Camera Recommendations
I’ve had many people over the years ask about camera recommendations. I’ve typed up this message to share and address several topics.
Initially, I strongly recommend people with an iPhone 10 or newer to take photos in ProRAW format and edit them in Adobe Lightroom on their iPhone. Most people consider buying a dedicated camera because they want their images to have a certain look, but that look is primarily based off of editing the image. Adobe Lightroom is free for the iPhone. If you buy a $6,000 camera, but don’t edit the images, they will look worse than something straight out of the iPhone. Some images on my website and Instagram were shot on iPhone.
Once you’ve familiarized yourself with editing and a level of file management in Lightroom you could expand to a dedicated camera. I’ve used Canon, Sony, and Nikon over the years but I end up always recommending a Canon camera. I prefer the color science of Canon and feel like it has the best looking skin tones.
My first dedicated camera was a Canon 70D. You can buy a used Canon 80D on eBay for around $600. If you’re willing to spend more I would recommend a Canon R6 Mark I for around $1,700 on eBay. The topic of lenses gets really specific to the camera body so I wouldn’t be able to recommend any until you picked the body first. Generically 50mm to 85mm is used for portrait. 18mm to 35mm is used for landscape. 70mm to 200mm is used for sports. (eBay links may be expired)
When you narrow down your options let me know what other questions you have. I’d be happy to help. If you give me an idea of your budget I could recommend something more specific.
Here’s a list of some of the gear I have:
1.) Canon R5
2.) Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 IS STM