So, you’ve been blogging or vlogging for a while, you’ve saved up some pennies or have a Birthday coming up, and now you’re ready to invest in a “proper” camera. Congratulations! I’m so happy for you. The only problem is that you don’t really know what you’re looking for. What brand, budget and model will work for you will vary greatly from person to person - but I've made a list of things to keep your eye out for. You don't have to stick to the list entirely, though it might give you a good starting point if you're not sure what on the long list of camera features actually matter. I use a Canon 700D which has most of these attributes, and it makes my life a whole lot easier.
For Bloggers and Vloggers
1. A Flip-Out Screen (one that flips all the way out, selfie-style, not one that tilts slightly)
If you have a beauty blog, chances are you’ll be taking a whole lot of selfies. Having a flip out screen means you can see yourself easily and takes away the guesswork. It also gives you more flexibility for other shots. And if you’re a vlogger? You needthis.
2. Manual Shooting Modes
All DSLRs will have this (it’s the little dial at the top of the camera that says M, A, S and P), but some CSC cameras have it hidden in a menu somewhere, and most compact cameras don’t have it at all. You might not know what they mean right now, but it’s worth looking for a camera with adjustable settings so that you can learn how to use them. Because you will, eventually.
3. Wifi
This is the one feature my camera doesn't have - I wish it did, but it's not worth upgrading just for this. Having Wifi means you can share the images on the camera with devices like smartphones and tablets, meaning that it would be a lot easier to get my pictures to my phone so I can post them on Instagram. It's not the end of the world without it though, as I normally just email my pictures to myself from my computer.
For Bloggers
4. RAW mode capabilities
Shooting in RAW mode basically means you keep all the details in the image, making it higher quality and easier to edit. (Don’t worry if this sounds confusing, there are lots of articles about shooting in RAW online.) All DSLRs and most Compact System Camera's have this feature, but you'll have to double check if getting a Bridge or Compact Camera as not all of them have it.
5. A SepArate Lens (if buying an interchangEable lens camera)
You don’t have to get this right away - start out with the lens that comes with the camera and see how you get on. But after you've got the hang of it and started to notice your particular style, it might be worth getting an extra lens. It might be a Macro lens so you can get closer to things you’re photographing, or it might be a wide aperture lens so that you can get that lovely background blur on your images.
For Vloggers
These features will only benefit people who want to make videos - but even if you don’t make videos right not, but would really like to one day, you might as well get something with these features now.
6. HD Video Capabilities
Sounds like an obvious feature, but if you’re going down the second-hand route a lot of older models may not be able to capture video. If you’re buying brand new, pretty much every camera has it nowadays so you should be fine.
7. A 3.5mm mic input
If you make videos, or ever have any intention of making videos with your shiny new camera, you’ll notice pretty much immediately that the audio quality is terrible. At some point you’ll end up getting an external microphone, so make sure your camera has something you can plug it into.
8. Silent auto focus and tracking capabilities
Sure, you can manually set the focus and hope for the best, but that involves a lot of trial and error. And besides, I’m short sighted, so I like the camera to do all the work for me. The Canon 700D can be set to continually focus on me as I record, so that even if I fidget out of place I’ll still be sharp. I use an STM lens which means that it will focus silently, whereas a lot of lenses that don’t have this feature will be noticeably loud when you play back your footage. Other manufacturers may have similar features, but have different names.
I don't normally write photography articles on this blog so it would really help me out if you could leave feedback in the comments and let me know if this was helpful. Also, are there any other photography article you'd really like to read? I was thinking of writing about the manual features on cameras and what they mean... are you guys interested in that stuff or should I just stick to writing about lipstick?
OH, one more thing... I've switched to Disqus so that you guys know when I've replied to a comment! I reply to every single one.