by Chris Campbell
The most important piece of equipment when it comes to taking good pictures has nothing to do with anything you can buy at a store. It’s actually your own two eyes and your brain. Being able to see what you want to take a picture in your mind is the first step to taking a great picture. It really doesn’t matter if you have a $100 camera, or a $10,000 camera. If you can’t see and compose the desired image with your own eyes, in your mind, then save yourself a whack of money and buy the $100 camera.
Lets get right to it. It’s very true, that the immense popularity of digital cameras (SLR and otherwise) and rapid technical advances have produced a glut of choices and features that can be bewildering to the average consumer. Those same trends have have also pushed manufactures and retail establishments to be highly competitive in both design and pricing. That’s something that can only benefit the consumer. In a couple of ways actually. Not only do you have a bevy of choices, but the vast majority of those SLR choices are really good cameras. Long story short . . . it’s hard to go wrong in this category.
By skipping up a model line in the Canon chain of command, you get a few extra advantages. Moving up to a 30D or 40D gives you a full metal camera body. Metal bodies are far more shock resistant, and durable than the molded plastic found on the Digital Rebel lineup.
When looking for the best digital SLR camera you can find, the important word to remember is “YOU”. Ask a dozen camera enthusiasts why they their favourite camera is their favourite, and you likely get a dozen answers. Every photographer takes pictures for different reasons, values different attributes in the finished pictures, and handles a camera differently. And so will you. A good hands-on exercise before making your final selection, would be to go to a speciality camera store with lots of models on hand, during a non busy time.
Another advantage to the Canon 30D and 40D models, is that most accessories that work with the 30D and 40D will also work with cameras further up the Canon model line like the 5D. Rebel accessories generally won’t. Given the perpetual affliction of “upgradeitis” that many cameras geeks find themselves in, that could save a whack of money on the next upgrade.
Still feel a need to look some more? That’s fine. Like I said there are a crazy number of choices when it comes to digital SLRs. It never hurts to take a peek into what Canon, Nikon, Olympus and others are offering as the latest and greatest SLR cameras. Just remember, the more time you spend looking for a camera, the less time you spend taking pictures.
