How To Pick The Best Brand Of Camera
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012If you ever had an inkling to start a brawl amongst a bunch of photographers, simply ask them which is the best camera brand to buy, an then leave the room. Nikon fan boys, the Canon fan boys, the Sony fan boys and the rest of the pack will never get to a single decision.
Because everyone knows that regular (film) cameras are far superior to digital cameras. Hang on a sec, or was that the other way around? Who can keep track these days? Now before I digress too far from the topic, lets take a look at that age old battle, and see if we can determine which brand is best.
While it’s true, that there are certain photographers in the crowd, that swear by a particular brand of camera, I’m not one of them. While I do have more Canons than any other, I also have a Kodak, Olympus, and Fuji floating around the house somewhere. Just getting my personal biases out in the open.
With all of that in mind though, there do seem to be some camera brands that are more successful than others. Canon, always seems to grab more of the top spots from most top ten lists than any other. There’s a couple lists I perused just before writing this article, and Canon had between 7-9 of the top cameras on the lists.
The only other camera brands that seem capable of competing with Cannon (purely only on brand) are Nikon, Sony, and Olympus. These are all equally good cameras in many ways, but seem to be edged out by the big guns at Canon. Some brands do particularly well in niche areas, like Olympus with their underwater Stylus lineup.
But, is sales numbers the biggest true indicator of a good brand. Just because everyone else is buying them, doesn’t make Canon the best. Right? It could be just a big conspiracy to get you to buy a Canon (if you believed in conspiracies that is). Perhaps we should consider other factors as well. Such as reliability, price, after purchase support, ease of use, and customer satisfaction. Hey, let’s ask the critics.
Since there’s no point, in believing everything you read (including this article). I know I don’t. It would behoove me, to solicit testimonials from other camera critics in the field. For the sake of brevity, I’ll spare you the fine print, and get right to the bottom line. Canon once again is way out in front with fifty percent of the top camera choice spots. Nikon and Sony both make a respectable show with approximately twenty five percent each. There are other brands out there, but not many in the top spots.
Well, if you go by the numbers, it does seem to make a convincing argument for Canon. Big sales, and big critical reviews seem to keep them rolling in the money. A lot of that probably has to do with the fact, that they just offer so many models that cater to so many different people. I wouldn’t discount any of the other brands, and not just Nikon and Sony either. I still make my camera buying decisions on features and price.