Cameras

Suggesting to a photographer that a nice photograph is the result of a ‘really good’ camera is similar to telling a chef that a nice meal must be the result of exceptionally good cookware. It is how you use the equipment that makes the difference. My equipment has improved considerably over the last few years but I have favourite photographs from all three of the cameras I have used. I am intentionally ignoring the megapixel values. More megapixels do have a bearing on image size but not necessarily image quality.

Sony Cyber-shot L1
The Carl Zeiss glass on Sony Cyber-shots give them pretty good optics. By today’s standards, the L1 is positively primitive but given the right conditions, it was capable of some pretty decent photographs. It had very fast auto-focus for its class and was solidly put together.

Panasonic Lumix TZ3
While it did not have any manual controls, the massive 10x optical zoom on this compact made it a brilliant little camera. The large LCD and the 28mm wide angle Leica lens made it perfect for landscape photography. It did get noisy at anything higher than ISO400 but overall, I loved it.

Olympus E-420 with 14-42mm and 40-150mm lenses
UV, CPL, ND4 and Graduated ND4 Filters
My first venture into DSLR territory. The Olympus may be an off-beat choice in a world full of Canons and Nikons but I had my reasons for choosing it. I am not going to get into a brand comparison debate here but the E-system’s compact size and colour saturation were the main factors for me. The Oly also comes with pretty good glass as part of its standard kit.

The most important thing is to be comfortable with the camera you use. If you shoot within the limitations of your equipment, you can get results from pretty much any camera.