While one can definitely learn the art of composition with their phone, a true hobbyist would need some equipment to take care of – clean it, fine‑tune it, love it. In photography, you usually start with a body and a kit lens, plus a few essential pieces of gear like a case, a charging cable, and an extra battery for your camera.
Unsurprisingly, I approached the problem of choosing the right body with very few inputs: I knew the budget, and I knew the brand (Canon). The only reason I decided to stick with the brand was my experience with some point‑and‑shoot cameras from the days when phone cameras could only do 640×480 pictures. (For the record, I felt old as I typed that.) No surprises about the budget either – I could have either bought a new but basic device (an R50 or R100), or gone to eBay or Henry’s for a pre‑owned, higher‑end camera. Since I was a complete amateur at the time (and haven’t become much better since), I decided to forego the pre‑owned route – for now – and get something with a warranty, but without other people’s oily fingerprints on it.
So here comes my first camera in years: a Canon R50 with an 18-45 kit lens. A lightweight, mirrorless, cropped‑sensor (APS‑C) body without built‑in stabilization. Oh, and the best part – I can charge it via USB‑C in my car!
I will do my best to explain these basic terms in the next posts, starting with the sensor format.
Leave a Reply