Buying the Cameras

The one piece of equipment that you absolutely need with starting out in this hobby is a camera, preferably a DSLR.

All of the Microstock sites that we've signed up as contributors for require images to be submitted that are at least 4 - 8 megapixels and are to be in JPEG format. 

If you're buying a new DSLR, these requirements shouldn't be a problem.  Most entry level DSLR cameras on the market are rated at least 10 - 12 megapixel with a file format of JPEG.  If you're planning using an older DSLR, check out its capabilities before spending time taking photos that are not going to meet the minimum requirements for the Microstock agencies.

As we mentioned in our first post, neither my sister or myself have any previous experience in photography or with DLSR cameras, so the first thing I did was research on internet and talking to the staff in our local photography shops about the different DSLRs on the market that were within our budget.

We finally decided to get cameras that not only take photos in JPEG format, but also have the capability to capture files in RAW format.  RAW format is the uncompressed file format and is used by more experienced photographers for post-processing images on a computer.  Although we're not using this capability now on the cameras that we purchased, we will be as our skill level increases.  I'd much prefer to buy a camera with the capability now, then have to purchase another camera in the near future.

After a lot of research on various blogs and camera review sites, and talking to the helpful staff in our local camera shops, we decided to purchase the following:

For Fiona
Canon EOS 7D body with a Tamron 18-270mm Lens

 For ShelleyNikon D5100 with 2 Lens18-55mm & 55-300mm    

So far we're both very happy with our camera purchases and we've already produced photos of a higher quality than we've ever managed to achieve with our old point and shoot cameras.

Cheers
Fiona