Buying Your First Digital Camera "Kit"

» Posted by admin on May 17, 2009 in Alaska, Alaska Photo Tour, Camera systems, Dave Taylor, Gear Review, Humor, Landscapes, musings, New Photographers, photographic theory, Workshops | 4 comments

“I could use a bigger lens”. Ask my family and friends, it’s a phrase they’ve heard many a time. Photographers are always looking to “expand their kit”. And no, I don’t mean by using Viagra, Cialis, or any natural “herbal” remedies. Then it’s, “I need more megapixels” (MPs). Because you can never have too many, and a 40″ x 60″ print is just too small. But how did we get to this point? It’s because technology is always evolving, and you’ve got to keep up with the Jones’s. Somehow, that top of the line camera (the brand new Cakon 1X Alpha) you bought 6 months ago became completely worthless as soon as they announced the really brand new Cakon 1X Bravo! The truth is, it still works just as good as it did the day you bought it – you’re just trying to keep up with the Jones’s.

But what about new photographers looking to make their first purchase? How do you make sure that you are making a good investment? Cameras and camera equipment (kit) are not cheap. There is a dizzying array of options to choose from. Everything from cameras to lenses, tripods to filters, memory cards to flashes, remotes to camera bags. And a whole lot in between.

What comes first? What is the next step? I hope to answer some of those questions in this post.

Cameras

First things first. Simply put, they are only a light-tight box. They are the human eye ball simplified. The camera body is the eye,  and the digital sensor is the retina. You need a lens to complete the eye analogy. The aperture is the iris and pupil, and the lens elements are the cornea and crystalline lens. The eye lids are the lens hood. There you have it – a human eye simplified. To prove a point, professional photographer Terry Richardson, used a disposable film camera (yep, those little Kodak or Fuji plastic and cardboard contraptions) to do an entire shoot for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (I swear, I read it for the articles…). Oh, and he got the cover shot. It’s not the camera!

“Dave, hurry up and tell me what to buy!”

No.

You’ve got to ask yourself a question first. “Self, what do I want to photograph?” Until you know that, the rest is trivial. 75% (or more) of people would be fine buying a digital point and shoot camera and going with that. Heck, I own one & it’s a lot of fun. But if you want to push your photography (and yourself) and have a fully customizable camera, you need a digital SLR.

“Dave, what’s a SLR?”

“SLR” stands for Single Lens Reflex. It simply means that it uses a mirror to allow the photographer to look through the viewfinder and see exactly what is being photographed. The mirror flips out of the way when the shutter is fully depressed (pushed down, not considering a course of Prozac). Point and shoot (p&s) cameras and rangefinders provide a viewfinder that looks around the lens and approximates the view of the lens. Sometimes, much less accurately than desired. SLR cameras allow you to buy different lenses and swap them out as the subject or circumstances dictate. They also offer the widest variety of accessories, so you can grow and customize your “kit” as you develop.

I stick by my long standing belief that you should buy a camera from one of the “Big Two” manufacturers. Canon or Nikon. Pentax, Sony (they bought Minolta’s technology), Sigma do make good equipment – but their systems and available accessories are not as developed as Canon or Nikon. Truth be told, both Nikon and Sony use Sony digital sensors on most of their offerings. The only major difference that sets these brands apart is stabilization technology. Canon was the first to the plate with I.S. lenses (Image Stabilization). Then came Nikon with their V.R. lenses (Vibration Lenses). Sony shook things up by building on Minolta’s in camera sensor stabilization (SteadyShot INSIDE™). Canon’s I.S. has been very good and Nikon has really advanced their V.R. technology – but I honestly hope that they both adopt an “in-body” stabilizer technology like Sony in the future. It would make the lenses smaller and lighter weight and lower their cost. Sony has proven that in-camera stabilization is every bit as effective as lens-based stabilization.

Digital SLRs are very different from their old step-brother, the film SLR. Image quality is essentially identical between a 1970′s Canon and a 1999 Canon. Not so in the digital world. Sensor technology leaps forward every few months it seems. But remember the original point I tried to make. That great shot you took 1 year ago with your “now old and decrepit Cakon 1X Alpha” is just as good as it was then. A good photo can stand the test of time, regardless of the technology.

There are a lot of options in camera bodies, but they all do the same thing – they take pictures. Some even make movies! As a comparison between Canon and Nikon, here is how their cameras match up in offerings. They don’t match up perfectly, but this is in the ball park.

Canon Rebel XS & XTi = Nikon D40, D60 and D5000

Canon Rebel T1i = Nikon D80 & D90

Canon EOS 40D & EOS 50D = Nikon D300

Canon EOS 5D Mark II = Nikon D700

Canon EOS 1D Mark III = Nikon D3

Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III = Nikon D3X

The megapixel range in these cameras is astounding. Any of these cameras can produce very nice 16″ x 20″ prints. The more megapixels you throw into the camera, the larger you can go and the more aggressively you can crop. The top of the line EOS 5D Mark II, 1Ds Mark III and the D3X can produce amazing 24″ x 36″ prints with no problems, and can often times go much larger.

The first 3 lines (Canon Rebel models through the Nikon D300) all use an APS-C sensor size. APS-C is smaller than a 35mm piece of film but offers a higher resolution than a 35mm piece of film ever could. It also means that they magnify any lens you put on the camera by about 1.5 times! A free and built in  teleconverter! So a 20mm lens is in fact producing a 30mm view & a 600mm lens is producing a 900mm view. Great for wildlife, bad for wide angle landscapes. There’s another trade off, the viewfinder isn’t as bright or large to look through in these cameras when compared to a full frame camera. Everything in photography is a compromise, everything. The sooner you recognize that, the sooner you can advance as a photographer. The Nikon D90 and D5000 can also capture HD movies, though not as high a quality as the Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

The Canon 5D Mark II & the Nikon D700 both use a full frame (35mm equivelant) sensor size. With these, there is no built in teleconverter. This means that any lens you mount gives the exact view it was designed to give, a 12mm wide angle lens is exactly that – 12mm. Awesome for landscapes and offer LOTS of detail in your images. The Canon 5D Mark II also shoots full HD 1080P movies – beautiful quality movies!

The Canon 1D Mark III is a “partial-crop” sensor. Almost a full frame sensor with a 1.3 built in teleconverter. Great sensor, very fast frames per second rate, and a great “compromise” between a full frame and an APS-C type sensor.

The Nikon D3, Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III and the Nikon D3X are all full frame sensors. Again, great for landscapes and very high quality (and resolution) images. Oh, and they’re expensive. The Nikon D3X (at the time of this writing) is about $8000. That’s just for the camera body. “Lenses NOT included”. Got a bank nearby? Consider a loan or robbery. Disclaimer time: Dave Taylor & Sixtyone North LLC accepts no responsibility for any photographers anticipating incarceration due to alleged robbery attempts. Darn lawyers – they made me put that in there.

The long and short of it is that every one of these cameras can produce fine images. It is a matter of what your intended “final product” will be. If you are a hobbyist looking to decorate your home/office with small”ish” prints of your family, vacations, or local wildlife/landscapes a Canon Digital Rebel or Nikon D40 – D90 will work wonderfully. If you want more features, higher resolution, better noise performance, higher “frames per second” (can you say 10 frames per second?), you’ll need to look at that loan/robbery option. *Please refer to afore mentioned disclaimer*

The growing popularity of the movie making option on a few of these cameras is a sign of the future. Rather than having to lug around a digital camera and camcorder, you can have all that performance in one package. Get used to it ol’ fogies, HD movies are here to stay – this ain’t your dad’s Holga or Brownie.

Don’t discount ergonomics either. True, I’m a Canon shooter – but I’ve always thought Nikons fit my hands better. The grip and control layout just makes sense. So why did I go with Canon? At the time, Nikon wasn’t committed to developing their V.R. system, stating that it wasn’t a tool that working professionals saw the benefit of. Watch a football game or a tennis match. Check the sidelines (and endzones), see that white mass of huge camera equipment? Those are all Canon cameras sporting 500mm and 600mm lenses… with I.S. capability. They make a world of difference. Nikon came around though, but by the time they had, I had already invested a sizable amount of cash/credit in my Canon system. I may switch sides in the future (cameras… not orientation. I like women. Sue me). The Canon ID series, and the Nikon D3 series also include a built in vertical grip. This adds weight, but also comfort and a good counterbalance to heavy lenses. You can add aftermarket vertical grips to most of the other cameras in this list as well. The Canon models look like you slapped a plastic brick on the bottom of your camera, whereas some of the Nikons (in particular the D700) blend together so well, it’s hard to tell that it is an accessory. Canon could learn something from this approach.

Another compromise. With smaller sensors (like those in the first few lines), you will see more noise in your photos at higher ISOs. This is because of something known as “Signal to Noise Ratio”. A Canon 50D shares a similar resolution with the venerable Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II, but the larger sensor of the Mark II will produce “cleaner” files because of it’s larger sensor.

Coming up next? Lenses & Filters! Stay tuned. And remember, the best camera is the one that you own and have with you. That little p&s camera you carry in your purse or messenger bag takes a lot better pictures when you have it with you. When it’s sitting at home & is 20 miles away, you probably aren’t gonna get the shot.