRs typically allow you to capture many more photos on one full charge compared to the mirrorless camera. That’s mainly because a mirrorless camera has to power the display and the electronic viewfinder (if it has one), which consumes battery. On the plus size, most mirrorless cameras these days have USB-C for charging, so they can be powered by a power bank while you use it. Most DSLR batteries need to be removed and charged separately.
Features and performance
Mirrorless cameras have the advantage of offering features like 4K video recording, phase detection autofocus, and built-in Wi-Fi from entry models itself which can be found for under Rs. 60,000. Looking for similar features in a DSLR usually means spending upwards of a Lakh Rupees. If you’re looking to do high burst-rate shooting, recording videos in LOG, good touchscreen functionality for manipulating autofocus, then mirrorless cameras are will offer you superior performance.
Storage slots
SD card slots are the preferred choice here, and most DSLRs and mirrorless cameras support them. SD cards are inexpensive and high-capacity ones are easily available. If you’re getting an older camera from the used market, make sure to check if it supports SD cards. Some cameras even have two SD card slots which is great if you need more storage without needing to swap cards often. You can also set the camera to use the second card as a redundancy and duplicate all the photos, in the rare event that your primary card gets corrupted.
Try before you buy
If you’re still hesitant about buying a camera, renting one would be the best option. There are a tonne of places that offer all types of camera bodies and lenses for rent, either by the hour or per day. This is a good way to use and test how different cameras function, their menus and user interface, image quality, and so on. You’ll have a real-world idea of what it would be like to live with that camera and in doing so, you’ll be able to rule out the ones you don’t like.