Photography, from the ground up

What modern camera bodies can do that film never could — pixel-shift high-res, in-camera ND, focus stacking, pre-capture buffers, and more. With examples, videos, and a feature matrix across the bodies in your shelf.

Telephoto and super-telephoto lenses for birds and wildlife, grouped by the mount they fit. Focal range, stabilization, weather sealing, teleconverter support, release date, MSRP, and used price for 70 lenses across 8 mounts.

Real used prices for 25 birding camera bodies, grouped by sensor format and ranked by birds-in-flight keeper rate. Burst speed, bird-detect AF, pre-capture, weather sealing, release year, and MSRP for each body.

The best birding body and lens for each mount: Micro Four Thirds, Fujifilm X, Sony E, Nikon Z, Canon RF, Canon EF, and Nikon F. The pick, the alternates, and what to skip, with live used prices.

What matters in a street camera and what doesn't. Why the famous ones cost more used than they did new, which older bodies dodge the premium, and what to check before buying. With used prices tracked nightly.

What matters in a camera for YouTube and short-form video: overheating, autofocus for talking heads, microphone inputs, log formats, and 4K crop. Which bodies the market is still resetting on, and where the used buys are. With live prices tracked nightly.

Four ways to get real shooting time on a body before your money is committed: borrow through a local camera group, use a manufacturer trial like Panasonic's LUMIX rental program, rent from a rental house, or buy eBay Certified Refurbished with 30-day returns.

How I got started, again, and five used starter kits from about $230 to $700. Each kit is a body plus one lens, from a $136 Olympus beater to a Fujifilm X-T20, with used prices tracked nightly.

Six used travel cameras from about $400 to $1,000, picked by weight, reach, and how likely they are to leave the hotel room with you. Plus the one trip where a bridge camera earns its bulk. Used prices tracked nightly.

What a bridge camera trades away for that zoom range, the two sensor tiers worth knowing about (1-inch image quality vs 1/2.3" extreme reach), and the 11 bridge cameras worth buying used. Used prices tracked nightly.

Six used cameras that can keep up with children, from about $270 to $900. Why autofocus tracking is the whole game, the one cheap prime to buy, and the camera to hand over when they ask for a turn. Used prices tracked nightly.

Why a 2019 point-and-shoot costs more used than it did new, which compacts the hype tax skipped, and the best used compacts under $600. The premium, measured against MSRP, with used prices tracked nightly.