There is no one "best" camera for everyone. The F5 is generally considered to be one of the best cameras around in terms of auto focus speed and auto exposure accuracy. But I wouldn't recommend it for most people. It's big, heavy and chock full of complicated controls. This is a camera for dedicated pros. These guys actually like the weight, to balance their large aperture telephotos.
For pure image quality, the photography magazines seem to agree that the Leica M series rangefinders have the best lenses in the world. But I wouldn't recommend them either. Horribly expensive, not WYSIWYG, and having a limited telephoto lens range. Only for people who want the very best quality, and don't use lenses longer than 135mm.
What do I use? An FM2. It's a twenty year old design, moderately heavy, and fully manual. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone either. But I would to most. If you like manual shift cars, you'll love the FM2. In this article I will try to explain why I use an FM2. Not just to persuade you to get one too, but also to illustrate the many subjective points that enter into using and choosing a camera. So that you will be better prepared to identify your own needs and match them to an appropriate camera model.
The most important thing to do is to try out the camera before buying it. Different people have different priorities and it's not possible to make a good decision after a few minutes in a camera shop. You shouldn't choose cameras just by comparing their features. Feature list comparisons can be pretty meaningless. Just ask the other guys in the office how many of their camera features they never use. Chances are that you won't use most of them either. The trick is to find out which, before you plonk down your NETS card.
Ideally, you would use the camera a few times, over a few months or years while you develop your own shooting style. Only then can you be certain of what features are important to you and what features are irrelevant. If you're lucky you'll have a friend or relative that won't mind lending you their camera for you to learn on.
I believe in full auto or full manual.
The alternative - user-modified auto i.e. locks and compensation can be a real pain. In a worst case scenario, you could end up using auto exposure with
Perhaps fully manual exposure doesn't sound that troublesome after all. I actually find it simpler for a few reasons:
As for auto focus, it can also be more difficult to use than manual focus because of the focus lock (for off-centre subjects, oops, another finger) and focus override - required in case the camera can't focus (due to dim light or a blank featureless subject).
Of course, auto isn't always that bad and does work most of the time. I'm talking worst case. Just to show that auto is not without problems. Ask people with auto SLRs how often they've been stumped when the camera locks up and refuses to shoot and they can't figure out why.
Ideally, you would use full auto whenever possible, switching to manual when you start to think about locking and compensating - off-centre subjects, very light or dark coloured subjects; low light, high contrast, back lit conditions.
Problem is that I did try this and ended up thinking I was still on auto after I had switched to manual and lost a few important shots. Now I'm Fully Manual (FM). Makes life simpler.
With practice, I can now set the exposure and focus manually in 5 to 10 seconds under most conditions. No kidding. I have missed a few shots due to my slow reaction time but on balance I'll still stick with manual.
Hence the fully manual, fully mechanical FM2. Reputedly the backup camera of choice for pros, even those using other brands. Not just because it's good, but also because it's the only major (i.e. full lens range, which unfortunately leaves out the very capable FX3) mechanical camera still in production. Even the classic K1000 has been discontinued. Oh and there's also the new FM10.
Batteries are needed only for the light meter. If the batteries die on you, the rest of the camera still works. You can always estimate the exposure and bracket.
No motor means low noise (though the shutter is loud) and a green rate of battery consumption (two button cells should last years). Mechanical operation means simplicity - no locks or compensation or twenty features and modes to turn on and off. You only need to flip through the slim user guide once. Put the FM2 aside for a year and you can still come back to it with confidence.
I also don't believe in flash. I find the light harsh, uneven, artificial, and unnecessary. Which fits in nicely with the FM2 because flash is best done automatically - bounce and TTL flash and all that - which the FM2 can't handle.
Use the flash money to buy a 50mm f1.4 fast lens instead. Or a 35mm f2 or even f1.4 if you can afford it. With these lenses and ISO 400 film, you shouldn't need a flash. Oh, but you'll need colour correction filters for fluorescent and tungsten light. Don't worry, it's pretty straightforward.
Here are some features that are not important to me. Others will disagree. We all have our own ways of doing things. So here goes:
And here are features that are nice to have, but I wouldn't miss much
What is important to me is
In the end, it's the lens that determines the type and quality of the pictures that you take. Despite the many variations, camera bodies aren't all that different. Differences are mainly in reaction speed and ease of use. Critical for a sports photographer or photo journalist, but not for you and me.
However, there's a huge difference between a 35mm f1.4 lens and a 28mm-85mm f4-f5.6 zoom and a 135mm f2. And this difference can be seen in the final photograph. This is why hard core photo nuts spend more on their lenses (even on a single lens) than on their cameras. Casual users do the opposite. Some might even argue that you should decide on what lenses you require and then choose a camera that can fit these lenses.
So go and borrow a camera, shoot a few rolls of film, and have fun. Whatever camera you decide to buy in the end won't matter that much anyway. Like the people on a camera mailing list I used to belong to like to say, It's the glass that matters.
Other factors such as the type of film used (Ektar 25 is supposed to be virtually grainless, Velvia is popular for its bright colours) and whether or not you bother to use a tripod (Viboon will now try to tell you about Image Stabilised lenses), all have a larger impact on picture quality than the camera body.
Of course we're talking about technical quality here, not content. And content is ultimately the most important of all ...