Buying a Camera When to Buy and How to Research

A Real Need or GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)

Buying a camera is one thing but replacing your existing camera is another. Digital camera technology is changing rapidly. Often, one can get caught up in the excitement of new “bells and whistles” and have difficulty deciding if replacing the camera will improve your creative process. David duChemin’s video discusses how to choose whether or not to upgrade your camera. The following points summarize his process of asking himself if he needs this new camera.

  • Does the new camera offer an advantage to you in making your art that the previous camera does not allow? Was this a need you felt before the new gear was announced? Look at what you actually need to create the images you want to create.
  • Can you afford it? New cameras range from $1000 to $50,000. All cameras have restraints within which you can create. Decide what restraints you can live within.
  • Read a handful of reviews, but be careful reviews are often very subjective. Pay attention to how the reviewer talks about how the camera helped them do their work but ignores the superlative praising parts of the review.
  • If you find a camera that will help further your creativity, get it in your hands and play with it. Try and see how it fits, feels and whether how it operates works easily for you. In other words, does the camera get out of the way quickly? Some camera stores, like Beau Photo, have rentals where you can try a camera, and if you decide to buy, they deduct the rental from the purchase price.

Research Tools

When I am considering a new camera, I look at several things: can I afford it, where are the controls located, how big is it, how big are the lenses, how old is the engineering, what do the reviews say, and what are the technical specification compared to my existing cameras and others. I also want to know the size of the sensor in the camera as this impacts the depth of field, resolution and image quality.

Is the camera new?

New cameras are not always new, as manufacturers will keep selling something designed three or six years ago to use up old parts, stock and recover research costs. Although these cameras can be very cheap, buying a camera that is technologically that old can present issues. Older cameras tend to be DSLRs, which are more challenging to master than mirrorless cameras, and the image quality will be significantly different from that of a camera design within the last year or two. They are computer devices, and computers, like cameras, have a three to eight-year life cycle, depending on your use. Lenses have a longer life, but even these have been re-engineered significantly. If you buy a camera that was engineered five years ago, it will become more rapidly obsolete as your skill level increases than if you buy a camera that has been engineered more recently.

DPreview is an essential tool for discovering a camera’s engineering age. The image below from this website lists cameras in descending order by the date they were announced. This is a quick way to discover a camera’s age.

Where to find Camera Retail Costs

DPreview lists camera prices, but they are in US funds, which do not translate uniformly into Canadian Dollars. In Canada, The Camera Store website is easy to navigate and has a wide selection; Beau Photo’s website has a well-curated selection of the best cameras; B&H Photo in New York’s website is extensive if you are looking for something unique, and it has a Canadian price mode.

Where are the controls, size and lenses?

Camerasize.com is an excellent site for seeing where camera controls are located, how they compare in size to other cameras and the size of lenses. In the images below, you can see the site provides you with a view of the front, back and top. There is also a sideways view. It also allows you to add any lens made for that camera, including third-party lenses. This also means you can compare sizes of cameras and lenses.

The sensor in a camera can significantly impact its size. In the two images below, you can see how, from left to right, as the sensor size gets smaller, so does the camera size. The first two cameras are medium format and you can see depending on the model the size can vary. The third camera is a Sony. Unlike most full-frame cameras, Sony has created a camera almost the size of an APSC camera. The four camera is the a fairly large APSC camera. These are all mirrorless cameras, not DSLRs, which tend to be bigger and more bulky.

Camera Reviews

There are thousands upon thousands of camera reviews out there. If you have lost yourself in this sea of videos and websites, here are a few reviews I use and trust.

  • Camera Labs has an excellent in-depth side, and Gordon Laing has a good YouTube channel that provides preliminary and in-depth reviews.
  • Three Blind Men and an Elephant Productions also provide in-depth reviews in perhaps a more poetic fashion.
  • On the lighter side, Kai W’s YouTube channel provides a more amusing approach to camera reviewing.
  • DPReview TV reviews the camera’s photographic and video experience and some operational observations. DPReview’s website also provides written reviews and news of new camera releases, lenses, drones, and phones. This is a key resource for many photographers and camera shops.

Other comparison tools might be helpful to:

What size is the sensor?

Sensor size impacts how large you can print, image quality and depth of field. When I consider a camera, the smallest sensor that appeals to me is an APSC sensor. That is not to say smaller sensors might not be just fine for others, but my choices are influenced by making large prints. If you are only posting on the internet or wanting smaller prints, smaller sensors like 4/3 sensors and one-inch sensors might be just the thing. Even the smaller sensors in iPhones make excellent eight-by-ten images.

The chart below gives you some idea of the relationship between the sizes of sensors.

The most popular sensor sizes are 4/3, APSC, Full Frame and Medium Format, which I have listed in ascending order according to sensor size. As the sensor gets larger, the depth of field decreases, so one of the advantages of 4/3 and APSC is that it is much easier to get everything in focus without resorting to a tripod. The disadvantage is creating bokeh or blurting the background is more challenging with smaller sensors. The smaller the sensor, the smaller the lens, and the less light passes through to the sensor, making them less effective in low-light situations. The smaller the sensor, the fewer the pixels, which reduces the measurement of light and colour, impacting resolution and image quality. The disadvantages of Full Frame and Medium format are that with a bigger sensor, lenses are larger and heavier, and a shallower field depth makes it harder to get everything in focus. If you purchase the same quality of camera and lenses in the full-frame version rather than APSC, it is, on average, twice as expensive, and the same relationship generally follows between medium format and full-frame cameras. It is not unusual for some photographs to use cameras with various sensor sizes for different purposes.

You may wonder how sensor sizes impact image quality online and in print. If you are posting online, any size sensor will do a great job. The resolution of most computer screens is very low. Resolution-wise, if you print eight by ten or even thirteen by nineteen, the resolution in any of these sensors will be acceptable. That is not to say you can not print larger, but you will more readily see the differences when you print larger.

DSLR versus Mirrorless

Most major camera companies have moved their engineering staff to mirrorless cameras, and some have abandoned DSLR cameras altogether, even though they still market some DSLRs. Canon has announced that it will stop developing lenses for its DSLR line. Sony is discontinuing its DSLR cameras, and Nikon has announced that it will concentrate its energy on its mirrorless line. Fujifilm, of course, primarily engineers and manufactures mirrorless cameras. In addition to this, the camera market is shrinking, so camera manufacturers will need to focus on less variety. Mirrorless cameras have several advantages over DSLRs as they are smaller, lighter, and have more advanced technologies like pixel shift, advanced tracking and IBIS.

So, if you are buying your first camera or don’t have a lot of lenses, a Mirrorless camera is your best bet. If you are heavily invested in lenses, you may want to upgrade to another DSLR; another option is to look into lens adaptors for mirrorless cameras or sell your lenses to finance new mirrorless lenses. I have noticed that the newer mirrorless lenses have different characteristics than my old DSLR lenses. The newer mirrorless lenses seem sharper, and the sweet spot on the lenses is one or two stops lower than my old film or DSLR lenses.

References