Which Camera Should I Buy?

If you have been bitten by the photography bug and you want to produce the best quality photos possible, what are your options when deciding which camera to use?

Well, a lot depends on your budget and what your photography goals are. For instance, if you have very little money in your equipment budget, some of the latest phones on the market can turn out some pretty impressive results. In fact, just the idea that we can seriously include phone cameras at all as a viable means of taking high quality photos is simply amazing, compared to the quality that these kind of cameras were producing just a few years ago. And if you doubt that amazing photos can be taken with a camera phone, there is plenty of evidence these days to the contrary.

But, if your budget allows it and you want to have much more creative control over your photo results, you will need to at least consider what is called a "bridge" camera. These cameras often look very similar to a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera. They also can do a lot of the same things that a DSLR can do. In fact, they can be quite sophisticated electronically, but they do not allow for interchangeable lenses. The reason for this is that the digital sensor, the device that actually records the scene when each photo is taken is much smaller than what you will find in a typical DSLR. Because the sensor that records the photo is smaller, the lens on the camera can be designed to do amazing things. Many of these cameras have a single lens that will take the angle of view through the lens from very wide-angle to super-telephoto in a matter of just a few seconds.

These cameras are called "bridge" cameras because they fill a gap between point-and-shoot and phone cameras on the one hand where most exposure and creative control decisions are limited and made by the camera itself, and DSLRs on the other hand that will let the photographer take charge of the scene being photographed instead and give him a plethora of options to choose from.

Many of these cameras can be had for $300 - $500, which includes your camera and all lenses in one nice compact package. So what can be bad about that? Why do we even want to have DSLRs that are bigger, bulkier and can require larger, heavier and more expensive lenses?

Well, for some, the output from a bridge camera is fine. The fact that they are compact and light means that you can more easily take them with you and use them in a wide variety of situations where a larger and heavier camera would be cumbersome. And if the kind of photography that interests you most does not require a lot of image detail in the photos produced, it may be just what you need. The fact that some very fine used bridge cameras can be bought on Ebay or Amazon for just $100 - $200 makes them even more attractive.

However, (you knew this was coming, right?) there are some drawbacks to bridge cameras that you should be aware of and almost all of them have to do with the size of the digital sensor that records the actual photos you take. For instance, because the sensor is so small, it often suffers from excessive "noise" or random dots in the photo that can give the image a grainy appearance. The way that bridge camera manufacturers try to deal with this problem is to apply noise reduction techniques to the digital JPG files that are produced by the camera. The unfortunate effect of this is a muddying of the details in many cases so the photo just does not appear very sharp. This problem usually gets worse when shooting in low light situations too.

Secondly, even when noise is not an issue, the digital images that are produced, are noticeably less crisp and defined when compared to those from a DSLR. I didn't want to believe this was true. So I bought some highly recommended bridge cameras and made my own comparison. The best way that I can describe what I found is simply saying that the bridge camera images appeared more "thin" than those produced by a DSLR. They lacked the depth of rich detail that I prefer for nature photography. Once again, if the photography you enjoy most does not depend on this kind of detail, then you may be very happy with a bridge camera, and you can save a ton of money and energy from not having to lug all those heavier camera bodies and larger lenses around with you. But for my style of photography, even the best bridge camera could not match the results that I wanted to see in the digital images I produce. After all, the proof of satisfaction with any camera is in the finished product, the photo itself.

So, that leaves us with DSLR cameras. Simple, right? Not necessarily! There are still many more choices to consider , such as what brand to buy, how many megapixels should it have and other considerations.

But, I'll leave that for another blog post.

What Photographic Equipment Do I Need To Make Great Photos?

Photography can be a very expensive hobby, if you let all the advertising hype that is out there shape your ideas about the kind of equipment you will need in order to make great photos.

I don't plan on spending a great deal of time making posts to this blog about specific equipment purchases that I recommend because what I have learned is that great photographs are not really about the equipment that you have. Of course, there is a point of reason on this subject though. The truth is that certain equipment will make a huge difference in your photographic output, and it makes a lot of sense to have high quality tools in your photo tool-belt if you want high quality results.

On the other hand though, you don't need the latest gear available to turn out beautiful and stunning photos. That is a myth that has been perpetuated to get consumers to do one simple thing, keep buying more photo gear at higher and higher costs to feed the photo equipment industry even more money than they have already made.

Now, let me be clear though. If you have wads of money and are anxious to find a way to part with it quickly, you can do that easily by buying into the idea that only the latest and most expensive gear will allow you to get the kind of photos that the pros get on a regular basis. But what I am trying to say is that if you are like the rest of us, and need to keep your gear budget under control, fear not, because you can definitely produce amazing work using equipment that costs much less than the latest and greatest on the market today.

In fact, just think about it. With all of the incredible cameras and lenses and other photo gear available for sale now, you would think that a steady stream of unbelievable photos would be produced by pretty much everyone who can afford the cost of the newest stuff. But just peruse the galleries of your favorite photo sharing website and you will see that the majority of what is posted there is still very ordinary, nothing really special, even though many of those folks are using the very best that money can buy.

Of course, if you are a pro, then get the best you can afford because your living will depend on the reliability of the cameras and other equipment that you use. And most likely, you will be subjecting your gear to much higher use under more difficult circumstances than the average person who loves producing photos as art for their own enjoyment.

With all of that said, in the next few posts on this blog I will discuss my reasons for choosing the equipment that I have so far and give some general recommendations that you might find useful if you want to create high quality photo art that you can be proud to share with others without breaking the bank. So stay tuned!

Another Photography Blog???????

click photo to enlarge

Yes, I know. It would seem that there are more than enough blogs about photography already. So why add to the confusion, right?

Well, I am a nature photographer, pure and simple. As far back as I can remember, when I picked up a camera, I was pointing it mostly at some kind of animal or landscape. Of course, taking photos of people is a great thing and very fulfilling for some. But for me, nature photography is where my heart lies. Every time I pack up my gear and head out to a favorite photo spot, I am embarking on a new adventure and I can’t wait to get there. Once there, time just slips by so fast because I’m completely immersed in something that I love.

But to be really good at nature photography is not easy. There is very little in your control. What kind of weather dominates on that given day has a great effect on everything you do. The light is often changing from one hour to the next and sometimes from one minute to the next. Some parts of the day are good for landscapes and others are far more challenging. Then there are the animals and birds. They never, I repeat never, seem to do what you want them to do when you want them to do it. Even flowers are a challenge given that you have to have almost perfect specimens to make the photo really appealing, and the background is almost as important as the flower itself. I could go on crying a river of tears about how difficult nature photography is, but the challenges it presents is also part of its charm. So that’s enough moaning and groaning for now!

The point is that you can’t just grab a camera and head out the door shooting everything in site and expect to come back with National Geographic worthy results. There is a lot to learn about this aggravating but simultaneously rewarding subject of nature photography.

Much of what I have learned has been self-taught, but I also spend a great deal of time trying to find knowledge and information from websites and blogs online. To be sure, there is a lot of very good information on these sites too. But a lot of the pointers and tips are very fragmented, a little here, a little there. And I was thinking to myself that it would be great to be able to follow a photographer’s adventures as they learn the craft. To pick their brain as they make mistakes and learn what seems to work best for them along the way.

So here I am. I intend to share with you my learning process, warts and all. Hopefully, I can cover some ground that will be just what you need to know, and we can learn together. In this first post, I used the photo that I took of an Indian Rocks Beach sunset this past summer. Taking this kind of shot is what really revs my engine. If it does the same for you, maybe this journey will be good for both of us.

Please visit my website to see the rest of my current portfolio.