Junshien International Photographers | San Francisco Bay Area Wedding Photography » Wedding photographers. Serving the SF Bay Area and beyond.

Matthew Saville - I take it one step further and tell amateurs that, if they REALLY don’t ever see themselves needing to upgrade to a $3000+ camera body, they can actually do well by staying AWAY from Canon and Nikon. Why? Because all the other companies are putting features into their beginner / amateur cameras that they know Canon and Nikon will never be able to. Pentax’ entry level cameras are weather-sealed and have pro-level cross-type AF points, if you’re an adventure, wildlife, backpacker-type photographer who needs that. Olympus’ also offers a killer system for those adventure-y types who want as light a system as possible. And Sony, along with the others, offer certain things that Canon and Nikon may NEVER adopt, like in-camera stabilization.

Something to consider. I only ever advise that people consider buying a Canon / Nikon entry level camera if they really are into certain kinds of photography, such as low-light or portrait photography. Because feature-wise, really the only reason to buy a Canon / Nikon beginner camera is so that you’ve got the professional system to grow into. Otherwise, the D-Rebel and Nikon beginner lineups are kinda limited feature-wise…

But hey, that’s just the ramblings of a know-it-all camera geek! Don’t listen to me! (But you gotta also promise not to listen to any dumb sales pitches from anybody else!)

=Matt=

Tammy - THANK YOU for writing this! I agree 100%. I was actually peeved when some “photographer” told my friend that her budget wasn’t enough (it was more than the cost of my own start up) and should increase it by however many times. To be honest, I thought that was a snarky thing to say …

Ted - Great post, Junshien! I take offense to you referencing the 5D mk II. haha!

btw, a hassalblad is really great for studio work. MF cameras, used right, give awesome and breathtaking results. But you don’t see action/sports/photojournalists using them often because of its responsiveness.

Gerald Ho - It sure does help! Thanks….:D

Kat Forsyth - Thanks so much for this! I’ve seen some very average stuff out there that I know was taken with top of the range equipment, while a photographer I know shoots beautiful stuff with her 400D – hardly top line, but she knows how to get the best results!

Wm Eric - So right on Junshien. Sure we need to have the equipment to bring forth our vision and if the equipment is what is limiting you, then you must also make that investment at some point but as you said the knowledge is the power. I had someone ask me about what would be the best thing to do if they really wanted to get serious. I recommended a workshop. Their reply was “Oh, that would be nice but for the price I could get a nicer camera.” My thought “Yeah, so you can take nicer bad pictures.”