What camera should you buy?

Every year around this time I get emails and facebook messages asking “what camera should I buy?” or “Is this a good camera to buy for my wife or husband??”  I thought this year I’d do a quick blog post and give my knowledgable opinion.

First and foremost, I shoot with BIG cameras.  If you hand me a point and shoot camera I’m apt to ask “how does this thing work?”  Once at a wedding I couldn’t get the little disposable camera to work. I was mortified, but it was so simple, I just over thought it.  What? No F stop?  No Shutter speed, how the heck does this thing work!  Finally, the bride and groom came over and helped me out.   Oh how I wish I was joking!

The biggest complaint I hear about Point and Shoot cameras is “the camera takes too long to let me take the next picture! I HATE it!”  So they run out and buy a big clunky SLR camera that is WAY more camera than they ever need and will never use all it’s functions.  Heck, I don’t even use all the functions on my cameras. I find new menues all the time ever AFTER reading the manual!  The delay in a point and shoot is due to the fact that it’s working off a memory card and that it’s also not a Single Lens Reflux.  There is no mirror, it’s all memory and digital technology.

What does someone look for in a Point and Shoot Camera?!  The first thing people will say is “MEGAPIXELS!”  I’d like to say “buzzer” -WRONG!  Buying the camera because it has 300 million megapixles does NOT matter.  It’s a gimic camera companies keep throwing out there to think you “need” more megapixels.    Megapixels only matter if you are blowing a file up to billboard size.  People often ask- will I be able to blow the file up to 8×10 and not see the file pixels on my point and shoot camera?  Yes.   You’ll be able to blow a file up to 16×24- or 20×24 on a 4 Megapixel camera.  How do I know? I use to own one.  Megapixels really don’t matter for the average joe.  They don’t even really matter to me.  To be honest,  I actually get ANNOYED with Canon when they add more megapixels to my camera because all it means is BIGGER files, and more memory on my hard drive.  In turn it costs me MORE money to buy MORE hard drives to back up all these HUGE files.  I actually shoot the Medium RAW because the files are half the size.  I don’t need all the information from all those megapixels.  It saves me a LOT of room to shoot that way. Megapixels don’t matter, it’s the sensor in the camera that you want.  I won’t get into that.  Megapixels only matter when you are printing a photos huge- got it?  Are you doing billboards? than don’t worry about the MPs!

Another factor for buying a point and shoot camera is zoom.  How close do you want to be able to zoom?  That’s what the 3x or 4xx number means.   Do you want to be able to do macro photos (super close photos of details like ring shots)

You also want to think about the lens size? Do you want a REALLY wide lens or a medium lens.  Most point and shoot cameras come with a pretty wide lens.

I had the Canon SD400 for awhile, the specs on the camera are this- and I’ll break them down.

The biggest things I look for in a point and shoot camera is the focal length, and the zoom.  I also look for a camera that has smaller megapixels. I don’t need the megapixels.  The average person is not going to notice the difference between 5 MP and 12 MP. I might, but for your purposes, you’ll be fine with 3, 4 or 5 MP.

So what camera do I throw my support behind?

As a TRUE Canon Girl, I hate to say this- but I recommend this camera.  The Nikon 8100. I HATE that Ashton Kutcher runs around telling everyone they can be a photographer!  I hate that he encourages people to be annoying at weddings.  The camera though- is a great camera!

Why? Well because it has the ability to take multiple frame shots making most of you happier when taking photos.  It has 10 MP and Image stabilizer technology for those low light situations.  It will take up to 10 shots at once and then select the sharpest photo for you. NO more blurry photos! (well REALLY blurry photos).  It also has a huge screen on the back 3″!  A high ISO (which is what you need for low light situations.

Now if you are a Canon User,  I’d recommend any of the Canon PowerShot cameras. I have the Powershot SD600? I upgraded from the Sd400 that had seen better days after I tossed it in my bag.  I’m a little rough on my gear.

Hope this helps!