A basic camera setup
The thought process behind my purchase
5 min read
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Feb 5, 2023
I was thinking of buying a good camera since I moved to Germany a couple of years back and the decision was delayed because of not one but many factors.
- This is 2024. The era of iphone 15/ Galaxy S24 and Pixel 8
- Not being portable
- Ridiculously expensive
- Huge learning curve
- Less user friendliness of advanced camera etc
I could list down as many as disadvantages of buying a camera. But defeating all the odds I went for a mirrorless full frame setup.
True, we have witnessed really cool pictures from all above mentioned smart phones. But none of them can not even think of competing against even a basic sony camera setup. The image quality of a camera is exceptional. This is heavily due to the modern sensors that have been embedded into those cameras. True that the lens plays a huge role in the quality of the image. Still the professional quality of the image is unbeatable compared to a modern mobile device.
Another thing is that you will have full control over the image being taken. In a smart phone you don't have much control of what you take. What you do is, take a basic image either portrait or landscape, import it to instagram, butter it up with instagram filters and post it. For a normal user this could be more than enough but with a camera you could do all sorts of adjustments from aperture to ISO to shutter speed. By doing so you can create truly artistic images. Basically the sky's the limit for your imagination with the controls you have in a camera. Have you seen smoky rivers or waterfalls? Wildlife crispy sharp image. Magnified photos of flowers, insects. Any of those can not be done via a smartphone. Also the zooming capability of a camera is unmatched to a modern mobile device. True that samsung S23 can be zoomed 100x as of 2023 but the quality of the image reduces drastically when you zoom further via a mobile device. And hand held photography with zooming is never going along with mobile photography.
Photography itself is a large field and it's not fair to compare it with smartphone photography. There are different genres such as Astrophotography, travel photography, Pet photography, macro photography and nature or wildlife photography.
Yes The cost could be high when you purchase a camera. The normal rule of thumb when doing a purchase is that you should spend 20% of your budget on a camera and 80% on the lenses. Camera can be changed or updated and the lenses are for life.
I went for a Sony a7c which is not too advanced nor too basic. But truly portable. C in a7c stands for compactness. I do a bit of traveling throughout the year and compactness is essential for me. By the time it was released this camera was labeled as the most compact full frame camera. The camera came along with a kit lens. Normally people do not buy the kit lens setup. But in this case the kit lens was really decent equipped with 28 - 60mm. F4-5.6. The online reviews have mentioned only great things about the embedded kit lens. But I thought this could not be enough to perform optimally in low light situations hence I went for a FE 40mm F2.5 G Full-frame Standard Prime G Lens. Prime lens fits the a7c nicely preserving its compactness which is ideal for travel photography. Despite being 40mm it could create a nice bokeh texture while taking portraits.
It's not a secret that the learning curve is high when you do photography with a camera. But the satisfaction of a taken photo is priceless. Being a newbie myself I found my new hobby in photography. I'm studying ISO, aperture and shutter speed triangle and different techniques and secrets behind photography these days.
On a side note if you are a newbie to photography just like me, you may notice, soon after the photos were taken via a camera the quality is not that great compared to a modern mobile snap. The photos from your iPhone will often look better than the unedited photos from your camera because the iPhone is editing the pictures while you take them. It’s making mostly HDR photos which results in higher dynamic range and other stuff. AI is used in iPhone cameras to improve photo quality by analyzing the scene and adjusting the camera's settings to capture the best possible image.
With regards to camera photography, Editing is the key.
And clearly stuff like perspective and 1000 other things 😄.
What I learned is that cameras are aimed for professionals or for people who do advanced photography. If you want to bake a cool picture right out of the oven you should forget about buying a camera and buy the latest iphone or a pixel. If you have the interest, time and energy to spend on post processing go ahead with a camera. Always remember to take RAW images. RAW images can be processed as you like. That being said you have to master lightroom for post processing.
To summarize, I choose a camera considering image quality, creative control, interchangeable lenses, and professional-grade video capabilities. I was willing to invest more, and accept the larger size compared to mobile devices and the steeper learning curve. Ultimately, the best choice depends on your individual needs and preferences. Consider what matters most to you in a camera before making a decision.
I am attaching a few raw images without processing via software like Lightroom or photoshop. Note that post processing plays an integral part in photography nowadays. So make sure to finetune your photos via a post processing tool.
Location: Antonplatz, Berlin exposure_time: 1/100 f_number: 2.5 exposure_program: Aperture-priority AE iso: 6400 focal_length: 40.0 mm
Location: Alexanderplatz, Berlin exposure_time: 1/400 f_number: 2.5 exposure_program: Aperture-priority AE iso: 5000 focal_length: 40.0 mm
Location: Antonplatz, Berlin exposure_time: 1/800 f_number: 2.5 exposure_program: Aperture-priority AE iso: 5000 focal_length: 40.0 mm
Location: Brandenburg Gate, Berlin exposure_time: 1/1600 f_number: 5.6 exposure_program: Aperture-priority AE iso: 100 focal_length: 40.0 mm
Location: Friesickestr. Berlin exposure_time: 1/30 f_number: 5.6 exposure_program: Aperture-priority AE iso: 5000 focal_length: 40.0 mm