This article is part of the Free online Digital Photography Course

Thanks to the revolution that digital brought in photography, now this hobby is acessible to everyone, because the costs have been considerably lowered compared to the times when film was used.

The first thought of any wannabe  photographer is the choice of his phoographic equipment, because the question "which camera should i buy?" it's one of the Existential doubts that never leave you.

The coming of digital brought with it a great confusion, mostly cause of the deceiving marketing.

I'll start making clear the vital features ofthe different kinds of cameras and i'll try to debunk the commonplaces.

We have to keep in mind what we need from oru camera, what is pushing us to buy it? We need it to take souvenir photo with friends or we have a true passion for photography and we want to make an attempt in this field? Wich photographic genre are we going to practice?

There are different "categories" of cameras, the one we are interested in are:

Compact: Suitable for souvenir photo, they are the camerasfor the "masses", there are many high level models that many professional keep in their pocket butthat can't obviously be compared to a reflex.

Canon G12

Bridge: characterized by a large forcal length. you have to pay attention at your choice because a large focal length involve greater optical compromises.

Fujifilm
Micro 4/3 o EVIL (Electronic Viewer Interchangeable Lens): Like the refelx cameras hey present interchangeable lens but they lack the mirror wich reflect the image on the pentaprism and consequently on the optical viewfinder, they have lower performance than the reflex cameras but they are easyer to carry. this kind of cameras it's achieving a fair success and the technology of these system is rising up continously, the sensor's size of this kind of cameras change with the brand. Recently manufacturers decided to change the system name in "new system camera".

Olympus E-PL 2
Reflex: these are the cameras used by professionals and best amateurs, they present interchangeable lens, a bigger sensor and higher performance than the other kind of cameras we already examined. Who buy this kind of device must be ready to spend a lot of money for photography, the basic lens, usually 18-55mm after some time isn't enough and you feel the need of something better.

Nikon D7000
If you are just beginning i suggest a middle-level compact camera, with an high forcal length and that give you the chance to use it in a manual mode. In this way you'll have a camera that will allow you to try differend photographic genres and make practice, obviously the quality shall not be very high and in some conditions will show all it's limits. This kind of camera will help you mainly to find out your favorite photographic genre and to discover if photography is your true passion.

I started with a Kodak (bridge) with 5 megapixel and a 12x zoom, i used it for two years, some pictures done with that are still in my gallery, they don't look cheap near those made with the reflex because what really matters is to catch the moment.


Ater a year or two if you want to groe as a photographer you'll sure fell the need of a reflex, a purchase that you can do from the start but with a considerable expense and the risk that the camera could become an object for display.

In the next lesson we'll examine in details the single component of a camera:

Translation by Alessandro Amante