Since this is technically my first blog post, you might not realize that I’ve been doing research for about the last two months on cameras. I live on a public librarian salary, so any purchase over about 20 bucks gets the Librarian Side Eye Scrutiny ™ level of research. If I’m going to spend a chunk of that near non-existent bi-weekly earning, it better be for a well-thought-out reason. Unless my impulse control takes over and I just immediately purchase something for the sweet, sweet endorphins, that is.
(** Also, stick around to the end if you’re interested in getting a FREE $30! Or I guess you can just skip straight to the end if you want. The free $30 will be there whether you read this whole thing or not. But if you skip to the end, you’ll miss out on the Ireland photos!)
I originally set out thinking I wanted to take up landscape photography. When I last went to Ireland in March 2019, I just upgraded to my current phone, the new (at the time) Samsung Galaxy S10+ and it was the fanciest phone I had ever purchased. But I was most excited about the new, super cool camera.
I took pictures of EVERYTHING on that trip and loved the easy user interface that seemed to make taking great pictures a breeze. This photo of the Cliffs of Moher is hanging up in my apartment, my brother’s house, and my mom’s house. I don’t know how I quite lucked out with this one. There was about 10 minutes of sun that day and I happened to capture it here as the clouds rolled back in.
When I got home, I discovered the Snapseed photo-editing app and went a little crazy.
This photo was taken after we left the Cliffs. the Poulnabrone Dolmen is a portal tomb and the remains of 33 people were discovered under the rock structure, dating from 5,200 to 5,800 years ago. This site was just in the middle of nowhere but had amazing signs all over the place talking about architecture and history. It’s hard to imagine what the lives of the people then would have been like, but scientists learned a lot from those old bones. You can find out more here: https://www.burrengeopark.ie/discover-explore/geosites-discovery-points/poulnabrone/
Well, this was a super long intro to say that in my search for more income, I thought I could take more photos and sell them.
I’ve tried the prints route on Etsy, but in the past year have gotten literally no sales. I’ve been doing some research on side hustles (if you can’t tell, I do a lot of research. I *am* a librarian, after all. Also, don’t get me started on all these bloggers and YouTubers with those side hustle posts about making hundreds of dollars a day, because that works out for, like, 0.5% of people.) and a lot of photographers say they have better luck selling their pictures on stock photo sites. So, I’m gonna give that a try.
However, in my research on selling stock images, many of the companies that pay out better amounts require you to use a DSLR or mirrorless camera. Hence, the title of my post.
My goal was to get a decent, used camera for about $500. About 5 years ago I had a Canon DSLR but didn’t use it much. I was much busier then and not as excited about photography so I sold it for a loss, which makes me hope that I’m currently doing the right thing. Fingers crossed.
Below is a sampling of the sites I actually looked at in my research:
- Expert Photography 10 Best Cameras for Landscape Photography (Top Picks 2022!)
- Digital Camera World The best cameras for landscape photography in 2022: kit for the great outdoors
- techradar Best cameras for landscape photography 2022: top picks for the great outdoors
- photographylife Best Camera for Landscape Photography in 2022
I quickly realized most cameras were WAY out of my budget so I kept researching. I then found this article about affordable landscape cameras and started piecing together what I needed:
- At least 16 MP (cameras are so advanced now that higher megapixels aren’t necessarily needed!
- Large sensor is nice, but not a deal-breaker – just need a camera that works well in various lighting
- Weather-sealing
- Image stabilization
- Lightweight
- Wi-fi or Bluetooth
- Viewfinder (the one you look through at the top of the camera, in addition to an LCD screen)
At this point, it felt doable that I could get all this in a used camera in pretty good condition. I looked up the best places to buy used cameras and primarily looked at Adorama, KEH, MPB, and the refurbished sections on the main camera websites – Canon, Sony, and Nikon being the most recommended, from the website lists above.
I hemmed and hawed. I compared different models. I compared different brands. I decided to see what Dell offered on their site, as I already have a credit line with them and wouldn’t need to add to any of my current credit cards or deplete my checking account. I could also at the time get 10% back if I used Rakuten**. They had an Olympus camera kit, which included a lens, close to my budget and then the next camera was over $1000 and without a lens.
I decided to look into the $600 new Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III, just to see. I checked this site to see if it would be a good landscape camera, and it was a big NO. Ugh.
But scrolling down on that site, I saw a list of links to reviews of the camera for other photography specialties. I’m not really interested in taking portraits, so I clicked on “street photography” because in addition to landscapes when I travel, I love just taking pictures of whatever I see when I’m out and about (have I said how much of a photography newbie I am yet, or does this really show my cards?). It had a rating of EXCELLENT for street photography. I then found this review, and I was sold. Or rather, the camera was.
And this is how I spent two months researching used cameras and ended up buying a new one. Wish me luck!
** I’m not an official affiliate or anything of Rakuten, I just love it. I’m getting $63.10 back into my PayPal account from the purchase of this camera! If you live a frugal life and don’t use sites like Rakuten or Honey (which I also use and love) you are really missing out. If you use my link to sign up and then spend $30, you’ll get a FREE $30!! And I will also get $30! And then you can use YOUR referral link to get people to sign up and get MORE free $30! So anyway, here’s my link: https://www.rakuten.com/r/NICBRE27?eeid=28187