 After many years of using a variety of digital cameras at the school, I eventually bought my own equipment. I had done a lot of research looking for the best 'almost professional level' camera at a reasonable price, and decided on Canon, in large part because of the incredible variety of lenses available. The brand is also very rugged and reliable, which was important when I was still teaching because I would often take ten to twenty thousand photos in the course of a school year. The model I eventually purchased, while not at a professional level (which would have added several thousand dollars to the price), was one of the two most highly rated cameras just below that level.   Camera: Canon EOS 7D Lens: Canon 70-200mm f2.8 zoom The Canon 7D is a digital single-lens reflex camera. Among its features are an 18.0 effective megapixel CMOS sensor, 8 frames per second continuous shooting, HD video recording, and a 19-point auto-focus system. It is very simple to use, and takes large crisp photos. I shoot mostly on manual mode, and the wide ISO settings allow me to take indoors shots in low light conditions without using a flash, resulting in photos with very little noise. I purchased it with an inexpensive zoom lens, but wanted something with a wider aperture, so I eventually got the Canon f2.8 telephoto lens. I've taken thousands of pictures indoors with both, sometimes with a flash, and was able to get crisp closeups of the action of a basketball game at a the far length of the gym. I also used the video capability this past summer to video Emily's wedding, with excellent results. Now that I'm no longer teaching I plan to do nature photography, so I decided on a camera with more than a 200mm zoom. I chose the Nikon Coolpix P1000.  
Nikon Coolpix P1000 with a 3000mm zoom lens 
You may have seen the camera in use on YouTube, being used to photograph the moon. It has an amazing 3000mm zoom lens, which gets you right up close to wildlife. The bird at the right was taken from across the width of Jesse's back yard, and I was only at 2000mm!The camera also takes 4K Ultra HD videos, and both macro and time-lapse photos. Apparently you can view the International Space Station in flight, or even the rings of Saturn. After using it for a few weeks, I can believe it. It has rock-steady image stabilization, which lets you shoot while zoomed in almost fully without using a tripod. It also has a variable-angle large rear viewfinder. There are a few drawbacks with this camera. It is very heavy, and the lens is fixed and can't be swapped out. Also, the camera has a very small sensor, meaning that low light photography at a distance won't be great ... although its ISO correction works well. |