Camera Buying Advice - Budget $2.5k

Ljemouse on 20/01/2025 - 18:26
Last edited 20/01/2025 - 19:11 by 1 other user

Hello OzBargain, I am wondering if you could help me with buying a camera. I am getting married in March and am hoping to have this as a wedding present for my fiancé.

My budget is roughly $2.5k - just camera body. I am kicking myself that I didn’t get on to the Black Friday deals, but there were other priorities to grab at the time. Looking for a general all-round camera - one that shoots photos and does decent videos as well. My fiancé is interested in portraits, landscapes, and some wildlife.

Probably looking mostly at Sony, given that I have a few friends with Sony cameras who have offered to lend their lenses. Although I am open to other suggestions too! My initial thoughts were either the Sony a7iv or the a7cii, although I am well aware that the a7v comes out soon. Is it worth waiting for this to come out and jumping on a secondhand one on marketplace? Is there anything else I should be considering?

Thanks in advance!

Electrical & Electronics Camera

Comments

  • jv on 20/01/2025 - 18:34
    +7

    Camera Buying Advice - Budget $2.5k
    interested in portraits, landscapes, and some wildlife.

    Iphone 16 Pro

  • MS Paint on 20/01/2025 - 18:46
    +2

    What's your budget for lenses post wedding?

    No point chucking kit lenses on to a $2500 body. What lens will you include with the body gift? It's a bit cruel just to give someone a body and no lens. Your friends are nice to offer lenses but it won't be forever.

    Also, can't go wrong with Sony.

    Also, when did partner gift giving on wedding days become a thing?

    • jemouse on 20/01/2025 - 19:35
      +1

      Initial thoughts were to aim ~$1k for an all-round lens, and then borrow from friends while slowly adding in others over time.

  • ddhar on 20/01/2025 - 19:21
    +2

    Does your partner have an existing system or lenses? Or are they starting new? It's odd to gift just a camera body and leave your partner wanting for a lens.

    My fiancé is interested in portraits, landscapes, and some wildlife.

    The Tamron 28-200 is a decent all-round lens. It's not an ace at portraits (not enough bokeh), landscape (arguably not wide enough) nor wildlife (need at least 300mm or even 500mm, especially for birding). Nonetheless it is way better than a kit lens and won't break the bank.

    • jemouse on 20/01/2025 - 19:30

      Thanks, this is excellent advice.

      • ddhar on 20/01/2025 - 19:59

        Is your partner experienced with cameras or are they still learning? Are they loyal to a particular brand (this will help isolate the brand)?

        You can get an a7cii +the 28-200 (albeit with a $1k budget overblow). But there are also others like me who happily go the used route and use the leftover budget on good prime lenses, e.g. a 24mm, 55mm and/or 85mm.

      • rumblytangara on 20/01/2025 - 20:42

        Argh. That's not excellent advice. Loads of dedicated amateur photographers will not use a 28-200. I certainly wouldn't. I'd be pissed that someone wasted that much money on a lens. I've used one, I wouldn't own one.

        Ask your partner what he or she wants. Don't leave a gift like this to chance.

  • Dollar General on 20/01/2025 - 19:31
    +2

    Does your partner really want a camera?

  • rumblytangara on 20/01/2025 - 19:37

    Don't surprise the fiance with a camera- get him or her to choose it. He or she will know a crapload more about the ins and outs of a camera if they're into photography.

  • p1 ama on 20/01/2025 - 21:19
    +3

    Former professional photographer here.

    Just a few things to think about. Is your partner an experienced photographer? If so, then it's likely they would already be invested into a camera system, so at least try to find out what system they are using and what bodies / lenses they have as a starting point. If not, then I would suggest not getting a camera unless you're 100% sure that it's something they would be interested in (e.g. they've mentioned that they want to pick up photography more seriously).

    My budget is roughly $2.5k - just camera body. I am kicking myself that I didn’t get on to the Black Friday deals, but there were other priorities to grab at the time. Looking for a general all-round camera - one that shoots photos and does decent videos as well. My fiancé is interested in portraits, landscapes, and some wildlife.

    When you say portraits, landscapes, and some wildlife, that's pretty much almost all of the different genres of photography, each with very specialised equipment. If you're just purchasing a camera body for $2,500, this will likely only be 10-20% of the cost you will need to spend if you want to give your partner something substantially different enough from a top phone camera (e.g. an iPhone 16 Pro, S24 Ultra or Pixel 9 Pro).

    For portraits, you really want fast primes, for landscapes, you'll want an ultra-wide, and for wildlife, you'll want a super-telephoto, so basically, you're buying almost an entire catalogue of lenses if you want to "specialise" in these genres of photography.

    Also worth asking what exactly leads you think that your partner would like to shoot these genres? Or is it just what you think? It takes a lot of time and dedication to become competent at any of these genres - if your partner is a portrait photographer, do they hire models, or do TFP, or do family portraiture (for example)? Landscapes and wildlife both require almost extreme levels of dedication to travel to the locations where you'll get worthy shots.

    Probably looking mostly at Sony, given that I have a few friends with Sony cameras who have offered to lend their lenses. Although I am open to other suggestions too! My initial thoughts were either the Sony a7iv or the a7cii, although I am well aware that the a7v comes out soon. Is it worth waiting for this to come out and jumping on a secondhand one on marketplace? Is there anything else I should be considering?

    I wouldn't rely on borrowing lenses from friends, it's hardly a long-term solution. To be honest, it doesn't really matter all that much, the main-line A7 / A7C series have not changed that much from the A7III and original A7C, and especially so for a beginner shooter. Either the A7IV or A7CII will be fine - you can wait for the A7V, but it won't really have much of an impact on A7IV prices (the A7III second hand has been around $1.5k for like 5 years now).

    Initial thoughts were to aim ~$1k for an all-round lens, and then borrow from friends while slowly adding in others over time.

    FWIW, the only all-round lenses worth considering for around this price would be either the Sony 24-105mm f/4, or the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8, both of which you can probably get for around $1.5k. Anything cheaper than these as a "standard" lens won't really be worth it in the long run.

    For portraiture, I would also add the Sony 85mm f/1.8, which will be a sweet starter lens. For wildlife, you'll realistically need something longer, have a look at the 100-400mm as a starting point. For landscapes, you can probably get by with 24mm at the wide end for now, but eventually, you'll probably want to get a 16-35mm f/4 at least. You'll find yourself close to $10k out pretty quickly.

  • sumyungguy on 20/01/2025 - 22:04

    In your price range: Fujifilm X-T50, can be bundled with the XF16-50mm F2.8-4.8 R LM WR $2,448

  • ForkSnorter on 21/01/2025 - 08:30
    -1

    I would encourage your partner to give you photography. Unless he or she is doing it for money, I think photography is mostly a waste of time nowadays. Everything has been or will be documented by somebody else, and the only thing a photographer can do other than make money from photography is to chase after never-ending perfection in taking beautiful photos that almost nobody will look at for longer than a few seconds (including the person who took it). I regret that I wasted so much time on photography earlier in my life, and I feel so free now that I've given it up and now have more time and energy to focus on more interesting, satisfying and useful hobbies.

    • Shadowsfury on 21/01/2025 - 09:07
      +1

      I disagree - that's kinda what hobbies are for - if you get enjoyment WHILE doing it that's enough.

      • ForkSnorter on 21/01/2025 - 09:09

        That's the thing: You can enjoy more when you're not taking a photo. The landscape looks different when you're not looking through a viewfinder, or when you're not analyzing it to determine whether it's worth taking a photo of it.

        • rumblytangara on 21/01/2025 - 09:41

          That's such an empty argument- it can be applied to so many things that people enjoy.

          You can enjoy sport so much more when playing them rather than watching it on television where you have no real physical involvement.

          You can enjoy sport so much more when watching on television without being distracted by the heat, sun and discomfort.

          • ForkSnorter on 21/01/2025 - 09:44

            @rumblytangara:

            You can enjoy sport so much more when watching on television

            Would you enjoy sport just as much if you were holding a camera in your hand taking photos of the TV while watching?

            • rumblytangara on 21/01/2025 - 09:56

              @ForkSnorter: Yes, because personally I find watching sport on TV one of the most boring things possible. Learning how to use a new camera would be more interesting.

              Just because you gave up on a hobby doesn't mean that everyone else needs feel the same.

              That way of thinking means that everyone should only be able to buy the one colour of car.

              • ForkSnorter on 21/01/2025 - 11:02

                @rumblytangara: What do you do with your photos when you're finished? Do you post them on Facebook and get a few likes? Does it make you feel good? Show them to your family and they say "That's nice", then turn back to whatever they were doing?

                I feel like showing your photos to other people is just another way to get attention. The problem is that it doesn't really get you much attention.

                We are born craving the affection and respect of others, but photography is not a good way to obtain it.

                I never really obtained personal satisfaction from my photographic creations the way I get personal satisfaction from renovating my house, or building things in the backyard, or writing something creative, or learning a new programming language, etc.

                • rumblytangara on 21/01/2025 - 11:48

                  @ForkSnorter: Dump 'em into a Lightroom catalogue and pull 'em up once in a while if I remember a good trip. Was chatting to a friend the other day about one trip- he sent a couple of photos, so I pulled up a couple and sent them back.

                  Or pull them up for the wife if she wants old kiddie photos.

                  I've had stuff published in sports mags, but besides the novelty of it didn't care too much as they were not particularly memorable photos.

                  I collect photos and used to collect camera gear. Some people collect stamps, which as puzzling as it is to me, I am not going to tell them that they're wrong. Which you seem to be hell bent on- I think X, therefore for anyone who doesn't think X is wroooong.

                  It's not just looking and collecting photos either. The camera is leverage for doing other things, like getting up at 4am to take sunrise photos over South American plains, or dangling halfway down a cliff in rural Asia to take sports shots.

                  You mention creative writing. Unless you're published and deriving a significant income from it, why is that objectively better than snapping away with a camera (and posting on InstaBook for the likes?)

                  • ForkSnorter on 21/01/2025 - 12:52

                    @rumblytangara:

                    You mention creative writing. Unless you're published and deriving a significant income from it, why is that objectively better than snapping away with a camera (and posting on InstaBook for the likes?)

                    I feel photography and writing are at entirely different levels in terms of degree of creative freedom, ability to convey ideas and information, and potential for sophistication and complexity.

                    A piece of writing can be developed and refined over months, years or even decades, whereas a single photo is a spontaneous event that takes a few seconds, and only really requires basic knowledge of photography and one's equipment and editing techniques. Even if we consider the fact that some photographs require good planning, the end result, i.e. a single photo, is ultimately just a static arrangement of pixels on a screen or a wall. I don't believe photography is even in the same league as other visual arts like painting or sculpting, which require much more practice, innate ability, and knowledge of techniques.

                    • rumblytangara on 21/01/2025 - 13:26

                      @ForkSnorter: Well, that's really the crux of it then- it all comes down to the 'feels'. It's all totally subjective.

                      On the subject of 'feels' I personally feel that no amount of writing is going to capture the beauty of a sunrise seen from a 6000M Himalayan peak, or the mix of fear and adrenaline on a first time BASE jumper's face as he leaps off a bridge. These happen to be things that I've shot, and if I'd tried writing them down they'd be far worse preserved than my photos, which can take me back to those moments in time. I'm not creating great works of art, I'm recording memories.

                      Sure, photography is just static pixels. Same way that creative writing is just… black and white letters on a page. Whether they matter to the reader is totally up to them. Anything can be reduced to some utterly dismissive homily.

                      There are famous works in both fields. Things from the truly gifted and dedicated which have shaped modern consciousness. And then there's the dross produced by the masses like us, and who are we to say with any authority that one pursuit is 'better' than another when our works matter to nobody but ourselves and a tiny circle of friends?

                      • ForkSnorter on 21/01/2025 - 13:33

                        @rumblytangara: Shakespeare will be revered even in 1000 years. I don't believe any stills photographers from the 21st century will be revered, or even remembered.

                        Can't imagine in 1000 years they will be saying: "He was definitely competent at pushing that shutter button and sitting in front of his computer for half an hour editing the colour."

                        • rumblytangara on 21/01/2025 - 13:35

                          @ForkSnorter: And neither of us are Shakespeare, nor do we personally know a modern day equivalent, so why does it matter?

                          This thread is about some dude trying to buy a camera for his partner.

                          Should OzB not have threads discussing TV deals because all the shows from 2025 will be forgetten a thousand years from now?

                          • ForkSnorter on 21/01/2025 - 15:11

                            @rumblytangara:

                            And neither of us are Shakespeare, nor do we personally know a modern day equivalent, so why does it matter?

                            If you spent months writing and polishing some kind of story or poem or article, I would be much more interested in reading that than looking at a photo you took with the latest Nikon gear. I feel it would have more to offer me, and would contain more of you (your ideas, your innate abilities, your history, your way with words). I just don't think photography has the capacity to reach the levels of other arts because it is primarily reproduction of things we can see with our own eyes.

                            • rumblytangara on 21/01/2025 - 16:19

                              @ForkSnorter: You are consistently missing the point… it's okay for people to have their own preferences and opinions- your own should not be rammed down the throat of everyone else as a matter of indisputable 'fact'.

  • Preet on 21/01/2025 - 09:52

    Hey OP, I know nothing about cameras but I got a JB Hi-Fi Perks email this morning saying there's a half price sale on Nikon cameras 🙂

    Ps. One day only (today apparently!)

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