Cameras

Photographers say the best camera is the one you have with you - and they're right!  Some people will try to tell you that you have to have the best camera and the most expensive lenses if you want to take good pictures.  Hogwash!  While those things will offer you more flexibility under which conditions you can capture good quality images, they are hardly required, and utterly useless if they get left at home.  Fancy DSLR?  Nice, but bulky, you're not likely to take it with you unless you plan on shooting.  Point & Shoot?  Less flexible, but convenient to slip into  pocket or purse, more likely to be with you when that special moment happens.  Camera phone?  Likely to be with you virtually all of the time.

The image above was shot on my Sony DSC-W1, a 5.1 megapixel point & shoot from circa 2003.  It was a higher-end camera at the time I bought it, and I researched for a few weeks before making my purchase.  I liked the large (at the time) 2.5" LCD viewscreen and the quality Carl Zeiss lens.  I also liked that it used AA-size batteries - important in a pinch when your batteries are dead and you want to shoot something.  This image has been tweaked for color and lighting, and has been resized, so it's hard to tell just how decent an image it really was.  It's sharp, relatively well-exposed and even. 

There have been times when I didn't have a camera with me.  What to do?  I did what many people now do - I took out my cell phone and used the built-in camera, a 1.3 megapixel job.  It's notably inferior to my old Sony, but it has the benefit of virtually always being where I am.  I may later regret not having a better camera with me, but at the time I just do the best I can to get a decent exposure, good framing, etc.  With fixed focus and no flash, it's rather limited.  But it can capture an image when nothing else is available.

So you can see that having the biggest and best isn't a necessity, but having something with you is.  And learn how to get the most out of any equipment you have, it will help you catch that moment of inspiration which would otherwise have been just a memory.