It’s just a few days until black Friday and I’m getting a steady stream of questions about what camera I would recommend for people to buy this holiday season.

One of the greatest difficulties I have in recommending gear is that I don’t use every kind of camera, so I can’t really tell you what to buy, unless you want to spend a lot of money and buy the stuff I have. :)

So instead of making specific recommendations, I’m going to give you some opinions and general thoughts on camera buying. Let the camera store guys and online reviews guide you the rest of the way.

Pros and Cons of buying and SLR vs. a Point and Shoot

SLR Pros

• Better images
• Better control over exposure and depth of field
• More flexible because you can change lenses
• Look cool

Point and Shoot Pros

• Cheaper
• More portable
• Easier to use

For the cons, just reverse the above. ie. a con for the SLR is that it’s expensive, more gear to drag around and more complicated to use. For the P&S, you have less image quality and control, you are stuck with one lens, and it doesn’t look as cool. ;)

Buying an SLR

Most people really focus on the camera body when buying a digital SLR, but I don’t believe the camera body is the most important part of the camera setup. Having a quality camera body is great, but if you stick a cheap-o lens on it, your image quality will be lower than if you had a lesser camera body with a great lens in front of it.

My first recommendation to people is that with whatever camera body they purchase, they also purchase a 50mm 1.8 lens (Canon | Nikon). It is right around $100 for the Canon version, $125 for the Nikon, and is the best lens you will EVER get for that price. It creates sharp images with great color and contrast and and will well work in low light. Without getting into too much detail on aperture and exposure, a 1.8 lens is going to let in a ton more light than a 3.5-5.6 lens (which is the typical aperture range on the lenses that come with cameras – the maximum aperture [lower number] varies depending on the zoom level).

I get a lot of people asking why they can’t take sharp photos without a flash and this is why. They buy the “kit” lens with the camera and it needs lots of light to yield sharp images. The 50mm 1.8 will allow you to take images indoors without a flash if you are willing to work at ISO 400+.

Buying a Point and Shoot

I have a point and shoot – the Canon A1000 IS. I got it for Christmas last year because I was tiring of always having to lug all my gear around with me and just wanted something compact to throw in my purse or pocket. It’s a nice camera. Not a lot of features, but I have fun with it. I’ve been taking it on my morning walks with our new dog Toby, and having fun capturing the world around us with a daily project I’m calling “Morning Walk“. The point of sharing all this is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money and have a ton of technical features to have fun taking photos with a point and shoot. Especially if you are a busy mom or dad and just want something to whip out at a moment’s notice and snap that funny face your kid just started making!

If I had a lot of money to spend on a point and shoot camera, I would buy the Canon G11. It features full creative control, takes great low light photos, and shoots RAW. However, it’s a lot of money for something I use rarely. If I didn’t have an SLR or two, I would own this baby. :)

What to Buy With Your Camera

Here’s what you will need for whatever camera you buy:

• Camera Bag – I prefer bags you can get into while you are on the move. I have a nice backpack, but I use a smaller shoulder bag when I’m actually out doing photography. The bad thing with backpacks is you have to set them down to get into them, whereas with a shoulder bag, you can dig in it without stopping. As a girl, I like these bags.
• Memory Cards – I’m not in the “bigger is always better” camp on this one. I like 4GB and 8GB cards, so not all my eggs are in one basket. I’ve had cards go bad on me, and even lost one before. I would have lost a lot more if they were 16GB and 32GB cards. I use SanDisk Ultra and Extreme cards, as well as Kingston Elite Pros.

Here’s what you won’t need, but they’ll try to sell you:

• Tripod – Most people don’t really need a tripod unless they are really into landscape or macro photography. I almost never use one (only for architecture, and occasionally for large group portraits) and I don’t think having a tripod is some sort of right of photography passage. I like the little Gorillapods, though I don’t own one. I would think most people could get away with something little like this if they had a surface to set their camera on.
• Filters – I don’t use filters on any of my lenses. I do use lens hoods to keep them protected. Cheap filters lower image quality and can create reflections in your images. If you really feel that you need a filter, spend at least $50 to get a good, multi-coated one.

I hope this helps. If you have questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments, then everyone can benefit from the answers. :)