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Old 2014-09-01, 6:43pm
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fjbremer fjbremer is offline
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Join Date: Sep 18, 2005
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Both Canon and Nikon have really good mid-level cameras sold as kits that include a couple of lenses. Being more familiar with Canon, their "Rebel" series a typical kit is a 12 megapixel camera with a 18mm to 50mm zoom lens and a 70-300mm zoom. That is plenty of range for most purposes especially while learning and the camera has all the basic features. A kit runs $700 to $800 depending where you buy it. They are in all camera stores as well as Costco, Sams, Best Buy etc. If you have a good camera shop close by they are usually very good places to buy. May be a bit more money but all the free help and advise is worth it.

One confusion is sensor size. There a "full" sensors (same as original 35mm film) and "cropped" sensor. The Rebels are cropped sensor. There is a great debate of the benefits of one versus the other. Ultimately there might be some benefits in the more expensive full frame sensors especially when creating large images from original photographs. But unless his classes specifically require full frame cameras, the cropped sensor should be fine. And the full frame cameras are more expensive by several hundred dollars.

There are better cameras for more money as there are also better lenses. But this level camera will get him up and running. We've used a 12 mp Rebel for several years and have been very happy including prints up to 16x20 inches.

As he progresses the rule is put more money in lenses than camera bodies. The more expensive bodies have greater sensitivity, the ability to shoot frames faster, etc. But the mid-range cameras have all the basics. The extra "auto" features aren't that useful. The lens is the eye of the camera and is the second largest contributor to the "mechanical" perfection of the image. Of course the most important part is the photographer.
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