I’m no expert photographer by any stretch of the imagination, but I do enjoy photography, and I also enjoy gadgets. As a result I spend a lot of time researching and testing cameras every chance I get. Most of my friends know this, so they often ask me which camera to buy. This is a post to answer that question so I no longer have to repeat myself.

Choosing a Brand

Canon & Nikon are by far the largest camera makers and hold the most market share, but Pentax & Sony are just fine. Olympus also makes some really nice cameras, and in my opinion (and others as well) have made the absolute best lenses the last 3 or 4 years. However, Olympus has one problem; they use an image sensor that is smaller than what everyone else uses called the Four Thirds System. In theory the Four Thirds System should have been able to make smaller, lighter, and cheaper cameras, but that hasn’t turned out to be the case. Neither the lenses nor their camera bodies are noticeably smaller. This is why Olympus and their partner, Panasonic, have recently announced a Plan B called Micro Four Thirds. I won’t get into Micro Four Thirds here, but I will say that I feel as though that type of camera is the future of the amateur market. Samsung has already announced a similar system and Canon & Nikon are expected to follow as well. If you want more info on Micro Four Thirds you can find it here.

You will hear a lot of people (especially Best Buy employees) say only buy Canon or Nikon. While it’s true that Canon & Nikon make excellent cameras and you really can’t go wrong with them you simply won’t reap any of the advantages they offer unless you are a professional or are plan on buying professional gear. Meaning, unless you plan on spending over $4,000 on your gear you will not see any advantage to using them over another brand. In fact Pentax makes the best entry level lens out of everyone. Canon, Nikon, and Sony’s entry level “kit” lenses are cheap little plastic things, while Pentax uses a metal mount and a far higher build quality for the same price. Sony and Pentax also offer the advantage of using in-body stabilization. That makes a huge difference in low light photography. With Canon & Nikon you have to buy lenses with it built in, and that can be pricey. I personally chose Pentax to start, but I have recently been planning a switch to Nikon. While that may be the best choice for me, it doesn’t mean it will be for you. In fact if I wanted to spend less than $1500 on all of my gear I would stay with Pentax. However, I am getting to the point where I am prepared to exceed the $2,000 barrier for my set up, and at the time of this writing Pentax simply doesn’t cater to that market.

This paragraph is going to be a small diversion from my recommendations and you can skip it if you understand the difference in full frame and APS-C cameras, but I feel like I should say a little something about it for those who don’t. Old film SLR’s used 35mm size film. All sub $2000 digital SLR’s use smaller format called APS-C. APS-C is smaller than 35mm film, but is still larger than Four Thirds. Canon, Nikon and Sony now have Digital SLR’s that are once again 35mm (also called “Full Frame” cameras), but they will cost you over $2000 just for the camera body. When shooting with an APS-C camera you have to multiply your lens by 1.5 to get the traditional field of view (perspective). For a reference point; to simulate natural perspective for humans on a full frame or film SLR you would use a 50mm lens. However on an APS-C camera to achieve that natural human perspective you will want to buy a 35mm lens instead of a 50mm lens (35 x 1.5 = 52.5mm). See this diagram and article by Bob Atkins if you want more info on APS-C vs. Full Frame. As far as the two sensor sizes go, in my opinion I feel like full frame is the future of the serious amateur and professional SLR market and APS-C is just a temporary stop gap until prices come down on full frame sensors. However, I do think APS-C is just fine for entry level cameras and for those that either don’t care about or don’t understand the differences in the two formats. The bottom line is in the right hands either will produce amazing results.

That aside, here are some generalities about each manufacturer:

Canon Pros and Cons

+ The largest lens selection
+ They are the largest camera maker, and have the biggest budget which should mean better R&D.
+ Their image quality can be outstanding.

- Ergonomics on their camera bodies are worse than Nikon & Pentax if you like to shoot manually.
- Their pro grade “L” lenses are fairly bulky and expensive (but very good).
- Lot’s of times it feels like their cameras are designed by marketing departments instead of photographers. Meaning, they add worthless features such as a “direct print button”. Some things look good on paper but have no real use.
- Have to buy stabilized lenses if you want image stabilization

Nikon Pros and Cons

+ Great ergonomics
+ Really good auto focus on all the cameras except for the D40/D60
+ In general I say they make the best camera bodies

- I’m not a fan of their zoom lenses. I prefer fixed aperture lenses. Which means the lens is the same brightness throughout the zoom range, and Nikon doesn’t make any affordable lenses like that.
- Have to buy stabilized lenses if you want image stabilization
- Can be expensive (just look at the price of the Nikon D300 vs the Canon 50D)

Pentax Pros and Cons

+ An affordable system
+ Have the very best selection of APS-C lenses if you have no desire to eventually get a full frame camera
+ Cameras are extremely well made, most are even weather sealed and water resistant
+ Cameras are designed by people that know how to take photos. Meaning all the functions that a manual photographer needs are in easy reach.

- They have no full frame cameras at the moment, which means you will have to switch brands if you eventually want one. - Small company and was recently bought out by a larger company called Hoya. So who knows what the future holds.

Sony Pros and Cons

+ Very affordable entry level camera with the A200
+ Good ergonomics
+ Huge budget and eager to catch up with Canon & Nikon
+ Sony bought Minolta a few years ago and can still use all old Minotla lenses.

- Seems like they just want to be what Canon already is
- Not as focused on photography as Nikon or Pentax. Meaning photography is obviously just one sector of their electronics empire.
- They use a proprietary hot shoe mount for their flashes. Everyone else uses a universal mount.

My Recommendations

I’ll keep my recommendations under $600 because that was my threshold when buying my first SLR. I will choose a camera body + 2 or 3 lenses. These won’t be the highest quality pro-grade lenses, but they will take photos just fine if you know what you’re doing. If you want high quality glass be prepared to spend $400+ for a single lens. Also, most of these prices are for used or refurbished gear. If you are planning on making this a serious hobby I am a huge advocate of buying last generation gear to start with until you learn what suits you best; especially with the camera bodies themselves. Lenses can retain most of their resale value, but camera body value drops like a brick. For example, I own a Pentax K10D. It was $1300 when it was announced in late 2006. A year and a half later in June of 2008 I paid $600 for one that had barely been used, with an extra $30 battery included. Now, 7 months later, it is only worth around $400. So unless you come across the deal of the century somewhere I’d go directly to eBay.

As much as I like used gear, I wouldn’t go back too far with it. There are certain features I do feel are very important that haven’t been around very long; the main one being a big, bright LCD screen on the rear of the camera. You may not use the LCD to compose photos on an SLR like you do pocket cameras, but it’s still nice to have to review photos with after you take them. So for that reason, aside from the Canon Rebel XT, every camera I list here will have at least a 2.5” LCD screen.

Canon

The old Rebel XT is my least favorite camera here, but it’s the only way you’re getting into Canon for under $600 with a lens or two. I’m just not a fan of the older Rebel’s (pre-Rebel Xsi). To me they felt a little cheap and their view finders where smaller and dimmer than the competition. That is a big deal to me since on SLR’s (even models with live view) you will be peering through the view finder for 99.9% of your photos. That said, they still produce great results.

Option 1
Canon Rebel XT - $250
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II - $80
Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Macro - $120
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II - $90
Total: $540

Option 2
Canon Rebel XT - $250
Sigma 18-125mm f/3.8-5.6 DC OS HSM - $300
Total: $550

Nikon

With Nikon, your best bet to stay under $600 is the Nikon D40. I am personally torn on the D40. On one hand it’s a very light, easy to use camera that takes great photos. However it has one huge glaring weakness, unlike every other camera on my list it doesn’t have a built in motor to power auto focus lenses. That means you have to buy lenses with autofocus motors built in. I personally prefer lenses with AF motors built in because they focus fast and silent, but they do cost more, which is obviously a problem if you’re trying to stay under $600. I also think every person should have a 50mm prime lens in their bag for portraits and low light photography. However, Nikon only makes one 50mm prime lens with a built in AF motor, and its $450, so the only option is to buy their cheaper 50mm prime and manually focus it.

Option 1
Nikon D40 + Nikon 18-55mm Lens - $390
Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6 VR - $190
Total: $580

Option 2
Nikon D40 - $300
Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 - $150
Nikon 50mm f/1.8 - $100 (this lens won’t auto focus on the D40) Total: $550

Pentax

These may be a bit harder to come by, but in my opinion the Pentax K100D Super is the best camera out of this group. It is also the only camera here with a second info LCD panel on top of the camera (that comes in handy). Like the Sony A100 below, it also has image stabilization built into the camera body so you won’t have to pay extra for it in the lenses. Not all is roses though, as I said earlier I think everyone should have a 50mm prime lens in their bag, and unlike Canon & Nikon who both make 3 different 50mm primes for each budget Pentax only makes one; and it is $200. That said; it is still a good deal because it is the same quality as Canon, Nikon, and Sony’s $300 50mm primes.

Option 1
Pentax K100D Super - $290
Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 - $80
Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Macro - $120
Total: $490

Option 2
Pentax K100D Super - $290
Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 - $80
Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4 - $200
Total: $570

Sony

Sony has fewer options since they are the newest DSLR maker, but don’t let that scare you, in 2005 they purchased Minolta and with it all their employees. So the Sony A100 is basically a Minolta with a Sony logo on top. This is the only camera here I have not used myself. However, we purchased my mother a Sony A200 last year for Mothers day and I have been very impressed with it for the price. Plus if you do care about megapixels the A100 has 10. The Nikon D40 and Pentax K100D only have 6, and the Canon Rebel XT has 8. However I wouldn’t worry about that one bit, I have seen 16×20” prints from 6 megapixel cameras that look fine. Plus the 6 megapixel cameras are better in low light.

Option 1
Sony A100 - $300
Sony 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 - $90
Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Macro - $120
Total: $510

Option 2
Sony A100 - $300
Sony 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 - $90
Minolta 50mm f/1.7 - $140
Total: $530

Wrapping It All Up

In conclusion, you really can’t go wrong with any one of these set ups. Any of them will get you started into the world of photography and won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Then after you’ve used them for a year or so and discover what your needs/wants are you can sell the entire kit on eBay for almost what you paid for it and move onto a more advanced camera. Just take a long hard look at the prices and lens selection from each manufacturer and make sure they offer what you think you want at a price you can afford. $600 may seem like a lot for a camera at first, but once you get into photography $600 is only the tip of the iceberg. If you want to take photos of your kids soccer games that look like the images you see in Sports Illustrated then be prepared to pay $700+ for a lens that can do that sort of thing. Perhaps you want to take portraits like you see in magazines? That has more to do with lighting then it the camera. For that I recommend heading over to the Strobist Blog to learn all about lighting techniques. Here is a photo a friend of mine took with a Nikon D40 and kit lens that is magazine quality. The key is lighting. Light is more important than any lens or camera body. So after you select a camera do yourself a favor and learn as much as you can about lighting the scene. Hopefully this helped. If you have any other questions feel free to comment.