Before You Buy A Camera – Questions You Need To Ask Yourself
ByJust as a picture is worth a thousand words, a camera can often be worth much more in terms of dollars and cents. Any person planning on committing to photography for a hobby or profession should be expecting to spend at least a little bit of cash on equipment; new gear is one of the best and worst parts of calling yourself a photographer. You can get started taking pictures for under $100 or you can spend as much as you want as there is a lot of expensive high end gear. Since there are so many options for new photographers, lets skip all of the cool accessories (filters, lenses, tripods) and break down your most important first purchase: The Camera.
What Do You Need?
The first thing to consider when buying a camera is to determine why you want a camera and know what you want it to do. For instance, an all-manual digital SLR (such as Canons Rebel) can be great fun for many photographers, but youll find carrying and managing it to be a great inconvenience if youre just looking to shoot pictures of your friends out on the town. Heres a few key questions to ask yourself to help decide what you need:
- Do I want to use film or digital?
- Am I shooting for fun, or for a career?
- Am I comfortable using a manual SLR?
- Is image quality important to me?
Since every camera works differently and has it’s own pros and cons, you’ll need to figure out what you want so you won’t be overwhelmed with the choice in equipment. Professional photographers or those seeking to become professionals may not want to sacrifice image quality for cost, while the average shooter may not need that extra 0.5% of clarity for their family collage picture frame display. Its all up to you.
What Can You Spend?
There is really no limit when it comes to spending money on camera gear. You can get a small pocket sized automatic camera for around $100 or you can spend thousands on a high quality SLR or DSLR camera. Even a manual film SLR can be expensive so make sure you know what you want before making a purchase. Before you pull out your wallet, ask yourself these questions:
- Can I really afford this camera?
- Do I really need all of these features?
- Will this camera work for what I’m buying it for?
Sure, nightvision, a 13,000 frames-per-second shooting option, and a gigantic touch screen sound like cool options, but do you need all that to shoot a family gathering? Don’t go overboard but if you want to work as an professional, don’t sacrifice on flexibility and results just so you spend less out of pocket in the beginning. Youll end up having to upgrade it anyway, so wait a little longer and spend a little more. Youll be glad you did.
If you are honesty with yourself about what you really need and how much you can spend on a new camera, you’re going to be a lot happier with your purchase. If you need help figuring out how different cameras perform in different situations, do some research online and see what other customers say!).
If you’re buying a camera to take pictures of family and friends, your camera will likely give you what you need regardless of what you spend.That’s because many consumer level cameras work great in 90% of situations. Mostly because the majority of people take pictures to put them in a picture frame at their home or office.Some of the photos in a recent Swimsuit Edition of Sports Illustrated were taken with an inexpensive disposable camera so don’t think a small budget is a handicap. No matter what camera you get, the most important thing is having a camera that is a lot of fun to use so you’ll always love taking pictures and enjoy looking at them displayed in a nice decorative picture frame.
