Ahhh the camera. Which one do you get? Im not exaggerating when I say that you can take a masterpiece on a iPhone and even a disposable. You can get some great compacts nowadays but saying all this : once you make that move up to SLR , it all changes ; you can never go back!!
The fact that you can interchange lenses in addition to the options that you simply cannot get on a compact make SLRs the weapon of choice. Examples of lenses include portrait, wide, ultra wide, zoom , macro and fisheye ; all for completely different outlooks and purposes.
As for the many companies out there – Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Olympus, Lumix and Sony ; Ive grown up on Nikon cameras – Nikon d40, Nikon d90 and currently Nikon d700. Obviously Nikon and Canon are the best two out there (within a reasonable or more reasonable price range!), but the others are serious competitors. In some cases the camera bodies may even be better than the top two , but I cannot help but feel that the Canon and Nikon lenses are superior. Remember that camera bodies come and go, but lenses retain their price. Expensive lenses are better than expensive bodies.
The camera I would recommend for a beginner photographer would be a Nikon D3100 or any of the 500 pound or less canon eos cameras. The kit lens ( either 18 – 55, 55 – 200 or variants) that come with the cameras will more than suffice at the start. The photos you produce will make you happy.
My recommendation however would be to skip straight to a portrait lens (35mm) with a high aperture (f number e.g. 1.4/ 1.8). This is how ‘open’ the lens can be and thus how much light is let in. This gives rise to the blurry background photos that you see professionals take. The photos you take with this lens will be twenty times better than with a zoom lens and you will be surprised as to why you didn’t take the portrait lens route in the first place.
Whichever camera you get, just get to know it inside out, get used to it, and learn it. You will then be ready for any situation whether it be taking photos of sport, children, animals, concerts or weddings. The general settings you will need will be explained in the following chapters.
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