How to choose the perfect camera fit your money wallet? I own a lot of cameras, like, probably too many. But that’s because it took me a really long time to figure out the style I wanted and then figure out a way to achieve that style which is 35 millimeter Kodak film. I should’ve just known. Anywho, people are always asking me, what camera should I buy? I sighs, Guys, that’s a loaded question.
There are a lot of fish in the sea AKA cameras and they all have their strengths and weaknesses and this is Workflow, it’s all about what we personally use so keep in mind this is my personal arsenal and what you use is probably different and if we could all have Leicas, come on, we’d all buy a Leica.
First and foremost, have some self-awareness.
What are you using this camera for? In my eyes, there are three types of amateur photographers. You have your Instagrammers, you have your Instagrammers with nice cameras, and then you have your I take nice photos at family events and maybe I make a couple of bucks on the weekend shooting headshots or weddings. But let’s start with our Insta-ads.
For you, you probably don’t want to be taking extra gear around, you probably don’t really know what a f-stop is. That’s not a bad thing, you just don’t know what it is, and you want something that’s portable, easy, and can take with you anywhere. Just use your phone. Buy a Pixel 3, get an iPhone XR, or XS, or one of the newest iPhones.
The photos are honestly bangin’ and if you don’t believe me, check out one of our reviews, especially the Pixel 3 review.
We put ’em head to head and I was like kind of shocked. Moving on, we have our there’s no way that was shot on a phone Instagrammers or the novice travel photographer.
You want something light and portable, maybe it gives you a little depth of field, and most importantly, doesn’t have you looking at a phone every time you wanna take a photo. For that, I use a Sony RX100 Mark IV, but I would say Canon’s G7 X Mark II or Lumix LX100 Mark II are great options as well.
These are a step above your phone’s camera and for around $1,000, they have really nice specs. I mean, they can shoot raw, so if you’re doing any post-processing, you’ll have a lot of latitude in your photos. They have 4K, really sharp video, better than what your phone could do. They just have like a bigger sensor so everything’s a little bit cleaner. I really like about these cameras is the EVF or electronic viewfinder. It shows you exactly what your photo’s gonna look like when you hit the shutter button.
Now, there’s no fancy attachments, you only get the lens that comes on it, but if you’re not looking to really get to know photography, this could be a great gateway to just dabble or dip your toes. “Becca, come on, I know what an f-stop is”. Awesome! So, let’s talk about the big guys here.
Those are the mirrorless and the DSLRs. They’re definitely a step above what we’ve talked about previously. I mean, you’re talking about lenses, and batteries, and bigger bodies, and a price tag of at least $2,000 for just the body of the camera alone and then a good lens is gonna be $1,000.
There’s just a lot more stuff including the knowledge that you’ll have to have to use it. But, let’s talk. For that, I use the 5D Mark III and at night, I use an A7S Mark II, here’s why. The 5D is incredible like I just really like its texture of its photos, I’m really used to the Canon ecosystem including the menus and the buttons. I just don’t think it performs well at night. I don’t feel comfortable pushing its ISO.
Now, the a7S Mark II does really well in low light and also the a7S has an EVF and that bright viewfinder makes all the difference for shooting at night for me. Your camera is something very personal and it’s something that you’re going to hold in your hand more than hopefully your phone or anything else so go to the store, test ’em out, feel it for yourself, and get what feels best to you, because you’re the one shooting with it and hopefully it’s something that makes you wanna shoot more.
All of these cameras are great but they have their flaws. So, if I could have one camera that does everything I need, it would look a little bit like this. The most important thing for me is a small camera body. It’s the main reason I love my RX100 so much. Not to mention the single-action electronic viewfinder and crazy movable screen. I do wish it came with a grip though. It’s like super slippery. So, let’s grab the small grip from the Fuji X70 and put it on the body of the RX100 Mark VI.
Now, with my eye to the viewfinder, I really like having my shutter speed and f-stop on my left hand. Before digital controls, these options were built into the lenses and in using a lot of film cameras, I’ve totally become accustomed to this.
Nikon’s f-mount hasn’t changed since 1959 and it’s still compatible with their camera bodies today. I appreciate that and I have a lot of f-mount lenses and I’m gonna put an f-mount lens system on this camera. Alright, moving to the top, I super dig the dials on top of Fuji cameras. In general, I really appreciate how Fuji has kept their controls on the outside of their cameras instead of menus or via buttons.
So, let’s grab that dial on top, but I’m gonna make it an ISO dial that I can program to be different increments. Also, I’m gonna grab that hot shoe mount for kerr flap. Alright, it’s that time, let’s talk about a sensor. I’m gonna take the sensor from the Sony A7R Mark III. That low-light range has me sold and it’s 42 megapixels, I mean, come on. And, since this is my dream camera, on the side, we’re putting a headphone jack, we’re putting in XLR input, USB-C, micro HDMI, and internally, there’s definitely built-in endies.
Anywho, you got the camera, you got literally the sickest shot you’ve ever taken in your life, and you wanna make some tight edits and then post it somewhere. If I’m my phone or using my RX100, I usually just use Instagram’s in-house editing tools.
I’m typically only like modding the blacks with some blue and upping the contrast and that does everything I need. But, if I wanted to take it a step further, Lightroom is incredible on mobile and better yet, it’s free. So, if you don’t have this downloaded and you make edits to photos on your phone, go.
Go right now. If I’m on my desktop, that usually means that I shot on an a7S or a Canon and I have a RAW file. And for that, Lightroom all the way. It is expensive but it has all the tools and I’m really used to it. Now, some people complain about its workflow. It can be confusing like where did all my photos go? But as long as you keep your folders organized and you’re starring things and deleting things you don’t need, it’s really not that hard.
Lightroom, she expensive, so if you don’t quite have the money for that, there’s this awesome program called RawTherapee. It can open RAW, and TIFF, and JPG files, and it has a lot of tools that Lightroom has but it’s free and they’re constantly making updates to it via their blog so check them out.
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