Suggestions for first DSLR

[Gaurav]

I am hobbyist photographer. I want to buy my first DSLR Camera. My budget is 860$ max. Pl suggest a camera for long term use.

[Brian]

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"Please suggest a camera for long term use."

That's a tricky subject as with many of the entry-level cameras, they are meant to be outgrown. I feel that your best bet will be some sort of DSLR instead of a Point & Shoot camera.

With a DSLR, you are not only buying a camera, but are buying into a Lens System. The two top manufactures are still Canon and Nikon. Sony has made great progress, and so has Fuji...but Canon & Nikon are still the top two brands with the most choices when it comes to lenses.

I'm glad you let me know your budget, because that's the first question that I usually ask. I found this pretty good deal with a Nikon D3400. It comes with a 18-55 kit lens and a 70-300 DX lens, plus it comes with a memory card for $596.95. I would also seriously purchase a Nikon 35mm f/1.8G DX lens at some point, as the two kit lenses are the variable aperture type, meaning as you zoom out, your aperture automatically stops down to a smaller value. The 35mm f/1.8G DX lens will allow you to explore and learn apertures from f/1.8 to f/22.

For the Canon brand, here is an equivalent kit that I linked to above: Canon EOS Rebel T6 that also comes with a 18-55 lens and 75-300mm lens.

As for which one? That's a personal choice. It boils down to how it feels in your hands, how easy the menu system is to work with. Some people like myself are Nikon shooters, others shoot Canon. Personally, I can not stand Canon's menu system of symbols and the way they label things; I prefer the way Nikon translates Japanese to English.

The next step I would take is to see if a local camera shop has both models and give each of them a test drive. See which one fits better in your hands.