I use 3 kinds of cameras: 2 point and shoots and 1 dslr, and they all have different functions depending on the subject and what I want to achieve with the shoot. I’m going to explain them without too much techie rubbish to help you decide on which one to get. Incidentally, I wish I could use this as my post for the week – paging Michael hehehehe.

Why do I have point and shoots? For mobility and quick set up so that I could capture the moment without messing around with the controls. You want to capture the moment as it happens so you will need something that you can easily whip out of your bag, turn on and shoot! You may not have the luxury of time or even the freedom to repeat the moment so point and shoots are great. Also, it’s extremely portable, no need to change lenses, and you can even ask someone to take a photo of you without them having to fiddle around with the controls or zoom.

I have a canon sx10is with 20 times optical zoom and 5 times digital zoom. It’s a 10 mega pixel camera and takes beautiful vivid photos of subjects both near and far. I would always look at the optical zoom capability because you don’t lose as much resolution.

The other point and shoot that I have is a canon S95. It’s super compact and takes beautiful photos. This is what I use for my underwater setup but I also bring it around just in case I find something interesting to shooter you go out with friends and you need to take a quick photo with them. The waiters can use it easily!

Why do I have a dslr? I use my dslr for more planned photography where I need to fiddle around with the controls like aperture and speed to get the right effect and colour balance. I have a canon 50D with a 50mm prime lens, 18-20 kit lense, and a 50–300 zoom lense. The downside is you have to change lenses depending on how you want to capture the subject. The plus side you look really cool lugging around a huge camera back on your shoulder and the dslr hanging from your neck. Seriously, you get more control and creativity using dslr’s. The 50D is waterproof so I cash take them to the beach or pool without worrying too much about being wet.

But whether you get a point and shoot or a dslr doesn’t really matter if you don’t know how to compose and frame your subject. This is the basic that will get you a long way regardless of which camera you use. Right now I am also having fun with my iPad and some of my great photos were shot using it.

On mega pixels…contrary to what sales people will tell you about getting be with the highest megapixel, it doesn’t really matter. You can use a 5 megapixel camera to blow up a picture the size of a poster without losing too much quality. Sometimes higher resolution cameras tend to give you noises (grainy look in pictures) so its not really a guarantee. Effective use of lighting is an important knowledge more than relying on the technology.

Right now I am looking at getting a lumix Gx1. I’ve been hearing good things about it and it looks so stylish too. You might want to check it out.

Hope this helps. Happy hunting.