History
I have had an interest in photography for a long time starting back with film cameras. Unfortunately, I didn't have the patience and/or discipline to track the conditions for all of my photos and image quality was always a bit hit or miss.
First Camera - Olympus C2100UZ
My first digital camera choice was for an "all-in-one" type thinking I could get all I needed in a digital camera with a 10x optical zoom.
Insert photos and discussion here.
Second Camera - Canon EOS Digital Rebel
A couple of things I realized from the first digital camera was that 2 mega-pixels were not enough and one lens could not really meet all the photography needs with a single lens. I had heard that 6 Mega-pixels were enough to replace photographic quality as seen in typical 4x6 pictures. I waited until digital SLR cameras with at least 6 MP were available and then began the search. Although most people focus on the MP rating of cameras a couple of articles pointed out that camera resolutions were increasing quite rapidly, but lens technology was already pretty mature and increased at a slower rate. In addition lenses
Third Camera - Canon EOS Rebel T2i
The Digital Rebel was a great starter camera for digital photography. I learned a lot from using it and made a lot of advances in my photographic skills. The one drawback was the number of pixels. 6 MP is a lot for landscape photography and other photos where one is interested in all the pixels, but when one starts taking pictures of birds and other objects that can be far away one often crops the printable photo down to 2 MP or even less. The relatively small number of pixels after cropping limits the size of photos that can be printed. Camera prices had come down so it was time to move up to the 18 MP REbel T2i. The T2i also had the capability to shoot digital films in HD resolution so that was an added benefit.
Current Camera - Canon 7D
As I became more serious about bird photography (and especially birds in flight) the relatively slow frame rate (3 - 4 frames per second) were a definite limitation. The Canon 7D has been a workhorse for action photography for years and their prices were coming down so I decided to acquire one. The increased frame rate has been a significant advantage in some situations. There are some other features that also have been beneficial.
Next Camera - Canon ???
Technology continues to march forward and some of the features I would like to get in my next camera include:
- Wireless. Connecting to a computer to download photographs isn't that big of an inconvenience. However, wireless interfaces are becoming the norm and will eventually become the standard.
- Built-in GPS. The 7D has an optional add-on GPS unit that can be purchased. That approach appears to be a pretty big nuisance, as is manually adding GPS data to photos after the fact. Camera phones have built-in GPS there is no reason that should not be a standard feature in high end cameras.
- Full frame detector. I am on the fence about this at the moment. The 7D has a 1.6 crop factor essentially allowing more pixels for a given size bird. It also allows faster frame rate and read-out. From what I read full frame detectors have better overall image quality and color rendition. That may be subjective, but better color is always welcome. Full frame detectors have lower noise floors - allowing one to shoot in low light conditions which happens more often than one would expect. I also expect full frame detectors to have a larger dynamic range (which I have not been able to verify). This would be very handy when shooting birds that have light and dark areas (Bald Eagles come to mind).
Lenses
Canon EF 500mm L IS II USM
From my perspective one of the best lenses Canon has ever made. There is often debate about whether the 500mm IS II is better than the 600mm IS II. My choice was made on weight considerations (as well as slightly swayed by the additional $2,500 price tag). If weight and price are not an issue I would have gone with the 600mm version.