When I was in high school my parents bought me a Minolta 35mm Camera. I loved that camera and even after I went digital, I had the camera still in my drawers as a reminder of where it all began; I finally did dispose of it when I moved to California.

In 2002 I borrowed a friends digital camera, I was hooked. I hadn’t shot in years and digital seemed why I waited. No more getting film developed. Having to make sure you had enough roles of film before heading on a trip. I rediscovered the love of photography.

The camera was the Olympus E-10 with a fixed lens. I loved that camera. It’s the camera I used for my trips to Alaska and first trip to Italy. It had a zoom attachment you would screw onto the fixed lens. I really wanted to stay with Olympus, but they were really slow to push out updated cameras and back in 2002 digital cameras were being pushed out to the market at an alarming rate. there were some real lemons; I eventually settled in on Nikon and glad I did.

Bodies

• Olympus E-10

• Olympus E-1

• Canon 10D

• Mamiya Medium Format (purchased for a photo class)

• Nikon D200

• Nikon D3

• Nikon D4

• Nikon Z7ii

• Nikon Z9

Lenses

• Nikko Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S

• Nikkor Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S

• Nikkor Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR

• AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/5.6 FF

• AF-S Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 ED FF

• AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 ED FF

• Mount Adapter FTZ II

Software

Today I use Exposure X7. I use to use Adobe Lightroom, but when they went to the subscription model and forcing you to store your images on their cloud, I wanted a stand-alone solution I researched my options and Exposure is where I landed. I’ve been using it for several years and so far, I’ve only had one problem and that was a conflict with an updates to my MAC. I reached out to the company and they had a fix. I think the fix makes the software a bit slower, but as the image files get larger I am not sure what is causing it, but I am happy with it for sure.

If you’re looking to upgrade from your iPhone/Android as you camera, then do a little research. Figure out what your needs are because switching from brands can be expensive. Today with mirrorless cameras, switching from DSLRs to mirrorless can be expensive too due to the new lens lines specific for those cameras. There are adapters so your old DSLR lens will work with the mirrorless, but there is no question having the native lenses will be so much better.

You can checkout dpreview for camera reviews or, just phone a friend. There are some really good camera kits to help you get started which offer a body and a lens, usually not the top of the line lens, but will be sufficient to get you started.

What are the differences between an DSLR and Mirrorless digital camera? Well, I’ll give you my explanation, but remember I haven’t done extensive research into this question.

DSLR works like the old SLR film cameras. When digital hit the market, makers took their film cameras and just adapted for the digital components. It uses the mirror to reflect light from the lens into the optical viewfinder. When you click the shutter, the mirror flips up to capture the image to the card instead of film. The bodies are larger than the mirrorless due to accommodating the mirror and components. Some of the newer DSLRs started to include video, but you would have to go into the menu and select to flip the mirror in a permanent up position.

Mirrorless doesn’t have the mirror. It uses a digital sensor to capture light and sends this live preview of the image to the electronic viewfinder. When you click the shutter, it just captures the image, no flipping of the mirror. The camera bodies tend to be smaller, which is good for some. To me, the mirrorless feel like a camera made truly for digital, not just adapting a film camera. Mirrorless have also included video as a key feature, not just an after thought. They saw the trend of videographers using DSLRs for video and now floggers, the mirrorless have filled a gap that was needed.

What ever camera you get, just go shoot and enjoy. Today’s digital cameras are pretty high quality. People get caught up in megapixels, but remember the larger the file the more space you’ll need to store the pictures and unless you’re going to blow you pictures up huge, then a camera with 20mp will do you well.