August 10, 2023 Lauren Orcinolo

The Best Cameras for Photography Majors

The new school year is almost ready to start and you are a photography major looking for the best digital cameras to get your studies done, projects for school, get you ready to graduate and jump start your videography career. Whether you are a beginner looking for a point and shoot camera, a photography enthusiast or a seasoned student needing a great DSLR camera getting ready to graduate, you are going to want the best camera to produce those high quality images in high resolution. You want to wow your family, friends, peers and professors.

So what cameras and what type of specs should a Photography Major be looking for to obtain the image quality that shooters would be looking for in a great DSLR camera? Remember, you are going to want a camera that will take your grades to the next level. Let’s explore some of the best DSLR options and the features they employ.

Camera #1

Our top pick is the camera body full frame sensor DSLR camera: the Nikon Z9 Full Frame FX Flagship Mirrorless Camera 45.7MP 8K Video (Body). This is a fabulous full frame mirrorless camera in the Nikon Z series, comes with amazing functionality and specs. Let’s delve a little deeper into the features and specs of this camera and you will see as to why this is one of the best DSLR cameras to future proof you for school and the start of your photography career.

Blazingly fast stacked CMOS sensor with 45.7 effective Megapixels. This amazing camera was made by Nikon with the intent of getting ultra-high-resolution image quality to high-speed shooting applications. This image sensor can get the world’s fastest scanning speed and just amazing image quality in still photos and even 8K videos.
Best in class 8K video recording resolution with up 4K UHD recording up to 120 FPS.
Unbelievable top notch AutoFocus system with scene detection. With calculations made at up to 120 cycles per second, with fast communication between the lens and the camera through Nikon’s patented Z lens mount system. This AF system is amazing.
This is the first Nikon camera that comes with a 4 axis vertical and tilting monitor for ease of use.
Comes with the world’s first blackout free tilting touchscreen electronic viewfinder or EVF. Touchscreen LCD is also available on the rear of the camera for viewing your subject or object.
Amazing 3D tracking with deep subject learning detection.
Wonderful new processing engine. Nikon’s EXPEED 7, their most powerful processing engine ever. 10x faster than previous generations. Separately processes dual-streamed data from the stacked image sensor. Enables next-generation features like max 120 FPS still shooting, 8K video recording, dynamic range recording, a blackout-free viewing experience and more. These are video capabilities in this type of camera, that any serious Photography Major will want.
The Nikon Z9 can shoot continuously more than 1,000 frames at 20 fps resolution High Efficiency RAW or JPEG images.
Fantastic interchangeable lens camera. Attach a wonderful Leica lens to this camera, just remember that if the lens does not fit the Nikon Z mount system a mounting adapter will be needed.
Electronic shutter providing shutter speeds of 1/32000 to 30 sec.
ISO 64–25600 in step sizes of 1/3 and 1 EV with additional ISO settings at different step sizes. Auto ISO sensitivity control is also available.

There are two matched card slots for memory cards optimized for high-performance CFexpress Type B cards. The slots are independent from each other, so you can load cards with different read/write speeds—including XQD cards.
Connectivity is available on this camera via USB-C connector. There is also an HDMI port for external devices. Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi AC is standard with availability to connect to the faster 5 Ghz networks. This comes is especially handy when Vlogging or livestreaming. Bluetooth 5.0 is also present for connectivity, as well as GPS availability via the Smart Bridge connect app for Nikon.
Weather sealed for even the most inclement of conditions. (Please review user manual for exact verifications for your area).

Camera #2

Our second pick for the top cameras for Photography Majors is the Sony a7R V Alpha Full Frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera Body . This SLR camera comes with a speedy 61.0 MP full-frame back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor. With it’s advanced optical 5 axis in body stabilization or IBIS, stutter and shake which can cause blurry images should be a thing of the past. This is obviously a very powerful camera, so what are some of the extensive specs and features that you can expect?

A 61 megapixel back illuminated sensor size for sharp and crisp photos.
Next level video features such as 8K video recording at up to 24p/25 fps, 4K video recording at up to 60 FPS and Full HD or 1080P recording at up to a max of 120 FPS.
AI based processing unit that uses extremely detailed poses and information on human forms to improve recognition accuracy. With this camera this even applies to moving vehicles and insects.
AI based real time recognition Autofocus system.
A 4-axis tilting touchscreen LCD screen with side opening flexibility for ease of use.
BIONZ XR image processor providing up to eight times the processing power of its predecessor. It’s ability to achieve low latency while processing such a large amount of data is a great feature which also boosts the camera’s video recording and still-image processing power.
Support for the XAVC HS format enables in-camera recording of high-resolution, high-quality 8K (7680 x 4320) videos with space saving HEVC/H.265 compression.
The camera’s Active Mode provides immense image stabilization when shooting handheld video recordings. In addition to it’s in-body stabilization, when attaching a compatible lens with their own built-in image stabilization, it can work with the camera body for very effective control, allowing even handheld telephoto zoom lens shots.
Connectivity is available via Wi-FI 5 for 2 x 2 MIMO (multi input-multi output) clients allowing for more data throughput over previous generations of Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi can be used with Sony’s Imaging Edge Desktop app as a remote. This gives the shooter more freedom of movement throughout their photography environment (such as when shooting a live view Vlog).
Bluetooth and USB-C with power delivery is also standard on this camera.

Camera #3

A third great option for all you videography students out there is the Canon EOS R50 Mirrorless Camera with RF-S 18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM Lens. Canon has long been a staple in the best DSLR cameras for each type of photographer. This great camera like it’s more expensive cousin the Canon EOS R5, is no different in that regard. With an unreal starting price point with the features and specs that we will talk about, this is a great ergonomic body only camera. Let’s look at some of what we can expect with this camera:

Powerful 24.2 Megapixel CMOS APS-C sensor
Powerful DIGIC X Image Processor which provides clear, sharp, precise stills and video recordings even in harsh lighting conditions, such as shooting in low light.
Video recording at 4K uncropped up to 30 FPS oversampled from 6K and Full HD video recording at up to a max of 120 FPS.
Dual pixel CMOS AF covers the entirety of the exposure area. This autofocus system divides the image into up to 651 automatically selected Autofocus zones during Whole Area AF, which will get you the high quality image you want.
Continuous Shooting up to 12 FPS on the electronic shutter mode and 15 FPS on the second.
Continuous video recording in video mode up to one hour. This is great for Vlogging so you don’t have to fret over recording stoppage.
Speaking of Vlogging, with the video modes on the Canon EOS R50, such as previously mentioned the 4K oversampled from 6k video recording and Full HD up to 120 FPS will make your Vlog pop when uploaded to your social media site of choice.
Featuring a 3.0-inch, 1.62 million dot Clear View LCD II Vari-angle Touchscreen LCD, and an OLED electronic viewfinder with an optical viewfinder simulation setting for amazing viewing.
Connectivity is available via USB-C, Wi-FI and Bluetooth. All of these options will allow you to connect to the Canon Camera Connect app for post processing and livestreaming.
Electronically controlled focal plane shutter which provide the shutter speeds on both the first curtain electronic shutter and the second shutter.
Good battery life with the included NP-FZ100 battery rated at approximately 440 still shots through the electronic viewfinder and 530 shots through the LCD monitor. For Video Recordings, the battery is rated at 90 minutes through the electronic viewfinder and 100 minutes through the LCD screen. That changes if you are doing continuous recording to 145 minutes through the electronic viewfinder and 150 minutes through the LCD screen.

Camera #4

A fourth option to consider when starting off your schooling in Videography and getting ready to major in photography is the Sony ZV-1F Vlog Camera for Content Creators and Vloggers. What do we love so much about this compact camera? Well we can start there, this camera is extremely lightweight and compact. It is a pocket sized camera with a large 1 inch sensor and wide angle 20mm lens. This camera is great for starting out in photography school, especially if your goal is to become a Vlogger or Content Creator. Here are some of the features that stand out in this great little camera.

With the 20mm ultra-wide lens you get a great field of view and can capture images even in narrow areas with great depth.
The onboard 1” sensor and F2 lens are great for low-light and defocusing backgrounds.
Great autofocus system which when using Eye AF in the mode section of the camera settings allows the camera to recognize human faces and eyes ensuring they stay in focus.
Gorgeous defocused backgrounds, with just a press of the Bokeh Switch. Then select “Defocus” in the camera menu and your main subject or object will stand out against the Bokeh Effect you created.
Video recordings are smoother than ever even at speeds up to 5x slower, or use hyper-lapse recording which increase the video up to 60x faster.
Using Active Mode Stabilization, you can walk around shooting images and video recordings with minimal blur.
This is a perfect camera to showcase products. Just hold the product in front of the camera and the camera will automatically focus in on it.
You can shoot in vertical mode just like on your smartphone. You can also rotate horizontal video in camera so no extra editing would be needed.
Connect to your smartphone via Wi-Fi and use Image Mobile Plus app to transfer all of your photos and video recordings, which also turns your phone into a remote for the camera.
The camera can be charged via it’s USB-C port, however for long photo shoots it’s always good to have a backup battery or power bank at your disposal.

Additional Camera Options

There are several other camera options for photography majors of all levels.

For example, we have the Panasonic Lumix G95 20.3MP Mirrorless Camera 12-60mm F3.5-5.6 MFT 3" OLED Lens in the Panasonic Lumix line of cameras. This is a micro four thirds mount camera, with great 20.3-megapixel Digital Live MOS Sensor without a low-pass filter for maximum performance. With a simplistic but advanced Lumix G MFT (micro four thirds) 12-60mm lens for this mirrorless camera. In addition this camera can shoot 4K video up to 30 FPS in high dynamic range, and high speed Full HD recording at up to 120 FPS (when shot in High Speed Video and creative video mode is chosen).

Get that Degree

Photography is a budding industry if you can believe that. With the advent of Vlogs and an increase in social media sites to upload content to, if you are a photography enthusiast than being a photography major is the career path for you. With some of the camera suggestions we have laid out, you should be able to find the one that fits your niche and be on your way to graduating with a degree in Photography!