A lot of friends, family and people I have met on the Internet often ask me for advice on what sort of camera they should buy so they can take “good pictures.”

It’s a complicated question, and the best answer is to start by examining your goals as a photographer as well as the budget you’ll be working with. Someone who is going to travel a lot and take casual photos of their experiences along the way will have different needs than someone who wants to shoot wildlife or rocket launches. On the other hand, portrait photographers have different needs than serious landscape shooters. All of us have a certain amount of money we can devote to a camera, lens(es) and accessories like a good flash.

Some gear is better suited for video, while other cameras are best at stills. For example, I’d never take a GoPro to a fashion shoot, but I would wouldn’t take a medium format studio camera whitewater rafting either. Fortunately, there are cameras that do both things pretty well and these days there’s a lot of choices out there.

Professional photographers obviously have very different needs and standards than someone who’s a casual amateur or even a dedicated hobbyist. With that in mind, I think there are three classes of photography equipment: amateur, prosumer and professional, with costs going upwards with each step. This article is geared towards the amateur and lower-level prosumer.

I’m going to assume here that you want more than a pocket camera with roughly the same specs as a flagship cellphone — they take decent photos, but will never compare to the capabilities of a high-end DSLR or mirrorless camera no matter what the cellphone makers tell you.

First Things First: Your Budget

Ask yourself the most basic and perhaps difficult question: how much money can you spend to make a photography investment? Not many people are wealthy enough to buy a $10,000+ Leica camera or a ~$6,000 top end Sony, Nikon or Canon mirrorless rig. A few more than that can afford to buy a $2500 Canon EOS R6, but most folks will want to spend a lot less than that.

Think about your skill level — a moderately skilled photographer doesn’t really need to have the high-end features that a professional level camera offers, instead, they should probably find something that offers several different modes (manual, aperture priority, shutter priority, etc.) as well as decent autofocus capability.

Other factors come into play too: since cameras are expensive, they should not be fragile. The camera should be rugged, but unless you are a professional it doesn’t need to be rugged enough to work properly in truly extreme conditions like the the top of Mount Everest…there’s a point where good enough is good enough and you have to decide what that level is, for you. I once had an experience where I visited a famously photogenic national park for the first time, and the mode dial on the camera inexplicably broke. While I was able to take photos, I was severely limited. It soured me on the brand, because it already had a reputation for being a bit fragile and it happened to me at the wrong time. Lesson learned, and I pay attention to durability now.

As A Rule:

Camera bodies drop drastically in value over a relatively short time, so buying too much camera is a waste of money, considering that you’re probably paying for features you never use.

Camera lenses, on the other hand often hold their value well if they are kept in good shape. That’s especially true for higher-quality lenses that have superior specs.

Think Long Term
Before setting your sights on a given camera model, take a step back and take a hard look at platforms and brands.

What I mean is that you are about to take a relatively expensive step, and more than likely you are going to economically “marry” a brand by purchasing lenses and possibly other dedicated accessories. Decide if you want to go mirrorless now, or remain in the DSLR lineup, knowing that the technology is effectively on its way out the door over the next decade. Decide what range of lenses you ultimately want: perhaps a wide-angle for landscape photos, maybe a super-telephoto for wildlife, probably a mid-length zoom for most other things. Are those lenses available in different quality ranges?

Me, I am effectively married to Nikon, for better or worse. It’s been a good photography marriage for the past 30-35 years so no complaints — Nikon has always made solid products that are a good value. Dumping them wouldn’t be an easy thing short of an unlikely windfall of cash into my bank account. I simply have too much money invested in Nikon gear to just start over, even if I sold everything I have for that system.

Once you have an investment in an array of lenses, it becomes very expensive to change to another camera brand that uses different mounts. And even within some brands (Nikon) there are now different lens mounts (F versus Z) that are native to DSLR or mirrorless cameras. There are adapters for Nikon F lenses to Z camera bodies, but they are at best a compromise. The F to Z adapter makes a F-mount lens remarkably slower to focus than a native Z-mount equivalent, but in most cases, that’s not too much of a problem for my style of shooting. Worst case, I’ll manually focus and work around the slower focusing lens.

While I personally use Nikon, I also believe that other companies — Canon, Sony, Olympus, even Panasonic and Fujifilm all make great camera systems. Nikon works best for me right now, but your mileage may vary. Canon might be best for you. Maybe Sony. It’s all about what fits your hand, your goals and your budget.

I do caution folks to avoid listening to brand cultists, that is, folks who say the system they use is the best and that others are crap. What works for them may not align with what works for you, and by the nature of their arguments, they are telling you that they are closed-minded. That’s probably not the best person to get advice from.

Cameras Come and Go But Lenses Usually Stay The Same

Bodies come and go, but lenses tend to stay much, much longer than bodies. I’m still using lenses that I got during my Nikon D100 days, others I got when I had a Nikon D2X, and they work just as well on my D750, some five-odd generations later. And with a Z-mount adapter, they still work on my mirrorless. And, to a lesser extent, some of the really old manual focus lenses that I have left over from my F3 film camera still work, albeit for special applications like astrophotography. (They are definitely not good every day lenses now, given the lack of automatic features.)

One way to look at it is like this: digital camera bodies are like a huge pile of film — enough film for, say, 100,000 photos. When you use all that up, you’ll go get another pile, or, in this case, another digital camera body. That number may be far lower, say, 50,000, but you get the idea. Camera bodies have a lifetime.

Lenses, on the other hand, can presumably last far longer than that. Save for lenses that have built-in focusing motors they are far simpler than camera bodies. You’ll keep one for maybe 1,000,000 cycles…or more. Good ones can cost a good percentage of a camera body, and really good ones far more than that. A mid-range Nikkor 200-500mm zoom goes for a little over a $1000 now.

A high end lens, the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR Lens sells new for a whopping $16,299.95 — or, roughly three times the price of Nikon’s most expensive digital camera bodies, the Nikon Z9, which is currently selling for $5,496.95. While that is an extreme example, even common lenses located squarely in the middle of Nikon’s specs are well north of $1,000. Pick up four of those (not uncommon) and your total lens investment is far beyond the price of the most current camera bodies. Good thing they last a lot longer!

Once You Have An Investment, It’s Difficult to Change

I once did a cost analysis of what it would take to replicate the body, flash, wireless remote firing system and lenses with equivalent Canon gear, and even purchasing everything but the body used shocked me. It was into the five figures, and flying that number by my wife would have resulted in a “forget it, not going to happen” reply.

Try Before You Buy

All said, take a look at who’s making solid gear now and who is poised to remain on the forefront in the future. Who has the best range of cameras, lenses, and accessories? What system are you the most comfortable with?

DPReview.com is a good place to get information (NOTE: Amazon closed them in 2023), but it may be worth spending a bit of money to rent a camera/lens combo for a weekend to try it out to see if it is a good fit for you. Your local camera shop, if you are lucky enough to have one, may be able to help you there, or borrowlenses.com or other similar places if not. Give the camera a good test drive, shoot with it in as many common photo scenarios (for you) as you can and form your own opinion about the kit. Be picky, take notes and think about it before pulling out your credit card and making a major investment.

When you do that, works best for you and your goals should make itself clear. Happy shooting!