[lug] Which camera should you buy?

[Davide Del Vento]

First, I'd like to thanks the speaker and the organizers for yesterday
inspiring talk.

Back on topic, I want to make (my) summary on the subject. In fact, if
the guy who asked the question yesterday is like many other friends
who asked me in the past, he might be confused. I learnt to be more
clear, so let me try to help.

There are 3 factors to take in mind when choosing a digital camera
(not in any particular order):

1) image quality
2) convenience
3) features

We discussed extensively about IQ and it should be clear that the
bigger the sensor, the better the quality. Now as a rule of the thumb
this mean the bigger the camera, the better the quality, but not
exactly (for example the Sigma DP1 is a small camera with a big
sensor, and a more relevant example is that almost all compact, ultra
compact and medium size cameras have more or less the same sensor
size, despite being quite different in their overall size).
The bottom line for IQ is that if you are going to print most of your
picture in 4x6 and just a few (if any) 8x10 or larger, most cameras
(but not all) will work fine in natural light, and some will be ok
even in low light.

On the other hand, if you want the best possible quality, you have to
choose a bigger camera. And this introduce the convenience aspect: how
big? Obviously not like your car, you're gonna hold it, don't you?
During the film-based era, we've been told a saying: "the best camera
is the one you carry". And it's still true now: I have a very nice
(film) camera with a very nice objective as big as the bigger one I
saw yesterday at our BLUG meeting. It's at my parents' home. In Italy.
Too cumbersome and heavy now, at this time of my life.
The bottom line for convenience is that you should buy only a camera
which you will carry as much as possible. Some will find "convenient"
to always roam around with a heavy suitcase full of camera gear. At
present I feel convenient only my tiny panasonic ultracompact I
carried yesterday (I still need the suitcase when roaming around, but
it's full of diapers and other baby gear for my 5-months old
daughter).

Last, but not least, features. The ones in which you are interested
are NOT the ones advertised. For example, face detection is almost
useless. You want a fast autofocus, yuo want EFFECTIVE image
stabilization, you want lens which has a wide-angle (and this is the
only thing sometime advertised) AND a wide-aperture. You are not
interested in scenes mode, don't even look at them, but you want an
easy-to-use menu and buttons. You might want a bright flash (I don't,
I hate flashes, but I'm stopping here otherwise we'll go offtopic),
you might want "good" high ISO modes for low light shooting (granted,
the results will be much worst than the ones in good light), you might
want a long-lasting battery, a good display, etc. etc.
The only way to know the real features you want, you have to spend
some time on a good review website. I recommend
http://www.dpreview.com and especially the following reviews:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408budgetgroup/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408slimgroup/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408premiumgroup/

So which camera should you buy? Of course it's up to you (note that I
didn't even mention the price, but it will be obviously something you
will consider). I can tell which camera I just bought.

I owned/used many canons, few nikons, two kodaks, two panasonic (and a
yashica, a nikon and a kiev, but these 3 were film).
I love panasonic menus and their button ergonomics (I hated kodaks,
canons were ok, nikon were so-so; your preferences may vary).
Then I just love very-wide angle lenses.
Thus, I bought a Panasonic FX37, which I think is great (but I didn't
try it yet: it arrived yesterday). I've an older FX01, and I'm not
sure if I want to keep it or sell it: I thinks it's still very good,
but if you make me a nice offer... (see the review on dpreview.com :-)

Hope this help!
Bye,
;Davide