Cameras Are Tools You Create The Image

Being a photographer I often get asked about what’s creates the best images ? Is it all down to mega pixels or is a particular brand of camera who’s the best and so on.

Over the years I’ve shot with most camera brands including Fuji, Olympus, Canon, Nikon and Sony amongst others.  When it comes to mega pixels around 25 million is enough for the vast majority of work.  You will only notice the difference on higher mega pixel cameras when printing huge banner size prints but this can be negligible for commercial work or landscape work.  This is due to ever advancing AI scaling software in recent years.

When it comes to brands of camera all cameras have their strengths and weaknesses, some brands have different colour sciences, camera button layouts are different when looking at ergonomics.  This boils down to how do you work as a photographer and which brand offers a camera body that will work for you in terms of your work flow.  I have used and invested in heavily in both Nikon and Canon over the years with photography work primarily Nikon, video work mainly Canon.

Lenses now this is we’re a major difference can be made in image quality as you do get what you pay for in terms of image quality.  Yes there is a major difference in image quality when comparing images taken with a £500 lens vs high end glass costing £1,500 plus.

To get the very best images from your camera body and sensor you need to invest in glass.  But think of this a part of a long term investment as these lens will work across generations of camera bodies as you upgrade over the years.  This is mainly why photographers stick with a particular brand due to investment in the lenses.

Another factor here can also be how you shoot your images format wise.  To get the very best in terms of the image format when the image is saved you really need to be shooting in RAW format not JPEG.  RAW is the equivalent of shooting a digital film negative and allows you a huge processing advantage during post both in terms of image quality but also image detail and data.

But also with RAW images the software you use during post production and your level of knowledge also affects the end result too.

But the main advantage in terms of image quality and the quality of a photograph is you ! Your are the one that not only spots an image but creates a composition and takes the shot.  You are the one that controls the camera settings, picks the lens and so on.

So the point I’m making here is the camera is only as good as the photographer using it.  Practise, practise, practise I’ve done photography for over 30 plus years and I never stop learning.  There is always new equipment, lenses, cameras, lighting, software evolving all the time.

So the camera is a tool to capture a shot, a moment in time, a photograph buts its you that spots this moment and decides to capture it so the quality of the image is down to you.  Don’t get all caught up in the mega pixel and hardware race a camera is simply a tool to record, capture an image.

Have fun, enjoy creating the moments and learn to hone your skill set and craft.