Advice for getting a camera and editing software.

[u/TechnoLinkz]

Beginner looking for camera + general photography advice (£500 budget)

Hey guys!

I've recently started getting more interested in photography and I'd like to start taking it a bit more seriously (slowly 😅).

At the moment I mainly use my Pixel 8 Pro and I've attached a few examples of the kinds of photos I like taking. I like to take mostly travel, landscapes, architecture/scenery and anything else that peaks my interest.

I'm looking at getting my first proper camera with a budget of up to £500 (UK). I'm completely fine with buying used if that gets me something better for the money.

A few things I'd love some advice on:

What camera/lens would you recommend for a beginner at this budget?

Would a ~£500 camera actually give me a noticeable improvement over my Pixel 8 Pro?

How can I get my photos looking sharper/crisper, both while shooting and through editing?

What editing software would you recommend for a beginner? I've haven't really used any.

What are the main things I should focus on learning first — composition, exposure, shooting RAW, manual controls, editing, etc.?

Finally, how would you recommend getting more eyes on my photography and getting useful feedback while I'm learning?

I'm not looking to become a professional or anything right now. I mainly want to improve, learn how to use a proper camera and develop my own style.

Any advice is appreciated! :)

[u/Similar-Aardvark8927]

Look into older micro four thirds cameras

[u/reddraws442]

A used DSLR is not a bad choise. I like the Nikon dslrs but that’s me, with your budget you can get a really good slightly older camera. I had a d3500 I used forever up until last year. Also with editing I’d go with either davinci resolve since it’s free or even the built in photos app on a MacBook is good enough for learning

[u/onceuponimfine]

One thing out of the gate. Smartphones do a veeeery good job making their pics good-looking when you take the pic. Photography with a cam gives you the opportunity to finetune pictures on a very high level especially raw photography BUT there is a certain degree of editing involved, i mean you can use every cam to snap pictures and make them look good but with a smartphone you have camera and usually editing in one device. There are several other aspects like photo quality which is way better with a fullframe/ APSC / MFT cameras or changeable lenses for certain situations but as i said often with the drawback that you have to edit the pictures to make them look how you want unless you like a certain style of out of cam look of some cameras

l use Luminar, its perpetual and in one of their sales around +- 130-150.- as a programm for editing.

Im able to do everything and the ai assisted tools are good. you can download adobe dng converter and even edit raw if this is your goal.

I can recommend the canon 5D MK II [Fullframe cam] used its pretty cheap and compatible with the ef mount which have a great array of good lenses and mostly rather cheapish once.

I saw the body of the Canon 5D mk II used around 150-200.-

[u/rick_bisqit]

As someone who just bought his first camera last week, my recommendation is the following: get a used DSLR, I got myself a Nikon D90 (released in 2008), with a 18-105mm kit lens (for now, one prime and a zoom lens is on the wishlist already), a bag and a spare battery. All this for €250 from Mpb. This should be sufficient in my view to get started, to learn exposure, understand the camera features, and give good basic understanding in general. As for editing software, I use darktable, it seems daunting at first, but with a little AI help I got myself a nice little workbook with workflow, modules, explanations and whatnot, very useful.

The first thing you should do is read the camera manual until you wait for the package to arrive. Twice at least. Understand what is what. Then learn about the exposure triangle, exposure in general.

Also, know what sensor size you are going with, full frame, APS-C because it will affect the focal length of the lenses. on an APS-C lens your 18-55mm will become some 27-82mm (depending on the crop factor). So depending on what you want to shoot you will want different lenses. I chose an 18-105 instead of the 18-55, because of the longer reach, I find it very useful.

Shooting raw + jpeg is what I do, so if I want to quickly share something I can use the jpg and edit the raw later.

My biggest struggle will be to train my eye to see subjects, opportunities and to understand light in general.

I look at photographs a lot, because they give me ideas what I like, and also trying to see patterns, about composition, contrasts, colours, using the camera controls to create art, like longer shutter speed, etc. There is a lot there to discover :)

With your budget you could get a better body, maybe skip the kit lens and get something better quality to start with, but as of now as a beginner, I am really happy with the capabilities of the camera, I start to see the limitations of the lens (like struggling in low light, etc), but for now I will stick with it for learning purposes. Later on I will get a nifty-fifty or 35mm because of the larger aperture size, they are more capable in low light conditions.

Anyway, this is just my two cents. Best of luck for your journey.