My Kid Deserves Better Photos Than Cell Phone Pictures

The memories of my daughter last a lifetime, and she deserves better quality than my cell phone can provide.

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I’m a new father and I decided it was time to step it up. For at least the last five years, the only camera I’ve used has been my cell phone. I now have the I-Phone 6 Plus, and it takes pretty decent pictures, especially in bright lighting conditions. It’s easy to carry, and it’s with me anyway. It really fails, however, in low light, making it almost impossible to use indoors without a flash. The memories of my daughter last a lifetime, and she deserves better quality than my cell phone can provide. I have a lot of nostalgia for my old Nikon FE, and I wanted something that looked, felt and operated close to it in manual mode.

My first step in finding a digital camera was setting a budget for myself. There are so many choices that any constraints you can put on yourself will help you make a decision. I chose sub-$500. Then I tried to narrow down the type of camera.

There are three types of digital cameras:

DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) – These are usually pretty big bulky cameras. The light comes into the lens, hits a mirror, and sends it to the image sensor or viewfinder. These usually have large sensors. Sensors are the part that give you better quality and more megapixels. DSLR’s currently offer the biggest sensors. They have interchangeable lenses and will most likely give you the best photos you can take.
Mirrorless – Well, somebody got the bright idea, if the camera is digital, you don’t really need the mirror anymore. You could make a smaller camera that was equivalent or nearly equivalent to DSLRs still having interchangeable lenses. This type of digital camera is relatively new.
Point and Shoot – This term covers a wide range of cameras from the cheapest to some in the $1,000 range that rival DSLRs and mirrorless. They have fixed lenses and are generally pocket sized or slightly larger. Many are not just for using auto features anymore and offer complete manual control.

These types of cameras will all take great photos and can be fully automatic, requiring no knowledge of photography. They also all record video, but I didn’t consider the video capabilities in my own decision. With my $500, I could buy a pretty decent DSLR. I looked into these a bit and probably would have bought the Nikon D3300. I thought the size would discourage me from using it as often as a smaller camera so I ruled it out. I’m not into lugging around big things. Mirrorless cameras are still fairly pricey, and there weren’t many choices in my price range. I opted out of mirrorless but would have chosen the Sony NEX-7. It was actually my second choice.

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My next step was searching topics such as best digital cameras under $500 and best point and shoot camera. This brought up some results that were super helpful. I also asked a photo geek friend of mine for advice, and he gave me some quick education and specific suggestions. I came into my search with some biases. I think the following brands are the coolest in this order: Leica, Zeiss (lens manufacturer), and Nikon. Panasonic and Leica work together to make their digital cameras, and although I couldn’t afford the cheapest Leica, the same exact camera made by Panasonic was affordable. This camera however didn’t stand up to the competition. Sony uses Zeiss lenses so I was very attracted to them, and I didn’t really find a Nikon in my price range that I considered seriously.

I knew if I was going to use my new camera in manual mode, it would have to be as easy as my old Nikon to operate. If I have to go into electronic menus to make changes, it’s probably going to be too late to take the photo I wanted. The majority of the people online and my friend recommended the Sony RX 100 series of cameras, the iii being the latest and greatest. The iii is a very tempting camera but is out of my price range, so I was looking at the original RX 100. The iii might be in your price range when you’re looking at this article as prices are always changing. I also read good things about the Canon G16 and kind of fell in love with the look of the Fujifilm X30.

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I needed to see and feel the cameras even though I buy most everything in my life online. Despite living in Los Angeles, it was very hard to find a camera store that carried all the cameras. I suspect in most cities you’d find it very difficult to hold these cameras before purchasing, which is a sad state of affairs. When you do go to buy, please give your local camera store a chance by asking them if they can order the camera you pick out and if they’ll match or come close enough to the price you find online. I learned some very important things holding the cameras:

The screens are very small on the small cameras, making it hard to see detail in busy images and difficult to see in bright light.
Since I last bought a digital camera, the Electronic View Finder became more prevalent. With an EVF you simulate looking through a glass viewfinder, but you’re looking at a digital display that actually simulates the photo. When you change the lighting, for example, you see what it will look like in the viewfinder. It can also display info such as aperture and shutter speed overlaid on the image.
Many cameras are super hard to use. The controls are in crazy places, they don’t fit in your hands, the flash pops up accidentally when you grip it, the zoomed lens shows up in the viewfinder, etc.

After my trip to the camera store, I decided I had to have an EVF. The EVF made me feel like I was looking through a glass viewfinder but with the ability to preview exposure and effects. This is a killer feature if the EVF is of high quality. This narrowed down my search even more, and now it came down to the Fuji X-30 and the Sony NEX-7. I poured into more detail on the two cameras by reading reviews, comparing images, and watching reviews on YouTube. Seeing somebody use the camera on YouTube is very valuable as it gives a good feel for what it will be like to use the camera yourself.

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The Sony had a far superior sensor, and in online photo samples you could clearly see that there are less chunky pixels and artifacts in very low light situations with no flash. The Sony can simulate very fast film speeds like 3200 with no ill effects, but I don’t normally shoot in situations where I need this fast of an ISO. In cases where I do, I would probably use a flash. The Fuji had a better lens for me. It had a smaller minimum aperture through the zoom range and a larger zoom. The smaller aperture number (which lets in more light) makes up for the smaller sensor a bit. I could buy a new lens for the Sony because it is a mirrorless interchangeable system, but that would have crushed my budget. The lens would cost the same or more than the camera. Both cameras have very good electronic viewfinders. Make sure they cover 100% of the image you’re capturing: some don’t, which could cause you to include things in your photo you don’t want. The Fuji also has Wi-Fi built in, which will allow me to post directly to Facebook, download automatically to my computer, and even focus and take photos using my phone remotely when connected to the camera. Wi-Fi is cool. Most importantly to me, the Fuji had a ring around the lens that you could turn to focus or set the aperture (it’s customizable), and you can also turn the lens to zoom. Most compact digital cameras don’t have this tactile feedback, and I wanted a camera that acted and felt old school. I could go on and on about the features (digital cameras have an overwhelming number of features and shooting modes), but I fell in love with the look and controls of the Fuji and I think that will be key to me getting the most out of any camera.

Important Lessons

Camera prices are always going down and cameras are often on sale, so when you read about a camera that you think you can’t afford, you might be able to. I used Google Shopping search results and Amazon to get a good idea of prices. A lot of camera reviews take into account the price (e.g. too expensive for what you get). This is annoying since the price has probably changed since the article was written. You’ll probably say the same about my article, too.
Digital cameras used to be constantly getting better by leaps and bounds. This is no longer the case. The technology isn’t growing as fast, and most sensors are great for most people’s need to post online and even make high quality prints, so this allowed me to look at models that were a couple of years old.
Probably to make up for the fact that image quality is good enough for most people, newer cameras are paying attention to perfecting what they have and adding new features. One key newer feature is Wi-Fi built into the camera.
Sensor size isn’t everything. Really think about how you’re going to use the camera.
Touch the cameras if you can, but if you can’t, then watch people on YouTube using them.
There are a lot of great cameras, and you can hardly go wrong, so choose with your heart.

I now have my Fujifilm X-30. After a couple of days of reading the online manual and experimenting with all the features, it already feels like an old friend. I’ll have the best baby pictures on Facebook.

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Photo: Getty Images