As my full time job I work as a Systems Analyst, which basically translates to “he who works with computers”. So what this really means is that when someones home pc is broken, that I’m the go-to guy for the fix…even though I write code, do project management, and other totally unrelated tasks to actually fixing computers. So as a photographer I get asked all the time “Which camera should I get?” Well my honest answer is quite simple: It doesn’t really matter for most people. Wait a second, what? Let’s backup a little and figure out the differences between our basic cameras. Many of us have what’s commonly referred to as “Pocket Cameras” or “Point and Shoots”. These of course are typically your small cameras that fit in the palm of your hand and by today’s standards give pretty good results most of the time. Most of the people who ask me which camera to buy are looking to step up from the point and shoot up to a DSLR style camera. To read more about what DSLR (often simply called SLR) cameras are, you can go HERE. but it’s the reasons that are given to me which make me wonder a bit. I often hear “I can take some pretty good shots with my point and shoot now I want to take better shots with an SLR.” Now just to clear up, an SLR camera will not make your photos any better by default. If you take a point and shoot in auto mode and compare it to an SLR in auto mode, you will get very similar results. In fact the images on the point and shoot may look even better than those on an SLR.
How is it that a nice camera body which often costs a lot more than your point and shoot can take worse images? Well here’s the neat thing about those little pocket cameras that everyone is so quick to write off. For the most part, the pocket cams are made for people who are not photographers, but want to take some nice pictures. So the engineers who make these cameras put a lot of time and effort into designing processors and software on these cameras to do some of the thinking for the user. The cameras can recognize scenes and not just those with people in them. There are often thousands of templates stored on these cameras that recognize the scene your are shooting and make some subtle changes to make the image a little better. They can recognize a scene with a lot of sky in the shot and make that sky just a little bit bluer, the snow a bit whiter, the sunset a bit more red/purple/orange. So with the pocket cams you get these nicely saturated images, which for most people translates into a “better” image. Now the intro level SLR cameras have also focused more on the consumer level market and have incorporated similar scene recognition, so there’s been some catching there as well since cameras such as the Canon Rebel have hit the market at an affordable price and brought a new market of cameras to consumers that until a number of years ago, was well out of financial reach for most.
SLR cameras do have more potential to capture the image you want than a pocket cam. The term “better” is really subjective. I know that with my Nikon D300 SLR I can capture certain images that I’m after much better than with my Canon Powershot, but if I just want to go around and snap some casual pictures I know that the Powershot will hold up just fine. So to repeat again, you do not get better images from an SLR than you would from a pocket camera by default. You need to understand this first and foremost. Using myself as an example, I noticed that when I made the leap, I was less pleased with the results I had when I made the leap to an SLR camera because I didn’t realize just how much that little pocket camera was doing for me. And I hear it from others as well “I bought this model X intro level SLR with the kit lens and I get some pretty dull and boring images…why is that?” So now we know why that is. Since I do a bit of racing, I’ll use an example which I can relate to and that is when I’m out on the track, there are motorcycles which are newer and more powerful than mine, but I can easily pass them in a corner. At the same time there are riders out there on bikes that have half the power of mine but can rocket past me with ease. Why is that? Because it’s not the machinery but the rider. And the same goes for cameras. It’s not your camera, it’s you that makes good or bad images. Chances are that if a total newcomer to photography was handed a top of the line Nikon D3X which costs around $7000 (for the camera alone with no lenses) and you handed a pro photographer a cheaper intro level SLR such as the Canon Rebel Xsi…that the images the pro photographer creates would be night and day better than the inexperienced photographer with $7000 worth of equipment.
Ok, so you’ve read up to this point and figured that you do indeed want to take the leap and challenge yourself and push your limits more with an SLR camera. Great! So which one do I pick? Again…it doesn’t really matter. If you’re just starting out, then the features of one vs the other are fairly insignificant. There aren’t too many new photographers who care that the ISO performance on one entry model is a few percent better than on the other model. The most important thing that I have found in the different cameras is comfort of all things. When you go out for the day to capture those nature shots, you have to understand that you will be gripping this big hunk of metal and plastic for quite some time and you want to make sure you are comfortable walking around with it. If you slap on some professional lenses on there which weigh a lot more than your cheaper “kit” lenses, then the weight and comfort becomes even more of a factor. A good friend of mine shoots with Canon, so when I was purchasing my first SLR, he let me borrow his for a day and I walked around with it and captured a few shots. I was all set to order the same camera and then when I was at a camera store I figured I’d take a peak at the comparable Nikon and just tinker around with it. Immediately I was sold on the Nikon simply based on the comfort. The features might be better on one vs another one, but for the most part the performance is going to be very similar, especially for a new photographer. And that’s my reason as to why it doesn’t matter which camera body you buy…look more at comfort than features. When you decide to go up from there, then the features become a bit more important. But remember to get that camera out of auto mode!!! See my other posting…Get that camera out of auto!
Aside from the photographer, the next biggest impact on your images and quality is not the camera body, but the lenses. And really, you’re going to get what you pay for. A cheap plastic kit lens that comes with the camera is going to give you about the quality you’d think a cheap plastic lens would give you. It’s called a kit lens because it’s typically included with camera bodies in the ‘kit’. Now there’s always someone who’s going to say “but I saw/created a stunning image with a kit lens…” Sure you can capture some good images with a kit lens, but in reality it’s somewhat like buying a Ferrari and then slapping the cheapest tires you could possibly find on there before taking it to a race track. For most of us, the camera body is technically capable of producing images that are well above our skill level, but you begin to restrict your cameras abilities with a cheap lens. Yes there are people that disagree with me and always will, but for the most part, on average, however you want to call it…you will get much better image quality from a better quality lens, period. The better lenses or ‘glass’ as photographers often call them, will focus faster, and more quietly. They will also capture images that have less distortion in them, can do more ‘bokeh’, and perform much better in low light conditions especially if no flash is being used. So if anything, I would go for a cheaper camera body, but a better quality lens if you can afford it.
So what’s a good SLR to start off with? On the Nikon side I like the D40 or the D80. If you care to swing a bit higher for the fences and want to be able to shoot some video, the D90 is very nice…that’s more mid level than intro and the price point is a bit higher as well. I’m not a Canon guy, but from working a little with the Rebel series, I can say that the XTI and the newer XSI are both solid choices. Those are your two big boys in the market. Olympus and Sony are also fairly popular choices…slightly smaller market there. Again I suggest going to your local camera store such as Calumet (not a big fan of Ritz/Wolf personally) and trying them yourself. In the good camera stores they often have pro and semi pro photographers working there who can give you some great advice. So you can ask them about lenses and other accessories and get other tips such as cleaning the camera (yes you will need to clean it occasionally).
Now let’s say that you want something that’s a bit more advanced than your $80 pocket camera and gives you some manual controls, but you’d still like all the bells and whistles such as face recognition or a bunch of funky and fun modes to pick from. There’s a whole assortment of cameras that take a big leap in quality and more manual controls available…one of my favorites that I got a chance to tinker around with for a while is the Canon G10. It’s still a compact camera but capable of doing quite a bit. You can shoot in manual or auto mode just as you would with an SLR camera, but here you’re getting a solid camera with a pretty good quality lens for much less than what you’d pay for an SLR and a kit lens. So if you’re at an in between point then a higher end compact might be the way to go…there’s the Canon G10 (G11 coming soon), Olympus SP-590 UZ, and Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35 to list a few.
But no matter what, remember that it’s not about mega pixels, or other tiny details and features that may have little or no impact on your photography…but about getting the gear that matches your goals and budget. Don’t buy that SLR camera with the manual zoom just because it looks cool, get the best gear for you and that’s not necessarily what you see everyone else with. Do a bit of research and GO TRY it for yourself to see the difference between camera X and Y. Feel free to drop me an email if you have any further questions… mike@novophotography.com
But when we did a number of shots with a serious look…she had a look in which her eyes can pierce right through you. So it became a battle of me wanting more serious shots and her wanting more smiling shots. In the outdoor shoot I got a chance to experiment with two new gadgets…a Nikon SB-900 on a light stand through an umbrella for the shots which are above the water and a Custom Brackets – Flash Bracket for the shots you see in the water, beach, and tunnel. Would love to get any feedback that anyone has! You can see the rest of her shots 
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