What's the best camera?

😬 I have made plenty of mistakes when it comes to photography, but the worst ones are that I have (on various occasions) left either my batteries or my SD cards at home.

🥲 Thankfully, none of these were for a paid gig, but it definitely had me disappointed. But, I had my phone which has an amazing camera built in!

“The best camera is one the one you have with you”

📸 Sometimes, camera technology is less important than your edits.

This photo was taken with a budget Android phone in December of 2010.

If you look closely, you might notice the resolution or noise in the image from the low quality sensor. It looks really bad when viewed full screen. However, on a first glance, the photo looks great. This is due to the framing and the edit.

📱 It’s also not about having the best gear. You can do a lot with just your phone and Adobe Light Room. Sometimes I get great photos with just my phone. The one below with that cabin in the snow was with an older gen Android.

💲 Even without a LR subscription (because absolutely everything has to be a damn subscription) using a free and open source software like Darktable can get you a long way!

🎨 I love that all of us have the capacity to be photographers these days. It makes creating art accessible.

🙅‍♀️🤖 Please don’t use AI tho. It’s trained without our consent on our images. And it’s not art. Art requires a human.

🌱 14 years ago I was in such a different place in life, and the photo of Mt. Hood reminds me of how far I’ve come in my life and how far my photography has advanced.

My camera gear

Current main camera: FUJIFILM X-T4

Lenses:

• Fujinon XF16-55mm 2.8 MK I
• Fujinon XF70-300mm F4-5.6
• Fujinon XF90mm F2
• Sigma 10-18mm F2.8 X-mount

Main Point and Shoot camera: Google Pixel series of phones

Secondary video camera: GoPro

Accessories I use:

• mist filter
• ND filter
• Quadlock case and selfie-stick/tripod for phone
• Godox flash system
• handheld remote shutter
• travel tripod

A bit about digital cameras

Digital cameras are made in 3 main ways:

• DSLR
• Mirrorless
• Point-and-shoot.

A DSLR contains a full set of mirrors, like a film camera with a viewfinder that reflects the image.

A mirrorless camera has no mirrors and they have electronic viewfinders (EVF).

EVFs are usually better because they allow you to see what the final image will look like as you take it (while DSLRs only show the reflection).

This is all over simplified of course.

Generally, I would advise against DSLRs. Mirrorless is lighter, less bulky, and for me they are more fun to use.

Point-and-shoot cameras are usually cheaper and have a fixed lens rather than an interchangeable lens system. I advise against point-and-shoot unless you aim to shoot more casually (see the recommendation section at the bottom).

Additionally, there are four main sensor sizes on dedicated digital cameras:

• Micro 4/3
• APS-C
• Full-Frame
• Medium/large format

Most nice cameras you’ll see are APS-C (sometimes called crop-sensor) and full-frame.

The choice of sensor size changes many aspects of the photos, lenses, costs, and weight of the system.

Bigger sensors let in more light, whereas smaller sensors bring in less.

Lens numbers (the mm indicated on the lens) will not match between APS-C and full frame (for example a 16mm lens on an APS-C camera is roughly equivalent to a 24mm lens on a full-frame camera).

There are advantages and disadvantages to choosing between APS-C and full-frame.

Full-frame is more expensive but can offer higher resolution for very large prints and better low-light performance.

APS-C is lighter, can give a higher focal length with smaller glass d/t the crop, and is cheaper.

I prefer shooting with APS-C because of all the pros from the last sentence, but also because it works.

I can get large canvas prints of my photos with plenty of resolution and low-light performance hasn’t (yet) been an issue.

Fuji has issues of course (the most notable being the not-as-great autofocus compared to Sony), but to me their strengths are: being able to have a camera that can do many things well, their film simulations which allow JPGs right of camera to be very good and not need editing (I shoot in RAW tho, and apply the film sims in my edits), the look/feel of the camera body, and the results I’ve achieved thus far from the system meeting my expectations.

Lastly, lenses come in two main types. These are called zooms and primes.

Zooms are nice because they offer multiple focal lengths (the field of view offered by the lens).

They are heavier and larger.

Primes only shoot at one focal length. One field of view. They can be tiny!

There are some that are nicknamed “pancake lenses” because of how flat they are.

Generally—although not all the time—primes have better optical performance d/t having less glass and moving parts. I have both zooms and primes and like them each for their different strengths.

My main lens I keep on my camera is a 16-55mm zoom lens with a constant aperture of f2.8, but I also really like my 90mm f/2 lens because of how amazingly sharp it is and the focal length is interesting.

Current recommendations

1. Use your phone and learn to edit in lightroom. Learn how to compose shots. Learn about lighting.
2. Fujifilm cameras are fun, and if I was starting today I would get the Fujifilm X-H2S (largely due to the ability to do “open gate” recording for video shooting) with a 16-55 lens. This is a crop-sensor or APS-C camera.
3. Sony A7C with a 24-70 lens. This is a full-frame camera.

What about film cameras?

Did you know that camera film isn’t vegan? 👀

🎞️ Film has a layer of gelatin at it’s base with silver particles embedded. When light hits the silver, it reacts in those areas. Watch Technology Connections’ playlist on photography for more on how it works in detail.

🌱 I only shoot digital because of this (tho I only learned this when I went vegan in 2017).

🚂 Tintype photography embeds the silver onto a metal plate instead of gelatin, and became a common way to do photography in the late 19th century. Check out @n_oeil ’s work for excellent examples.

Don’t sleep on drones, but be mindful

One of my photography teachers, Marc Adamus, is a huge proponent of drone photography as a way of exploring the medium of landscape photography.

I myself had a drone for a while in the late 2010’s and received my part 107 license from the FAA. Even if you want to fly under recreational rules, I highly recommend testing for your part 107 as it teaches you a lot about flying and how airspace works.

Always follow FAA laws and local regulations when flying in the US! Use B4UFLY. When outside the US, be sure to look up laws regarding flying where you plan to travel before you go. And don’t be annoying. Be mindful of privacy. And also know your rights.