The Buyers guide to...Best DSLRs for beginners

The Canon EOS 250D is called the Canon EOS Rebel SL3 and the EOS Kiss X10 in some territories and it’s built with beginner photographers in mind. It’s also the smallest DSLR with a moveable screen available and as it has a Dual Pixel CMOS sensor, its focusing system is snappy whether you compose images in the viewfinder or on the vari-angle screen.

With just 9 points available when you’re using the optical viewfinder, it’s often easier to use the screen to compose images as you can tap on the subject to get it in sharp focus.

The 250D makes a significant step up from the Canon EOS 4000D, and it’s a more versatile camera to use.

Canon has given the Rebel SL3 / 250D a choice of two interfaces that you can selected via the menu. The Guided interface which is great for beginners and the Standard interface which is better for more experienced photographer. They give the same type of information, but the Guided interface looks friendlier and is easier to understand.

There’s a 24.1Mp APS-C format sensor inside the Canon EOS Rebel SL3 / 250D and it delivers great results with a good level of detail. The camera also handles exposure and white balance well in the default settings so you can concentrate on getting the composition right.

Read our Canon EOS Rebel SL3 / EOS 250D Review

Known as the Canon EOS Rebel T7 in the US, the EOS 2000D is the replacement for the Canon 1300D (aka EOS Rebel T6) and boasts a 24-million-pixel sensor rather than the 18MP chip Canon had previously been using in its beginner cameras.

This sensor is paired with a DIGIC 4+ processing engine (the same as is in the 1300D). This enables a sensitivity range of ISO 100-6,400 (expandable to ISO 12,800) and a maximum continuous shooting speed of 3fps for 150 jpegs or 11 raw files. It’s also possible to shoot Full-HD (1920 x 1080) movies at 30, 25 or 24fps (frames per second) for up to 29 minutes 59 seconds.

While advanced exposure modes such as aperture priority, shutter priority and manual are available, Canon’s Scene Intelligent Auto mode and a collection of scene modes are on hand to help inexperienced photographers get good results easily.

There’s also a built-in features guide to help new photographers get to grips with their camera. However, it’s worth noting that the Guided Mode seen on the Canon M50 and EOS 800D / EOS T7i that simplifies controlling the camera is not available on this camera.

As an entry-level model, the 2000D doesn’t have ground-breaking technology, the most robust build or an especially extensive specification list, but it has beginner-friendly exposure modes as well as more advanced options that let you take control when you become more confident.

It’s a competent entry-level DSLR that produces good quality results. Priced at less than £500 / $500, the EOS 4000D / Rebel T7 is a solid choice for someone wanting to make their first steps in photography without committing too much money to the pursuit at this stage.

You can find a range of Canon EOS 2000D / Rebel T7 kit options at Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Read our Canon EOS 2000D / EOS Rebel T7 Review

While the Nikon D3500 is now listed as discontinued, no successor has been announced and it can still be found on sale.

Inside the D3500’s monocoque body is an APS-C (DX) format sensor with 24.2 million effective pixels. This is paired with an Expeed 4 processing engine and its a combination that’s capable of delivering excellent-quality images.

With just 11 individually selectable points, the D3500 AF system’s specification may seem unimpressive next that of the average mirrorless camera, but it’s fast and capable of getting moving subjects sharp.

As it’s a DSLR, the D3500 has an optical viewfinder so you see a natural view of the scene with no interpretation by the camera. There’s also a fixed 3-inch screen with 921,000 dots on the back of the camera which can be used to compose images in Live View mode (as well as review them), but the Live View autofocus system is quite sluggish.

One of the main selling points of the Nikon 3500 for beginners is its excellent Guide Mode that teaches the user about photography and the camera controls using non-techy language.

Read our Nikon D3500 Review

Known as the Canon EOS 850D in Europe and the Canon EOS Rebel T8i in the USA, the Canon 850D is a 24.1Mp DSLR camera that sits towards the entry-level end of Canon’s enthusiast-level camera range.

As a modern DSLR, the Canon T8i /850D has a Live View system which enables images to be composed on the screen on its back, as well as an optical viewfinder. This means that there are sensors dedicated to the autofocusing and exposure metering when the viewfinder is in use. In Live View mode, the T8i’s imaging sensor is used to gather the necessary information.

Canon has paired the 8Ti/850D’s sensor with the Digic 8 processing engine. For stills, this combination enables a standard sensitivity range of ISO 100-25,600, which can be expanded to ISO 51,200. In video mode, the range is ISO 100-12,800 (expandable to ISO 25,600).

There’s also a maximum continuous shooting rate of 7fps (frames per second when the viewfinder is in use and 7.5fps in live view mode.

Canon has given the EOS Rebel T8i / EOS 850D an attractive collection of features with things such as a vari-angle touchscreen, excellent touch control, a very good autofocus system and a well-thought control arrangement. What’s more, the Canon EOS Rebel T8i / EOS 850D is lightweight and easy to carry with a good control arrangement and excellent touch-control. It also delivers very nice images with a good level of detail in a wide range of conditions.

Read our Canon EOS Rebel T8i / EOS 850D Review

Inside the Pentax KP is a newly developed APS-C-sized CMOS image sensor with 24.32 million effective pixels, which has no anti-aliasing filter for resolving finer details.

The sensor, in combination with a PRIME IV imaging engine, enables the Pentax KP to shoot night scenes at the super-high sensitivity of ISO 819,200.

The Pentax KP doesn’t offer 4K video recording. However, it does include a 4K Interval Movie mode that stitches together a series of 4K-resolution still images (3840 x 2160 pixels) at a fixed interval to create a single movie file.

Also on-board the Pentax KP is the company’s Pixel Shift Resolution System, as seen in other recent Pentax cameras and similar to what we’ve seen from recent Olympus cameras.

This technology enables the KP to capture four images of the same scene by shifting the image sensor by a single pixel for each image. The KP then stitches them into a single, high-resolution composite image.

Ricoh says that compared to the conventional Bayer system in which each pixel has only a single colour data unit, this new system obtains all colour data in each pixel to deliver ultra high-resolution images with more accurate colours and much finer details than those produced by conventional APS-C-sized image sensors.

Ricoh says it has also added an ON/OFF switch for the motion correction function to make the Pixel Shift system usable with a wider range of subjects. The motion correction system promises to automatically detect a moving object during continuous shooting and minimise negative effects during the synthesising process.

The Pentax KP also has a five-axis SR II shake reduction mechanism that delivers a compensation effect of approximately five shutter steps.

When taking a panning shot, this mechanism controls the SR unit to compensate for all external factors without requiring any switching action.

Pentax’s flagship APS-C-format DSLR, the Pentax K-3 Mark III, might be at the top end of this best DSLRs for beginners list, but it’s one of the most solid options you can buy. Inside is a 26.78-megapixel CMOS sensor with 5-axis sensor shift shake reduction.

4K video recording is also available at up to 30p, as well as Full HD at up to 60p. And if you want to try your hand at vlogging there are other nice features such as built-in stereo microphones and an external microphone port.

It can shoot at up to 12fps in continuous shooting mode, making it one of the best all-rounders on this list.