Another factor which I consider important in choosing your camera especially in sports photography or racing or animals for example or any other motion photography …

This factor is the frame/second.

A frame/second is how many pictures could be captured in a second.

In such cases of photography types mentioned above you need to shoot continuous shots to catch the scene, so as many frames is there in a second that would be better.

Maybe this factor is not that important in other types of photography and will not need to look for it with concern in the camera you choose.

The below figure shows the scene in a second and how many frames could be taken which helps in catching the full image.

 

Avery important aspect you need to look for when choosing between cameras is something called the “Sensor”.

The sensor has a main role in the quality of the photo. It is the hardware piece in the camera were it take the light and define the details.

The bigger the sensor the more details and more quality you get in your photos.

The table below has different types of cameras and a comparison for their sensor’s size.

After Budget and Brand you need to know what type of photography you will be doing.

There are a lot of photography types, you need to search for what type do you like the most as each type of that may have different aspects and specifications needs to be there in your camera.

So, what does type of photography mean?

In is mainly what do you take photos of, like for example:

People photography, Animals photography, Nature photography, Events photography, Wedding photography, Sports photography, Product photography, Food photography and lots more …

You need to study the equipments needed for the type you want, then you will be able to look at some special specifications when choosing your camera.

The second thing to think about when searching for a good camera is the Brand.

In this article I talked about the different brands producing different cameras.

Camera Brands

Before choosing your brand you can ask surroundings. Try to try them. Look for the availability and quality of lenses and accessories and don’t forget the most important which is the suitable price.

For me I’ve tried using Canon and Nikon before I bought mine. And I liked Canon more.

The first thing we should think about when searching for a good and suitable camera is money.

The budget that is planned for and accordingly we can take further steps.

The prices of cameras vary a lot depending on it’s functionalities and use.

Anyone will be having certain amount of money that could be invested in a camera according to his needs and priorities.

If the planned budget is not enough for what is needed we could wait a while and save some extra amount to be able to get what we need.

How can I make the right choice for buying a camera?

There are lots of factors helping to choose the right and suitable camera, some of which are important and others are not that important and differ from a person to another.

In the chart below I mentioned the most important 8 factors to choose a camera.
I’ll talk about each one separately.

1. Budget
2. Brand
3. Photography Type
4. Sensor Size
5. Frame / Second
6. Focus Points
7. Megapixels
8. High ISO

When talking about DSLR cameras we will find different levels: Beginners-entry level, Amateur-middle level and Professional-high level.

Higher level has higher functionalities and more expensive.
Higher functionality doesn’t always mean better images, but easier and more precise shooting.
Some very good photos are taken by first level cameras or even mobiles.

If you are a beginner in photography, that doesn’t mean that you get the beginner level camera. If you have the ability to get the higher level that would be better.

These are some examples for each level.

When searching for a good camera what brand should I buy?

There are lots of brands as you can see in the picture below.

Most brands produce different kinds and levels of cameras.
You can find a model in a certain brand better than another in another brand and vise-versa.

Ask surroundings. Try to try them. Look for the availability and quality of lenses and accessories. Search for suitable price.

In later posts you will find technical aspects you can choose your camera based on regardless of the brand.

If we talked about the most common used brands we can say they are Canon, Nikon, Sony and Fujifilm.

The most widely are Canon and Nikon and have a long history battle similar to that between Samsung and IPhone, who uses one doesn’t like the other.

Want to know them better? In my coming posts I’ll talk in focus about Canon and Nikon and they’ll be my examples.

 

There are lots of camera types and the most common are: Compact (point & shoot), Bridge (superzoom / semipro / prosumer), DSLR, Mirrorless Instant camera, Smartphone cameras.

This post has the characteristics of each type with the photo.

1. Compact also known as point & shoot cameras
   • Small – Lightweight
   • User friendly
   • Relatively cheap
   • Non changeable lens
   • Limited functionality
   • Small sensor –> low image quality
2. Bridge also known as superzoom / semipro / prosumer cameras
   [Called bridge as it lessened the distance between the compact (point & shoot) cameras and the professional cameras]
   • More functionality than compact (point & shoot) cameras, but less functionality than DSLR cameras
   • Heavier than compact (point & shoot) cameras
   • Non changeable lens
   • Its lens have high zoom
   • Small sensor –> low image quality
   
3. DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex)
   • Changeable lens
   • Advanced functionality
   • Has cropped and full frame (small sensors and full size sensors)
4. Mirrorless Instant cameras
   • Changeable lens
   • Advanced functionality
   • More accurate representation of the final image
   • No penta-prism mirror –> lighter and smaller size
   
5. Smartphone cameras
   • Competes compact (point & shoot) cameras
   • Very limited functionality -Basic
   • Extremely small sensor –> Low quality (resolution) of image

Before going into the details of the camera and its buttons and functions, let us first figure out the different types, brands and levels of cameras and what does that mean.

What’s the meaning of camera types?

What differentiates camera brands?

What does a camera level mean and what’s the difference between levels?

The answer for each question will be in separate posts linked above with each one.