WHICH CAMERA???

Ahhh a burning hot question… and the camera manufacturers these days don’t make it easier to answer!!  Thousands of products to choose from, all of which do SOMETHING ‘differently’ or ‘better’… Where’s the justice?????

Ok I’ll try to help you out here, try to help  you understand who you are and what you’re looking for and tell you what’s important… But here’s a no-brainer right off the bat; If you’re only interested in pressing that shutter on AUTO and just having a nifty, funky little device in your pocket, this is not the forum for you!!

I’m a guy who pushes my camera to try to do things out of the box… letting It get a little weather worn or even holding a lens backwards against the sensor.  So whatever camera this article helps you choose, my advice is to get down and dirty with it.

More after the jump!

Following on advice from professionals like Chase Jarvis, the best camera for you is the one you have with you.  If you’re serious about photography, always carry it around and you won’t be caught with that famous line – “ah I wish I had my camera!”

I won’t talk about megapixels, it’s not important at this stage because almost every camera out there nowadays is 8MP and above (even some phones!) and for the scope of this article, that’s plenty resolution. If you’re someone who’s thinking “This guy is crazy, I need at least 21MP for my shots and 12MP is not giving me anything”, then you’re probably shooting at a pro level and don’t need my advice.

So what’s available out there? Let’s look at some broad categories;

Ultra compacts – those tiny, shiny, sexy looking gadgets that scream fashion and style… If it doesn’t have a hint of a manual mode on it, I won’t touch it. This ain’t my area, and I’ll refrain from adding any cents… the only time I’ve used these cameras is if someone hands me one and wants me to take their picture.

EVIL – yes, EVIL! It’s a new camera technology using a sensor larger than compacts and is gaining popularity because of it’s small size and ease of use and DSLR-like features.  They’re not really evil… though it stands for Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens.  How cool is it to whip out a different lens AND a camera from your pocket while your DSLR friends are digging into a bulky camera bag?  However this technology is new and can be quite pricey, I’m yet to use one of these cameras , but the potential they offer looks to be very interesting!

Super-zooms – Ah yes, now we’re talking! I highly recommend one of these as the budding photographers 1^st camera.  I say this because they offer a versatility at a affordable price which a DSLR camera with one lens finds hard to offer.  More often than not if you go straight ahead to buy a DSLR, you’re going to be stuck with one lens which will limit what you can do; but these prosumer super-zoom range of cameras give you the jack-of-all-trades ability to shoot anything, from wide panoramas to birds in the sky.  Sure, they won’t give you the same image quality or shallow depth of field or low-light competency as a DSLR, but if you’re starting out, not knowing what you like to shoot, these cameras will help you decide.  Imagine having the ability to go from 20mm to 500mm (600mm on some new models!) all in one lens, in one relatively compact body!

DSLR – here’s the big boy.  I was a skeptic at 1^st, and thought my little super-zoom could do it all, until I played around with some DSLRs… and I was sold.  Unparalleled image quality.  But more than that, far more important to me, room to play, room to grow, and plenty to learn, try and test; that’s the advantage a DSLR gives you.  The video below tells you how to choose and what to look for in your 1^st DSLR investment.

(Excuse the crappy video quality, and yes, I ‘sound’ different on the mic than I ‘sound’ in the written word. It’s something I could never figure out…… hmmmm)

Untitled from Sajith Amendra on Vimeo.

So yeah, in conclusion, I recommend going the super-zoom path to get your feet wet and end up in the DSLR mudpit. That’s the path I took, and it’s worked out well for me!

Well, I hope this helped to some extent to clear out some questions, but if you do have any, please comment below and I will get back to you, and also, if you have any crits, opinions etc, I would love for you to share them, as I hope to make this blog a growing project, and would love to know what I’m doing right and wrong so that the next post will be a better one!

Cheers!

Links in this article:

Gayan's article - A balanced camera system

Natalie Soysa Photography

Camera compare

Malaka Mp Photography