IMPORTANT TIP FOR BUYING CAMERA GEAR: AMAZON PRIME!
Before buying any gear, you should get Amazon Prime (free two-day shipping) for six months FREE: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200444170
CAMERA PURCHASE
You will need a camera that has manual settings, or at least Aperture and Shutter Priority modes. You may check out one of the school cameras (for four hours at a time) or buy your own camera. This Point-and-Shoot will work nicely, and you can still use it travel, once you do get a DSLR.
1. BEST POINT-AND-SHOOT CAMERA for under $200 – This one has Aperture and Shutter Priority Modes and takes great shots:
Canon Powershot 500 – Only $159 – 12 mp Camera with Aperture Priority Modes and Full HD Video
2. GREAT DSLR CAMERAS for entry and intermediate levels. If you can afford it, I recommend you get a DSLR when you take this course, so you can learn how to use it! Note, I own both Canon and Nikon, and they are both great. You may want to choose a brand based on what your family/friends shoot with, so you can share lenses and tips:
A. Canon T3 with 18-55 lens for $399
B. Canon T3i with 18-135 lens for $768
(We just purchased 10 of these T3i Kits for students to check out: Sweet camera – Sweet lens, but with only 10, they won’t always be available when you need one. There will usually be enough point-and-shoots on hand to check out. You don’t have to buy a camera, but if you can afford it, the time is now to get a DSLR, so you can learn to use it and practice with it)
C. Nikon 3100 with 18-55 lens for $476
D. Nikon 5100 with 18-55 lens for $660
3. Get a high speed, reputable storage card:
Class 10 SD Storage Card – 8 gb for $8 (or 16 gb for $14)
4. Get a camera bag to protect your gear. This bag is a bargain and perfectly adequate for the DSLRs shown above… if you want a compact bag.
Zeikos Camera Bag for $8 – holds the basic gear without being bulky
Hey! I am good friends with Katie Anderson and am looking to do LOTS of traveling coming up. I want to buy a nice camera take some classes in the near future or maybe even online classesI and was wondering if you had any advice on what kind of camera would be best to buy for a complete beginning but quick learner. Would the cameras above be the best suggestions for someone who is learning? There is also a T4i…is that one better? is there a huge difference between the 3 and the 4? Any advice would be great or even advice on an online course if there is such a thing! Thanks so much 🙂 Kate has inspired me!
– Angie
Hi Angie! Any friend of Katie’s is a friend of mine. Thanks for stopping by my website. As for the Canon, I think they are more user friendly for beginners. As for the T4i, yes! By all means, if you can afford it, I would get it. The T3i is a great camera, and for the price, I recommend it to my students. However if you can pay the extra, the T4i has some awesome improvements. For example, they added a touchscreen. So you can touch the screen in the back and it will focus on the spot you touch. It is so COOL! Also, they added an in-camera HDR that is pretty fun too. It is all about the money though. If you don’t care about the new bells and whistles, then the T3i will work very well. Either way, I think you should get the 18-135 lens. Even if you have to sell the 18-55 lens on ebay and put the money toward the 18-135 lens. It is so versatile and sharp! However, you can buy the kit that comes with the 18-135. Then you won’t to carry around mulitple lenses when you want to zoom. You will spend less and have one all around lens that will do most things. The second lens I would buy is the affordable 50mm 1.8 for $110. That way, you can start getting nice background blur (called bokeh) by shooting with the low aperture numbers (down to 1.8). It is great for portraits and all kinds of things. Good luck with your purchase decisions. I hope this helped? Also, if you click any one of my links to open Amazon… then search for any item after that on Amazon and buy it (even a vacumm cleaner) Amazon gives me about 4% back, which I donate to my students. You still get the same, low price, but it helps me buy cool camera gear that I give away to students like Katie as contest prizes and class equipment. Thanks again and good luck! Let me know what you decided. 🙂
This is a HUGE help!!! I am so so excited for this. The whole camera language is all so new to me! I asked Katie that if I buy a nice camera like hers will i take nice pictures like on her website?! When I asked it it seemed like such a silly question. I play professional basketball and I thought to myself…that is probably like Katie asking me if she bought a nice basketball and sneakers will she be able to play like MJ? haha I know she is so talented and puts in the work and I am looking forward to learning all the techniques and stuff! This is a great start for me thanks so much for the help! And thank goodness you mentioned about the lens! I would not have thought of that!