Which camera is better to buy?

 so this is my fifth attempt of doingthis video first time I did it wasn't particularly happy with it so we shot itsecond time was happy with it but then introduced the t-shirt and the greenscreen so redid it again then before I could finish that I scrapped the greenscreen so shot it again last week except after shooting that one I got my haircutand then went to edit it and realized that I'd missed an important piece outso couldn't exactly fill in the gaps so fifth time lucky now in this video I want to try andstart to answer a question that I get asked quite a lot doesn't matter whetherI'm a wedding or a commercial shoot somewhere that I'm paid to be or if I'mjust casually out and about taking photographs if I'm carrying around acamera like this then inherently people start to notice you and come over andchat they could be other photographers they could just be members of thegeneral public but you'll get people come over I want to talk to you aboutphotography see the pitch is you're taking stuff like that and that's nice Ilove that I love engaging with other people trying to inspire them to take upphotography themselves or improve their photography but at some point somebodywill always ask the same question what camera should I buy obviously it makessense to get advice about photography equipment from a photographer but theproblem we're just going up to a photographer and saying oh you're aphotographer what camera should I buy? is it's like going up to anybody who knowshow to drive and saying oh you know how to drive what car should I buy? itentirely depends on your situation and ultimately it comes down to the samethree key points what you want it for how much do you want to spend and it'syour personal preference so with this video I want to break down the fourcategories that cameras fall under compact, bridge, mirrorless and DSLR, andtalk about the general advantages and disadvantages of all of these categoriesso that hopefully by the end of this video if you are in the market for acamera you're gonna have a better idea as to what sort of camera categoryyou're gonna be looking for from there it is really a matter of go to a shop orsomewhere where you can get the cameras in your hands and have a play aroundwith them and see which feels more comfortable to you because at the end ofthe day that is the most important aspect of picking a camera you canforget technical specifications if you don't get a camera that you arecomfortable and happy to use then you're not gonna want to use it and it's justgonna be a waste of space far better to get a camera system that you're happywith because you're not gonna have any hesitations in grabbing your cameragetting outside and go in taking some photographs so let's delve straight inand look at calm so there's absolutely no prizes forguessing what the key selling point of these cameras are they are compact theygenerally look something like this they're very small they are verylightweight convenient cameras that usually have the added benefit that whenthe cameras powered down the lens will retract right the way into the body sowhen you are not using the camera they take up absolutely minimal space sothey're the most convenient camera body to carry around but they do have somedrawbacks firstly with the lens in order to keep the size of the camera to aminimum the lens has to be kept to a minimum size as well which means theygenerally have a very restrictive zoom range normally a 5 to 10 times opticalzoom at most and they also have a very restrictive aperture so they don't letin a lot of light so for casual day-to-day photographs a compact cameramight be suitable for you but if you are looking at photographing either thingsthat are potentially quite far away then you might not have that zoom range thatyou need or if you're photographing a lot in low-light situations you mightfind the aperture doesn't let enough light in for you to get a goodphotograph also does the sensor particularly in budget level compactcameras they generally have quite a small sensor probably not much biggerthan you would find in your phone so while cheap compact cameras will giveyou the benefit of a zoom range that a phone dozen their image quality andtheir low-light performance from the sensor generally isn't that goodhigher-end compact cameras do get bigger sensors that offer you better low-lightperformance and generally better image quality but they also come at a higherprice so compact cameras are really aimed for the kind of casual shooterwanted to take day-to-day photographs maybe share them up to social media orsomething but aren't looking for the professional-grade results next let'slook at bridge cameras so the bridge camera was brought about to bridge thegap between compacts and DSLRs so compact cameras very small verylightweight cameras but a very restricted zoom rangedslr's offer you the flexibility of fitting longer telephoto lenses to beable to shoot faraway objects but the systems are generally a lot bigger so abridge camera gives you a smaller lightweight body like you would findfrom a compact but has a much bigger lens like you would find on a DSLR as aresult rather than a compact camera having a 5 to 10 times optical zoombridge cameras are pushing 50 60 post times optical which means that gives youa huge versatility to be able to photograph anything from a wide anglelandscape all the way through to an animal far away in the distance butbridge cameras suffer from the same sort of pitfalls as the compact camerasnamely in order to keep the size of the camera and the lens down to a minimumthe aperture of the lens isn't particularly fantastic also the lens isstill incorporated into the body so you can't change the lens over for a wideraperture lens but also the longer that you make a zoom range on a lens the morecomplicated the design is to come up with so image quality generally tends tobe hindered as well and bridge cameras also have the same sort of sensor setupas a compact camera namely budget level ones have the very small sensors thehigher end ones do have the bigger sensors but they come at a bigger priceand a bigger size so much like compact cameras for the kind of casualphotographer not looking for professional-grade resultscompacts bridge cameras might be an option for you but what if you want topush your creative boundaries what if you do want a changeable lens systemwell you could look at mirrorless so a mirrorless camera is basically a DSLRbut with the mirror inside removed hence the name as a results of removing themirror the whole body can be made a lot smaller and a lot lighter which makesfor a much more convenient camera to carry around so you have a smalllightweight convenient body with basically the sensor from a DSLR so youget DSLR levels of image quality and noise performance which makes these theperfect camera not necessarily while there is no doubt that mirrorlesscameras are getting better and better as technologyadvances and generally they are smaller and lighter than a DSLR, mirrorless hastwo big pitfalls both of them caused by removing that mirror now the mirror inthe DSLR serves two key purposes firstly it reflects the light up into theviewfinder so when you look through the viewfinder of a DSLR you were actuallyseeing straight through the lens itself the mirror also reflects some of thelight onto an AF chip this is how a DSLR author focuses and is a very quick and avery responsive system so even the most budget levels of the SLR have very quickautofocus compared to other cameras but by removing the mirror in a mirrorlesscamera we don't have those facilities as a result a mirrorless camera has to relyon using the sensor itself so to replace the optical viewfinder a mirrorlesscamera will either show you the image on the back of the screen or will have anelectronic viewfinder on top this basically just displays whatever thesensor can see has an image on the screen but as a result it means that thesensor has to be active the whole time the camera is on but with the DSLR thesensor is only needed when the picture is actually being taken so as a resultthe rest of the time the sense is basically in a very low-power state butwith a mirrorless camera not only is the sensor always active but then you haveto power a second screen the whole time as well so generally the battery life ofa mirrorless camera is not as good as an equivalent DSLR then mirrorless camerashave to rely on the sensor to autofocus as well and again technology isimproving and the autofocus in mirrorless cameras is getting better andbetter but in the more budget level mirrorless cameras generally theautofocus is not going to be quite as quick and as responsive as the budgetlevel DSLRs so mirrorless cameras offer you great image quality in a very smalllightweight body but what if you want something more for sports or wildlifewhat about DSLRs dslr's have been the workhorse ofphotographers for decades and as I've already said there is no doubt thatmirrorless cameras are getting better and better and better but DSLRs do stillhave their place and you can probably work out most of the pros and cons ofDSLRs based off the other camera systems anyway but just to clarify DSLRs giveyou the same great image quality that you would find in most mirrorlesscameras they also have excellent autofocus even from a budget levelcamera so if you're after photographing a lot of sports and wildlife fast-pacedthings DSLRs are generally the best option for you then there's the batterylife because a DSLR can power the sensor down for a lot of the time the camera ison then unlike all the other systems it has generally of much of better batterylife there are a couple of preferences to consider between DSLR and mirrorlessso for example the viewfinder some photographers prefer an opticalviewfinder over an electronic whereas other photographers prefer theelectronic over the optical you really have to try them and see then there'sthe size and weight mirrorless camera bodies are generally smaller and lighterthan equivalent DSLRs which might suit travel photographers weddingphotographers or the lights who want a small a lightweight kit as possible butfor sports and wildlife photographers who are maybe using the bigger heavierlenses they prefer having the biggest sized body to balance things out whichbrings us full circle back to the beginning point which is your personalpreference so hopefully now you've got an idea as to which sort of camerasystem is best gonna suit what you need are you after an all-in-onegeneral-purpose camera like a compact or a bridge camera that you can just takewith you wherever to just snap your life away or are you after a more specialisedkit where you can swap and change the lenses to suit what you need such aswide-angle telephoto or macro in which case look towards either mirrorless orDSLR once you've got a specific category nailed down go out get hold of thedifferent cameras have a play around with them and see which you prefer thefeel of then get the camera go while and enjoy photography as alwaysguys if you have any questions comment