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Buying a first camera

A first camera under 300 €: four routes, four compromises

Under 300 € nothing is complete, so the question is not which is best but which compromise you can live with. These four are ordered by how much they ask you to carry: the pocket compact first, then the action camera, then the bridge with reach, then the body that takes lenses. Every figure below is published on the listing it comes from — sensor format, focal range, stabilisation — and where a listing does not publish one, the write-up says so rather than guessing.

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Four routes, and each gives up something

Under 300 € the market offers no complete camera, so every entry here is defined by its sacrifice. The pocket compact gives up reach and a viewfinder. The action camera gives up low light and gains a body you can drop in a river. The bridge gives up sensor size for a zoom nothing else here approaches. The webcam gives up portability entirely and wins on the one thing a desk needs.

Twenty-nine euros to a hundred and ninety-seven

That is the span these four cover, and the price is not the ordering principle — what you have to carry is. A camera that stays at home because it is awkward has a worse specification than one that fits a coat pocket.

The figure that decides low light

Sensor format, where it is published. A larger sensor gathers more light at the same exposure, which is the difference between a clean indoor frame and a noisy one — and it is the specification most of these listings leave out. Where a page publishes only a megapixel count, the write-up says so rather than inferring.

Three things none of these four does

None focuses instantly in the dark. None gives shallow depth of field at will. None survives being sat on. Buying at this level means choosing which of those three you will not miss.

After the first year

Whichever route is taken, the second purchase is rarely another camera. It is light, a support, or a lens — which is what the other guides here are for.

Prices quoted in this text were read on 13 September 2026. The live price is at the top of the page.

What goes in the bag, and why

  1. Compact cameras

    KODAK Pixpro FZ45, 16 MP, 4× optical zoom, AA batteries

    16 MP sensor stated · 4× OPTICAL zoom · no aperture published · 2.7 inch tilting LCD · 720p video · optical stabilisation mode · runs on AA batteries · no sensor size published

    No compact here costs less and still offers a genuinely optical zoom with an optical stabilisation mode, running on AA batteries rather than a proprietary cell — and stopping at 720p video.

    Best for: Travel somewhere batteries are easier to find than sockets, or a camera for someone who should not have to manage charging.

    ≈ $100 / £92 / 110 €

    Check price on Amazon Read the review
  2. Action cameras

    Yonvim SPDmz, 5K 30 fps, 40 m, six-gyro EIS, two 1350 mAh cells

    40 m waterproof · 5K and 4K, 30 fps at 5K · 30 MP stills · EIS with six-gyro sensor · 170 degree ultra wide · two 1350 mAh batteries, up to 4.5 hours TOTAL · wireless remote · WiFi app

    A 5K camera with the largest batteries on this shelf, whose headline 4.5 hours is the two cells added together rather than the life of either one.

    Best for: Long days out where two big batteries matter, by someone who will read 4.5 hours as two sessions rather than one.

    ≈ 64 €

    Check price on Amazon Read the review
  3. Compact cameras

    FAYIBUY F5 XMXJ, 56 MP stated, 20× digital zoom, 32 GB card

    No sensor type published · 20× zoom stated as digital, not optical · no aperture published · 2.7 inch LCD · 4K video claimed · 56 MP stated image size · autofocus · tripod thread · 32 GB card included

    A thirty-euro compact whose second bullet states in the maker’s own words that its 20× zoom is not optical, and which publishes a tripod thread and a webcam mode where dearer cameras here publish neither.

    Best for: A cheap second camera for a desk, where the tripod thread and the webcam mode matter more than any figure on the page.

    ≈ £36 / 30 €

    Check price on Amazon Read the review
  4. Webcams

    Logitech C270, 720p at 30 fps, fixed focus, universal clip

    HD video calling at 30 fps · noise-reducing built-in microphone · automatic light adjustment · universal mount for a screen or a shelf · no field of view published · no privacy shutter · no resolution figure published on the page

    The cheapest of the seven webcams here at 16 €, whose listing publishes a frame rate, a microphone and a mount — and never once states a resolution or a field of view.

    Best for: A spare camera for an occasional call, or a first webcam where sixteen euros is the specification.

    ≈ £17 / 16 €

    Check price on Amazon Read the review

What people ask before they commit

Is a phone not better than any of these?

For a photograph taken in good light and looked at on a screen, usually yes — and that is the honest answer. What these four give that a phone does not is reach without cropping, a shutter that survives rain or sand, or the ability to change the lens later. If none of those three describes what you want, the phone in your pocket is the better camera.

Why does sensor format matter more than megapixels?

Because the sensor collects the light and the pixel count only divides it up. A larger sensor gathers more photons at the same exposure, which is what separates a clean indoor frame from a noisy one. Two of the four here publish a format; the answers shelf on this site sets out the arithmetic in full.

Should a first camera be a kit with two lenses?

It is the cheapest way to cover a wide range, and the lenses are slow — f/4.5 to f/7.1 at the wide end is common. A kit teaches you which focal length you actually use, which is worth more than the glass itself: the second lens you buy on purpose beats the two that arrived in the box.

The tool we use ourselves

Settled on a lens? Now buy it at the right price.

Bodies, lenses and lighting are marked down almost continuously, and a struck-through figure says nothing by itself about what the same reference was actually asking a month ago. UniverTrack holds the week-by-week record of every retailer, so a reduction is measured against a price that genuinely stood rather than one written for the banner — and it says when the moment to buy has really arrived.

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