What’s the difference between a consumer and a pro-sumer SLR camera?
Camera makers have consumer, pro-sumer, and professional cameras. Nikon has the D40 – D90 range for consumers, the D300 – D700 range for serious amateurs, press photographers and cheapskate professionals, and the D3 range for professionals. For many beginners, the quality difference between the pictures they take will not be visible for the first couple of years. Professional cameras have no auto modes, and have a lot more switches to hand that do things that you will need to find in a menu on a cheaper camera. They are also better built, with longer battery life, waterproof switches and metal bodies rather than plastic. But for beginners they are really not sensible first cameras unless you take a course, in the same way that a Ferrari makes a poor choice as a first car. You may need to be as good as the Stig to notice the difference! And don’t think that you’ll look cool just by buying a really expensive camera – photographers can easily tell if you know what you’re doing. Start at t
