The Condition of Digital Photography in early-2008
There have been significant improvements in digital photography in 2007. Cameras in the 8 Megapixel range are becoming common and the price of the memory cards has plummeted. The printers have gotten so good that they now can compete on an even turf in quality with conventional prints and almost anyone can get better results with digital darkrooms that with conventional chemical photography. You still pay more for quality digital equipment but their's no reason to invest in film equipment for any typical application.
Cameras
The biggest competitors are the Nikon and Canon SLR cameras. They have excellent lenses, a variety of flash capabilities and huge memory capabilities and the feel and convenience features that pros and upscale consumers need.
They've improved the pixel count, to the 6-10 Megapixel range. These will, respectively, make excellent 8X10 and 11X17 prints..
Sensor Size?
In a word: "size matters." It's not just the pixel count but also the physical size of the image sensor. The expensive cameras have bigger targets and have a LOT better shadow detail. It's low-light that causes some 8 megapixel point-and-shoot cameras to perform more poorly than a 3 megapixel.
The pro cameras have HUGE sensors by comparison and are dazzling.
One or two have a sensor the size of a 35mm film frame. Nikon has finally, almost reluctantly, come out with a full frame DSLR to match Canon's offerings. Most of the SLRs still just give you the middle of the image. This smaller image size is called APS size, (named after a smaller film size that was promoted by Kodak for several years but never really caught on). These cameras will usually take the lenses of their bigger (and much more expensive) older brothers in the Canon and Nikon line but the picures will be the middle of the image. A 50mm lens acts like an 85mm lens in terms of magnification.
Lens Quality
There are a few really good lenses out there for smaller sensor digital SLR cameras, but there is a slow progression toward full sized sensors. This is driven by the pro's who can afford them at any cost. So the best lenses are made for the full size sensor cameras. The small sensor cameras can also use these lenses, so there is, perhaps an attempt to upgrade enthusiasts to more expensive equipment.
The full size sensor cameras definitely make pictures sharper and better than their 35mm equivalents.
The pictures I take with my Canon 20D with an 8.2 megapixel sensor are better than anything I was able to do with film.
Flash
Lately more of the simple digital cameras out there will take an external flash. Often even for snapshots of the family I'll use an external flash. I wouldn't DREAM of doing an event or a wedding with the on-camera flash. It would be like using a hatchback to make UPS deliveries. It MAY work some of the time, but it's not even CLOSE, most of the time.
I recently used a Canon 580EX flash for some wedding work and was overjoyed with the natural lighting effects it produced.
Currently the competition is between the Canon 40D with the Nikon 300D. The Canon uses the 10.1 MP sensor and the Nikon uses a 12 MP sensor. But it's a real horse race to make improvements in price and performance.
Canon still produces a few expensive APS size lenses, but my opinion is that they will put most of their effort into lenses for full size sensors. The pros seem to be able to afford these much more expensive cameras and lenses.
