{"id":223,"date":"2009-04-17T10:23:51","date_gmt":"2009-04-17T17:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/?p=223"},"modified":"2009-04-17T10:23:51","modified_gmt":"2009-04-17T17:23:51","slug":"what-kind-of-camera-should-i-get","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/2009\/04\/17\/what-kind-of-camera-should-i-get\/","title":{"rendered":"What kind of camera should I get?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I get asked this question quite a bit.\u00a0 I like photography and I’m a bit of a gear head, so I understand why.\u00a0 I definitely prefer it to other questions that I’ve complained about in the past<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When I think about cameras, and what’s the ‘right’ camera, this is the way I look at it.\u00a0 Ultimately, it comes down to who is going to be using the camera and what they’re going to use it for.<\/p>\n

For most users, the best camera is a small point-and-shoot style camera and I happen to be a fan of the Canon PowerShot line.\u00a0 A quick look on B&H Photo shows this model, a Canon SD1200<\/a> – a 10 megapixel camera with image stabilization, a nice zoom range, of course it shoots videos and all of the other whiz-bang features you’d expect – and it all fits easily in a pocket (we’re talking shirt pocket here) all for less than $230.\u00a0 This is a camera that most people will be able to carry with them everywhere (which is the most important thing you need in ANY camera) and it will take really great shots.<\/p>\n

A few years ago I stopped carrying my compact point-and-shoot camera for a slightly larger ‘rangefinder’ size point-and-shoot, also from Canon – the Canon G10<\/a>.\u00a0 This allows me a lot more control over the image capture process for only a slightly larger frame.\u00a0 This one doesn’t do shirt pockets (or even pants pockets really) but it will do a jacket pocket or cargo-pants pocket just fine.<\/p>\n

Slightly larger, is a class of camera that I really like for people who want a ‘better camera’ (read: they think they want an SLR) but are really just looking for (without knowing it) a larger image sensor and larger lens.\u00a0 They don’t want any of the manual controls or exchangeable lenses of an SLR.\u00a0 A great camera in this class is (staying with the Canon name, for no particular reason) the Canon SX 10 IS<\/a>.\u00a0 For our trip to Africa, I bought Meghan a camera from this class (a Panasonic) and she took some great photos – which she wouldn’t have gotten with an awkward SLR, or with her point-and-shoot.<\/p>\n

Finally, there’s the 4th class of camera, the SLR.\u00a0 This is what most people think of when they want a ‘good camera’ but I really don’t think it’s a great match for most users.\u00a0 It’s the SUV of the camera world – the big honker that everyone thinks they want but nobody uses it for what it was designed.\u00a0 If you’re just going to get a single cheap lens and use that all the time, you’re just as well off getting a nice camera like the Canon SX 10 IS or equivalent.<\/p>\n

Now, I realize that there are more than just these 4 categories (there are ultra-compacts and mini-SLRs (a form-factor I’m intrigued by)\u00a0 but for the most part those are fringes that won’t suit most people.<\/p>\n

Finally, for anyone looking for a camera, two sites that I think do a nice job of providing reviews:\u00a0 Imaging Resource <\/a>and DP (Digital Photography) Review<\/a>.\u00a0 Imaging Resource has, for a long time, offered Dave’s Picks<\/a> which just makes simple, straight-forward recommendations based on different categories (by camera type, by user type, etc.,).\u00a0 Looking now, I see they also have a fancy My Product Advisor<\/a> application that I can’t vouch for.<\/p>\n

DP Review offers really thorough reviews of cameras and their features and limitations.\u00a0 It’s probably way more info than most people need though – so I would recommend just navigating to the ‘conclusion’ page where they write up a nice summary of their findings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I get asked this question quite a bit.\u00a0 I like photography and I’m a bit of a gear head, so I understand why.\u00a0 I definitely prefer it to other questions that I’ve complained about in the past. When I think about cameras, and what’s the ‘right’ camera, this is the way I look at it.\u00a0 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “What kind of camera should I get?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photography"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239,"href":"https:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions\/239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}