A lot of people ask me what kind of camera I use. Sometimes when a citizen sees me on the street working with a model they remark that I must have an expensive professional camera.
Well I am rather embarrassed to say that I use a cheap digital camera. It is a Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel. Not only that, it is now about five years old. I didn’t actually plan to use this camera for what I am currently using it for. It just kind of happened that way.
The Canon Digital Rebel is the first and only digital camera I have ever owned. It is basically an entry-level 6 Megapixel Digital SLR. I bought it back in 2003 or 2004 when it retailed for about $999 with the 18-55 zoom lens that came with the kit. The latest version of this camera today is 500 or 600 dollars from B&H Photo Video in New York.
Before I bought my Digital Rebel, I always shot on film–either 35mm or medium format. At that time I was waiting for Nikon to come out with an affordable full frame digital camera. But then I needed a digital camera to produce quick turn-around tabletop illustrations of small products shot in the studio. So I turned to the Canon Digital Rebel which has a cropped sensor but was not too expensive. It served the purpose just fine.
But when I started traveling full time in 2005, taking along a film camera seemed impractical. So I grabbed the only digital camera I had–the Canon Digital Rebel–and have been using it ever since. I just never expected to be still using it five years later! The only thing I did was add a faster f/2.8 lens than the f/3.5-5.6 18-55 zoom lens. Because of the way I shoot with manual metering, I prefer zoom lenses that have constant aperture like f/2.8 across all focal lengths. Actually what I really prefer is prime lenses. But when traveling a set of primes takes up a lot of space.
My only complaint with the Digital Rebel is that it is very slow. I am always waiting for it to finish writing to the CompactFlash (CF) card and apologizing to the photo model for not being ready when she is. Other than that it has served pretty well.
One of these days I am going to upgrade to a full-frame digital SLR from Nikon or Canon. Probably a Nikon because I have always been a Nikon guy. (Nikon calls the full frame sensor cameras FX format which is 24×36mm. Cropped sensors are called DX format which is 24×16mm.) Maybe a full frame camera will improve the quality of my pictures. Maybe not. But the full frame format cameras work do better at lower light levels and have more dynamic range.
It would be great if you could just buy something and get better photographs, but somehow I don’t think it is that simple. Besides, when it comes to image quality I think the lens is what really makes the difference anyway.
