I have had the opportunity to be on several photographers forums and one of themes that captures the imagination, visceral reactions and high end emotion is "Which Camera Brand is the Best!"
Back when film was king and in most cases, any 35mm SLR could provide a professional photographer the tools required for doing the job. Motor drive speed was the one of the most important factors in making a decision and most of the brands offered relatively fast speeds for most applications.
Today the requirements are similar with quite a other considerations thrown in to the works. How many pixels, sensor quality, speed, in camera editing, synch speed, video provision, noise levels, color rendition etc, etc, etc... ?
Which Camera Camera Brand is the Best?
Now if we were having this discussion five or six years ago, the playing field would be quite small and the choices would be quite limited. Today, every major brand from Sony to Canon, Pentax, Nikon, Panasonic, Olympus, etc... Have some very good tools for those of us looking for a reasonably priced "Disposable Camera!"
Yes I said "Disposable Camera". These high technology tools give us quality that we could only have dreamed of a few years ago, out classing most 6×4.5 and 6×6 Medium Format film cameras and easily out classing high iso film.
When we consider that most digital bodies are recycled every 18 months or so, we have to ask ourself, "when should we upgrade or why should we upgrade?" In the past a 35 mm film body could be used for a minimum of 5 years and the only concern would be would the camera last over 200,000 activations and which lens do I want to add to my arsenal.
Today it is very much the opposite and the element of the the greatest importance in my opinion is the quality of lenses you have in your arsenal. These lenses will be used on every future upgrade of body, unless the camera manufacturer changes the mount system. In that case you are shit hot out of luck.
What am I trying to say here is that I would not go out and spend a fortune on the top of the line camera, unless it is very reasonably priced. Every single mid market camera today can produce excellent professional results. Determine the maximum output required for what ever medium you are working in and based on those requirements, you can make your purchase.
Spend the money you saved on your kids, your girlfriend, boyfriend, wife or mistress.
If the technology that is out there today is insufficient in your estimate to produce a fine image, I strongly suggest that you find another hobby or become a professional pixel peeper!
