When I first made the switch into high end digital photography, I agonized about what camera to buy. I had already been using digital for a few years, but I was having my 35mm slides scanned and used a compact P&S for non pro snapshot stuff. Moving into Digital SLR territory was a big step for me. I was waiting for digital SLR quality to match my Kodachomes at a reasonable (less than a car) price.
I stayed within the brand I normally used and got the most bang for my buck with a 10MP new model from a major brand. I learned all about RAW files and tried out several different post processing programs before settling on two that best suited me. Did some weddings and other events, sold photos online, branched out into specialty products sold thru craft shows... Basically, it was a good move for me.
Fast forward almost 6 years to 2013. Things had steadily been improving in DSLRs all across the brands. But, I wasn't seeing a quantum leap forward like the one that moved me to jump in to DSLRs in the first place.
Until now. Reasonably priced units, full frame and APS-C, with ultra high megapixel counts were flooding the marketplace. I shopped until I found a factory refurbished model of one of the newest cameras. That way, the camera had been out long enough to have any BIOS bugs worked out, I got to read in depth, real world reviews, and i saved a lot of money. Since I purchased thru a retailer's rewards program, I got a full year warranty, too.
Once I got my new camera, I realised something else. I needed to upgrade more than just the camera. My older programs weren't reading the new RAW files my camera was making, so I had to get the newest versions of those, too. Good thing I saved money on the refurb!
With the bigger image files (more than twice as big), I gained a huge amount of detail and usable data in RAW. My working files were over 100MB in some cases. This slows down the processing speed as well. On some computers, you might not notice too much. My computer had already been updated, so that wasn't too big a deal for me. Even when I compress files down from TIFFs to JPEGs to use with certain online printing services, my files are very large. Storage devices fill up twice as fast, as well.
Also, of the two places I use to print from uncompressed TIFFs, one of them couldn't upload the new files sizes. The other one does, tho, so I'm not left out.
The benefits are totally worth it, tho. The amount of real detail I have to work with my photo files allows me to be even more creative. Things I found work-arounds for before, I could now simply use my existing files for. And the new programs are so much easier to work with. I can make my photo files be anything I want. From soft effects, realistic color enhancements, natural looking HDR, perfect panoramas, etc...
Also, I gained a zoom in capability (more or less), having so much detail to use with severe cropping.
Bottom line is: now is a great time to get a new DSLR. They are awesome. From entry level, prosumer, to super Pro, any of the major brands and cameras are great choices. Expand your creativity, expand your business, expand your photographic enjoyment.
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