My sister bought a used camera a few years ago for work purposes. We found that it didn’t really take good pictures, so we didn’t really use it after a while.
At some point, I commandeered it. I wanted to start taking pictures of our travels, cars, random things. I was by no means trying to be a professional photographer, so without any actual training on how to properly use a camera (beyond point and shoot), it took me a bit to figure out what worked and what didn’t.
Here are some lessons from a still beginner photographer, to make future beginners lives a little easier (note: these are purely for beginners/casual photographers, if you want to be a professional and make money off of your photography, look elsewhere):
The camera body matters way less than the lens
It took me a while to figure out why our used Sony a5100 was taking really grainy, out-of-focus, overall just bad pics. I think we all thought that the camera was just defective and we just needed a new better camera. In reality, I found that the kit lens that came with the camera was the issue. The moment I bought a much better lens, the camera was amazing.
For a beginner and hobbyist, a decent used entry-level body with a great lens will almost always be more cost effective than an expensive new camera body and a decent lens.
The way I think about it, the lens is what brings the information into the camera body for processing. The better the lens, the better the information the camera body will receive, the better the image will be. And to be totally honest, as a hobbyist, you’re not gonna be able to tell the quality difference between a used camera with an above average lens and a great camera with a mid lens.
Closely consider the lens you’re buying
NOT ALL LENSES ARE THE SAME
This is obvious but also needs to be said. The first new lens I bought was a 30mm f/1.4 prime lens. The lens was awesome, but the issue was that I didn’t realize that prime lenses don’t zoom!
Here are the only 2 lens types that matter for beginners:
- Prime Lenses – lenses with a fixed focal length
- This is a lens type that doesn’t zoom, you have to zoom with your feet (you gotta move)
- They are usually sharper since there are less moving parts, GREAT for portrait photography and getting background blur
- Apertures are usually wider (ex. f/1.4) so good for low light
- Lighter and usually cheaper
- You’ll know it’s a prime lens if the focal length is just one number instead of a range (ex. 30mm)
- Zoom Lenses – lenses with a variable focal length
- As the name suggests, this lens does zoom
- Versatile, convenient
- Heavier than prime lenses and usually more expensive
- You’ll know it’s a zoom lens if the focal length is listed as a range (ex. 30-70mm)
I currently am rocking 2 lenses interchangeably: the aforementioned Sigma 30mm f/1.4 prime lens, and a Sony 28-70mm f/3.5-5.8 zoom lens.
Please make sure you’re buying the right thing for what you want to do, even bad lenses cost like $350 each. Buy used and make sure you’re buying a lens that fits on your camera. A Sony E-Mount lens is not compatible with a Canon.
Balance the Photography Triangle: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO
To make pictures look good, you gotta balance 3 things: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO.
All three refer to exposure (basically how light or dark your image looks) and is commonly referred to as the “exposure triangle.”
- Aperture (f-number) controls how much light your lens lets in and how much background blur you get. Lower the number the more light that’s let in.
- Shutter speed controls how long your camera’s sensor is exposed to light (motion blur vs. frozen action). Will be expressed as a fraction (ex. 1/250). The smaller the fraction, the more light gets let in (ex. 1/30 is going to let in more light than 1/250)
- ISO controls how sensitive your sensor is to light (raising it brightens photos but adds grain). Higher the number the more light is let in.
Play around with these settings manually. Don’t be afraid to take 20 versions of the same shot just to see what happens.
Don’t be afraid to mess around in Lightroom
Editing is always fun! Not all pics are going to look good straight off the SD card, you gotta punch it up in lightroom.
Start small: adjust exposure, contrast, white balance, and sharpness. Learn how color grading works. Then experiment. Editing is where your personal style starts to form. The key is to enhance what’s already there, not replace it.
I think that the best way to learn is to just start doing something. I’m a huge fan of FAFO. I just hope by reading this blog you’ll save yourself some money, because honestly buying the wrong thing in this hobby is devastating and very expensive.