groping in the dark

Choosing a Camera

If you're gonna do photography you're gonna need a camera. ...well, duuhh, but what kind?

Like everything else in photography you've got a wide range of choices. These days, the first distinction is film vs digital. I've got plenty to say about digital cameras, but for now I'm going to ignore them, pretend they don't exist. After all, this is supposed to be a blog focused on black & white photography and print-making, which, while not ruling out digital altogether, is more fun when you get all tied up in the arcane world of developing times & temperatures, push/pull processing, contrast filters, safelights, paper grades and finishes, et cet, et cet.

W/r/t film cameras, the first major distinction is format, i.e. large, medium and 35mm. Large format means anything in the 8x10-inch range. You know: those big boxes on tripods with the hood that the photographer hides under, sometimes with one hand sticking out to hold the flashpan. Next, anyone who's been to a wedding that hired a professional photographer is familiar with medium format cameras. They are often held at waist level with the photographer peering down through the top of the camera to frame the shot. Then there are the 35mm cameras, the choice of paparazzi and photo journalists (and Uncle Fred at Christmas-time). I've simplified the camera choices for the format somewhat, but you get the point. On this site, I'm going to focus on 35mm SLR cameras.

SLR? stands for single-lens-reflex. Basically this means when you look through the view finder, mirrors w/i the camera redirect your gaze through the lens. What you see is exactly what your camera "sees," i.e. what actually gets exposed on film. Your point-and-shoot variety of 35mm camera relies on a separate smaller lens to approximate the view your camera "sees." Which forget about the point-and-shoot cameras. For your basic fun, candid, no-hassle, family-vacation-type shots get a compact digital camera instead.

So now that we are down to 35mm SLR cameras, what are the choices now? There is Minolta, Olympus, Pentax, not to mention the old standby Leica, but the 300 lb. gorillas are Canon or Nikon. I've been told that you could throw a stone into a crowd of professional photographers and have an even chance of hitting either a Canon or Nikon proponent. You could probably get the same results with the web equivalent of stone-lobbing. The differences are really negligible, especially considering that image quality depends almost entirely on the lens and not the camera itself. This applies to the other brands, too (although your lens choices may be more limited).

Keep in mind, you can make some great photography with a 20 or 30 year old camera that is in good condition. The newer models offer fancy things like auto-focus, "intelligent" metering, program mode, etc., but any camera that allows you to focus, select your aperture and shutter speed will do. So, if you have some lenses that Uncle Fred is willing to sell/gift to you, make sure to pick the camera that matches those lenses.

The Canon EOS Rebel X is my personal choice (the current semi-equivalent model is the Rebel G). Actually, I can't really call it a choice as it was a birthday present given to me over ten years ago, but it is a great camera (if you're thinking about getting me something for Christmas, I can make a few recommendations).