I get this question a lot especially during the holidays. These camera’s are really great but if you want pro looking photography no matter what camera or lens you buy this isn’t going to make your pictures look like a Professional took them. The reason being is that a Professional Photographer who gives and takes professional photograph’s has extensive training in photography, camera settings, posing, composition and post processing, art, perspective, software editing, lighting, read tons of books on photography,  etc.

These camera are a great nice basic camera that take good pictures but are NOT professional in any means.  A Professional Photographer will have an artistic eye for taking pictures a talent that isn’t like just taking one of these camera’s and pointing them at a subject and getting something pretty. A Professional Photographer has years and years of practice and hours upon hours of shooting for their portfolio. I am writing this because I don’t want to recommend these camera’s to my friends/clients thinking that these camera’s will give you the same results as a Professional Photographer would.

Another thing is a Pro should be using over $5,000- $10,000 in equipment to take pictures of your family. Plus software that costs over $400 a year to use to edit with, plus many more things.

Yes you can get creamy backgrounds “bokeh” from some of the lenses but your photos will not have the exact same artistic look. – be aware before investing a lot of money into a camera you don’t know how to you or won’t take the time to learn it. It’s usually best to invest your money into hiring a family photographer someone who will capture moments of your children you won’t be able to do yourself without having an artistic eye for photography.

What is the best  starting SLR model for a camera that you would  recommendation?

Point and Shoot: we bought a Nikon for around $140 and it took horrible photos. We had a Canon PowerShot SD 12mp before and LOVED it. I will be buying that one again.

Here is the middle priced one and they go up and down in price but it’s a great camera!

THESE CAMERA’S CHANGE EACH YEAR SO YOUR GOING TO HAVE TO FIND OUT WHAT THE LATEST YEAR EQUIVALENCE IS.

CANON POWERSHOT SD – great pocket camera

These are not  professional model’s just a good base starter camera’s. Amazon and Costco usually have the best prices for these camera’s. Costco you can sometimes get an extra lens with it as well. Plus their return policy is the best. But Amazon has no tax so that is a big plus!.

I currently a Nikon girl of 8 years actually I just this week switched to Canon Mark iii.

I would LOVE a $6,600 Nikon D4s or Canon EOS 1D $6,7999 that’s a dream camera. The thing is you have to decide which one you want first because you can’t change lenses.   Think and do your research before you invest $ into your lenses.

Canon has warmer colors and Nikon has cooler colors  this year the camera’s white balance is really great for fixing it. . Which of course you can change in software such as Adobe Photoshop.. These camera’s will probably changed by next year so keep that in mind if you are reading this now.

I do not know if one is easier than the other because I have mostly used Nikon. You can borrow one to see from borrowlenses.com

Here is a great site that compares Nikon and Canon starter SLR camera’s

http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/canon-vs-nikon.html

Starter SLR Camera – for average family but not intended for professional looking photos

Nikon D3000 10.2MP – 2013- comes with a lens

Nikon D5000 12.3 MP :

Canon Rebel XS 10.1MP :$474

Canon EOS Rebel T1i 15.1 MP:

Canon EOS 60D 18 MP 

Switching from Nikon to Canon. The reason why was many reasons.

Canon‘s colors I fell in love with the clear crisp colors they in the images. I borrowed a friends Canon Mark iii 2 times and took pictures with it. Her ISO blew my Nikon D800 out of the water the images were much brighter in my studio in the same area and the same settings. I was shocked how bright the images were after I downloaded them. The skin tones were creamier as well and not as blue toned.

I have to say I do NOT like how the camera feels in my hand as far as the buttons. I love how Nikon feels. However my friend was able to set her buttons so that it was the same as Nikon which was a nice option. I can’t say one camera is better than another. Landscape and outside photos Nikon when I shot outside the photos are gorgeous. If I only shot outside photos I won’t care. But for shooting portraits I prefer Canon now that is a few reasons why I am switching. Plus I heard if you get your camera cleaned or fixed it comes back in 5 days.

There are many reasons why I can’t say it was just one reason alone that made me jump from leaving Nikon to Canon. In fact I didn’t want to all. This was many months of looking into and doing a ton of research.

Nikon I LOVE how tack sharp all their lenses are. I can’t say enough about them. I was up till 2:30am last night almost in tears about this decision. I am a super loyal person this decision did not come lightly to me in the least.  I been looking over professional photographers work for years. Do I think the equipment is what makes the photographer better no I don’t. I know for sure without a doubt it’s the talent, skills and hours of work the person spends learning and growing. It has nothing to do with what the price of their lens is costs. You can own an expensive tool in your kitchen to cook a really great dish but that doesn’t mean you know how to cook like an Italian chef at an Italian restaurant who has been working there day in and day out. You hire him because you know his work is amazing. The same goes for why people should hire you.

Look at this straight out of the Canon Mark iii , the skin color is right on. Nikon it would be more blue.

I know you can get the color fixed in Photoshop and in the camera. This was just my choice after shooting with Nikon for many years.  I figure at least give Canon a try at least for a while. I didn’t sell everything yet, I was thinking today that I might keep half of my equipment just in case because I have loved Nikon for so many years just to be safe. So many professional Photographers all over the world love Canon I figure there has to be more reasons then just creamy skin tones. I won’t know until I give them a try. I am going to try Canon for a few months. It’s an investment yes. In life we have to step out and give things a try out of our comfort zone to grow and expand. Why not take a chance. Life is short, I am getting excited about this new adventure. Call me crazy for selling half my Nikon equipment I don’t care.  You only live once. This is a chance to see how the other side “dark side or should I say white side ” since Canon has the white lenses zoom lives.

If you want to know  how many shutter clicks  your camera has currently. You can do this super fast on this site by  upload your files to this site http://www.myshuttercount.com/ Not a jpg file but a raw file. Actuation is your shutter count, you can see the life of how much you have used your camera. It’s the same idea as the mileage on your car.