What Kind of Camera Should I Buy?
I get this question all of the time. People know I know photography and they think I know everything. I don’t. But I do not shy away from this question. I have an answer for every person who asks, but only for SLR cameras. I don’t know anything about point and shoot cameras.
I ask five basic questions:
1) What is your budget?
2) What do you plan on taking pictures of?
3) What do you plan on doing with the pictures?
4) What kinds of cameras do your friends own?
5) Is photography going to become a hobby/passion?
The most important question is #4. What kinds of cameras do your friends own?
Both Nikon and Canon make great DSLR cameras that are all capable of capturing images that 95% of the population would be more than satisfied with on a daily basis. So, brand comes down to what system do your friends have so you can share lenses with each other.
Asking the question about budget and the hobby/passion helps me determine what price point the person should be looking at. If they are thinking about making this a hobby, then I tell them to maybe be a bit more flexible on the price in order to buy a camera that they can grow into.
The other two questions, about their subject matter and what they plan to do with the images helps me determine the resolution that they need. If they need to print big, they are going to need more mega pixels. I ask the subject matter because I am just curious.
There is no wrong answer to what kind of camera should I buy. We as photographers should help our friends make the right decision.
Please feel free to share your opinion.
