As you know, my husband is a professional photographer and has a couple fancy Canon DSLRs and lots of fancy looking lenses and stuff. I’m scared to touch any of it – it’s expensive, it’s heavy, and I have no photography skills. Some people have a black thumb for gardening, I have a black shutter finger.  But I can’t carry Karl in my back pocket everywhere I go, and it’s not a good use of his time to get on the floor and take an arty shot of my new ankle booties or blush. And with me wanting to get into video, I needed to figure out a way to get quality photos without the pro photographer.

Samsung NX 3000 – for Camera-unsavvy People

I was chatting with my friend Sarah about getting into creating video for the blog.  I could do it with Karl and his fancy camera, but it would be nice to have something to do more casual, on the fly videos.  Karl is happy to help, but it's hard to schedule time when we're both available. And honestly, I feel more relaxed when I'm not on someone else's clock. Sarah said she had been eyeing the Samsung NX3000 and that very day, this camera was on a special price (usually $450 or so and on sale for $275) and while I was still on Skype with Sarah, I ordered that baby.

The Samsung NX3000 is a mirrorless digital camera, which for us photog-clueless means it’s smaller and way lighter weight than a DSLR. It has a cute retro look to it, and has a 20-50mm compact zoom which is perfect for blogging and videos (though wouldn’t be your best friend if you’re trying to photograph something far away). While there is a manual option, I have never used it and stick to autofocus.

There’s plenty of cameras like this on the market and they vary greatly in price. However, this one really appealed to me for some features that are perfect for bloggers and vloggers:

Flip Up Display – Take a selfie or video with ease. The video display on the back of the camera flips up so you can see it when in front of the camera. I used this when doing my Clairol video, and for those post-hair photos in the same post.

Your Phone is a Remote – There’s an app available that will connect your camera and phone and let you press your phone to take photos and also to start and stop video. This photo on Instagram? I captured that by putting my camera on a coffee cup for the right height and using my phone to take the picture. For my Clairol video, I had the phone sitting on the sink counter and I could easily press it to start and stop.

Built-in WiFi and NTC – Honestly I don’t fully know what this means but I do know that I have the ability to take pictures with the camera and have them instantly appear on my phone, or easily retrieve photos from the camera to my phone and vice versa. This is fantastic if you want to upgrade the quality of your Instagram photos; no need for a computer and card reader, you can have high quality images to use on social media in seconds!  This is what I have been doing this week to capture selfies of my outfits each morning.

Speed and Quality – Super high resolution, crisp and colorful images, and a fast shutter speed so I can take a dozen photos and pick which one I like best.

Cute, Small, and Lightweight – You won’t mind having this over your shoulder or neck because it’s so unobtrusive. It also has the retro look that very closely resembles my husband’s far more expensive Fuji or a super fancy expensive Leica. I have the black, but it also comes in brown and white on Amazon and I even saw it online in pink.

Upgradable – Once you’re comfortable with the camera, there’s plenty of flashes, lenses, and gadgets you can buy for your Samsung NX to take it to the next level. You can get lenses that zoom more, provide a wide angle shot, fish eye, and more. You can get a nicer flash – knowing from Karl a bounce and swivel flash like this is great for adding light without being obvious or causing glare. You can get filters to improve the color of your photos. And I purchased, but have yet to use this ring light which will help with future videos.

My fancy low price meant I didn't receive some basics for the camera.  The camera uses a microSD card; I didn't get one with this deal so I bought a 64GB one and I have yet to fill it up, even with a ton of retakes of my Clairol post. Karl had a card reader that reads every size of memory card and connects to my computer via USB; I can’t get the camera to let me retrieve photos just with the cords that came with it, so you may want to get one (they’re less than $10). You need a micro USB cord to connect to your laptop or charge; Karl has one of these cords for his Fuji but I also bought a wall AC charger (less than $10); I can charge up the battery in about an hour and it stays charged for an entire week of photos

The camera doesn't come with a bag or protective cover. I put off buying one for a while, figuring I can use some camera bag in my home. But last week I finally bought this case for less than $30. It gets mixed reviews, but I really like it and haven't felt it needs a breaking-in period to work well.  I chose brown, and it looks like real leather but is a bit too smooth and shiny for my taste so I look forward to it getting beat up and weathered with time.  Some complain they can't open the cover and take a picture with it still attached; I find it works fine, I use a pinky from one hand holding the camera to hold the front of the case below the lens and it's just dandy.  I do have to remove the entire case if I wish to use a tripod or have the camera sit flat on a surface.  I didn't add the enclosed strap and kept the one that came with the camera.  It's easy  to snap off the front of the case and still leave the brown leather wrap around the camera body.

I've had this camera for about two months, and the only issue I have with it is that the autofocus is very… active.  You can be all set and ready to go and it goes blurry.  This happens most when you're shooting a moving object or outdoors where there's shadows and movement.  You kind of have to get used to it; this is not your iPhone and just need to get used to its behavior. The app is a bit archaic; while it accomplishes some super cool actions, the setup and options of it is pretty minimal and slow.  But yeah, that's it.  I'm a very happy customer.

No, this camera isn't cheap, but it's better than my old-school Canon Powershot and way better than anything I can do with my iPhone.  Also, if you are a monetized blogger, camera equipment is a legit business expense and tax deductible. Amazon often has great prices on older models of cameras and other equipment and that's usually the route I go.  You don't need the latest and greatest, you need to get the job done.