Apart from brands and prices, the most professional cameras are SLR (Single Lens Reflex) and DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) type witch you can view exactly what you are going to take and manage you picture before shooting. in the other types – exept studio cams – the scene you see through viewfinder differs from what is going to expose on film (or sensor) and that’s why they cannot be used in professional wise. it would be cool if you pay a visit to , that probably helps you arriving at a right decission.

Most photo classes start you out with a film camera. See if you can find a nice Nikon or Canon 35mm SLR and a lens.

This will get you going. Later when you have learned a lot about exposure, composition, developing and printing and decide to go into the digital arena, the lenses you have should work with the DSLR made by the company that made your 35mm

Nikon is making the best entry dsrl cameras in my opinion.

The best kind of camera is one that does what you need it to. You don’t need to spend a lot of money if you are just taking family snapshots and carry the camera around in your purse.

On the other hand, you could spend too little and be very disappointed with the results.

Questions to ask yourself:
1. Do you plan to shoot mostly indoors? Then you need one with a built in flash.
2. Do you need to shoot a lot of close ups? Then you need one with a macro lens capability.
3. Do you expect to take pictures a good distance away from your subjects? Then you need a good optical zoom capability. (Ignore digital zoom. Useless if you want good results)
4. Do you want simplicity? You need one that does everything automatically.
5. Do you want more control of the image? Then you want one that allows you to manually select the camera’s speed and exposure.
6. Do you plan to take a lot of fast action? Then you need one that takes multiple exposures with a single press of the button.
7. Do you plan to make large format prints, such as 8 x 10 or larger? You need, at least 5 megapixel or better.

Ask yourself what else you expect from your camera, find the units that do these things. I’d stick to the name brands, if possible. Read the professional and user reviews and then shop around for the best deal.

Professional photography equipment is not cheap. However, find a camera store that handles different types of cameras and has a good rep for customer service, then go in and ask if there are any refurbished cameras like Nikon, Olympus, etc. I bought my Nikon at Bel Air Camera
in Westwood, California. A good deal, they have repairs in store area.
Spartawo…

If you have under $1000 go with the Canon Rebel XT. Really does a nice job, even with the kit lens. Usually in the $500-600 range. Also look on ebay.