When Your Camera Does Not Matter

Ken Rockwell compares the picture quality from a $150 camera to that of a $5000 camera.

As you’d expect, if you pixel-peep, the $5000 camera is better.

If you examine the photos at a reasonable resolution, however, the cameras take similar pictures. They’d look the same in 8×10″ prints too.

The differences between the cameras are not as important as variations in how you use them. Ken is more familiar with his $150 camera than the $5000 camera, so he likes the photo from the cheaper camera better.

Ken gets all excited about stuff like this, but a few caveats are worth mentioning. The scene in the photo is a sunlit still-life. If there’s less light and more objects in motion, the $5000 camera will make it possible to capture photos that the $150 camera can’t get. For example, if you were photographing an indoor sporting event or a school play (where flash is prohibited or the subjects are far away), the $5000 camera will get beautiful photos that are impossible for the $150 camera to capture.

Still, that $150 camera takes some nice pictures, and for hundreds of dollars less than the sales tax on the $5000 camera. It’s a Canon Powershot A530, and you can buy it from my online store for slightly less than $150.

Just thought I’d mention that.