【Help】I'm designer but newbie in photography, Need Help for buying a Camera.

Nikiyo

Hi guys,

Recently I’m ready to buy a camera before I always use iPhone to taken photos, that’s okay but I want to start a series career you know, go art direction, street shoot, fashion series etc.
I’m a designer, basically, I’m a newbie in the photography field. So I’m indeed a bit confusing about camera choose.
I really need your help and tips.

However, I use the camera mainly for below directions:
* art direction
* street shoot (yeah I love street photography), travel,lifestyle etc.
* fashion shoot, I’m also a fashion style blogger, fashion brands model and also my personal fashion brand model. So I need camera for lookbook something like this.
* taken photo shoot for my work so I can scan to the computer. I draw a lot, make collages, also make some craft object. But the iPhone shoot not very clearly and professionally.
* I’m super love black and white photography. During past time I have taken lots of bw photos via my iPhone. Color photos also my type just more passion for bw tho.


So I have some questions:
1. based on my above directions, do you have any camera recommend?
2. What’s the most and core points when choosing a camera I should consider?
3. my budget is below $1800, $2000 is my upper limit. So is there any good fit camera?
4. Ideally, I’ll take the camera anywhere while I go out or travel, so I know lighter more better. BUT based on my above directions, do you think should I buy an SLR camera or Mirrorless camera？Any camera recommend?
5. I attached some of my fav photography, please forgive my silly question, but is this possible to see which camera they used? I love these style and color tone too much. Here the reference link:

pinterest.com/nikistudio/for-camera-reference/


Well I guess for now that’s it.
Really really appreciate you guys help. Big thanks in advance.
Let me know if you have any question or anywhere not clearly, and sorry for my English :-)

-N

ziggy53

With a firm $2000 cap on the budget, that pretty well determines a recommendation for buying used everything.

With a background in design I will assume that you understand layout and composition, contrast and color coordination as well as color dissonance, separation of subject and background and proper background selection, etc. Hoping that you can both judge and build the scene for your needs.

Lighting design comes from a combination of ambient/available light as well as incident light provided by you, so remember to budget at least a quarter of the total budget for electronic flash, modifiers, stands, etc.

For perspective control that calls for lenses of varying focal lengths. That's where most of your budget should go; with good quality lenses a priority. Good quality lenses generally means large-aperture zooms with a constant aperture through the range of focal lengths, and large-aperture prime lenses.

An excellent source of both cameras and lenses in the USA is at KEH.com. They have a good assortment, fair prices, accurate grading and an excellent guarantee, as well as a fairly generous return policy. The guarantee is currently 365-day Warranty if you purchase before December 31, 2017. After that, the warranty reverts to their standard 180 day warranty, which is still excellent. https://keh.com/shop/warranty-information

I suggest buying either Canon or Nikon just because those are the two most popular brands, meaning that the used supply of cameras, lenses and accessories are the greatest.

The two body models I suggest targeting are the:

• Canon EOS 70D ($749.00 - $619.00, depending on the condition of the body.)
• Nikon D7100 ($698.00 - $549.00)
• (Prices are for USA market.)

Both are middle-line APS-C/DX sized sensor models, and both have rather nice controls and decent autofocus.

Lenses I suggest targeting are:

Standard/normal zoom:

• Sigma 17-50mm F/2.8 EX DC OS HSM (FLD) ($268.00) (Currently only one available for the Nikon mount and none for Canon.) Has stabilization.
• Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8 Aspherical DI II SP IF LD XR (A16) ($175.00 - $248.00) (Currently available for both Nikon and Canon mount.) No stabilization.
• Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8 Aspherical DI II SP VC IF LD XR ($238.00 - $299.00) (Currently available for both Nikon and Canon mount.) Has stabilization.
• All of the above are pretty decent performers, and they yield from twice normal field-of-view (wide-angle) through a moderate telephoto.

Combine the above bodies with the appropriate lens and you have the start of a very basic available light system. Use them for a bit and then get back to us as you run into limitations.

Things you will probably eventually want and/or need:

Both shorter (wider view) and longer (more telephoto) focal length lenses.
Lighting for both on and off camera use.

Hackbone

You might want to look at the Sony 6300 or the 6500 with a 35mmish lens. It is a mirrorless system and the electronic viewfinder is fantastic. What you see through the viewfinder is what you get. For the design/blog the camera will send the images to your phone then on to the web. The camera is very small and can be carried with ease.

ProDesigns

Hello, You can go for Nikon D500 with 4K video quality and 20.9 megapiels or Sony Alfa AZZ 2 with 24.3 megapixel. They both are more than enough for your needs.

I Simonius

I'd get a 70D (or 80D if it's out yet) and one canon 'L' zoom lens pref with IS.

I see you have asked this on lots of forums so it will be interesting to see what you finally go with!

Have you checked out DPreview.com? Another great place for this sort of question