I hear this question often… “what is the best camera for photography?”, and I always respond with “what are you looking to do with it?”

Are you wanting a camera just to capture your kids, become an Instagram influencer, or even a blogger, or do you want to invest in the best camera equipment to be a professional photographer? I think answering that question first helps to determine what I would recommend. I’m going to give my recommendations based on what your photography goals are. 

I shoot Canon so that is what I know best. I will recommend Canon, but I know there are other great options out there as well. I’m not going to get super technical in this post, but rather I will break it down on a very easy to understand level. 

If you are a beginner, hobbyist, just want to take photos for fun

I recommend a Canon Rebel. It’s a basic entry-level camera. It’s actually what I started with many years ago. It is isn’t considered a professional series, but it is a DSLR camera which means you can interchange your lenses. If you aren’t wanting to be a professional photographer, I think this is a great option! I highly recommend picking up a Canon 50mm 1.8 lens to go with this. It is right at $100 but it is SO much better than the kit lens in my opinion. You may also consider using custom backdrops like this kid photo backdrop to improve your photos.

This is the lens I recommend starting with. Honestly, this works great with any of the cameras I suggest below. It’s a great starting place. Yes, there are much higher quality lenses available, but this is the perfect starter lens! And, at that price, it can’t be beaten!

If you know you want to be a professional photographer one day, but want to gradually work your way up with your camera

I recommend a Canon 6D. It’s an amazing camera and is a great price. It is a full-frame camera and is considered a professional series. If I was starting all over again, I would start off with this camera. I shot with this camera for years, and I still look back and love the images I was able to get from it.

You’re not quite ready to get the top of the top, but you want the next best thing

Canon Mark III. You could shoot on a Mark III and accomplish everything you desire. It has great focus capabilities, works great in low light, and very user friendly. Many professional photographers use this camera. I have been very pleased with the images I have gotten from my Mark III. 

It’s time for the best! 

My personal favorite camera is the Canon Mark IV. I will say I didn’t start out with this one (it wasn’t even an option when I first started…. 🤣), so it’s totally fine to start with one of the other options and work your way up to this one. Cameras hold their value pretty good so when I’m ready for an upgrade I will sell my camera, and I won’t be as much out of pocket for the new camera.

The reason I love the Mark IV so much is because it is much faster than the other cameras I mentioned. The focus is faster. I LOVE shooting in live mode with the Mark IV. I didn’t enjoy it with the previous cameras because the live mode was super slow, but with the IV, it’s crazy fast and is very efficient. It also can handle low light considerably better than the Mark III. One of the other things I love about it is that it has so many focal points. It shoots video in 4k too if that is something that you would be interested in. I really like that the LCD screen is a touch screen. I honestly didn’t think I would use it that much, but now I can’t live without it. It really comes in handy. 

I might consider the new mirrorless camera by Canon (Canon EOS R5) when it comes out. I have had my eye on it for a while, but I will wait to make a decision when the time comes. I really love the Canon EOS R, but it doesn’t have dual card slots, and as a wedding photographer, I won’t shoot with a camera without dual slots. By the way… both the Mark III and the Mark IV have dual card slots. This just means that you can shoot to two cards at one time. That way if you have a memory card corrupt you have another copy of the images. This is a necessity for wedding photographers in my opinion.

There are lots of great things about the mirrorless cameras, but I will save that for another blog post one day. =)

Also, in most cases, I recommend buying a camera body by itself and then purchase your lenses. I know it’s tempting to buy a whole kit, but I caution you on doing that. The kit lenses aren’t usually the best, and you can get exactly what you need/want when you buy things separately. Plus you usually end up spending less too!

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