What is considered the best camera to use for photography?

crysstal: Whats the best camera to use for photography?
I want to start taking up photography because i noticed there aren’t really alot of reasonable photographers in my area. I want to do things like senior pictures, wedding photography, prom and special event, family and baby, photography like that of people. I live by the water, so im sure the beach will be the site of alot of my photographs. What is the best type of camera i should look for? Where might i get one for a reasonable price?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Alex
pretty much any beginner camera will be reasonably priced. i would go to rythercamera.com they seem to have the best bang for your buck. I would get a nikon. but if you get a nikon or canon or pentax you cant really go wrong if you can take pictures.

Answer by Jorge
If you want some dedication, get a dslr camera. All brands make them. They are not the only cameras taking good photographs. I love the sea too, and that inspires me, but you don’t need an underwater camera. But, ok, I have a Leica and there are also beautiful machines like Fuji X100, why not

Answer by Bunny Bingo
First and foremost, with all due respect, the photographers in your area may very well seem expensive (and quite possibly could be), because you have little understanding of the production cost and furthermost value of photography skill and services for specialties such as weddings and portraits.

I think your “specialties” are too broad at the moment. Prom and event photography is one thing, family and baby portraits is another, and wedding photography – well that’s just a big can of worms. From you what you have said, it sounds like you don’t even own a camera, let alone have a minute of experience in any of these fields to merit doing it for money. The camera is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what you need.

I know I’m grilling you, and it’s absolutely fine to want to take up photography, I don’t knock you for it, but I think you need to look at it from a different perspective before you go into your business.

With that said, if you want a good camera, I’m always going to recommend the 5D mk II because that’s what I use, and that’s what I consider to be one of the best DSLRs by Canon. Any of the others will do, so long as you buy some well made lenses. You can find detailed descriptions online that can help you further about the specific equipment you’d need to go into each of those areas you mentioned. It’s too much to type here.

Answer by Andres
It is not about the camera, it is about you.

I use a nikon d80, but i would recommend the Nikon D90, it has HD video.

there are many free lessons online, and you could team up with other photographers.

Answer by mister-damus
there is no best, but SLRs are probably the most versatile.

Answer by Charles
They may not seem reasonable to you, or they may actually be on the pricey side. Have you considered that they probably spend an hour in post processing for every hour they shoot? How about travel time and expense on location shoots? Down time to find customers? As in any business, if it is a main source of income, it certainly may seem unreasonable to those that can do it as a hobby. But, it has to feed the owner too.
All that said, I would say any DSLR with good lenses would be adequate on that front. Don’t forget auxiliary flash, continuous lighting, computer system capable of image processing, software and time to experiment and learn about all of it, too. It’s a start and you’ll constantly want to add to your ‘bag of tricks’ for a while and upgrade to professional level from ‘prosumer’.
You have to realize that being a great hobbyist won’t cut it when people pay you a few hundred to take wedding pictures and they don’t like the result. Just giving you a dose of reality.