Best beginner cameras 2024: Models from Canon, Sony, Nikon and more

If you're getting started in photography, purchasing one of the best beginner cameras can really take your work up to the next level. Perhaps until now you've used a point-and-shoot camera or you've been using your smartphone. Upgrading to one of our picks of the best cameras for beginners can make a real difference.

Whether you're interested in shooting landscape, wildlife, portraits or astrophotography, owning a good camera is the best place to start. The beginner cameras we've chosen are all easy to use, and they're packed with features that can help you learn skills and improve your craft.

Our list of the best beginner cameras includes models from the leading brands such as Sony, Canon and Nikon. Our ranking takes these cameras' ease of use, features and of course price points into account, so there should be an option for every taste and budget among them. 

One of the most daunting thing about photography is the jargon it comes with. To suit this guide for beginners, we've simplified and thoroughly explained everything you should consider when choosing a camera. We've taken all the guesswork out of figuring out what camera will be the best for you by providing clear and straightforward descriptions about each camera.

Our expert reviewers are photographers themselves and have used their expertise to put these models through their paces, carefully considering their accessibility for entry-level photographers. While this guide has options to suit all budgets in this guide, we'd recommend you keep an eye on our regularly updated camera deals page if it's a bargain you're after.

If you're not a beginner, we have plenty more camera and photography buying guides worth checking out, including the best cameras of the year. If you need other photography gear to go alongside your camera, we've covered the best tripods, travel tripods, and camera backpacks, among many others.

With Amazon Prime Day on July 16-17, you may be able to score a great deal on one of the best beginner cameras. Space.com will be collecting all the best deals on cameras and publishing live updates on our finds throughout the sale period, so be sure to check our Prime Day deals hub regularly. 

The quick list

Below we've summarised our top picks of the best beginner cameras available, including their main characteristics. If you want more in-depth information on a particular camera, click the links to read more.

The best beginner cameras we recommend in 2024

The best beginner camera overall

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Design: One of the many reasons we love the Nikon Z fc is its retro aesthetic, which conceals all the latest tech it packs. The build is high-quality and the camera feels solid to hold while remaining lightweight. 

This mirrorless camera is a great blend of old and new, consistently producing great results in different shooting conditions. It's user-friendly and perfectly suited to beginners who wish to hone their craft. We only regret that the Z fc isn't weatherproof, or that there aren't more lenses to choose from.

Performance: As we talked about in more detailed in our Nikon Z fc review, we've been very impressed with the performance of this camera. Crucially for beginners, it's easy to set up and use: You can start shooting mere seconds after turning the camera on, which is great for capturing fleeting moments. 

Perhaps more pertinently, though, is just how good the autofocus is on the Nikon Z fc. It's seriously quick to focus on a subject, even in low light. It's great for tracking fast-moving objects, too, like wildlife or sporting events. 

Functionality: We liked the touchscreen's responsiveness and were surprised at how quiet the focusing and shutter sound was; it's perfect for taking candid photos discreetly. The ISO performance was much better than we'd expected for an entry-level model. The Nikon Z Fc perfectly balances functionality, accessibility, and a charming retro appearance.

• Read our full Nikon Z fc review

Best for content creators

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Design: As with the Nikon Z fc above, one of our favorite things about the Fujifilm X-T30 is its vintage design. Don't let the gorgeous retro aesthetic fool you, though: this camera is full of great features and packs a performance punch. 

The X-T30 is a good choice for photographers who travel often thanks to its light and compact build. It easily fits into a small camera bag without weighing you down, which means you're able to keep your camera on you to pull it out at any time. 

One drawback of this camera is that the screen only tilts rather than being fully articulated. Suppose you frequently use a gimbal or want to do photography that involves shooting low to the ground — the comparable Canon Rebel SL3/250D with its articulating screen might be a better option.

Performance: We were impressed with the overall speed of the camera's operation—it's ready to take pictures in less than a second after starting up, and the focus operates exceptionally quietly. 

During our Fujifilm X-T30 II review, we experienced a little 'focus hunting' when we presented the camera with a mixture of shadow and light. When it comes to ISO, it performed slightly better than expected, with values up to ISO 1600 producing no real noticeable noise.

Functionality: The Fujifilm X-T30 II has been designed with beginners in mind. It has 18 user interface aids to help newcomers get to grips with the camera, and there are a number of different presets, presenting the camera with the best settings for a number of different scenarios. You can also easily change things like white balance, clarity and color depth within the camera, which cuts out on some post-processing and editing later on.

But we should also mention that the X-T30 II makes it super easy to transfer photos from your camera: Download the Fujifilm Camera Remote app and you can send photos to your smartphone in a matter of two clicks.

• Read our full Fujifilm X-T30 II review

Best for travel

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Design: Since the release of the first M50, this M50 Mark II has had numerous worthwhile upgrades. They're not all instantly obvious, but the changes made to autofocus and auto-shooting are perhaps the most noticeable, making this camera even better for beginners.

This camera stands out with its eye-catching appearance, especially in white like the one we tested. It's compact and feels a bit delicate, but despite its small size, it's easy to grip and surprisingly comfortable to hold. Even people with larger hands should find it comfortable to use — although the buttons are fairly close together which could become fiddly if you use it a lot.

Performance: We've been seriously impressed with the performance of the Canon M50. Featuring a 24.1MP sensor, it's capable of taking beautiful and colorful images. We've found it performs better in the daytime, so if you're an aspiring travel or nature photographer, this is a great choice. 

Because the M50 doesn't have in-body image stabilization (IBIS), shots in low light or at low shutter speeds can be a little shaky. If you use a tripod you'll be able to combat this issue, but it's worth bearing in mind if you're shopping for a camera to shoot astrophotography with.

Functionality: In our review of the Canon EOS M50 Mark II, we were quite impressed with its ability to effortlessly track and detect faces when taking photos or videos of people, even when they were moving within the frame.

This camera does have live streaming, which enables you to stream directly to YouTube while using Wi-Fi, and a vertical video mode, which could be a significant time-saving asset if you create social media content.

There's a microphone input for video recording, but oddly, there's no headphone socket to listen back to any footage you've recorded. 4K video recording is achievable, but it's worth noting that it is heavily cropped. Its battery life is also quite limited, so this camera might not be ideal for vloggers or aspiring filmmakers. However, if you're focused on still photography and working with a budget, there's plenty to appreciate here.

• Read our full Canon EOS M50 Mark II review

Best mid-range model

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Design: Being one of the few DSLR cameras left on the market, the Nikon D5600 is a little chunkier than some of the more modern mirrorless cameras. But you shouldn't let that put you off. Some users will definitely prefer the chunkiness here: It's comfortable in the hand and feels solid and substantial. 

Its buttons and controls are intuitively-placed and easy to get to grips with, and we're big fans of the articulating touch-sensitive screen. In our Nikon D5600 review, we praised its responsiveness and noted it's even easy to use in bright sunlight.

Performance: There are a variety of lens options to choose from for the D5600, but it comes with an AF-P 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. It's not the sharpest or most durable of lenses, but it's adaptable and takes excellent images, so it's a good choice for beginners to get started. 

As for the camera, we loved its ability to produce colorful and beautiful images across various situations. However, it's worth noting that it doesn't offer 4K recording, so vloggers, content creators and those who want a camera primarily for video may find this isn't the camera for them.

Functionality: The menu on this camera enables you to pick between shooting in JPEG or RAW formats, and you can control the ISO speed too. The connectivity of the D5600 is to be praised — it boasts WiFi, Bluetooth and a standard SD card slot and an HDMI slot for connecting to external screens. 

We loved the live view mode, which allows you to press on the screen to mark where you want the camera to focus. This is an especially attractive feature for beginners. 

• Read our full Nikon D5600 review

Best for versatility

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Design: The Canon EOS Rebel SL3 (known as the Canon 250D in the UK), has a very similar sensor and image system to Canon's EOS M mirrorless camera series. It also has an optical viewfinder, essentially a small screen in the same housing, which many users prefer over viewing their image on an electronic viewfinder.

In terms of handling, the camera is easy to use and feels sturdy while remaining smooth and comfortable to hold. In our Canon EOS Rebel SL3/250D review, we found it to be an excellent option for aspiring photographers and videographers looking for a compact and lightweight camera that you can carry with you wherever you go.

Performance: While the Canon 250D is more than capable of taking beautiful stills, it's also an excellent choice for videography. It has 4K recording capabilities and boasts a 'live' mode if you're interested in streaming. 

This camera's ISO range is very impressive given its price bracket, too. It can shoot between 100 to 25,600 ISO — essentially the camera's sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO, the more light it will let into a shot. High ISO shots can often be noisy, but we were impressed with how well the Canon EOS Rebel SL3/250D performed in this area. This means it's a great choice if you want to get into astrophotography and take pictures of the night sky.

Functionality: The Canon EOS Rebel SL3/250D has a built-in tutorial mode which we think is perfect for beginners: It talks you through everything you need to know about setting up the perfect shot. It can of course be disabled when you've got to grips with everything, but it's a great way to learn the basics. 

The camera also has WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, which makes transferring your photos to a PC or smartphone nice and easy. If you'd rather, you can do some basic editing within the camera: there are various effects and filters you can add to your images after they've been captured.

• Read our full Canon EOS Rebel SL3 / 250D review

Best Micro Four Thirds camera

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Design: We cannot overstate how stylish the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV is. It has a wonderfully charming retro aesthetic which we think makes the E-M10 look much more expensive than it is. Don't let its old-fashioned style put you off, though: it packs in some seriously impressive and up-to-date tech inside its retro chassis.

In our Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV review, we were impressed with how well the camera can balance quality and performance while still providing a user-friendly interface. This is very much an entry-level camera, which means it's great for beginners to learn with — and it's small and compact enough to be able to slip into a pocket. But it's still highly capable of taking excellent shots. 

Performance: The Olympus OM-D E-M10 isn't the fastest camera to start up, but it's still ready to use within a few seconds of turning it on. The quality and resolution of the screen is particularly impressive, and we only wish it had been articulated for the purposes of pointing it at the sky. The 20-megapixel sensor, which captures beautifully crisp and smooth photos in RAW and JPEG, and the image stabilization it provides also contribute to the camera's great performance.

Functionality: The camera comes with 21 scene modes with pre-adjusted settings to suit various environments and scenarios. This makes adjusting easy for beginners, and reduces the need for heavy editing. The camera also makes it also easy to share files via WiFi and Bluetooth, which means transferring them to a laptop or phone takes a matter of minutes. 

The OM-D-E-M10 Mark IV is an affordable camera with impressive features; it's easy to use while offering a superb performance. If you've been taking photos with your smartphone up until now and want to advance your photography skills, we think this is a great step to improve your images.

• Read our full Olympus OM-D E-M10 review

Best for autofocus and tracking

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Design: If you're into cameras with a more rugged design, the Sony A6700 may be the one for you. The camera's sturdy build means you can take it on outdoor shoots without fearing a few knocks, and it feels very sturdy and secure in hand. It also has a fully articulating screen, unlike its predecessors in the Sony APS-C range, so content creators will find it's great for taking selfies and shooting vlogs. 

There are a total of three dials on the Sony A6700 through which you can change the aperture, shutter speed and ISO independently without having to navigate through different menus. The dial on the front of the camera is a new feature that makes changing between settings much easier. These go a long way towards making manual shooting accessible even to beginner photographers, which means you won't outgrow the camera so fast as your skills improve. 

Performance: It has to be said that the autofocus and tracking capabilities of the Sony A6700 are the stand-out feature here. The camera makes use of modern AI tech for its autofocus — the same technology you'll find in Sony's much more expensive flagship cameras. In our Sony A6700 review, we were impressed with how well it works, testing it out on a pair of black cats (notoriously difficult subjects to focus on). The camera not only followed their eyes flawlessly but also managed to keep track of them when they turned their heads away.

If you're thinking about turning your head to astrophotography, the Sony A6700 is a great choice thanks to how well it works in low light. It's perhaps not the best choice if you're wanting to capture fast-moving action, however: It doesn't have the best burst rate on the market.

Functionality: Another standout feature of the A6700 is its in-body image stabilization, one that many crop sensor cameras don't have. It means that the camera works extra hard to ensure your images are sharp, which is very helpful when you're shooting at a lower shutter speed or in dimly lit environments. We also loved that the image stabilization also works when you're recording video.

Speaking of video functionality, this is an area where the Sony A6700 truly shines. It can shoot up to 4K 120, making it a fantastic choice for videographers. We think this is one of the best cameras for beginners, but it's also one of the most powerful video-shooting cameras currently on the market, loved by many professionals.

If you can afford to splash out, the autofocus, flawless tracking and in-body stabilization make this camera a very worthwhile buy. It's worth noting though that its battery life isn't as good as many of its competitors. The A6700 has the same battery as the Sony A6600 (which we still recommend, as you can find out in our Sony A6600 review) but due to the addition of AI focusing, it doesn't last anywhere as long on this newer model.

• Read our full Sony A6700 review

Best for simplicity

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Design: This camera is perfect for beginners looking to upgrade to more advanced equipment. It's a great entry point into DSLRs: it's easy to use but capable of handling more advanced settings as your photography skills become more advanced with time.

Like most DSLR cameras, it's a little more bulky than the mirrorless cameras on this list, but it's still comfortable to use. Its chunky grip will suit most people's hand, and we found it surprisingly lightweight to hold.

Performance: It shouldn't be surprising that, given the camera was first released in 2018, some of its capabilities are a little outdated now. In our Nikon D3500 review, we noted its autofocus felt archaic compared to newer cameras: it only has 11 autofocus points, which is less than even most modern smartphones. Because of this, don't expect great focusing, particularly in low-light situations.

That said, for one of the cheapest beginner cameras on the market, the Nikon D3500 still does a brilliant job of capturing beautiful photographs, especially in daylight. The great thing about buying a Nikon DSLR — even if they have been largely replaced by mirrorless cameras — is that there's a vast range of compatible lenses, allowing you to grow your collection as you broaden your capabilities. 

Functionality: You won't find quite as many fancy features on the Nikon D3500 as you will on newer, more premium cameras. But it does have a built-in Guide Mode, which we think is excellent for walking beginner photographers through all the different settings available on the camera.

There's no WiFi connectivity on here, and you won't be able to record 4K video either, so if either of those is important you're better of looking elsewhere. It's also not the best camera in terms of autofocus, with newer models being much quicker and more accurate. But considering its budget price and its ability to take excellent photos, it still makes a fantastic place to start.

• Read our full Nikon D3500 review

Best for portability

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Design: There's one stand-out feature about the Canon EOS M200 and that it's incredibly small size. It's so compact that it'll fit in your pocket, so you won't need to worry about lugging around a heavy camera bag when taking it out to shoot.

That small size, however, means there's no viewfinder on the M200, so you'll have to set up your shots on the tilt-and-flip touchscreen. If you're upgrading from shooting on a smartphone, this should be an easy adjustment to make, but more traditional photographers will undoubtedly prefer to look through a viewfinder. 

Performance: In our Canon EOS M200 review, we found the camera's shutter speed to be a little sluggish, so it's perhaps not the best choice if you want to shoot fast-moving subjects. That said, it has excellent autofocus and eye detection, making it a fantastic choice for portraits, for example. The resulting images were rich in color and details. 

The M200 has a pretty good battery life; it'll stay powered up for a whole day of shooting without needing an extra battery. However, it's not the best for astrophotography or low-light conditions because it doesn't handle noise very well.

Functionality: This camera's Auto mode picks all the right settings for you, making it super easy to use and perfect for beginners. Despite its compact size, we were happy to see a pop-up flash that worked great for taking group photos at night. Vloggers might feel a bit restricted by the absence of an external microphone input, but the WiFi and Bluetooth features make it simple to share and transfer files to other devices or online platforms.

People who want to be able to point and shoot will enjoy the straightforward nature of this camera, and its compact size means it's great to take on trips, but more experienced photographers may need something more advanced.

• Read our full Canon EOS M200 review

A good option for content creators

Design: The Panasonic Lumix G100 is another super small camera that can easily fit in your pocket. It's very light too, weighing just 412g. Still, thanks to a sizeable grip on the side of the camera, it's comfortable to hold and fits well even in a larger hand.

It's a great-looking camera and despite its small size, it has a premium feel and appearance. Chunky dials on the top make changing some settings very easy, and its flip-out screen is bright and responsive. It's also great when creating video content thanks to the range of positions it can be placed in.

Performance: Just like all Lumix cameras from Panasonic, the G100 uses a micro four-thirds system, which means it has a sensor even smaller than those in APS-C cameras. These smaller sensors are designed to keep cameras as compact as possible, and the G100 is a great example of that. 

Despite the sensor size, this camera is more than capable of taking great photos and thanks to the wide range of lenses available, it will be able to grow alongside your photography skills. The only complaint we have is that the autofocus isn't the most reliable; if you're hoping to shoot in dimly-lit situations, we'd recommend opting for a camera with a larger sensor and a better autofocus.

Functionality: The Panasonic Lumix G100 boasts great features such as directional tracked audio, face detection, hybrid 5-stop image stabilization and even a selfie shooting mode. It's clearly designed with vloggers and content creators, offering in-camera editing and filters to further simplify the process of sharing content online. However, we were disappointed to find that it can only record 4K for up to 10 minutes at a time, which could be a dealbreaker if you're trying to shoot longer videos.

Best beginner cameras FAQs

How we tested the best beginner cameras

To guarantee you're getting honest, up-to-date recommendations on the best cameras to buy here at Space.com we make sure to put every camera through a rigorous review to fully test each product. Each camera is reviewed based on a multitude of aspects, from its construction and design, to how well it functions as an optical instrument and its performance in the field.

• The best time to buy a camera: shop smart and save
• Should you buy a DSLR camera?
• Best mirrorless cameras
• Best cameras for low-light photography
• Best cameras for astrophotography
• 5 ways to save money when buying astrophotography equipment

Each camera is carefully tested by either our expert staff or knowledgeable freelance contributors who know their subject areas in depth. This ensures fair reviewing is backed by personal, hands-on experience with each camera and is judged based on its price point, class and destined use. For example, comparing a 60MP full-frame mirrorless camera to a sleek little crop-sensor DSLR wouldn’t be appropriate, though each camera might be the best-performing product in its own class.

We examine how easy each camera is to operate, whether it contains the latest up-to-date imaging technology, whether the cameras can shoot high-quality stills photos and high-resolution video and also make suggestions if a particular camera would benefit from any additional kit to give you the best viewing experience possible.

With complete editorial independence, Space.com are here to ensure you get the best buying advice on cameras, whether you should purchase an instrument or not, making our buying guides and reviews reliable and transparent.