Because the Sony digital camera broke last month, I am in the market for a new camera. Sony makes some decent entries into the digital camera market, but my experiences with the Sony were not satisfactory for several reasons. To name a few, the viewfinder display was a display rather than a prism, making it a bit more difficult to focus as accurately as I would like, and the lens on that particular model was permanant, limiting creativity to a certain range. Further, when doing time exposures at night, I would get concentric rings in my images that radiated out from the middle of the frame. I do not know if this was caused by the CCD, or the Ziess lens. I bought the camera for use around the house, and for that it was more than adequate. In fact, for family work, it was a very good camera to have. However, these shortcomings made it very difficult for me to attempt to do professional work. I remember thinking when I bought it, "if it has a Ziess lens, well then that’s got to be good!" What a wrong assumption. I could never focus it razor sharp. I have the same problem with the 80 mm lens that came with my Hasselblad. It is a great lens, except that it just won’t focus as sharply as necessary for the type of resolution that a Hasselblad film camera can imitate.
So, I am now in the market for an entry level Pro-DSLR camera. So far, the nominations have been the Nikon D90 and the Canon 40D. I have always likes the reputation that Nikon lenses have carried with them, however, the same could be said of Ziess lenses, and look where that has got me! So I have been looking at each camera and weighing them on their own merits. I am going to say right out, the Nikon has the distinction of being the first DSLR in the world to have video capabilities, though the reviews on that have been only fair. Something to do with a little jump in some of the video produced, and the limitations on auto-focus while in video mode. Well, whatever, it doesn’t really matter to me because I do not like the idea of spending money on technology that I do not intend to use. If I wanted to do video work, I would be looking at the Canon XL-1. I would rather Nikon built the camera to do one thing great, and that being still photos. That is the business I am in. So that has been a turn off straight away. Also, the info I have found on it does not indicate the same build quality as the Canon 40D, which is made from Magnesium and Stainless Steele. Other than what I get in the DSLR Range, I use a Hasselblad, and if you know how they are built, then you can guess which of these two wins in the camera build department, the Canon!
The Canon also has THREE customisable shooting modes on top of the standard shooting modes. Both can be connected to a PC and controlled to a great extent directly from the PC. I like that idea! I can get a large view of what I am shooting on my PC screen! I can see some real potential with that; particularly with still life and product shots, but also with family portraits for a "live view" and instant review, saving a lot of time and money, and getting what the client is looking for. I am sure that when playing around with it, I will find many other uses too.
Canon has a much stronger set of lenses in its line-up! Unbelievably the Canons actually even have tilt and shift lenses, which would of course come in handy in architectural work and artistic applications. But they also have a great many other lenses as well, and all are a great deal more quiet, which could be helpful at a wedding during the ceremony, and while shooting wildlife. They do this because the lenses can apparently be used on the XL-1 video camera… Which I may want to buy further down the road, when I actually DO want to get into video work!
There are many other reasons that I am leaning towards the Canon over the Nikon, which is a great camera! But so far, the above listed ones are the primary reasons why I think Canon is going to become the backbone of KelseyPhoto.com in the near future. These include market permeation and and what I will be able to upgrade to. Canon’s top of the line DSLR has nearly double the resolution the Nikon top offering has. That could be important to that client wanting larger then life images!
So, to fund about half of this expense, I am going to be listing a couple of items on eBay from my Hasselblad that I never use. These are a winder CW, a D Flash 40 (Ironically), and the Flash Bracket/hand grip. I would expect to pull in around £450 for the whole lot. Of course, that depends on my eBay auctions! But watch for the new camera and photos to start appearing in January or February, when I have rounded up the rest of the money, as I do not wish to purchase on time. Debt is a bad way to run any small business.
Kelsey