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Thursday, April 23, 2009

How To Pick The Best Brand Of Camera

By Chris Campbell

If 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.

Now, we're not talking film cameras here, as I'm sure by now, even the professionals have made the leap to the digital world. For a lot of years, the pros wanted nothing to do with digital, and you may still know some old hold outs, but their days are numbered.

There are a few photographers that stick with one brand, but their mostly professional or semi professional photographers. The average digital camera consumer these days, is pretty much brand blind. Generally, I think they look more at features and price.

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.

Sharing the top 11 spots with Canon are 2 of the Pure Video manufactured Flip Video cameras. Nikon has 2 cameras in the top 25 including the Nikon D40, and the Nikon D300. Panasonic sneaks in with a couple of their Lumix models, specifically the DMC-TZ3K and the DMC-TZ3A. And finishing in a strong 25th spot, that old stalwart Kodak with the Easyshare Z812IS.

Of course being popular, or the best seller does not the best brand make. It simply means you have the best salesmanship. How exactly would we determine the best brand? Best service, best design, best features, best customer support, best images, and best user experience are all valid traits. Perhaps a critical / scientific /empirical examination of all cameras models by manufacturer would be in order. Let's see if we can aggregate a lot of the work already done by a couple of camera review sites who take the above traits into consideration.

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.

Interesting huh? Canon seems to be dominating sales, and wowing the critics. That's a pretty strong one-two punch. The only reasonable conclusion here, is that Canon is the best overall brand out there. Of course I would never recommend anyone buy a camera based solely on brand. What I do suggest, is to do your homework by researching some good cameras. Once you've got your short list, and with everything else being equal, maybe then you should pick the Canon.

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