Looking for a user-friendly camera at an affordable price with a range of features you can learn and grow with? These are the best Canon cameras for beginners you can buy today
When you’re taking your first steps into photography with an interchangeable lens camera you haven’t yet invested into a system of lenses and have total freedom of choice among all the brands. You’re a free agent, open to anything out there. If you’re in this position, looking to buy your first entry-level camera, Canon is a brand you should consider. Part of why Canon makes some of the best cameras for beginners is that it often includes technology from its more advanced models in these entry-level cameras.
The best Canon cameras for beginners offer the perfect balance of user-friendliness and enough functionality for you to grow with as you advance along your photographic journey. It might be an advanced AF system or a more powerful processing engine, but Canon is great at letting its technology trickle down its range of cameras. This gives new users a taste of what’s possible.
The best beginner Canon cameras are also competitively priced. If you look at options like the full-frame mirrorless EOS RP or the small EOS 250D DSLR, both are packed with features and don’t break the bank. With APS-C camera options from Canon’s DSLR or mirrorless EOS M series, in particular, you can get a very solid camera for under £500 / $500.
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Guided Interface
Another hallmark of the best Canon cameras for beginners is its Guided interface. Canon’s Guided mode is found in cameras like the EOS 800D, known as the Rebel T7i in the US, and is aimed at beginner photographers. With the Guided interface enabled, your LCD screen changes appearance depending upon the exposure mode you’ve selected on the Mode dial. And the explanations are image-led.
In aperture priority mode, for example, the on-screen Mode Guide shows two images of the same scene, one with a blurred background and the other with a sharp background. Alongside the images is some text explaining how to achieve your desired effect. For instance, ‘AV Aperture Priority AE – Adjust the level of background blur.’
Then once you reach the shooting screen another guide will show you where to place your aperture vale for a sharp or blurred background. This is just one of many helpful guides you’ll find in Canon’s Guided interface. Once you get the hang of these basics, you can then turn off Guided mode and shoot in Standard mode.
Now that we’ve summed up what makes Canon’s entry-level offerings so great, here’s our rundown of the best Canon cameras for beginners based on our tests.
The best Canon cameras for beginners
All of the options on our list of the best Canon cameras for beginners were based off our experience testing them. For a deeper dive into the many different camera types and features available, check out our range of camera buying guides.
