MANILA, Philippines - First of all, I will admit to being rooted in the old world of mechanical SLRs, and can thus be considered as a photography version of the dinosaur. However, I have given up taking photos actively, happy to let my son and wife take our family and other photos with their digital professional and snap and shoot cameras respectively. Every now and then, if I have to take some photos of a social nature, I tend to use the built in camera of one of my cellphones, one that has a relatively high 8 Mega-pixels of image quality manufactured by a revered name in lens manufacture, Zeiss.
On the other hand, I am surveying the pantheon of digital cameras and lenses available in the market in case I decide to take that fateful leap that will bring me back into the enjoyable world of photography. Trouble is, since I am taking my sweet time deciding, I find that the advances in technology and the variety of equipment available make for a difficult mix to choose from.
In the days when I was an active member of the Camera Club of the Philippines, we were basically divided into Canon and Nikon users, with a smattering of Minolta, Pentax, Olympus, Contax proponents in between. Naturally, flying high above the hoi polloi were those who would use nothing less than their beloved Leica cameras. There were many among our group who also invested heavily in medium format cameras for those studio shots or those requiring very high resolutions, and the camera of choice for these people was the venerable Hasselblad. However, the really good photographers of the Club did not rely on expensive equipment, but used their innate skills to coax the best possible photos out of their tired and well-used Canons and Nikons.
My weapon of choice was Nikon, and over the years, managed to accumulate some 10 bodies and over 20 lenses, among them, some very solid and valuable fixed focal lenses that still deliver clear and beautiful photos to this day. I tuned over all my lenses to my son, and he has managed to marry these old-school lenses with his modern digital bodies.
This is the reason why I am in the market for one camera that will serve me well. And that is why I have tended to cameras like the Panasonic Lumix series, given that they have that most desirable of lenses, those manufactured by Leica.
Here we have the best of possible worlds: an inexpensive camera body married to a very superior lens, sold at a small fraction of what one would have to pay for an equivalent Leica camera.
That was my simple world, until I saw a recent notice about a new DSLR Nikon D800 camera now available in the market. As if this camera was not one to salivate over, the Nikon people are promising an improvement shortly, a D800E series that is touted to take even sharper and colorful photos.
Why is the Nikon D800 such a great camera on paper? Well, for starters, it is capable to taking photos with 36.3 MP, inching ever closer to a stage that would make the older SLR and film truly obsolete. My friends who are still in the business tell me that one weakness of the digital format is that the photos taken tend to get kinda grainy and break up when blown up into large photographs.
Since the Camera Club I belonged to used the 11" x 14" printing format back then, any deficiencies would tend to show up readily. If even larger formats are required, especially in the realm of advertising photography, blemishes and blots will really stand out.
One other advantage of this camera is its ability to convert into a movie camera readily, with a rather large storage capability that will make it a hit with wedding and social photographers who need copious amounts of storage and battery life that will allow them to cover a whole activity's life.
The camera has a magnesium alloy body that gives it innate strength. It also has many other features, too many to mention, that will make it a professional or serious amateur's dream camera - at least till someone else comes up with a better one able to deliver 50 MP image quality.
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