Tips for buying a new camera and lens

I get asked this question pretty often, so here's my very short write-up.

Disclaimer: I'm just hitting the highlights and providing my own quick, generalized recommendations and tidbits about photography. It's better to exhaustively research equipment for your specific needs.

General Points

• Worry more about your choice of lens(es) than about the body

• Say you have $1.5k to spend. A $1,200 lens on a $300 body will produce better pictures than a $300 lens on a $1,200 body. Try to find some middle ground.

• You truly get what you pay for.

• The popular namebrands all generally make great products.

• Camera bodies:

Canon and Nikon are both excellent. There is no clear superior company. I prefer Canon. Sony is making some serious strides. Pentax currently has some ~$1,000 bodies that are more rugged than anything else at that price point, yet, SLRs are typically much more durable than you'd imagine. Instead of SLRs, mirrorless cameras are really nifty, too, as they kind of combine the best of both worlds: manual controls and lens interchangeability of SLRs, and compactness of point-and-shoots. Panasonic is currently leading this forefront.

• Whatever camera body namebrand you pick, plan to stick with it because you can't expect your lenses to work with other camera namebrands (e.g., Nikon lenses won't work with Canon bodies.)

• Lenses retain their value VERY well (and may increase in price over time), whereas camera bodies are like computers and degrade somewhat quickly (for example, I bought a new $455 lens from bhphotovideo.com. 3 years later, it was being sold for $490, and I sold it used on eBay for $460. At this moment, it sells on the same site for $579!)

• Cameras do not retain their value well: a entry-level camera body for $800 will sell for ~$250 used in 4 years.

• Used lenses are barely cheaper than new ones. So, unless you find some insane deal from craigslist or eBay, buy new.

• Buy from bhphotovideo.com -- they're 1 of the best companies I've ever experienced.

Lenses

• The key to buying a lens is to pick the focal length you want, then aim for the one with the largest aperture (smallest F/stop number). The aperture is the size of the diaphragm that lets in light. You want the biggest hole (smallest F/ number you can get), which means it let's in more light. This is good because it allows you to shoot in poorly lit conditions like when the sun is setting, and it also allows you the option of creating photos such that the background is nice and blurred out.

• Prime lenses (aka non-zoom lenses) are optically better than zoom lenses. This isn't to say that there aren't some amazing zoom lenses. For example, the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L is a very nice and expensive zoom lens. Yet, at any focal length in that range, Canon makes a prime (non-zoom) lens that is optically superior than what the zoom can produce at that given focal length. Zooms are handy for fast-moving, unpredictable environments like wild life and sports scenarios. See http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Canon-Lenses/Zoom-Vs-Prime-Lens.aspx for more info.

• Canon and Nikon/Nikkor make comparable, excellent lenses. Leica and Zeiss lenses are typically the best that exist. Sigma is a 3rd party manufacturer that makes some great lenses that are on par with Canon/Nikon. I haven't tried Tamron, but they're popular. A moderately-priced (~$700) wide-angle lens that is highly acclaimed is the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8. As mentioned, non-zoom lenses have higher optical quality compared to their counterparts, but for wide-angle shots, zooms can be handy.

• lenses in the 15mm - 24mm range are ultra wide-angle and good for landscapes and interior shooting

• lenses in the 28mm - 50mm range are good for most general-purpose situations

• lenses in the 85mm - 100mm range are good for macro, portraits, and almost telephoto situations

• lenses in the 135mm - 400mm range are good for telephoto, long-away situations

Research

Obviously, you'll read user reviews of the equipment before you buy it. There is no shortage of online literature; however, I find the following resources particularly useful:

• BHPhotovideo's user reviews.
• fredmiranda.com's forums -- incredible community of hardcore photo gear heads.
• the-digital-picture.com's tools -- view actual comparison images taken w/ tons of camera/lenses setups.
• reddit.com/r/photography -- good, diverse community of photographers.
• lensrentals.com -- #1 source for renting lenses. (although, shipping is expensive.)
• calumet -- few locations in the USA. they rent lenses, sometimes cheaper than above.
• pixel-peeper.com -- view sample images that were taking w/ your equipment.
• dpreview -- good review/article site. so good that amazon bought them out in 2007.
• keh.com -- #1 source for buying used equipment. again, buying new is usually worth it.
• table of all canon SLRs and table of all nikon SLRs

Exact Buying Suggestions

To very specifically answer the question of "what to buy with $X money," this is what I'd recommend for the common person (i.e., one who isn't looking to specialize in only food photography or say airplane photography):

If you're willing to spend less than $1,000:

• lens: buy the Canon 50mm f/1.8 for ~$110
• body: spend the rest of the money on the best Canon body you can afford.

If you're willing to spend $1,000 - $2,000:

• lenses: buy 2 lenses: 1 somewhere in the 30mm - 50mm range, and 1 in the 85mm - 100mm range. I highly recommend the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 for ~$450 and the Canon 100mm f/2.8 for ~$480.
• body: spend the rest on the best Canon body you can afford.

If you're willing to spend much more:

• body: buy a high-end full-frame body from Canon or Nikon (they currently cost $2,000+).
• lenses: spend the rest of the money on high-end lenses such as Canon L series lenses. I highly recommend the Canon 35mm f/1.4L and the Canon 135mm f/2.0L, but all Canon L series lenses are great. If you deem 135mm to be too long of a focal length, the Canon 85mm 1.2L and Canon 100mm f/2.8L are also highly acclaimed.  Alternatively, if you prefer wider-angle shots as opposed to telephoto, the Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 II L is a spectacular lens, too.  If you feel comfortable shooting in manual-focus mode, Zeiss makes manual-focus lenses for Canon and Nikon which often outperform anything Canon and Nikon can offer for a particular focal length.  Specifically, the Zeiss 25mm f/2.0 ZE, Zeiss 50mm f/2.0 ZE, and Zeiss 100mm f/2.0 ZE are world-class and unparalleled in performance.  I currently own the first two of these Zeiss lenses and enjoy them immensely!

If money is no object:

• please buy me a Leica body and/or some Leica and Zeiss lenses.

Other Accessories You Might Want to Eventually Buy

• Back-up batteries
• Filters (e.g,. polarizing, UV, ND, etc)
• Remote Shutter Release (they are as low as $5 and allow you to remotely press the shutter, which helps because it shakes the camera less than when touching the button. also very useful for long exposures)
• Good Tripod (at least $150. I highly recommend Benro A-1690 Travel Angel)
• Camera Backpack (I highly recommend the Lowepro Flipside 300)

General Starting Tips

• fully read your camera's manual
• take a LOT of pictures
• think about what you're trying to capture and convey
• learn to shoot in Av and Manual mode
• shoot in RAW mode
• get good/comfortable with a powerful photo editor (I recommend Lightroom)