Michael Lees Photography »

One question that I am often asked is which camera should I buy?  To which I reply, buy any camera you like cos I don’t care.  No, not really.  The real answer I give is this, it depends.  Now at first glance that might not seem much better of an answer than my first reply, but it really does depend.  It depends on what sorts of photos you want to take, what features you would like, how big your pockets are, what your budget is and many other factors.

When I show people my photographs, they usually ask what camera I have.  I guess the thinking goes, that good photo equal good cameras or more likely good cameras make good photos.  I hate to break the news to you but you can spend a fortune on a good camera and still take crap photos. This is because photography is an art.  If a painter has the latest high tech brushes it does not make them a better painter it just makes painting easier for them.  The same is true of cameras.  Having all the latest features does not mean that you will always be able to take great photos, it just means that you will have the tools, which if used, can open options to you that you didn’t have before.  If you don’t use the camera to its potential it will be no better than a cheaper camera.  One could argue that if you don’t know what you are doing then buying a cheaper camera can produce better results for you than a more expensive one. This is because you can set it to auto and let the camera make the decisions for you.  In the more expensive cameras, the manufactures assume that you know what you are doing and therefor place less emphasis on automatic features.

So lets break things down a bit and see if we can come up with some suggestions of what to put on your Christmas wish list.  Cameras can be roughly broken down into 3 main types.  These are point and shoots, SLR’s and medium format.  If you are wondering which camera to buy, then you don’t need a medium format camera.  Whats more, you can’t afford one!  They are very much in the high end professional spectrum.  That leaves us with point and shoots and SLR’s. What’s the difference I hear you ask. Well, in some cases, not much.  Point and shoot cameras are typically though of as being for pointing at the subject and shooting. While SLR cameras or Single Lens Reflex cameras are generally regarded as being higher end cameras that require more user input.  They also have the ability to change the lens on the camera. While there is some truth in this division, these factors are becoming more and more blurred as technology moves forward.  The point and shoots are getting more and more sophisticated and the SLR’s are becoming more user friendly.  The high end point and shoots can have better capabilities than the low end SLR’s. In some cases they have very significant capabilities.

So I guess the first thing you need to decide is which type of camera you need and that will depend on what sorts of photography you want to do.  If you want to take considered shots, where you can set things up just how you like them. Maybe change the lens to suit the subject matter and generally have more control over what you are doing then an SLR might be the way to go. However, if you want to easily be able to take your camera with you. Not spend months or even years learning about the art of photography. You want to press the shutter and get a great shot most of the time, then maybe you want a point and shoot.  Chase Jarvis is famously quoted as saying that “the best camera is is the one you have with you”. Point and shoots  by their nature lend themselves to being with you when it counts.

Canon G11 - About as good as point and shoots get.

At this stage I should clear up a few misconceptions about cameras or at least digital cameras.  Many people are under the impression that the more megapixels a camera has, the better the camera is. Manufactures have picked up on this and are producing cameras with incredible amounts of pixels.  While the number of megapixals was a important factor, it is less so today.  Most digital cameras produce more than enough megapixals for the average user.  What is more important is the quality of those pixels. The lens that a camera has on it is probably the single most important thing to consider when looking at the features of a camera.  A good camera body with a crap lens makes for poor images.  The camera itself can only record what it ’sees’ through the lens.  If you don’t start off with a good image you can’t expect the camera to give you good results.  If you buy an SLR camera, the camera body you use will probably change over time, but if you buy good quality lenses then they will probably stay with you for life.  You should spend at least as much on the lens as you do on the body.  That is, if you want good results.

The Canon 50D

There are many different brands of camera out there and I am not going to tell  you that one brand is better than the other.  What I will tell you is that some brands are more popular than the others.  In the point and shoot market this is neither here nor there but in the world of SLR’s this can be an important factor when deciding which camera to buy.  SLR cameras have detachable lenses and  it is possible to invest large sums of money in these lenses. This means that the brand that you buy will probably be with you for a long time to come.  Unless you have heaps of money, you won’t be able to chop and change manufactures  lenses at the drop of a hat. The popular brands have more choice and can afford to put more money into research and development.  As they are more popular they are also sold in more places.  Which makes them easier to get hold of and easier to sell if you need to.  In the SLR world the biggest brands are Nikon, Canon and…….. er well that’s it.  Now there are other brands out there that are very good and I am not saying you should not buy into these other brands. Some are very good, such as Sony who are producing some great SLR’s, but just remember that they have a much smaller user base and that does have some drawbacks.  In many ways Canon and Nikon are the market leaders because they are the market leaders.  It is very difficult for other manufactures to break this strangle hold that they have in this section of the market.

The point and shoot world is much more of an even playing field.  There are heaps of manufactures out there all tying to take your money off you. I would go as far to say it is quiet difficult to buy a bad camera these days.  Bad cameras just don’t sell.  Not when there is so much competition. There is something in the saying, you get what you pay for. The more you spend, the more features you will find. The question is, do you need these features?  Often the answer is no.  If you just want something to record auntie Nelly’s birthday bash then why spend money on features you are not going to need.  If however, you want to record her falling into her beer as well as being able to take great landscapes then it might be worth spending the extra money.  Remember, it is not the megapixals that are important but other features such as the quality of the lens and the chip inside that acts as the cameras brain.  A often good way of working out if a camera is any good or not without having any knowledge about cameras is to feel them.  Good cameras tend to be built well.  They feel better than lesser cameras.  When you are at the shop, ask to play with the camera.  What does it feel like to you?  Is it going to break within a few weeks of having it or does is sing out quality?  While technical specifications are important, you should ultimately judge a camera by how it feels in your hands.  Buy the one that gives you that little tingling feeling.

Recommending  a specific camera to anyone is always difficult, precisely because everyone is different.  No one camera will suit everyone.  I shoot with Canon cameras and because of that I am probably a bit bias. Nikon and the other brands produce some excellent cameras as well. I am, however, going to recommend two canon cameras. In the point and shoot class I would pick the Canon G11. This is a truly a fantastic camera. Although it is a point and shoot camera if can produce result that match many professional quality SLR cameras.  It is not cheap though and you may not need all the features that it has, but if you want a point and shoot that can do almost anything and do it well then get out your credit card. It does have some drawbacks. The main one is its size. For a point and shoot it is large. This means that it is not so easy to slip in your pocket.  As I already mentioned,  you get what you pay for.  Being an excellent camera, it has an equally impressive price.  You need to ask yourself do I really need a camera that is this good?   Recommending a SLR is much harder.  In the end I have gone with the Canon EOS 50d.  It offers a great compromise between features and price.  Please remember these are just my opinions and you should pay a visit to your local camera store and see what appeals to you.  These days, with such good cameras around, it is very difficult to get it wrong. Which ever camera you end up going for remember one thing.  It is YOU that takes the photo and not the camera.