Let's start with the first part. Which camera should I get. The answer is simple in concept, but incredibly difficult in detail. The camera you should get is the one that
1- Meets your needs,
2- you will actually use, and
3- you can afford.
What the means will change as you grow into your photography. They already have for me. For a while, I didn't need anything more than a point and shoot. Then when it came time for fatherhood, I felt like I was going to need something more to capture my son growing up. I had been out of the serious photography game for a while, and I didn't have much money to spend, so the D3200 was perfect. Low cost re-entry into the higher end camera game and a lot of room to grow. That was the camera I needed to get for where I was. As I started shooting more circus and performance, it became clear that I needed better high ISO and speed than the D3200, hence Excalibur became the right camera for me to get. So which camera is better for you? Why not just go for the D4 right out of the gate if you have the money? Well, you may not want to lug a three pound beast the size of a kids' lunchbox around with you every day just to take pictures of your kid on the playground. You may not want to be walking around with an incredibly obvious and expensive camera on vacation to a less than safe area. There are as many scenarios and right answers to the "what camera should I get" question as there are photographers. If you start following the pros, you'll see that they often have a collection, and use different cameras for different purposes.
So, now we move on to part two- Which Camera is the Best? Again, there are as many answers as there are photography web sites out there. Nikon/Cannon/Sony/Minolta/etc...... which has the most pixels, best high ISO performance, best low ISO performance, greatest dynamic range, most video features, best control layout..... so what is my answer? If you have been playing along at home as this blog has developed, you may think you know what I am going to say. The logical guess would be that I am going to bring up Excalibur, the Nikon D4 I have been raving about since I got it. And that would be a great guess, but in this case wrong. None of the images in this post were taken with Excalibur. Hell, they weren't even taken with my D3200. But they were all taken with what I have come to believe is the ultimate answer to the question of "which camera is best."
Drum roll please.....
The Best Camera is..... the one you have with you when you see the shot.
I know that seems like a cop out answer, but it really isn't and a quick glance at Google shows that I am far from the first or only photographer to have this revelation. I have close to $20,000 worth of cameras, lenses, strobes and modifiers on my gear shelf. But none of it would have gotten me the three shots attached to this post, because I didn't have any of it with me. Why not? Well, it isn't always convenient to carry around a DSLR, even one as small and light as the D3200. I am still full time Navy, and since I have had things stolen from my stateroom before I don't really like to bring the gear I am hoping to use as a retirement plan in to work with me every day. Also, since I am now doing an Engineering tour, there are days on the ship I never see daylight. But my point and shoot lives in a small, readily accessible strap pocket of the daypack I bring to work with me every day, and without it I would not have been able to capture the sunset image I opened this post with. Would the shot have been better if I had the D4 and the 14-24mm ready to go? Of course it would have. But those were 45 miles away from me at the time. So in that moment, the best camera was the point and shoot (Olympus Stylus Tough 8000, if you must know. It's old and there is a newer and better model, so I probably won't review it, but it's 12mp, waterproof and tough as nails. For documenting aerial classes, snowboarding trips, and fun in the pool or ocean with the family, it is awesome. It always lives in my bag and it takes a beating without having to worry about it.)
But I don't always have my bag with me. So the point and shoot isn't always the best camera either. Enter the iphone. Nowhere near a top of the line camera. But it's my lifeline to the world, I almost always have my phone with me. So, when my kid is really tired and dad misses the signs in time to get him down for a mid-morning nap before he melts down, and I have to grab the stroller, keys and phone to get him out for a calming walk, chances are I won't be thinking clearly enough to toss one of the DSLRs or even the point and shoot into a pocket, especially if I am still in my sunday pajamas. So the best camera when I saw the morning dew still trapped in a spider web in some bushes next to the sidewalk as I pushed him along, the iPhone camera became the best camera ever. Could I have gotten a much better image if I had the 24mp D3200 with a dedicated macro lens and a ring flash? Of course. But by the time I got my son to sleep and home, and mom got back to stay with him, the morning dew was long gone.
Getting the picture? Although I am seriously considering leaving the D3200 in the car 24/7 just in case, it isn't always practical to carry the heavy artillery around. But you never know when life is going to throw something in front of you that you want to try to capture. Maybe it's a moment of beauty that will be gone before you know it. Maybe it's a silhouette of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on a building.
(All Hail his noodly appendage- RAMEN!)
Maybe it's your kid doing something silly and/or cute while you both wait for mom to run an errand...
Yeah, I can take all those shots apart and go on for days about technical ways that they could have been better. In fact, this post coalesced in my mind while I was editing the dew covered spider web trying to make it look as good as I could and mentally kicking my own butt for not grabbing one of the DSLRs before heading out the door. But if I hadn't had the camera I had with me, these moments would have only lived on in my memory, and I wouldn't have been able to share them with people that I knew would enjoy them, like his mom, or other Pastafarians.
Just to end on a slightly different note, sometimes the best camera for the moment is none at all. Don't forget as life goes along that sometimes it is better to put the camera away and just experience the moment, let your eyes and memory be your only camera, because getting the shot would take you out of the moment. That's why I don't have any pictures of my son actually being born. And I don't regret that for a moment. And really, no one needs to see pictures of every salad, burger or other meal you eat, or the aftermath of that bowel movement (yes- that last was a FB post by someone on my friends list. You know who you are) To reinforce that point, I leave you with this video... which is only funny because it's true.
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