Which DSLR camera?

Ska Ggs wrote:

I'm arguing against investing in a mirror-less/Point and shoot BC if you want to get into photography, buy something that will force you to learn f-stop, shutterspeed, ISO sensitivity.... otherwise your wasting money on something your iphone can do. From what it sounds like, no one is producing prints and putting together a portfolio ... this is for the instagram/social media accounts

A dSLR does not force you to learn the interplay between f/stop, shutter speed or ISO any more that a mirrorless prevents you from doing it.  Every dSLR I have seen has a full auto setting and various mode settings, while most of the mirrorless camerals will let you shoot in aperture or shutter speed priority or full manual, and set the ISO.  Lots of better P&S cameras will let you do all that as well.

I have a sony a6000 and I think its just about an ideal entry level camera for climbers. Its lightweight and compact enough that I never think twice about bringing it along and the picture quality is excellent.

Also I will warn you that wildlife photography on a budget is a real challenge. I have a 600mm mirror lens (~20x optical zoom) that I use to take pictures of birds and its very dificult to take non bury photos without a tripod since there's no image stabilization in the lens or the camera body. If you are serious about taking pictures with big lenses it might be a good idea to pay extra for a camera body that has image stabilization.

Ska Ggs wrote:

I'm arguing against investing in a mirror-less/Point and shoot BC if you want to get into photography, buy something that will force you to learn f-stop, shutterspeed, ISO sensitivity.... otherwise your wasting money on something your iphone can do. From what it sounds like, no one is producing prints and putting together a portfolio ... this is for the instagram/social media accounts

Mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras are functionally identical to DSLRs in the way that they implement f-stop, shutterspeed, and ISO.

Ska Ggs wrote:

I'm arguing against investing in a mirror-less/Point and shoot BC if you want to get into photography, buy something that will force you to learn f-stop, shutterspeed, ISO sensitivity.... otherwise your wasting money on something your iphone can do. From what it sounds like, no one is producing prints and putting together a portfolio ... this is for the instagram/social media accounts

You can learn every aspect of photography on a mirrorless. They are literally a DSLR without a mirror.....just smaller (and arguably better)

If you did any sort of research on the topic you will find the majority of "pro" adventure photographers are using mirrorless, or will in the next year. Chris Burkard (Sony A7 series), Keith Ladzinski (Nikon N6/7), Matty Hong (Sony A7 series), Jimmy Chin (Canon EOS-R), etc. Mirrorless is, without a doubt, the direction digital photography is going so I'm not quite sure why this wouldn't be a valid recommendation for an individual looking to get into photography.

I would like to suggest you Sony Alpha a6000 mirorrless camera instead of DSLR. The camera is perfect for the clicking the pictures you want to and has some extraordinary features like :    

Effective Pixels: 24 megapixels
Max Video Resolution: 6000 x 4000
Sensor Size: APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm)
Optical Zoom: 3X
Video Capture Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (60p, 60i, 24p)

I have taken many adventurous photos with this camera and I am sure you will also enjoy using it. Moreover the price is also not much so you can afford it.

What Tony said. As someone who has shot professionally in the past, a DSLR is about the worst choice for this situation. I still shoot with an old Sony NEX5N (same form factor as the a6000) which can be had for sub 200$ on ebay these days :) I can clip it in a small bag to my harness with a couple lenses. More important than the camera, learn basic photography and post processing skills, no matter what camera you use they will look better than 99% of people's photos.

John Clark wrote: I have a Nikon D3300 that I have taken up walls, whipped with, been deluged by ocean waves, offwidth, squeezed, and rained on for 2.5 years and it refuses to die. Just get a couple solid UV filters (for lens pro) and maybe a tiny lens hood and you should be fine. Whatever you get, know how to use it and be  careful. I clip my camera strap to a back gear loop (when hung over a shoulder) with a QD when I don't want it getting in my way on a pitch.

Agree,
I have a Nikon d5300 and the body is compact, light, really tough (rain, sand, winds). I’m by no means a professional photographer but i have sold pics taken with it. The lenses can also stand a beating just as the camera. I like it that the camera is quite simple as I mostly use it in the manual modes. in automatics I use speed (sport), the HDR feature (Like when I’m in the woods), and some others for landscapes. i use it for outdoor activities only (No Studio photos). The lenses i have are great for outdoor activities (usually when I go out I bring just two of them, 4 batteries, 2 memory cards and a compact tripod) I use the 18-55 (it came with the camera) then I bought the 70-300, and two years later the 80-400 (again the last two y mostly use manual focus and are the ones I switch depending on what I’m doing). this last one I recommend it for climbing and mountains since is less invasive, can use it most of the time without the tripod (it has vibration reduction and is "light") and can get you sharp details like hands clipping draws, fear faces and so without being on the way.
As I said before I’m no Pro Photographer and when I go out is to do the activities myself (fishing, climbing, surfing, MTB, camping, or just hike) it just happens that I bring the camera so sometimes I carry the camera and just take 3 pics. a day, Other times I look like an intern for natgeo.  I have no problem letting other people use it (with some minor and usual recommendations) since I’m confident of the toughness of the camera and also good to avoid the photographer syndrome (you take pics. But never show up in one of them).

I recently added the gopro hero 7 black to my camera arsenal to supplement my Nikon.  Mainly for video, mainly for the hyperlapse stuff and incredible stabilization.  However it takes pretty decent photos too.  Of course the main downside is that it doesn't have a zoom, but it's pretty light, waterproof and resilient.  The only other downside is that batteries dont last that long.  You don't have to use it only as the traditional helmet mount which IMO is usually a horrible way to make videos.  It's small enough that the leader can leave it on a ledge clipped to a runner and remotely take a photo of the follower.  The voice activation is pretty good, if you're within range, as is the camera app for your phone.  You can even leave it on a tripod and take a 4k timelapse or video of a singlepitch climb.  With 4k wideangle you can shoot it in portrait and then cut down the clip to landscape 1080p while retaining good quality.

As a side note, my nikon d7500 fell from the back seat of a car on to concrete and cracked the glass on the rear lcd screen.  The screen still works (as does everything else including the lens even though the lens cap got jammed into the filter).  I think the fold out screens are probably the weakest point on these, if I had dropped my older D7100 in the same way I think it would have been fine as the fixed screen is better protected.

Justin B wrote: What Tony said. As someone who has shot professionally in the past, a DSLR is about the worst choice for this situation. I still shoot with an old Sony NEX5N (same form factor as the a6000) which can be had for sub 200$ on ebay these days :) I can clip it in a small bag to my harness with a couple lenses. More important than the camera, learn basic photography and post processing skills, no matter what camera you use they will look better than 99% of people's photos.

Sony A6000's can be had for $300 these days. The viewfinder alone is worth a $100 upgrade for most.