Hi, I'm looking to buy a general-purpose camera, preferably a Fuji due to its good SOOC colors. I've never had a DSLR or mirrorless before - only bridge cameras, point-and-shoots and crappy phones. Is this a good option for a beginner?

The kit contains a Fujifilm X-T100 camera and a FUJINON XC 15-45mm F3.5-5.6 OIS PZ lens, both used, for 400€. It's hard to find second-hand Fujis here in Romania so I don't have a lot of options for this brand.

I'm buying the camera for indoor pics of my cats, selfies, travel and events. Proper color straight out of the camera is very important to me. Fun filters are nice to have. I miss the superzoom from bridge cameras but I know that's hard to get on DSLRs & mirrorless.

Do you have any advice for me, please?

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[–] 3 points 21 hours ago (1 child)

I can't comment on Fuji cameras or lenses, having never used them:

Fun filters are nice to have

If you're going to edit photos on a computer, most lens filters are unnecessary since identical results can be achieved in post. The exception is a circular polarizing filter: It blocks sun glare from glass, water, and other reflective surfaces, allowing detail underneath to be captured which is otherwise lost to the film/sensor and cannot be recovered in editing. I'm new to photography, and only just learned about polarizing filters. They've given me much more control over certain outdoor shots and are pretty cheap. Light emitted by most screens these days is also polarized, so a polarizing filter lets you adjust how bright a screen will appear.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 21 hours ago

    Thank you, good that you told me, I was wondering what to do about glare. I don't plan on editing, I hate doing it tbh. I like seeing exactly what I'll be shooting as I do it, so I love the EVF and in-camera (digital) filters.

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  • [–] 3 points 23 hours ago* (4 children)

    Since it's used, do you know the amount of clicks (shutter count) it has? If the seller didn't mention that, maybe you could ask? There are tools online that can help you out.
    If that number is reasonable and the camera looks like it's in good shape, i'd say go for it!

    15-45mm lens on an APS-C sensor will add an cropfactor of x1.5, gives you a pretty nice range IMO, especially for day to day shots.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

    Thanks! Sellers says they only used it for 3 sessions, but I'll ask. The price is actually 375€, I forgot the euro rose again. Do you happen to know what brand of lenses would be cheapest, if I want additional ones? Maybe I should get an adapter to another mount, but I'm not sure which one?

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  • [–] 2 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

    Hopefully they will be able to tell you that! Only 3 sessions sounds promising, but i'd check it nonetheless.

    Regarding affordable lenses, i've read plenty of good thing about Tamron and Sigma, tho i can't tell much about it from experience (i'm pretty new to this hobby myself).
    I know someone who owns a Sigma for her full frame Sony camera, i used it for a bit and i honestly couldn't tell that i was dealing with a more affordable brand.

    But only start considering getting other lenses once you've started your new journey and have some experience. You must know what kind of photography you enjoy most, and then find out which upgrades /gear will get your photos to the next level.

    I think some basic protection (a case, bag, etc) and a cleaning kit should be your first priority after you get your first camera. Keeping your new gear safe and clean helps it last much, much longer.

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  • [–] 4 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

    You're not going to like my answer, but I'm gonna say it anyway: if you're a beginner, get good at taking photos with the camera you already have before worrying about spending a bunch of money.

    Only when you can honestly say you can take good photos with your crappy phone camera or whatever, and are legitimately limited by your equipment and not your skills, do you need to consider buying that Fuji you're eyeing. And if you are at that point, stop calling yourself a "beginner."

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 19 hours ago (1 child)

    There is no "camera I already have" when my bridge camera has a broken dial, I can't hold my phone well enough to take well-framed pics with it, and it has this HDR-like thing that ruins shots completely and can't be disabled. They are both unusable, so yes, I don't like your answer.

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  • [–] 2 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 child)

    That's a good price for that combo. It's a discontinued camera body, but has decent specs.

    I have a Fujifilm X-M5, with that same lens (FUJINON XC 15-45mm F3.5-5.6). The lens is not very nice. The quality of image is very good (the OIS is very nice to have), but requiring the motor to zoom in/out is very unpleasant. I have gotten a couple other lenses now, and no longer use that one. It's is a decent starter lens though, and you have the option to add new lens as you go, so I'd say it's a decent find.

    My first (cheap) lens was TTArtisan 27mm f/2.8 Lens. It's a really cheap prime lens, but have gotten a lot of really good images out of it (e.g. this that I posted earlier today https://lemmy.world/post/54196885)

    edit: looks like it's an 8 year old camera. If it's only been used 3 times in 8 years, that could be suspicious.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 hours ago (3 children)

    Depending on how you develop (hah), you may come to find "Proper color straight out of the camera" a bit of an irrelevance. By its very nature, a camera can only make simple guesses about a good colour balance and luminance curve looks like for any given shot. If its guesses happen to be ones that satisfy you for the sort of shots you take, great, but you may well move on to taking RAW format photos and messing about in post-processing to get results that satisfy you more, especially if you take a wide range of types of shots. And your range from cats to landscapes to events is wide!

    So do look at the post-processing options and software available for that camera (alas, I can comment nothing on the camera model). It also means that quality of lens, sensor and auto-focus should also be a concern of course - if the basics aren't right, no post processing can rescue the result (bar outrageous levels of AI work).

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

    I will mostly never want to bother with editing, I just want something quick, fun, and with great quality.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 hours ago (1 child)

    Fair enough - though with those goals I would see what smart phones with decent cameras in your price range can do, as an alternative approach. To me, fun includes "always with you" - I may have a very nice "proper" camera, but it's not something I can stick in my pocket :)

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