Cameras
I am a total amateur when it comes to photography, but I take a lot of photos. From time to time, people will ask me what camera they should buy. If you have researched photography at any point, you have undoubtedly read (or heard) that “Great cameras do not take great photos... Great photographers do.” I would say this is generally true. Unless you are doing something relatively specialized, you can probably do everything you want to do with just about every camera currently on the market.
The image sensors being used by camera manufacturers are great. Even in the lowest-level DSLRs that target non-professionals, the sensors are great. They make great images. They handle low light situations very well compared to 10 years ago. When you decide to pay more for a better model, you are usually just paying for bells and whistles that make your shooting experience better. The image sensors used between models is often the same (or similar). With more expensive models, you might see: better auto-focus systems, the ability to shoot more frames per second in burst mode, built-in wireless/Bluetooth, better weather sealing, etc. If you are shooting sports, you might need that improved auto-focus system. Or you might need the faster burst rate to catch the perfect moment during some fast action.
This is a total guess, but I probably take anywhere from 95-97% of my photos with a Fujifilm X100V. It’s a great camera but it has its drawbacks too. There is no optical zoom since the lens is a fixed focal length. You can’t change the lens since it’s built into the camera. Some people might say this is a good thing, but let’s face it: it’s pretty tough to get a close-up photo of your kid across a field during a sporting event is not going to work too well with a 35mm lens. But it is small and light so I can easily take it just about anywhere. Also, I have come to prefer using electronic viewfinders as opposed to optical viewfinders. This is a total preference thing, but when I can manually make adjustments to my camera’s settings and see what the photo will look like before I even press the shutter button, I consider that a bonus. And while I shoot both JPEG and RAW, I almost always use the JPEG files and rarely do editing anymore except for cropping and maybe some straightening of the image. I love the way photos are processed by the X100V, so why spend time messing with it? The physical dials and buttons are great for quickly changing settings. It’s my favorite camera.
But if someone asked me what camera they should buy tomorrow, 99.999% of the time I would not even mention the X100V. I probably will not mention Fujifilm at all. I will probably recommend whatever the latest, cheapest DSLR is from either Nikon or Canon. Why? Because they make great images, they are relatively cheap even when they include multiple lenses, and if it ends up collecting dust in a closet, I will not feel guilty for recommending a $600-700 kit instead of something that’s $1000-2000+. They also have a huge catalog of lenses available, so if the buyer does keep their interest in photography, they will have a large selection of lenses choose from.
If you still want to ask me, feel free. I am always glad to see what is out there for options. But if you really want to make great photos, you need to understand how a camera gathers light and how the different settings affect this process. There are a whole lot of websites and videos explaining the exposure triangle, so I won’t harp on it here. But all cameras have to deal with the same physics. Until you understand this, you will probably wonder why your photos are blurry or too dark or washed out. If you learn about how a camera works, you will realize that, regardless of what camera you have, it probably is not as limited as you think.
Taken with my X100V
