Guide to Photographic Gear/Table of Contents/Choosing Cameras

Choosing Cameras

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:

Point-and-Shoot: no professional photographer really uses these. Point-and-Shoot cameras are very limited in terms of lenses and gear.
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.
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.
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).