This is the second edition of the "What camera should I buy? READ THIS FIRST!" thread. The last one got a bit heavy and so I'm posting this one. In addition to executing a "Dynamic Bumping System" (marketing BS title) to keep this loading quickly I'm also expanding on the information provided in the last edition.

If you are bumping this thread please read Information on Bumping at the end of this post.

What camera Should I Buy?
The article What camera should I buy? by Dan Heller is a must read for anyone who is looking to buy a camera for the first time. In the article he goes over what's needed to make such a decision and how to find out for yourself what your goals are for photography.

A quote from the article:
"When I got started, I did the same thing: asked the pros. I got the stock answer, 'it depends on what you want to shoot.' This got me nowhere fast. I was asked a lot of questions that I didn't know: 'what kind of pictures do you want to take?' 'Good ones,' I'd say. 'Do you want to shoot nature, sports, landscape, portraits?' 'Oh, I don't know. All of them, I suppose.' Then they'd throw a lot of technical information I didn't understand, at which point, I was forced to go to the net to do research."
<small>*Emphasis Added*</small>

Summary of the article:
1. Don't ask what camera to buy until you have a basic idea of what you want to do with the camera. In other-words, what do you what to photograph?
2. You will not be able to know everything you want a camera to do until you have experience in photography.
3. Your first camera is just that. A first. It's main purpose is to learn the basics and not to be able to do everything you might think of in the future. If you get into it, you will certainly be buying another camera later on that is more specialized to your developed tastes.
4. No one person can tell you what you need. You have to do your own research.
5. An SLR is best for serious photography but you can still learn allot on a good P&S.
6. If you are serious you will spend allot of cash. $500 is a good starting sum to save up to for starters.

A note on number 6. In the last version of this thread I got allot of obstinate people saying that $500 is an outrageous amount of money. "I can get a camera on E-bay for $60!!!!" Well Good for you (and I mean that). That does not mean everyone else will be able to also. E-bay is not a source with stable prices. The market there fluctuates rapidly and not every seller there is reputable.

In addition, $60 may get you a camera but what about film? A beginner will be shooting allot in order to learn and get comfortable with a camera. One good frame from four rolls of bad frames is a success. What about a bag to carry it all in (not always needed but comes in very handy)? How about developer and developing equipment or the costs of taking it to a lab? The cost of prints/paper? That $60 camera is no doubt fully manual which means a light-meter will be needed to. As you may have noticed costs add up and fast. You can't get into photography on $60 alone. Save up towards that $500 and if you find something cheaper then congratulations. Now you have extra money to spend on film to learn the craft and you won't have to limit your picture taking to the amount of the paycheck (at first anyway) you get from flipping hamburgers.

An Informed Decision
Buying a camera is a big investment. Most people want digital cameras and those are even more expensive. It really amazes me at how little some people think about this. They are willing to trust the opinions of complete strangers on a several hundred dollar purchase and not do a lick of research themselves. That is just stupid.

I've had some people get insulted when I've pointed them to the last version of this forum post. They want the answer to fall in their lap and they don't want to have to put out any bit of effort themselves. That is just selfish.

These are the people that are too lazy to do any of their own research. These are the same dimwits who post the same question that's already been posted 10 times of the main forum page (which was literally what was happening before I made these threads. People with actual problems were getting knocked off the forum). For them I have no problem with their answers being ignored and their intelligence ridiculed. If they refuse to do the basics and post a question that's already posted multiple times they deserve what they get. That may seem rude, but it's much more rude for them to expect us to do all the work for them. No one should be expected to repeat themselves unnecessarily.

This information is here to help you! To help you so that we can help you. If you ask what you should get without doing any research or having any clue, you will get nowhere. Before you ask what camera you should get, be sure to have some idea of what you want to do and collect information from several sources to make an informed decision. No one can give you the answer.

Knowledge is power. Plain and simple. The more you know about cameras and photography the better you'll be able to ask questions that will actually net you useful information. There is nothing wrong with asking the opinions of others but go in with a little knowledge yourself so they can help you better.

Types of Cameras
There are dozens of different types of cameras. There are small-format, medium format, large format, SLRs, DP&S, RF, Bridge, TLRs, and so-fourth. Each one is a tool and has it's strengths and weaknesses. You will not know which is the best for you until you have more experience in photography (article summary #2) so don't sweat it too much.

There are certain cameras which will work best for you as a beginner. These cameras are the types that will let you "get your feet wet" so to speak. The 35mm SLR combined with a 50mm "normal prime" lens (a lens that has the same field of view as your eye) is the classic beginners camera.

If you go the digital rout a DP&S (digital point & shoot) with full manual controls will suffice and you certainly can learn allot from one (I sure did). But be warned, you will pay allot for one and out-grow it more quickly than an old film SLR (or a digital SLR). On the other-hand, they are very convenient in their small size, large DOF and immediate feedback. Again, read What camera should I buy?

Also on the subject covering the actual camera is The "Best" Camera by ~FallisPhoto and Save for the good equipment by `shagie. Also is Photo.nets Equipment Page.

Resources
Hold on to your hats. Information overload about to occur:

Digital Camera Review Sites:
DP Review | Steves-Digicams | Imaging Resource | Photography Review

Photography Sites:
Luminous-Landscape | Photo.net | Digital Outback Photo | Camera Hobby | Photographers | Vivid Light Photography
Short Courses | School of Photography | Norman Korman | Dynamic Artwork | RetouchPro | Nature Photographers
PhotographyBlog (news) | Rob Galbraith | Fred Miranda

Worthwhile Articles & Tech Info:
Aesthetics and Photography | The Sunday Morning Photographer | DOFMaster | Van Walree (Optics) | Computer Darkroom | Toomas's Photo
ClarkVision | Sekonic Light Metering | Petteri's Pontifications | The Eye Within: Part One: Standing still to start the dance

PhotographyBlog's Links page: [link]

>>Information on Bumping<<
A huge problem with this forum is the lack sticky threads. This means in order to keep this thread visible we have to bump it by posting constantly. That wouldn't be such a bad thing but unfortunately DA has a comment ratting system which no one ever uses. This comment rating thing adds a considerable amount of code to a page with lots of posts and it thusly can drag a computer to a stand-still wile the page loads.

So to counter this problem I am going to post several bumps until they go off to their own page. This new page will be where all further bumping should take place. Please don't bump on this threads main page. Lets reserve that to discussions regarding this topic.

I will post again with a link directing you to the bump page.

Thanks