I bought the D3200 almost six years ago. I have little compunction yo 'upgrade' in any way!
I stated with film cameras, and early into the digital-dark-room, as it was less messy, and easier to breath than under the stairs with an enlarger, the 'convenience' of a direct-to-digital camera appealed.... prices and potential image quality did not! I stuck to film a scanning until the early years of the new millenium, when consumer compacts became a little more 'reasonable'.
With a What-You-See-What-You-Get LCD screen on the back, it gave the same advantage of a 'Single-Lens-Reflex film-camera, with complex mirror and pentaprism mechanism to give through-taking-lens view-finder composition, without the complex or bulky mechanics. Only featire it really lacked was interchangeable lenses.... but, so what. Neither do many of my flm cameras, and even thse that do, so often end up wearing only one lens, usually pretty close to the equiilet focal length of the digi-pact anyway. When that broke... yeah, they dont make'em like they used to... it lasted about three years... I have film cameras that are over half a century old and still going strong! But.. when that broke, the replacement had a built in zoom... 28-70mm 'equivlent' focal length to my 35mm film cameras... which were the most often used focal lengths any-way.... this really did make me ponder the merits of a DSLR, and exactly what it really offered over a zoom compact... until that too dis after a few years..... Four digtal compacts in a decade,sort of brought me around to looking at DSLR's, as much as anything, because the entry level models had fallen into a pce range that was almost 'reasonable' under £500, and digital compacts had either disappeared into smurfones, or gobe up the market, to become 'mirror-less' interchangeable lens cameras, that frequently offered little to commend them over entry level DSLR, and brought a lot of added niggles, like lesser lens choice and availability with them. Ergo.. an 'entry-level' DSLR, pretty much chose itself by default, ad mostly on the price tag!
Now... with a zoom lens covering that most used focal length range from about 29-82mm, 'equivlent', a built in flash, and an ISO range from 100 to 12,800 sort of every film in the shop in the film-days.... out the box, the thing has as much or more capablity than almost any of my film cameras ever did, and no runningg to and from boots to try find film or pick up prints.... it's pretty close to all things to all men, before gog hunting alternative lenses or accessory flash guns, or anythig else to pack out the gadget bag....
And here in lies the moral... you cant 'buy' better photo's, you have to make the; and that takes time, patience, know-how and pactice, NOT a credit card and a 'better' camera.
Out the box, entry level DSLR's offer a heck of a lot more than you likely ever 'need' to make better photo's, and already have enough convolution to make them ever more of a faff to get to grips with using, and getting the most from using.. an the lower down the range you look, and looking
second hand at older lower range cameras still, that lack the significantly sales features and functions, and gee-gaws and widgets; the more back-to basics they are, the LESS you have to fiddle with, the less you have to cock-up, the less you have to try and figure out what it is eve there for,let alone how to tr and use t ad the most hance you have from "Keep-It-Simple-Silly" to get on, learn what you need to know, learn how to do it better and get the better photo's you hope for.
Nikon and Cannon are the incumbants in the market. They have the widest rage of accessories and lenses, either propriety or third-party; if/when you decide you want or need another lens, or 'whatever', you will likely have a far wder choice of offerings, new and used, at much more competative prices. Smilarly, more people use them, more people know the is and outs and foibles, you will more readily find practical advice and helpfl hits to use them. They make the ob of learning that much easier, and again 'Keep-It-Simple-Silly"
So, Keep-It-Simple-Silly...
1/ Nikon or Cannon?
Little to choose between them on paper, practically. Newer Nikons possibly have an edge n sensor technology, for low light ad pixei count, but, meh! Really comes down to which brand you find easiest to handle& use! I preffer the less 'would you like fries with that' sort of 'interface' of the Nikon, inutatively its more like one of my old clock-work film cameras; curiousely, daughter broght up on Game-Boys ad Smurfones, also found it more intuative to use, but Cannon afcionados will likely undoubtedly their preference.. maybe they joy prodding buttons and spending more time looking at the camera than through it, I dont know ;-)... point s, your call, et hands on, try before you buy, see which you more comfortably can pick up, turn on and take a picture with. There's no right or wrong answer.
2/ New or Used?
New you pay more, and get a warranty card. Used you pay less, and on older models a heck of a lot less; and very very often, especially on entry level cameras, its of kit bought in short lived enthusiasm and stuck on a shelf very quickly he not really used. Personally, my experience with early compact digital lasting around two to three years, suggested I bought new but mine has lasted twice any of the compacts ever did already! Meanwhile, Daughter & O/H both were inspired and I helped them buy 2nd Hand D3100's... which were already perhaps three or four years old, and both still going strong. A warrannty is really only worth anythig IF you have to claim on it! Then the shop you bought from's 'unhelpfulness' can be as much of an issue as the warranty! For me, I have no regrets buyg new; t's the frst 'new' SLR I have bought i thirty years, always having bought 2nd hand before, I 'treated myself'; whilst I was also overwhelmed trying to differentiate between the myriad of older offerings on 2nd hand market. I was a bit more clued up when I bought daughters & O/H's
second hand, so could write off some of that premiu as the price of learning, but again, its risk vs reward, and your call, there's o right or wrong answer,
3/ DOT BUY ORE THAN YOU NEED!
Initial enthusiasm often sees a lot of people pile up the counter with a camera and all the accouterments to go with it, or buy a 'bundle' that's often not the best value, and until you have 'reason' for buying anything extra, likely just dead weight in the almost certainly too-small and wrong shape, ad handle gadget bag in the bundle!
To take a photo, you NEED only on camera, one lens, a memory card to store the photo on, and the battery to power it all up long enough to get it!
Only 'accessories' I put any great store by are spare batteries ad spare memory cards.. an electrc picture maker is no dang use for much without electric, and without a card to store photo, you ant got one! Big cards are probably not all that helpful...they just encourage you to take more photo's and think less about takig them, and be less diligent in after-capture strage, to archive the keepers... on which topic a dedicated hard drive is probably far more use than more direct camera accessories far sooner. But, smaller cards, are often faster, and fast WRTE speeds the more crtical than fast read speeds,many ads quote to hide the fact they aren't actually all that quick.... but something that you can pondr more after you have got going...
And that's the key... getting going; getting taking pictures, doing some learning, and discovering first how to get the best from what you got, ad the IF you need more or different, what 'may' actually be more worth while, and usefully extend your capability.. and not just give you more kit to 'faff' with.
Remember, Keep-It-Simple-Silly.....
Almost any DSLR made the last ten years has more than enough capability than you can reasonably exploit straight ff the stops, so dot sweat the small stuff, and DOT buy 'more' than you need to get going.
