interested in getting into amateur photography.

Hello my name is john. I have wanted to get into photography for

a long time just never had enough information on where to start. I

have been doing alot of reading and asking people that do some

photography on the side. What is a good starting camera for 800

to 1200 dollars? I think I will be more in to landscape and city

skyline photos than portraits. It seems alot of people have a

different brand they like I think because that's what they started

with haha. I have also read what are the essentials for camera

accessories it's a long list! Would appreciate and incite anyone

could give me with helping me pick out my starter camera and

gear.

Thanks ahead of time.

<p>Assuming you're talking digital and not film...a good start is to go to a photo dealer and get some hands on experience with some of the different cameras. Ergonomics is important. Likewise, you should be able to express clearly and concisely what you most want to photograph and whether you want to just have images on your pc and/or share with others, or print things like "photographs" and perhaps murals of your best works. The answers to these questions can help somebody guide you to something within your budget and expectations. At your level, branding is almost irrelevant....everybody has offerings which are very similar in that range. Do consider, however, you may want/need software to post process your images and maybe even a printer or a tripod. If you have a recent smartphone, and have been using that for photography, you can get a real jumpstart on features which may be important to you. If you don't have one, you may just consider one in lieu of a camera...current models are that good. Whatever you decide, keep reading and learning...the field is changing almost daily, and developing a good eye, technique and understanding the basics will facilitate your skill and enjoyment.</p>

<p>With what you want to do, and with your budget, I suggest you go look at two cameras: the Nikon D5500 and the Canon 70D, each with its own brand of 18-55mm lens. See which one feels better in your hands. Buy it, and buy two Sandisk SDHC 32 GB memory cards to load into the camera. As long as you have a computer on which you can look at your photos, you almost don't need anything else at the start. If your computer doesn't have an SD card reader, buy one, but don't spend more than about $15.</p>

<p>If you live in the U.S. and you don't have a good local camera store, buy online from Adorama, B&H or Samy's Camera. That will mean you can't try the camera before buying, but you can return a camera that you don't like. If you are buying locally, check the prices against those from the online stores I mentioned.</p>

<p>I'm leaving out a lot, and there are many other cameras and lenses that are also reasonable, many other kinds of memory cards that would work fine, but these choices will serve you very well.</p>

Thank you both for your advice. I am not going to buy a camera

for about another month should give me some more time to look

at cameras and read some more. Do any of you suggest any

books to buy for beginners on photography?

<p>Light, Science, & Magic is a great one for understanding the role, measurement, and manipulation of lighting as it applies to photography. Another I've always liked, after getting my original copy from my local library. is John Hedgecoe's "The Photographer's Handbook", which has over 1250 illustrations explaining many of the nuances of photography to beginners and advanced amateurs.</p>

<p>$800 - 1200 for the first kit or just the camera body?<br>

I'm no shopping expert. - Stephen's advice seems sound (although probably not what you asked for.) <br />- If you really aren't that interested into people, your camera recommendations shift a bit. - For moving folks I'd suggest Canon, Nikon, recent Sonys and the better Olympuses. (I own none of these). <br>

Land- / cityscapes can be done with really anything on the market. -I'd recommend taking a look at Pentax. They have lower budged DSLRs claiming to offer weather proofing, have the optical image stabilisation built into the camera body (which saves cost for quality lenses). Their autofocus performance limps behind the previously suggested brands but is OK for landscapes and even people in daylight. (Yes, I own a shelf full of seasoned Pentax gear).<br>

If your piggy bank regrows rapidly, I'd go for an used K20D with kit zoom and toss in the excellent 12-24mm next, followed by something on the long end. <br>

As an alternative you could go for a contemporary body with as long a zoom as affordable. <br>

The important parts are:</p>

<ul>

<li>Nail down what you are after (even results' size wise!).</li>

<li>Figure out what you'll be willing to carry. The Pentaxes are comparably light DSLRs as are the advanced entry models by Canon / Nikon (D5000something series) with a moderate travelers' zoom like 18-x>80mm. They are quite portable; i.e. I wouldn't necessarrily leave one at home because I'm planning to do a moderate groceries haul. But once you reach the point of buying the full kit of lenses, things change. I'm maybe not at all saving up for a Nikon with 70-200mm f2.8 zoom, because I know how unwilling I'd be to carry it around. Wide zooms are unfortunately neither ultra light nor compact. Pentax offer a tempting 15mm f4 220g prime though. - In the long run, with other systems it might make sense to plan a full frame body for the (ultra)wide lens(es). - The plain jane one might be sufficient. - Nikon D600 / EOS 6D for example.</li>

<li>Mirrorless camera systems might work for you, but have either their quirks or their price tags, sometimes less appealing lens lines. - Looking at Fuji and Sony might be worth it. - Keep in mind: they gain weight advantages via smaller batteries and lighter bodies but a good lens tends to weigh the same for a given sensor size, no matter who made it. (Exceptions exist but outside your price range and for confusion's sake unfortunately in both directions.) </li>

<li>Film?? - Has drawbacks, but works as back in it's days... If B&W prints are your aim, give it a thought, but land & cityscapes might benefit from medium and large format gear bulkier than DSLRs.</li>

<li>Books: I'm reluctant to suggest purchases. For the reasons: An author needs a while to get to know what he is writing about; so anything famous and recommended doesn't deal with your <em>contemporary</em> shopping dilemma. It is especially close to impossible to give an insight in brand choices, when the new mirrorless brands release <em>milestones</em> every year. - OTOH: there is stuff that hasn't changed much since the late 70s, so it could be OK to simply borrow from friends & family or your library, spend small change on a yard sale... Something dog eared "Better pictures with the *never heard of* system" should give you already some insights and inspiration and you can probably skip the $30 for the *your purchase* specific rewriting of it. A backpack full of elderly photo magazines does a similar job. From my experience reading hand me downs: The not recent gear related content gets repeated after 3 years.</li>

<li>For shopping decissions check out: dpreview.com</li>

</ul>

Thanks for the input. For now I think I am just interested in shooting landscape and architecture. I do not know about filming. I do not have a

camera shop close to me but do have a couple photographers that I could talk to about shooting and some cameras. What about lenses?

Are there a couple I should start with? Thanks again