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How to choose the right camera for a shoot

You've got an idea for a great shoot and now you're looking at the kinds and formats of cameras available to you. For film cameras your common format choices are: Single-lens reflex, rangefinder camera, and view cameras. Each have special differences from each other such as the size of film it uses and the perspective the lens sees. Below are the steps you can use to decide which of these cameras will work best for the situation you are preparing for. Instructions Difficulty: Moderate Things You'll Need Single-lens Reflex camera View camera Rangefinder camera Steps 1 Step One  Click to enlarge First, what is the required final image quality? If your project will be portraits that demand high image quality, then your best choice is a View camera because it uses large pieces of sheet film which produce large, high quality prints with fine detail. 2 Step Two  Click to enlarge Then ask yourself, At what magnification will the image be viewed? For example, you are going to make a 20 x 24 inch enlargement and display it where people can walk right up to it to check out fine detail. This will require the picture to be originally taken on a camera that uses large pieces of film. Again the view camera is the best choice because the large sheet film it uses (commonly 4x5 or 8x10 inches) produces high quality prints that can be blown-up into large poster sizes without losing much fine detail in the picture. A Single-Lens Reflex camera or Rangefinder can still take a high quality picture, but because it uses a much smaller film the image quality would be significantly affected if you tried to enlarge the picture to a poster size. 3 Step Three  Click to enlarge The next factor to look at is, how much weight can you carry to the subject? If you are going to be taking pictures on a mountain or trail hike chances are you will not want to be carrying around a big 5 pound view camera along with the tripod it needs. On the other hand a Single-Lens Reflex camera or a Rangefinder camera will be the camera you should choose because of its relatively small size and image ability. With the right lenses and filters a SLR camera can produce very high quality prints and provide you with a lot of mobility. 4 Step Four  Click to enlarge Finally, How much time will you have to take the picture? On the sidelines of a sports game or trying to catch birds in flight will require camera that you can easily carry around and set up shots very quickly. Because focusing and adjusting settings are lengthy or tedious on a View camera and Rangefinder you best choice here is a Single-Lens Reflex camera. These are the same cameras you see on the sidelines of football games with those long zoom lenses. Because of its quick adjustments and focusing time they are the best camera to choose for a fast paced subject.