Camera / lens recommendations

[Black_hawk]

Since I am more familiar with Canon, would 5D mark 3 serve my purpose? Or is 6D good enough? I would get some primes like 85, 50 and a medium zoom like 24-70.
Getting good condition 5D and 6D is tough and I am totally open to move to any system right now as my investment is less than 50-60k in Canon and can get decent price for my current gear

[mahesh]

I will make an attempt to suggest high quality gear based on your need and budget.

All items used:
Nikon D810: 70K
Nikon 18-35mm: 30K or Tamron 15-30mm: 45K
Nikon 50mm 1.8G: 8K and/or Nikon 85mm 1.8G: 18-20K
Nikon 200-500mm: 50-55K

This is excellent recommendation. Only change I would made would be remove 200-500mm altogether unless you are sure of its use.

I would add a 24-120 f4 lens for family and kids and landscapes, travels etc. Very versatile. A family man always needs at least one "Do it all" lens for capturing moments when with family. Should cost you about 25k. You have other alternatives in this category like 24-70mm f2.8. Even if you do not want to spend for this category, you must buy cheap alternatives like Nikon 28-105 mm or 35-70 mm f2.8 (probably 6k - 8k).

If you are not familiar with Nikon, get alternatives in Canon. Those are plenty good.

For D750, I would suggest to go for D810 (if you can bear additonal weight) for better resolution, dynamic range, ergonomics and autofocus.

[Black_hawk]

Thank you for the suggestions! I am looking for these lenses and body, can probably add a D500 and 200-500 lens eventually for wildlife and this will cover the entire spectrum

[g2]

Honestly, any camera made in the last 2-3 years should serve you reasonably well. I would avoid older cameras as they have very outdated AF systems (with a few exception like the 5D4)

Depending on the brand you choose, there would be some compromise to make. To generalize, Fuji and Canon offer better colors, Canon and Sony have better AF, Nikon and Sony have better DR.

Don't know why people here keep dissing Mirrorless, they do offer a better experience, at least in terms of AF performance. Eye AF, Subject Detect AF, etc work quite well. Just to give you an example, the Canon 85mm 1.8 was a hit or miss for me on the 5D2, but works pretty darn good with the RP on Eye AF. I would go on to say that after using mirrorless I wouldn't go back to a DSLR.

If you are considering a Canon R series camera, you could just use EF lens with it, you get some good deals on used EF glass. This is what I do.
The Canon EF-RF adapter, works pretty well, at least with Canon lens. There have been issues reported with third party teles though.

If you can try one before buying nothing like it.

[AbhiM]

Contrary to what has been said herein i would suggest that you go with a used Fujifilm body. The kind of tactile feeling it provides wherein you have knobs and buttons for iso/shutter speed/aperture/ manual or auto focus etc is something you'll love. And then there is the advantage of size and weight. Small body and lenses translates to easy carry. Then there's the in built pre-sets. The lens options, although not as wide as Nikon's or canon's are quite extensive especially now when other 3rd party mfgr also provide lenses for fuji x system. And you can and I'd say should try older manual focus lenses of takumar/Pentax/jupiter/industar etc make. Using these manual lenses with manual focus very quickly improves your photography. I have personally tried these lenses for macro photography, landscape and portrait.
Try a fuji xt3 or xpro2 or xe3 and you'll absolutely love it.

[Thad E Ginathom]

For a low-cost, low-weight mirrorless-era camera, I'll throw Sony a6000 onto the suggestion pile. But I don't include the 16-50 kit lens in my recommendation. But hey, if it comes with one anyway...

[sonlum]

IMO, buying dslr now, even used is not good suggestion, down the line they will be obsolete tech wise and no resale value. you can look at MS from Sony, Fuji and Lumix. a good value MS only body like a6400, lumix G9 and fuji xs10 paired with good glass will give you unbound joy. if you want the best AF system then sony is the way to go, you want best image quality G9 paired with 1260 leica will be impeccable, for the best sooc and film simulation fuji xs20 with 56mm glass will be apt..

just my opinions as I have used most of the camera's mentioned

Avoid Canon and Nikon MS

[neo2510]

Hi Krish,

My preferences /usage are as below:
40-50% landscapes
30-40% Portraits/ family photos
5% street photography
<5% birds

Portraits/family photos include shots without flash indoors so a good low light performance would be good. It's okay if I don't have reach for wildlife or birding

going by what you've said here... even a Canon 5D Mark II would serve you very well.
It still is a very capable camera in 2023 for your requirements.

this would leave you with a good chunk of your budget to spend on glass.

a Canon 16-35mm f2.8 for landscapes OR a Canon 24-70mm f2.8 IS II if you don't want/need 16mm.
(if you get a 24-70mm IS II this will cover your family photos too.)

a Canon 50mm f1.4 & OR a 85mm 1.4 or 1.2 for portraits.

for street, a Canon 40mm f2.8 pancake lens will unbulkify your Canon DSLR setup and is a very useful street photography focal length to experiment with.

Since I am more familiar with Canon, would 5D mark 3 serve my purpose? Or is 6D good enough?

don't bother with a 6D. not because it is not a capable camera... simply coz if you are considering a used 5D, then a 6D is simply a "compromise" in some ways. also, adding a 6D to your considerations will simply confuse you on deciding on a camera body.

[sks]

Quiet useful & worthy discussion for newbie & enthusiasts.