Photography - 7 things to consider when buying a camera

Starting out as a beginner photographer is exciting. You've decided to make the step up from your smartphone camera, and the first thing you need to do is actually purchase a camera. 

Cameras can be a considerable investment, and with just so many choices and options it can be a daunting prospect. Luckily for you, I've just been through this, and talking as a beginner, to beginners, I will share my perspective and experiences. Hopefully I can help you find the right camera for you so you can start enjoying taking photos.

I shall touch on things such as:

• Types of Camera
• Key things to consider when selecting a camera
• My own camera and lens selections

In case you are wondering how this fits in with my Japanification, well I want to be able to take good photos for my blog!

Taken using an old phone camera. A real camera would deal with the tricky lighting better as well as more detail.

Taking up photography

I've always enjoyed taking photos with actual cameras. I was never really serious about it, not even at a hobby level only having owned various point and shoot cameras over the years. Joy was found in the  artistic aspect of seeing something and envisioning how I wanted to frame it, then actually trying to realise the shot. My skills with a camera were poor but I felt my composition, the eye for a shot, was decent.

The rise of phone cameras, being able to easily produce good photos due to their ever improving computation wizardry made everyone become a photographer. That put me off photography completely for quite sometime, as I too would use my phone too and it just wasn't fun. My phone is a tool and even if it does take good photos when viewed on small screens, it lacks the magic, the tactile feel of using a device that's sole purpose is to take pictures.

Phones have made it incredibly easy for someone to take good photos, but they really cannot take exceptional photos, despite what someone with a flagship phone that has never used a proper camera or pixel peeped their pictures will tell you.

I am by no means a photography expert, Like I said, I'd only had point and shoots and a couple of bridge cameras previously. When our Daughter was born this year I decided I wanted to get a proper camera and take proper photos, and my, what a process it is researching cameras and trying to actually pick one.

In my naivety I used to think that the two most important specs of a camera were the Megapixels and Zoom X. I'm probably not the only one as those two specs are often front and centre printed on the camera and mentioned in the marketing guff on low end cameras. You may recall before the advent of the phone camera that the marketing was very much, 'the more megapixels the better' with manufactures one-upping each other on how many pixels their cameras had.

Sony RX100 VII - a sophisticated premium point-and-shoot

Types of Camera

 Current offerings of cameras break down into two broad categories:

• Point and Shoots - I'm referring to the tiny pocket cameras that used to be abundant. Nowadays the pickings are slim due to the rise of the phone camera. Models such as the Canon G7X and Sony RX100 are some of the best available but I ruled these out due to their small 1'' sensors and lack of control/flexibility despite being capable in good hands. I'd lump bridge cameras in with point and shoots also, they are similar with small sensors but instead of being pocketable they tend to be large with improved ergonomics and huge zooms. Models such as the Panasonic FZ1000 and the Sony RX10 are great options if you need the zoom and are bang for buck at that. I've left out the Ricoh GRIII because its a fixed focal length (no zoom), though it is a wonderful (and expensive) piece of kit.

• Interchangeable Mirrorless - these are the 'main' type of camera available now. Models range from entry level to professional, various form factors and of course you have an abundance of lens choices available for any system so you can be equipped appropriate to what you are shooting. There's almost too much choice and its a daunting prospect navigating it all. Sensor-wise I ruled out full frame as it's overkill and well out of my budget, leaving APS-C and M43 sensor based systems to choose from. Interchangeable mirrorless is the best place to start as it gives you the space to grow either by buying new lenses or later upgrading the camera and using the lenses you have already collected.

A selection of mirrorless cameras, there are options for every budget

Things to consider when buying

I'll get on to what I actually bought in the next section, but through my process I came up with the key 7 things to consider when choosing a camera as a new budding photographer:

• Budget - This one is self explanatory, but take into account future spending on lenses (which is hard to resist!)

• Lens variety and cost - For an interchangeable lens system this is very important. Some brands have a wider variety of lenses than others, and costs vary too. An important thing to bear in mind is if you upgrade your camera later to a different system, all of the lenses you have already are likely not usable with your new camera, so know you are investing in a given system.

• Sensor size - Budget dictates this to some extent, but for most budget ranges you are only ever choosing between two sizes at a time: M43 vs APS-C or APS-C vs Full frame. All of those sensor sizes will take great pictures, however rule of thumb is a bigger sensor can gather more light, improving low light performance. 

• Screen and EVF - Touch screens are just about standard now, it makes auto focusing on specifics in particular much easier. Some screens are fixed, some are tilting and some are fully articulated so consider what you may be shooting. A fixed screen is more difficult to use, as if you are taking shots above your head, low to the ground or even selfies, well it's not very useable in those scenarios. A fully articulating screen allows multiple angles as well as selfies. An electronic View Finder is useful, sure you can see everything on the screen, but in bright sunlight you may not be able to see at all! Looking through an EVF negates that, with the added bonus that you will naturally hold the camera steadier when shooting with your eye to the EVF.

• Focusing ability - I gathered from my research that if you are shooting a lot of fast moving subjects such as sports or wildlife, Sony cameras have the best autofocus in the business by far. Everything else should be decent still but its more of a use-case priority that might drive a choice here.

• Appearance - If you are spending a considerable amount of money on something, you may want to love how it looks, or maybe you don't, its personal preference.

• Ergonomics - A camera has got to feel good in the hand. The overall size and the grip needs to be comfortable for your hand size without feeling like you may easily fumble and drop it.  Look at the controls, are the ones you know you will use within easy reach? Twin control wheels are handy if you are going to be shooting on manual, and extra customizable function buttons can be useful later too. For a Hobbyist you have to love your camera. If its not enjoyable to use then you are less likely to use it.

Lumix G85 with 12-60 kit lens

What I ended up buying

After a visit to my local camera shop and some touchy-feely of all the models in my price range, followed by a quick look at lens prices, I settled on the Micro Four Thirds system with Panasonic Lumix. I just like the grainy look of the Lumix cameras. I found the menu systems to be easy to navigate also, and the model I landed on, after what felt like a lifetime expedition of research was the Panasonic Lumix G85 (known as the G80 in some countries)

The G85 is a medium sized Interchangeable mirrorless system camera with a M43 sensor, and cost me a little over $1000 NZD combined with a 12-60 kit zoom lens (24-120mm focal length)

The M43 system has a huge variety of lenses from both Panasonic and Olympus that you can use, and some are relatively cheap too. I picked up the 25mm f1.7 Prime to compliment the kit zoom for under $300, which has been great for indoor use and the 50mm equivalent focal length is close to what the human eye sees.

The body and lens are weather sealed so I can shoot in the rain if I wanted to. It also has IBIS which is built-in stabilisation, as does the kit lens, combining for dual stabilisation. I thought this was important to ensure that even if my hands were unsteady it would not adversely affect my shots.

I like the ergonomics, it feels great in the hand with a sizeable grip. It has dual control wheels and lots of customizable function buttons. All of the controls feel nice and premium as does the whole package. It has a good EVF and a fully articulating screen too. 

All in all, everything you could possibly need as as beginner looking to grow.

Compulsory cat photo

And then I sold it 3 months later

I had no issues with the G85 and I still maintain it's a fantastic Camera. The first time I took it outside was on a family stroll with the pram and it just felt too big and conspicuous. I'm quite self conscious about whipping out what looks like a serious camera out even at the local park and just couldn't imagine doing it in a small shop or restaurant whilst travelling (yes I'm one of those people who feels stupid taking selfies in public) The best camera is the one that you have with you, and for me that means it has to be smaller.

So back to another lifetime expedition's worth of painstaking research. This was a bit easier this time around as I knew what features were important to me and what ones are not.

• I needed small, large coat pocket small. 
• I don't need stabilisation. Some people live and die by IBIS according to the internet but after turning it off on the G85 I found it wasn't essential. I'm sure it would be useful in some circumstances, though probably rare for me.
• I don't need weather sealing. Like IBIS, its another nice-to-have that in all honestly I would seldom make use of.
• I still wanted an EVF and a fully articulating screen.

I looked at and ruled out the following for various reasons:

• RX100 VII - expensive, small and very versatile. Concerned about low light performance with its small 1'' sensor and slow lens.
• Sony A6400 - I just didn't gel with it, and the compact lens selection seemed lacking to me.
• OM EM-10 - I really liked this, particularly in the retro silver and the control layout was better than any of the cameras I looked at, it was just on the larger size of small for my liking.

The small Panasonic Lumix G100D

What I ended up buying (Round II)

I purchased a camera that I considered right from the start, and that's the Panasonic Lumix G100D. It gets an undeservingly bad rap as Panasonic marketed it as a camera for vlogging, and almost not at all as a stills camera. Lacking IBIS in particular it was deemed a poor option by reviewers. The G100D is an update over the original G100, with improvements to the EVF and the addition of USB-C in-camera charging. 

I can't comment on video, but for stills photography it's a superb option:

• Compact - despite having an EVF hump, it fits in a large jacket pocket.
• Lightweight - with the kit lens it weights in only 25% heavier than the pocketable Canon G7X.
• Updated 20M sensor, the newest Panasonic M43 sensor with improved image processing.
• Fully articulating screen - much higher resolution than the G85.
• OLED EVF - as good an EVF as you will find at this price point.
• USB-C in camera charging and image transfer - making it easy to charge and extract photos just about anywhere.

The only niggles were the single top control dial, and the buttons/control wheel on the back just feel a bit cheap. Not deal breakers by any means.

It comes kitted with the superb 12-32 (24-64mm equivalent) collapsible pancake zoom lens. It weighs only 70g and the image quality is excellent. It is absolutely tiny and an amazing lens for its size. 

I'm wishing I bought this camera initially, but that's part of the learning curve in determining what fits your requirements, and don't beat yourself up if those requirements change.

My compact carry kit

Lens selection

With lens selection you have to consider your main uses, and wether you want additional lenses to cover those situations that you may need occasionally.

For me I can foresee 95% of my needs within the 24-85mm equivalent focal lengths; from wide to portrait, as well as indoor and low light shooting. Bearing in mind I want compact and as few lenses as possible, I now have a set of just two lenses to cover all of my needs.

Panasonic Leica 15mm f1.7 prime lens

Panasonic Leica 15mm f1.7

A very highly rated lens. An interesting equivalent focal length of 30mm makes it a standard wide lens with plenty of creative potential. My favourite focal length is 50mm so I've found it's going to take some getting used to in terms of visualising my composition. Users comment on how this lens is very sharp and also renders colours amazingly. It has a physical tactile clicky aperture ring, which negates my issue on the G100 only having one top control dial, when shooting in manual I set the dial to control shutter speed, as aperture is then controlled on the lens itself. f1.7 means its fast and works well in low light situations. This is my lens for indoor, low light and creative shooting.

Panasonic Lumix G X 14-42PZ lens when extended

Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 14-42PZ f.3.5/5.6

A tiny powered zoom. I'm not really fussed that its powered, for me it's more the tiny form factor and the focal length. 14-42 is 28-84mm equivalent, which fits my requirements perfectly. The kit lens at 12-32 is only a little smaller but with less reach. Users don't tend to rave about this lens as the image quality is good but not spectacular and most prefer a twist zoom rather than powered. For me it's perfect and is my main lens when out and about when I don't know what I may be shooting.

Conversion lenses GMC-1 (left) GTC-1 (centre) and the adaptor ring (right)

Conversion lenses

With the initial launch of the 14-42PZ, Panasonic released a set of 4 conversion lenses that could be fitted to this lens. I managed to pickup two on the cheap ($40 each) to fill those rare use-cases that I may need them - certainly cheaper than buying dedicated expensive lenses that may never get used. The two I have are the macro and the tele. The macro (part number DMW-GMC1) reduces the minimum focusing distance down to 14cm. The tele (part number DMW-GTC1) doubles the focal length from 84mm equivalent to 168mm equivalent. I haven't used these yet, but for $80 and their small size they are worth carrying in the bag.

Having tested these out, I can say they are fantastic value for money given that I won't be using them that much. They do precisely what they say they will do, and for someone who doesn't need to analyse my images to make comments about things like chromatic aberration, the images with these lenses look just fine.

14-42PZ lens with the GTC-1 Tele conversion lens attached

In closing

Hopefully by talking through my own selection process I've helped you consider what you may want or need in a camera. Just remember: The best camera is the one you have with you, and if you enjoy using your camera you will take more photos.

Personally I hope to improve my own skills to the point where I can sometimes make blog posts consisting mainly of photos that readers will enjoy viewing, as well as better photos within my blogs. Most of my posts at the moment have been dredged from my archives that were taken on old cameras or phones!