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How To Pick The Best Brand Of Camera

If you ever had an inkling to start a brawl amongst a bunch of photographers, simply ask them which is the best camera brand to buy, an then leave the room. Nikon fan boys, the Canon fan boys, the Sony fan boys and the rest of the pack will never get to a single decision.

Now, we’re not talking film cameras here, as I’m sure by now, even the professionals have made the leap to the digital world. For a lot of years, the pros wanted nothing to do with digital, and you may still know some old hold outs, but their days are numbered.

First things first, in the spirit of full disclosure, I need to declare that I do in fact own several cameras. They represent a variety of brands. I have two Canons, a Fuji, and a Kodak. I must confess, that I am somewhat partial to Canon, but I’ll try not to let that cloud any editorial comments I may subsequently make.

If you were to choose a camera solely on popularity of brand, it would seem Canon is the choice of many. Many, meaning both consumers and critics alike. They seem to crowd the top critic pick lists everywhere I like. I think it’s pretty much impossible to find a top ten camera list tdoay, that doesn’t have at least two or three from the Canon Powershot line.

Sharing the top 11 spots with Canon are 2 of the Pure Video manufactured Flip Video cameras. Nikon has 2 cameras in the top 25 including the Nikon D40, and the Nikon D300. Panasonic sneaks in with a couple of their Lumix models, specifically the DMC-TZ3K and the DMC-TZ3A. And finishing in a strong 25th spot, that old stalwart Kodak with the Easyshare Z812IS.

Of course being popular, or the best seller does not the best brand make. It simply means you have the best salesmanship. How exactly would we determine the best brand? Best service, best design, best features, best customer support, best images, and best user experience are all valid traits. Perhaps a critical / scientific /empirical examination of all cameras models by manufacturer would be in order. Let’s see if we can aggregate a lot of the work already done by a couple of camera review sites who take the above traits into consideration.

One popular camera review site under their top 103 cameras showed 46 Canon cameras, 21 Sony cameras, 20 Nikon cameras, 5 Pentax cameras, 3 Fuji cameras, 2 Samsung cameras, 2 Panasonic cameras, 2 Kodak cameras, 1 Konica camera, and 1 Casio camera. Another top camera review site under their 5 star category, show 39 Canon cameras, 18 Sony cameras, 17 Nikon cameras, 6 Fuji cameras, 5 Olympus cameras, 5 Panasonic cameras, 3 Pentax cameras, and 1 Konica camera. If you total all that up, the top 3 end up being Canon with 85, Sony a distant second with 39, and Nikon a very close third with 37. Everyone else had less than 10 top rated cameras.

Interesting huh? Canon seems to be dominating sales, and wowing the critics. That’s a pretty strong one-two punch. The only reasonable conclusion here, is that Canon is the best overall brand out there. Of course I would never recommend anyone buy a camera based solely on brand. What I do suggest, is to do your homework by researching some good cameras. Once you’ve got your short list, and with everything else being equal, maybe then you should pick the Canon.

Tags: A, arts, best digital camera, c, camcorder, camera, Cameras, computers, d, digital, digital camera, e, entertainment, g, gadgets, h, hobbies, i, p, Photography, point and shoot cameras, s, slr cameras, t, technology, video camera   Posted in Cameras

The Best Digital SLR Camera – Bar None

So, you’ve decided to make the jump from simple point and shoot cameras into the realm of SLR photography. If you’ve done any sort of research, your mind and eyeballs are probably reeling from an overload of information.

Digital SLR photography, is one those hobbies that is rich with technological jargon. It gets worse, if your one of the perfectionist type that really likes to minutely analyze any major purchase . . . intent on getting the best digital SLR camera for your money. You could be in for a long bumpy ride. Today it’s time to shorten that ride and smooth out the bumps.

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. I’ll make it even simpler for you. Pick any one of the following three digital SLR cameras, and you won’t be disappointed. They are the Canon Digital Rebel XTi, the Nikon D40, and the Olympus Evolt E510.

As of this writing, the 10 megapixels flavors for these cameras are all available for about $600. That includes a basic kit lens. That feels like highway robbery, compared to the $1000 I paid for a good point and shoot digital just a few years back.

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 favorite camera is their favorite, 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 specialty camera store with lots of models on hand, during a non busy time.

Another thing you can do, if your still interested in looking around a bit more, is to get some hands on experience. Borrowing a SLR from a friend or relative to try out is a good idea. You’ll get a feel for the controls and how everything works. The more different models you try out, the better feel you’ll have for what feels right for you. Like I said, your the most important part of the picture taking process.

Once you’ve done all that, and you know what you want, it’s time to price shop. Online shopping still provides the best selection prices overall. If you don’t mind waiting a few days for shipping, you’ll get the camera and the price you want.

So, stop analyzing, and start taking pictures. The sooner you make a purchase the sooner you can start capturing all those great images.

Tags: A, arts, best digital camera, c, camcorder, camera, Cameras, computers, d, digital, digital camera, e, entertainment, g, gadgets, h, hobbies, i, p, Photography, point and shoot cameras, s, slr cameras, t, technology, video camera   Posted in Cameras