Be honest with yourself, don’t buy a big monster if you’re not going to carry it around. The big old pro style cameras are nice, but are you ready to have your camera gear as your only carry on?
Regardless of price, here are the most important features to look for in a camera.
Size, if it’s big and clunky, it’s probably not coming with you, it doesn’t matter how good it is if it’s not with you.
Sensor size, that camera may offer awesome specs but if the sensor is small the pixels are small, this is way important, yet way confusing, but the general rule is the bigger the sensor the better. But the bigger the sensor, the bigger the lenses and camera (there are exceptions).
Fast Lens, the size of the lens opening determines how much light gets into the sensor, the larger the diameter of the front of the lens, the faster the lens. The number that defines this is the maximum opening is the aperture, it is designated as f/2.8, f’/4, or f/whatever the lens is. The lower the number the better, anything f/5.6 or higher is a dealbreaker in my book.
Image Stabilization, it’s super cool science that causes an element in the optical path to counteract the shaking of the photographer, great for stills, awesome for video.
Megapixels, you only need 1 for 8″x10″ pictures, everything else is overkill, but if you want to go bigger you need more. This should be the last thing you consider, it’s hard to find a new camera that isn’t overloaded in this department. While some argue you can never have too much, they are wrong. If you shoot enough pictures those megapixels become gigabytes and hard drives fill up pretty quickly.
Waterproof, water and sand do not mix well with electricity and precision engineering. One drop of water in the right place will turn your camera into a paper weight. It just takes a little rain, a spilled beer, or that awesome moment at the lake. I don’t need to shoot underwater, but my world is filled with water.
Video, you may not want or need video, but why not have it as a free addition to your still camera. Adding video takes nothing away from your cameras ability to take great pictures, it’s just a happy byproduct of live view on many new cameras. Turns out the live image on the monitor was actually video and some awesome engineer convinced his crew to tap into the feature, awesome.
Cameras I lust for:
Canon 5D MarkII – full frame 35mm sensor allows for wider views and the images and video are better than most photographers deserve. Many magazine covers and billboards have been shot with this baby and would you believe the last episode of House was shot with these. It’s the gold standard for mobile journalists. A crippled autofocus system and slower than normal frames per second on stills are the only drawbacks.
Canon 7d- a smaller sensor than the 5dMKII, but better autofocus and higher frames per second make this better for sports shooters, and nearly as good for video. This things so awesome Steven Spielberg used it to shoot some cockpit scenes for a War movie he is making.
canon_t2i
Canon T2i – a smaller 7d with inferior autofocus, tinier battery, and fewer frames per second. This is now my primary camera. This is the best value in imaging today.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5 – this little sucker is the camera most people really need, it’s small enough to take anywhere, waterproof, nice lens, awesome sensor, shoots panoramas and hd video, all for $300
iPhone 4
iPhone 4, I don’t even care about the phone, this sucker will be my main video camera and will probably become my main still camera also. The simple reason is that it is small, just good enough, and will enable live broadcasting and instant archiving. If it was waterproof and didn’t rely on AT&T for service it would be the best camera deal. As it stands it is relatively worthless in Sheboygan County (no 3g), and the unlimited data plan is a thing of the pat now that the iPhone could really use it. If it wasn’t bogged down by the phone and associated monthly costs this would be the best deal in imaging by far.
