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Guide to Photographic Gear/Table of Contents/Choosing Cameras

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Choosing Cameras

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The first step to get into photography is to choose a camera type, a camera system, and then a camera. There are three main types of cameras in photography:

  1. Point-and-Shoot: no professional photographer really uses these. Point-and-Shoot cameras are very limited in terms of lenses and gear.
  2. Digital SLR: a DSLR (or Digital SLR, Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera is the most popular choice for photographers. It combines the variety of an SLR to the ease of a digital sensor. However, DSLRs are very bulky and complex, so it is a bit more vulnerable to breakage.
  3. SLR: an SLR (or Single Lens Reflex) camera is a DSLR without the digital sensor. Instead, it uses a roll of film. This is what photographers used to use. An SLR, however, needs to process the film before you can see the image, so it is always less convenient than other cameras.
  4. Mirrorless: more and more photographers are getting attracted to mirrorless cameras these days. Mirrorless cameras are much lighter and smaller than DSLRs, have no complicated mirror system inside, and have a great viewfinder system that allows you to "see" changes. However, mirrorless cameras autofocus systems do seem to be worse than DSLRs, and their color and dynamic range do seem to be worse as well. However, these changes can often be corrected in post-processing, and many brands seem to have no issue with this at all.

After you have chosen your type of camera, it is time to choose a system (a brand). Below is a chart for various types of cameras and manufacturers.

Camera Brands
DSLR SLR Point-and-Shoot Mirrorless
Canon Pentax Canon Fujifilm
Nikon Hasselblad Nikon Sony
Pentax Leica Fujifilm Panasonic
Leica Fujifilm Panasonic Canon
Sigma Sony Olympus Hasselblad
Olympus Panasonic Sigma Leica
Nikon
Sigma

After you have chosen a brand, go to each brand's section in this book to choose cameras (and then choose lenses).