Best camera in the world….. Hmmmm.

If you were to ask a group of people what the best camera in the world was, you would probably get the same number of answers, everyone giving you a differeny answer.

If you spoke to someone who was a Canon or Nikon fan, he/she would tell you that the best camera in the world is one of Canon or Nikon cameras.

The best camera in the world has to be a DSLR camera, right? It costs £1000s and it’s so technologically advanced… What about a £5000 Canon EOS 1Ds Mark something…?

That is true that DSLR cameras are good, no argue about that. But are they the best? It depends. What does ‘best camera in the world’ mean to you?

Let me explain something to you. A myth about megapixels.

Megapixels Myth

It is said that the more megapixels the better. If you go to any photo store they will start telling you about this latest ‘million megapixel’ camera that creates these images that are ‘millions’ of pixels each side (I’m exaggerating a bit here). But when it comes to photography it’s not just about megapixels. You can buy a camera with highest number of pixels on the market, but if the quality of the camear is poor (poor optics, poor sensor), the quality of images is going to be poor as well.

Here’s an interesting breakdown of how many pixels you will need for certain purposes:

• Online sharing – 2-3 megapixels,
• Printing 4×6 prints – 6 megapixels,
• Printing 8×10 / 8×12 (A4) – 8 megapixels,
• Printing A3 prints – 10 megapixels and more.

See, you don’t need a 30 megapixel camera, do you?

Also, something you will hear from good photographers and people who really know photography is a phrase that “better camera doesn’t make you a better photographer”. It’s not the camera that counts but a person behind it. Some of my best photographs that I have ever taken were taken by one of my first cameras – a Russian Zenith 12 XP…

I’ve got a friend who a couple of years ago had one of the first Olympus digital compacts. It was a camera with 3.2 megapixel resolution. But you know what? The quality of images was great. Even when printed A4 size, the images looked great. So it’s not just about megapixels. And it’s not about the most expensive cameras.

I will give you another example. I have another friend who wanted to buy a camera to take some family photos. He knows nothing about photography, he just wanted to buy a ‘good’ camera. He was considering a DSLR camera but as they are mostly big and heavy, he decided on a compact. For his needs he would be fine with a very nice compact from some of the big names in digital photography for about £200. Great cameras and great quality. But you know what he did? He bought a professional compact for £500! He bought a camera with features that he will never use. He doesn’t even know what an aperture is…

My conclusion is that the best camera is the camera you have. I have seen some very good photographs taken on DSLR cameras as well as on compacts and even mobile phones. So take your camera and go out to take some photographs. Don’t be like some people who keep their cameras at home or just ‘take them for a walk’…

Enjoy shooting.