Tillie wasn’t very happy about posing at first.

But she came around.

I’ll lead with the engagement photos.

And now some wedding shots!

There are four major criteria in cameras. Image quality, performance, features, and design. Unless you are spending a lot of money, you will not find a camera that is the best in all of these categories.

Image Quality doesn’t strictly rely on megapixels (MP). Quality of the optics (lens), ISO range, and the amount of noise (like grain in high ISO film) also play a part. Three years ago MP would have mattered. Now even tiny point and shoots have the same amount of MP that $3000 cameras did five years ago. Some people say anything over 8MP is good enough to print any kind of enlargement you want, up to around 30 inches on the longest side. This is assuming you don’t crop the photo. If you make a standard enlargement, 8×10, 11×14, 16×20, 20×24, etc, the longest side of the photo has to be shortened to fit that ratio. Something to keep in mind when shooting, if you plan to print, don’t shoot so tight (see photos below). I think that any camera with 10-13MP is one that is safe and plenty. I’m not saying don’t get anything more than this. My Canon 5D Mark 2 is 21MP.

The photo on the left is the normal ratio the camera shoots. The one on the right is cropped to be printed for an 8×10. You can notice how much shorter the long edge is.

The quality of the optics is a very small part. In most point and shoots you have one lens and that’s it. I’m not sure how much difference there is with fixed lenses on point and shoots. In other point and shoots there’s the option of an interchangeable lens system. With DSLRs you also have the option of having more than one lens. Point and shoots with interchangeable lenses are becoming very popular. As it goes with everything, spending more will result in higher quality. As this video shows, you can spend a lot of money on a DSLR  but if you have a cheap lens, it doesn’t matter. While we are talking about lenses I’ll point out some things about telephoto lenses and primes. A telephoto lens is one that “zooms”. It has a variable focal length such as 24-70mm or 70-200mm. A prime is a lens that doesn’t “zoom”. It is fixed at a focal length such as 35mm or 50mm. For reasons I won’t get into, primes are  sharper. I think prime lenses teach you to be a better photographer too. You have to “zoom” with your feet and move around instead of just standing there. Prime lenes are faster too. By faster I mean they have a larger aperture. Aperture is the opening in the lens. The smaller the number, the larger the opening. So a f/2.8 lens is faster than a f/5.6 lens. Primes usually have an aperture larger than f/2. Some manufacturers make lenses  as large as f/1.2 although they cost at least $1500.

ISO range is basically sensitivity. The lower the number the less sensitive to light the sensor (a device in the camera that converts what you see through the lens into a digital photo, what used to be film in film cameras) is. The higher the ISO the more sensitive the sensor will be. ISO also ties into the amount of noise. As technology advances cameras produce less and less noise. The lower the ISO the less noise. ISO 100-200 will have pretty much no noise. Most cameras now days can shoot up to ISO 800 and have a good image with minimal noise. It also depends on the processor. Again, the newer the camera, the better the processor and noise reduction. My 5D Mk II can shoot at ISO 3200 with very little noise. A point and shoot shooting at ISO 3200 would have a lot of noise. Now that the importance of megapixels has dropped dramatically, hopefully companies  focus more on low noise for higher ISOs.

Performance is inclusive of some of the items discussed above. Lens speed, processor, ISO range, low noise performance. A camera could have a very high ISO range but could take horribly noisy photos that you would never want to shoot at that ISO. A big difference between DSLRs and all other cameras is the time it takes to take a photo once you press the shutter button. With DSLRs it’s almost instant. With point and shoots it’s a little longer. I haven’t shot with any new point and shoots for a while so I’m sure the delay is less now.

Features, so many features. In my opinion the most important option for me is that ability to shoot RAW. The RAW argument has been going on for so long. Personally, I never shoot in JPEG, my camera is always set to RAW. If you are unfamiliar with RAW, it is basically an uncompressed file that gives you great control in editing your photos in post production. Plus the changes you make to the photo aren’t written directly on the RAW file, they are written into an XMP sidecar file. This enables you to go back and read all the changes you have made at any point. With a JPEG you either save it as a new file with the changes or permanently change the original file. Some people argue that RAWs take up too much space. While they are bigger files, space is so cheap now that it doesn’t matter. You can get a 2 terabyte external harddrive for less than $200 now. That’s a lot of space. RAW is just more fun, your creative freedom is so much greater than with JPEG. For example, the two photos below are the same photo. The one on the left is the original RAW file. Because I shot this in RAW I was able to be flexible in my editing and produce the photo on the left. It did take me about six hours to produce though. You could shoot in JPEG with a tripod and shoot multiple exposures and layer them in Photoshop, but you can’t take a tripod to a 49ers game.

Some other features include focal length, zoom range, flash, GPS integration, wireless upload, exposure modes, memory type, HD video recording, LCD size, Micro 4/3 sensor (bigger sensor), live view LCD, weatherproof,  memory card type, etc, etc, etc. So many choices. It’s all based on preference so I’ll just leave it up to you as most of them are self explanatory.

Design. This is also personal preference. Do you want something tiny to fit in your pocket that you hardly notice? Something bigger with more power but still not as big as a DSLR? Are you like me and you don’t mind the size and weight of a DSLR? The best way to decide is to go to a store with a good selection of cameras and hold them all. Feel them in your hands. If it’s a major purchase, you could rent the camera or the lens if that’s the case.

When it comes to a major purchase, I like to research as much as I can. There are so many cameras out there and so many options. I definitely didn’t cover everything above. Look into it for yourself. Take what you learned here and expand on it. Look at consumer reviews. Don’t let a couple bad reviews sway you, some people are really picky and prefer certain things. I like CNET for reviews, both editors and consumers, watch the videos too. Find blogs or websites with examples of photos taken with that camera and comparisons with similar models and make sure the photos are full resolution.

I hope this all helps you in choosing your new camera. If you have any questions just comment below and I’ll try my best to help you out. Good luck!

There has continued to be a great response from the campaign. Jimmy’s blog has a lot more to say about everything and will continue to post updates.

Andrew Marin gives a lecture at Rhodes College.

Andrew leads a question and answer session at Caritas Village.

Jimmy and Andrew at the parade.