Buying your first camera can feel a bit like stepping into a candy store without a clue what you like—exciting, but also completely overwhelming. Mirrorless vs DSLR. Full frame vs crop sensor. Canon vs Sony vs Nikon. Wait… what’s a prime lens?

Start with Why: What Do You Want to Photograph?

Before you fall down the rabbit hole of specs and gear reviews, pause and ask yourself a few key questions:

What do I want to photograph?
Pets? People? Landscapes? Street photography? Travel? Sports?
Where will I be shooting?
Indoors, outdoors, low light, fast action?
How much control do I want?
Do you want full manual settings or something that just does the work for you?

📌 Pro tip: The best camera isn’t the one with the most buttons—it’s the one that suits your lifestyle, goals, and creative vision.

DSLR VS Mirrorless: What’s the Difference?

The first big decision many new photographers face is choosing between DSLR and Mirrorless. I have owned both, and loved both.

DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex)

Uses a mirror system inside the camera
Typically bigger and heavier
Often better battery life
More affordable used gear as people are moving over to mirrorless and selling their DSLRs

Mirrorless:

As the name suggests, they have no mirrors
Typically smaller and lighter
Quieter shooting
Newer tech, usually faster autofocus

📌 Pro tip: Camera brands are leaning towards Mirrorless. If you want a good deal, DSLR secondhand gear would be a good thing to look into first. Where to get secondhand gear? I suggest Teds Camera’s Secondhand - that way you can 100% ensure the gear you are getting works. This is where I personally get my secondhand gear from. There is also FB Martetplace, but please be careful and bring someone who KNOWS camera equipment with you so they can test the gear in person before you hand over the cash.
Here’s the link to Ted’s Camera Secondhand Secondhand Camera Equipment | Ted's Cameras

Specs that ACTUALLY Matter (and Specs you can ignore)

It is easy to get lost when the youtube reviews start talking about the camera specs or you look at a listing online and there’s just pages of numbers and letters and it doesn’t make sense. But here’s the truth: ALL CAMERAS ARE GOOD! You will ask a hundred photographers “What is the best camera?” And you know what they say? They’ll suggest the camera they use, because that’s what they have experience with. You will get photographers who prefer a certain camera brand over another. I’m here to tell you that all modern cameras these days are good cameras, we just need to look at what YOU need it for. This blog will be more targeted towards pet photography cameras!

Now let’s talk specs;

Megapixels: Unless you are going to print on massive billboards, don’t stress too much. Most modern camera’s have a really good amount of Megapixels.
Sensor Size
- Full Frame - better in low light, more detail and your lens for example if you have an 85mm lens on a full frame, will be 85mm.
- Crop Sensor - more budget friendly, lighter camera body, lenses will be more “cropped” - an 85mm lens will become 50-65mm
Autofocus - Beneficial when photographing pets!
ISO Range: Want to photograph in the deep, dark forest? Iso Range will tell you how well the camera performs in low light conditions.
Frames per second (FPS): One of my most important specs - this is needed for good action photos with pets. The more FPS, the better.
WIFI - Does it have WIFI? This can be super helpful if you want to take photos of yourself, you can connect to an app with your camera’s WIFI. You can also import the photos directly to your phone/ipad/tablet from your camera with WIFI if you are not super into editing your photos.
Memory Type: These are your SD cards and CF cards! Very few camera’s I’ve seen actually use CF cards, they are so much more expensive to buy! But this is just something to note, don’t accidentally purchase a camera body to find out later it takes CF cards and have to spend more money
Lens Mount: This is a bit technical so bear with me! There are multiple ranges of camera’s within a camera brand. Let’s talk Canon, Canon have the Canon Pros, Canon EOS, Canon EOS R ect. They also have multiple ranges of lenses; Canon EF-S, Canon EF, Canon RF. Each camera body has a Lens Mount which will tell you which lenses are compatible with that camera body. So for instance, I used to use a DSLR Canon that had a Canon EF mount, so all my lenses that I currently own have the EF mount. When I switched to a Canon Mirrorless with an RF mount, I couldn’t use my current lenses. Don’t panic! They make adapters! You can purchase adapters that go between your camera body and lens to make them work together. This is just something to be aware of when you purchase lenses for your camera! Make sure it’s the correct mount, or make sure you buy an adapter.

Let’s talk Budget! Camera, Lens and Extras

If you listen to anything I’ve said in this blog, please listen to this, I’ll even put it in bold and bigger letters:

DO NOT BUY THOSE KITS!

You know what I’m talking about. Here’s a photo.

Why do I want you to avoid these when every employee at a camera store is begging you to buy them? Because the lenses are RUBBISH! These are what we call kit lenses. Let’s put this into perspective;

This Canon EOS R10 Camera body is roughly $1400 on its on. So that means for an extra $600 you are getting two lenses; an 18-45mm and a 55-210mm. Sounds like a great deal doesn’t it? These lenses are terrible quality, not very fast and just all around rubbish.

The most important part of your camera gear, is actually the lens rather than the camera body in my opinion. The lens is going to make the most noticeable difference to your photos that the camera body will. I would much rather you get a cheaper camera body and spend a bit extra on the lens.

When buying your first camera, don’t blow the entire budget on just the camera body. There are a few other essentials you’ll need too;

Camera body (Roughly $1000-$2000AUD)
Lenses ($200-$1000+)
SD Cards (Stay tuned for a blog post about this)
Extra Batteries
Cleaning Kit
Basic Camera Bag
Editing Software (Lightroom, Photoshop)
SSD or Hard-drive (I personally prefer SSDs, but we can do a whole other blog post about that)

Good First Camera’s (2025) for Pet Photography

There are tons of great beginner options, but here are a few highly recommended models in 2025:

Canon EOS R50 (Mirrorless): Lightweight, intuitive, great autofocus. SPECS (24MP, 15 FPS, WIFI)
Canon R10 (Mirrorless): Lightweight, super fast camera. SPECS (24MP, 23FPS, AUTOFOCUS)
Nikon Z50 (Mirrorless): Fantastic all-rounder with a solid lens lineup. SPECFS (20MP, 11FPS, EYE DETECT, AUTOFOCUS)
Sony a6400 (Mirrorless): Excellent for video and stills, amazing autofocus SPECS (24MP, 11FPS, AUTOFOCUS)

Good First Lenses (2025) for Pet Photography

Canon 50mm F1.8 (both for EF and RF) - around $150-$300 - such a great little lens! Amazing quality, super fast and a small lens. 50mm is what you see with your own eyes.
Canon RF 85mm F2 Macro IS STM - around $1000 New.
Nikon Z 40mm F2 (around $400-$500)
Nikon AF-S 85mm F1.8 G Lens ($750)
Sony 50mm (around $500-$800)

You can also look at third party brands like Samyang, Tamron ect, make sure the lens has the correct Canon, Sony, Nikon mount. These are often cheaper than lenses from the big three brands. And don’t forget to look secondhand!

Lenses I think in general are good for pet photography are;

24-70 - Great allrounder lens giving you wide angles but also the ability to zoom.
Wanting to photograph pets in landscapes, cities, somewhere where the scenery is a focal point? You’ll want a wide angle. 35mm are lovely.
50mm is a great lens to just bring with you for a walk around your local park, to the beach, travelling
Want those blurry backgrounds and bokeh? You’ll be wanting an 85mm, 135mm or want the best of both? grab the 70-200mm but this lens is HEAVY!

If you have any questions at all, you can always reach out to me over on socials or join one of our Beginner Workshops! Happy shopping!

Buying Your First Camera: A Beginner’s Guide That Won’t Make Your Brain Explode