PHOTO ANTHEMS BLOG: Entry-Level Camera Options and Possibilities

23 October 2019

Entry-Level Camera Options and Possibilities

I was recently asked about options for a beginner-level camera from someone looking at the Canon 4000D camera bundle for under $400 on Amazon. Is it a good camera? Will it work? Easy Answer: It'll work. But we're not here for the easy answer, because the more accurate answer is: It depends... and there are better options out there available to you.

Okay, let's talk about the Canon 4000D. First, it's a Europen edition. The North America equivalent is the Canon Rebel T100. Same thing, just different nomenclature. You may want to check out warranty issues with it. It's about as bare-bones as you can get and still call it a camera. It's an 18-megapixel respectable sensor. It launched in early 2018. It's got 9 Auto Focus points. ISO can natively reaches100 to 6400.

Can you do work with this system? I can not tell a lie. Yes, you can. I'll say that conditioned that you couple it with a 50mm f/1.8 lens. The one it comes with is not a particular favorite of mine. In fact, when I worked at the camera store, I sold not a single Canon 18-55mm lens. So if yours broke and you came in to get a new one, I'd sell you a Tamron equivalent for less money OR, if you insisted on the same lens, I'd refer you to another sales associate.

As far as the bundle of stuff it comes with, keep the SD card, toss the rest of it. The two auxiliary lenses (the teleconverter and the wide-angle), you can toss those. Those things are trash. That cheap-ass tripod. Toss that too. That flimsy thing should not be trusted to hold anything over $50 on it. The colored filters, you'll never use them toss that too. Keep the bag and the SD card. Toss the rest. Those are throw-away items that are usually so cheap, their true worth is not in selling them, but rather giving them away to help sell other products.

So back to my initial thoughts on better options.

The DSLR is on its way out. I'll start with that. The Canon 4000D is a DSLR camera whose technology has been superseded by Mirrorless tech. Demand for sales has SIGNIFICANTLY DROPPED for these types of cameras and thus the prices have dropped. Smartphones have been responsible for the biggest chunk of this decline. But they still do work and if you still need a cheap one, I'd say the Nikon D5300 is a much better option than this Canon Rebel. Just to begin with, it's 24MP. It's an older camera, but still out-performs this one with 39 Auto Focus points and ISO capabilities of 100 to 12,800. If you can swing the D5600, that one comes with an LCD screen that swivels around which is great for selfie video or YouTube work. You may have to google and search for one. With respect to entry-level systems, Nikon is the better option. So, if you want to stick with the DSLR, this is my recommendation.

Here's what I like. Mirrorless camera sales are on the rise. Mirrorless is a much better option than the DSLR. I have shot on Mirrorless cameras for close to 5 years now and have not looked back. So what Mirrorless system do I like?

“Mirrorless over the last two years has gone from about 20 percent of the overall market to almost 40 percent,” Lev Peker, chief marketing officer at New York-based photo retailer Adorama, told Digital Trends. “This has been due to tremendous innovation by Sony which has benefited the most from this increase and, according to [consumer behavior research group] NPD, became the second largest camera seller last year.”

Compare Panasonic G7 vs Canon 4000D.
I'm going to go with two in particular. The Panasonic G7 is the first fave of mine. This camera employs the smaller Micro Four-Thirds size sensor at 16MP, but is such an amazing camera that will do 4K video as well. In the above link, you can get this for $500 WITH an additional lens with the INSTANT REBATE. I owned this camera until I went with Sony systems that also did 4K. It's got so many great features that it's hard to NOT get your shot.

Compare Canon 4000D vs Sony a6000.
The overall best you can get would be the Sony a6000, for $600, which is likely the most successful camera ever made. It came out about 5 years ago. The camera has been upgraded 4 times and yet is still currently available for sale on the Sony site. It's small, 24MP, shoots 11 frames per second, 179 Phase-detect Auto Focus points, (compared to the Canon 4000D's 9!), an ISO range of 100 to 25,600 natively, and a tilting LCD screen. AND you can control this camera with your iPhone and use the iPhone as an LCD Monitor for the camera. I got this for my ex-girlfriend then upgraded her to the a6300. I currently shoot with the a6500 as a complementary camera to my Sony a7RII, which is 4 years old. I'm considering upgrading BOTH cameras at the end of the year to the Sony a7R4 and the a6600.

Beyond that, there are soooo many more advantages to a mirrorless over the DSLR. You will learn more and have more capabilities with Mirrorless. These links will help explain DSLR vs Mirrorless.

1. What is a Mirrorless Camera?
2. What are the advantages of Mirrorless over DSLR? (17 min video)

If you can hold off for Black Friday deals, or Cyber Monday discounts... wait and see what you can get these cameras for. Or maybe Christmas deals. In addition to that, I STILL recommend additional lenses, at least ONE that has an f-stop of 1.8 or 1.4. I like the Sony FE 50mm 1.8 ($200) for the Sony system, but for the Panasonic, you'll need the 25mm 1.7, for $150.

The additional lenses I recommend will give you the ability to photograph in lower light, but more importantly, it extends your creativity with better shallow depth of field capabilities and these are the least expensive ways of doing it. There are more options available, but can be more costly. And again, see about the holiday deals that will come up soon.

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23 October 2019

Entry-Level Camera Options and Possibilities

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