Nomadic Vision

What camera should I buy? I constantly get asked a variation of this question and it seems that there is no one correct answer.

Buying an SLR is a bit like choosing a marriage partner; you’re not going to be able to change it without wasting a significant amount of money.

Canon vs. Nikon

No, this isn’t YACVND (yet another Canon vs. Nikon debate) – this should be your only choice.

Canon and Nikon have dominated the SLR market for the last decade. As a result, there is a clear upgrade path with loads of lenses and accessories to spend way too much money on. Both brands dominate the market and mostly for good reasons.

What about Sony?

Sony is an electronic giant who took over an established camera brand (Konica Minolta) and have been making significant steps towards taking over the SLR world. Why have I excluded Sony? Simply because their cameras use a proprietary hotshoe, making it very difficult to use off camera lighting. There are work arounds, but why bother?

What about the other brands?

Some like Panasonic and Samsung are new, others like Olympus and Pentax have been around for decades but they are all stuck in the same game – the catch up game.

I have a soft spot for the underdog, but in the camera market, waiting for my underdog brand to catch up to the market leaders is just too much to ask.

…and micro 4/3rds?

The micro 4/3rds models from Panasonic and Olympus look very interesting but I have left them out of the choice simply because I think they should be 2nd or 3rd bodies for serious photographers to add some variety/flexibility to their kit.

I Need a Body!

Now that I’ve narrowed the choice to Canon or Nikon, I need to recommend a specific body. Because the camera market changes way too quickly, this is an impossible task, but below is some general advice.

Assuming this is your first SLR, you will need a lens/lenses and other accessories. If you’re anything like me, your budget will not allow the best body and lenses so I suggest compromising on the body and getting the best lens that you can afford. Regardless of what body you buy, you’ll want to upgrade in 2 years time. Buying the best lens you can afford now will ensure that you only pay for that focal range once.

I’d like to suggest that the entry level SLRs provide more than enough resolution and quality to satisfy the needs of almost all photographers (see Alamy image requirements). As your knowledge and skill levels increase, you will find yourself wanting a better body. At this stage, you may be making some money from photography. This would be a good time to upgrade to a more expensive camera (when your photography is paying for itself)

Learning to modify and control light results in the biggest improvements in photography, therefore, investment in lighting equipment and fast lenses makes more sense than buying the best SLR money can buy.

Please note…

Someone may want to correct that I have called cameras SLRs and not DSLRs or simply cameras. This is for the following reasons:

• Does anyone buy film cameras anymore? Then is the D really necessary.
• I’ve assumed that people reading this blog are quite interested in photography. If that is the case, then a simple compact camera will probably not suffice. On the other end of the scale, if you’re interested in medium or large format, then you probably don’t need any advice on which camera to buy.

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