Tis the Season

Black Friday is almost here. The season of commercialism is upon us. Throughout the year people ask me for camera recommendations. I usually tell them that any of the dslr cameras from the major manufacturers should work well. The people usually ask what brand of equipment I use. When I tell them I use Pentax, many people have not heard of Pentax. Pentax makes great cameras, so do Nikon, Canon, and Sony/Minolta. Up to this point I have stayed with Pentax so that I can use all of my lenses. I love my Pentax. But when asked what camera I would purchase today...the answer is Nikon. The answer is not due to any problems with Pentax. My Pentax equipment continues to serve me well. I still use 25 year old lenses. The reason I say Nikon is not for any reason that people looking to buy a consumer level dslr will care about anyway.  I want a full frame sensor, Pentax does not offer one. I want a better lens selection. Nikon and Canon users have an almost unlimited lens selection. Nikon and Canon users also have an outstanding selection of accessories. I would love to have one of the aftermarket eyecups for my viewfinder. The company that produces them only makes them for Canon and Nikon. Another reason I personally would buy Nikon today is their support for professional photographers.

For those of you looking at camera equipment for Christmas. Here are my recommendations. Do the research. Define the features that are important to you. Go to a store and hold the equipment in your hands. Don't let the recent high school graduate working at the big box store sell you on all of the geewhiz gizmos that you may never use. Many of those gizmos are very similar from one manufacturer to the next anyway. Keep in mind the two most important things when buying a camera are image quality and ease of use. Ask people that use the equipment what they like and don't like about there cameras. Don't be sold on megapixels. Pixel size is just as important as the number. Larger pixels make better pictures. The vast majority of people are not going to try to get those jumbo poster size prints made, the one area where megapixels count. A mere 8mp will produce outstanding 8x10 and 11x14 prints. The lens is more important that the body. Upgrading from the kit lens is something you want to consider. Using a lens of poor quality will render the best of cameras useless.

An old adage in photography is that the best camera is the one in your hands. Make sure that whatever you decide on, it is something that will be in your hands often. If you enjoy the camera your photography skills will improve. If you don't like the camera, taking pictures will become too much work and image quality will suffer. Decide on the camera and lens you want and go enjoy yourself.