Adding it up – Which would you pick?

I have been obsessing about camera bodies for some time, and the D4 and the D800 have just made things worse.  We have so many great choices today, it is mind boggling!  But that does not help me answer t he question of;   “If you can only own a couple, which two do you own?”  I had and interesting thought this morning and I want to share it with you.

If you were a NASCAR driver and you had a big race coming up, and you owned three cars, which would you drive in the race?  If you were running in a marathon, which of your sets of running shoes would you wear?  If you were going to a very important dinner with your wife, which suit would you wear?   I think the answer in each case would be “your best one”.  So if you are going to make photographs which camera do you use, your best one!

Now there is always the the question of which camera is best for which purpose, but I think we have explored that pretty thoroughly.  ( * A quick note, I work for Nikon, I have always shot Nikons, even before I took a job with them, so I only talk about Nikon in my blog, that is not meaning any disrespect to Canon, Olympus, Pentax, Sony, Samsung, Leica, etc etc  I just don’t know those other camera systems anything like as much as i know Nikon.)  Back to my thought, If you shoot sports and do photojournalism a D3s or D4 are the best choice for you.  For all the rest of us, we have a multitude of choices.

If I go out to make a photograph, I have one goal in mind, make the best photograph I can!  Since I mostly do, landscape, nature, close-up, fine art, Americana, and travel work, I don’t really need the speed of a D4.  I am most interested in image quality; sharpness, resolution, color quality, and to a lesser degree, low light ability.  Based on that standard, as of today, one camera best meets those needs, the D800.  Having said that, new cameras are alway being released, (that’s why I said today!)  Who knows what the future will bring, interesting things I’m sure, but for right  now I think the D800 is my ultimate FX camera.  The top of the line DX camera from Nikon is the D7000 and I love that little camera, it is an exceptional camera, and for the money, a real value.

I have long suggested to serious photographers that shoot Nikon that they should own both a FX and a DX camera.  It makes perfect sense to stretch the utility of your lenses.  So without any further confusing developments, I think my two body system will be the D800 and the D7000 ( at least for today!!!!!)

O.K.  Just for fun I will publish several photos below (all HDR shots from Old Car City and one not!), try to figure out what camera they were taken with, I  will reveal the answers Monday!

Good luck!