New Camera for the Wife

gredavin

The wife is really interested in taking up photography as a hobby, perhaps a career if she likes it enough.

She's a total n00b, but has a talent for visual arts and think she'll do well. As a 5 year anniversary gift, I want to help her get started.

For someone starting out, what kind of camera would you recommend? What kind of extra gear? I have no clue whatsoever, and internet surfing is wasting a lot of time because the numbers and features mean nothing to me.

Thanks in advance!

EggyToast

If she's never really done photography, she needs a point/shoot camera. Small in size, no more than 6mp. Why? Because the trick to becoming good at photography is taking a ton of pictures. For newbies, the easiest way to pass that hurdle is to have a small camera that she can keep on or near her frequently.

You can start off on a fancy DSLR, but they're big and you need to really mean to take them with you when you go places. As in, you can just slip them in your pocket or purse so you have it.

gredavin

Ok, I should clarify, she does take photos with our small digital camera (4mp I think), and is pretty good at that and has lots of practise with it.
EDIT: She is also eyeing a non credit photography course for the winter. I assume she would have to supply her own camera.

EggyToast

When's your anniversary? It might be worthwhile to talk to her about the class, and if so, talk to the professor/teacher. Some classes are digital-only or film-only. For instance, my high school has a dark room and a batch of manual 35mm cameras, so the photo class, even now, is film-only. I took the class over 10 years ago.

You can get a manual rangefinder camera on eBay for very cheap. However, if she's serious about photography, and the class is digital-based, a Nikon or Canon DSLR will probably make her very happy. The price range is between 500-1000 depending on how many goodies you add in.

My wife is actually in the same boat as yours, then. She has a 3mp Canon, one that allows for different lenses to be added on, so she has the standard point/shoot but with a telephoto to up the zoom as well as a wide angle for, well, wide angle shots. She really likes it, but she feels that she's limited by her current camera. She's also interested in taking a photography class, so she can justify spending more money on a nicer camera by being more confident in her picture-taking abilties. She's looking at the Nikon D40x, actually.

saltiness

Like Eggy said, you're probably looking at a DSLR if she wants to make a real hobby out of photography. Nikon and Canon are the big players in that category. If you give us an idea of how much you'd like to spend we can specify which models to look at and where to buy it.

gredavin

Thanks a lot for the responses.

I'd be willing to part between $500-750. Oh, and for the record, what is a DSLR?

saltiness

A DSLR is a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera. You probably know what an SLR is, you just don't know the term. You see them all the time at press events or sports events. It's a camera that can take different lenses. Basically you have a camera body that is useless by itself and you have a lens that is also useless by itself. You put the two together and you have a functional camera. This design allows you to use many different kinds of lenses on the camera for different purposes - it maximizes the potential creativity. One important thing to note, however, with a DSLR is that you do not compose the shot using the LCD on the back of the camera like a point-and-shoot. You look through a viewfinder that shows you exactly what the lens is seeing.

Two cameras I would recommend:
Canon Rebel XTi

Nikon D40x

These both come with a basic 18-55mm lens that will be perfect for just getting started with an SLR. As for which one to choose... they're both great cameras. Toss a coin.

Cruix

I agree with the others here, you're probably going to want a DSLR.

If she's seriously looking into it as a hobby/possible career interest, you want to get her something nice to work with. Professional photography is all about knowing how to take a proper picture using settings you just can't get with a simple point-and-click camera.

If she's interested in taking that course in the winter, it might not be a bad idea to see if you could get a hold of the professor and ask him what he would recommend for this situation. Plus it'll be neat to see her face when you tell her you went to the trouble of contacting the professor about it. A+

gredavin

Thanks for the responses, I'll be heading around town over the next few days and inquiring about the cameras you have mentioned.

Cheers!

Gafoto

Read some reviews to get an idea of how the cameras you're looking at function, what kind of features they have, etc. Two best sites for reviews of cameras on the entire intertron are:

http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.megapixel.net/