Don t expensive cameras take better photos than cheap ones?
In the case of film, nope. No matter what commission-driven salespeople may try to make you believe, when it comes to film cameras the image quality of a photograph is basically determined by the quality of the lens, not the camera. (well, and lighting and the skill and aesthetic sensibilities of the photographer and so on) Unless the camera is broken in some way – perhaps if its internal components are misaligned or it s cracked and leaking light – the camera body itself doesn t matter. Many photographers jokingly refer to cameras as light-tight boxes to emphasize this point. You can stick a great lens on a cheap consumer body and take great photos, or you can stick a crummy lens on a super-expensive top of the line pro camera and take crummy photos. If you have the budget for both a great camera and a great set of lenses, by all means go for both. High-end cameras are full of convenient features, give you far more control and can do things that cheaper cameras can t do, like autofocu
Well, yes and no. No matter what commission-driven salespeople may try to make you believe, the image quality of a photograph is determined just as much by the quality of the lens as the camera. (well, and lighting and the skill and aesthetic sensibilities of the photographer and so on) In fact, in the case of film the camera body itself doesn t matter at all when it comes to quality. Many photographers jokingly refer to film cameras as light-tight boxes to emphasize this point. In the case of digital, the resolution and quality of a sensor does vary from one camera to another, but frankly these days most contemporary digital SLRs offer really very good image quality. Certainly the top-end full-frame EOS body will produce better pictures than the most affordable consumer model, all things being equal. But normally you have to push things by enlarging the image a lot or shooting in low-light conditions for the differences to become hugely apparent. You can stick a great lens on a cheap
