Okay, I hadn't intended for my posts to go quite so long between updates. Winter came and that's the best time of the season here in California and take pictures. It's also one of the best times to catch one of the many bugs that going around which can sideline you for a while. On top of all that, my main lens is currently in the shop. Before I begin on the topic of hardware let me state that you should never leave your tripod which camera unattended. If you need to step away from the tripod, take the camera off and use the neck strap. I knew this, I forgot this in a rush to get to another location and now the lens is in the shop.
(Image above taken with a Nikon D300 & Nikkor 18-200mm Zoom.)
So you are probably asking what camera should I buy? For now we will assume you don't wish or cannot afford to go to a wide format digital camera. Wide format is obviously the best route but it can cost you up to as much as a good car and you'll probably still want to have good solid 35mm DSLR. And there are tons of those to choose from. So what to choose is the question.
You might be tempted to go with the best rated, or perhaps the one that's on sale at any given moment. The thing to keep in mind is that the DSLR is just a body. You're going to need to buy accessories to go with it. Lenses, batteries, memory cards, filters, remote control, flash... the list goes on. Lenses are the most expensive part and sadly not interchangeable between brands.
So once you go with a brand and spend money on your first descent lens, your pretty much stuck with that brand unless you have the money to sell off everything you have and start over. This reason and only this, is the reason I recommend you go with one of the big name brands. Preferably Canon or Nikon. Simply put, when a hot new item becomes available for DSLR cameras, they are going to always work on these two major name brands because that is where the money is. Also books, tutorials and videos will be abundant for these two name brands and that can help you greatly when trying to learn.
Now if I didn't mention the name brand of the camera you had in mind, don't go getting your panties in a wad. Most major DSLR manufactures do eventually catch up with the two major players. And it's possible you may even be able to get better shots with other brands. Brands such as Sony, Sigma, Fuji, Lumix, Leica, Pentax...just to name a few, may in fact make a better products. But you won't find nearly as many accessories, training videos, 3rd party manuals simply because they don't have the same market share. It's an unfortunate truth that the best selling brands have the majority of 3rd party products.
Now, down to Nikon or Canon? Which to choose? Do I have a preference? First let me say that I own Nikons. They are what I have become familiar with and it would be hard to change over. But there have been times when I have wanted to. For a long time, Canon was leader with the most megapixels and I was seeing images produced by the 5D Mark II which are stunningly clear.
Now you will hear that megapixels don't matter. I say poppycock! You will hear that at 10 Megapixels you can print 30" images. And that may be true. But where megapixels DO matter is in noise. The fewer megapixels you have, the more susceptible your images will be to noise. I found this out the hard way when I compared a 12MP shot to a 25MP shot at the same settings. Sure, at 100% size (pixel for pixel) the noise was the same. But when you zoomed out, the higher megapixels gave you cleaner edges, the noise was then smaller and thus did not impact the image nearly as badly. And of course with more megapixels, comes the ability to crop unwanted areas from your image and still retain a large image size.
My point is, go with megapixels over other features. Currently Canon has the upper hand at around 20 Megapixels. Nikon has introduced the D800, but they are still vaporware and will not be readily available for quite some time yet.
NOTE: Nikons tend to be more rugged and weather proof. However Canon has announced the 5D Mark III and have indicated the camera now uses a magnesium alloy body and is weather proofed. They've also addressed some of the focus issue. Again, this is still vaporware at the time of this writing and the camera it not yet available.
So if I were buying today, though I love my Nikon, I would probably choose the Canon 5D Mark II. If that model was too expensive, the Nikon D7000 is a nice, lower priced model and offers a few more advanced features than the 5D Mark II.
If possible, go to your nearest camera store and put your hands on the models you are considering. See what feels comfortable to you. But remember, once you decide, that's the road you are likely to follow for some time.
Next up, I will discuss some things you will need besides a camera. Till then... get out there and shoot if you can. Bad weather is the best time.
© Darvin Atkeson
