The camera technology changes all the time, so do not buy too expensive cameras if you don’t know exactly what you are paying for. If you will buy second hand, don’t buy more than 3 year old camera bodies.

Interchangeable lens vs lens fixed on the body?

Definitely interchangeable. Forget about the “super-zooms”.

DSLR or Mirrorless:

Having a mirror in the camera body adds to the size, but enables you to see through the lens, helps to focus faster and prolongs battery life, as you won’t use the back-screen so often. Check this excellent article for more on this subject.

If battery life, faster focus and bigger choice of lenses is more important for you, then we recommend a Nikon or Canon DSLR.

If smaller size and live preview (what you see is what you get) is important for you, then the mirrorless offers from Sony, Olympus and FujiFilm are excellent cameras.

Sensor size – cropped or full frame:

This relates to the size of the sensor of your cameras, and is in fact the most important choice that can have a significant impact on the quality of your photos. We recommend a cropped sensor camera (Nikon: DX, Canon & Sony: APS-C) for beginners.

Nikon vs Canon vs Sony vs Olympus vs Fujifilm

Another hot debate – the answer is that it doesn’t matter too much.

If you want a DSLR, our recommendation for beginners is Nikon and Canon on the entry segment. We rated Nikon slightly higher due to its excellent & affordable 35mm f/1.8 lens option.

For the mirrorless, Sony, Olympus and FujiFilm have the great mirrorless offerings around. Sony has the lead with the most advanced technologies and high quality sensors. However we find that their menus are still too complicated – obviously designed by engineers, not photographers. Olympus is very impressive with its in camera stabilization technologies, however the lens choices are more limited vs others. Fujifilm is an excellent option too with amazing designs. However the settings are for more intermediate photographers who feel comfortable with Aperture and Shutter speed direct controls.

More important choice than the camera, and much better investment because the technology doesn’t change much. Do not hesitate to look at anibis.ch to find good deals on second hand good lenses.

Blackrapid Strap:

Wearing a long strap around the shoulder & neck distributes the weight evenly. They’re attached to the tripod mount of your camera, keeping it upside down next to your hand, easy to reach.

The strap is curved to fit over the shoulder and there is a small auxiliary strap that goes under the arm, keeping the strap stable preventing it from riding up towards the neck or sliding down off the arm. The strap is wide enough and padded enough to be comfortable and prevent the strap from cutting into you.

Our recommended brand is BlackRapid that you can order from Graphicart.ch, but feel free to experiment and find one to your taste.

Spider Holster:

This is our new favorite solution: Created for those who prefer to place the weight of the camera at the hip instead of their upper bodies. This alleviates many of the upper body pains associated with long shoots and heavy equipment. The holster gives you “quick draw access,” hanging comfortably at your hip until needed.

For mirrorless, you can get the Spider Light holster set (to attach to your belt) or the Spider Light Single camera system (comes with a belt).

For DSLR’s, SpiderPro Single Camera System v2 is the product we use all the time.

Check all of the Spider Holster models here.

Unquestionably, the most popular and easy to use software that we recommend is Adobe’s Creative Cloud photography plan (Creative Cloud Foto-Abo.) (CHF 11.85 / month) that includes Lightroom and Photoshop. Lightroom especially is all you will need for an end to end software to manage your photos, while Photoshop is the most powerful photo editor around.

You can register to our Lightroom course or to our Photoshop course to learn how to use these super useful software.