How to choose a camera
It must shoot in "raw" mode
Even if it is a point and shoot, it should support raw capture.
Ansel Adams spent as much time in the darkroom as he did behind the camera,
maybe more as he got older. These days you use lightroom (or should),
and it is pretty much a joke by comparison working on JPEG images using lightroom.
Look at it this way - do you want to be doing the equivalent of sending film
to a lab for processing - this is what you are doing if you shoot only JPEG.
It must not have an on camera flash
No real mans camera has an on camera flash. Do the Canon 5D or 1D bodies have
on camera flash? The exception that proves the rule is the Canon 7D, which does
have on camera flash, but a good excuse for it in that you can use it to control
off camera flash. The truth of the matter is that you essentially never want to
take a picture using the on camera flash, so just get rid of it.
An on camera flash is a mark of a camera aimed at a less discerning audience.
Enough said.
It must not have pictures of mountains and flowers on the mode dial
Better yet, it should not even have a mode dial (i.e. it is a 1D body).
It must not shoot video
Some people will fuss about this, but I have a strong aversion to cameras
that have a video mode. If it does have one, it should be well hidden and
require deliberate steps to activate it (this covers my bases for owning
a 5D Mark II which will capture HD video). My distaste for video capture
comes from the first digital camera I owned, a little Canon S200 ELPH.
It had a switch that was forever getting bumped into video mode, and then
I would press the shutter and ask, "what the heck is going on?".
Sometimes stronger words were used.
If you want to shoot video, get a camcorder - or make up your mind that video is
your thing and stop wasting your time reading what I have to say.
some minor points
Having reduced your choices using the above criteria, you can begin asking
questions like:
- What do I want to use this thing for anyway?
- Is the most important thing taking pictures or impressing my friends?
- What size prints do I want to make (if any)?
- How much money do I want to spend?
- How much money do I have?
Feedback? Questions?
Drop me a line!
Tom's Digital Photography Info / tom@mmto.org