Favorite photogear

Please post in comments what are your camera system preferences and why.

I have chosen Canon, and i wasn't well planned, haven't done lot of research, but i am so happy now that i have made right choice. After years, when i started working in camera shop and i had opportunity to check and compare different systems , i realized how good choice i have made. There are lots of people arguing about which system is better over the other, but empty words does not mean anything.

Canon is the best brand overall, most affordable, not overpriced, then nikon, where quality is not the same, especially on entry level models, high end models are relatively good, but i would never sacrifice myself to work with it as a pro just to pretend how good it is after realizing it is not as brilliant as you could get for the same money from canon. They are still good cameras, but require a lot of patience to achieve desired effect, and i hate its color reproduction, it always need adjusting, as few people i worked with, showed of their best, which was really disappointing (or i am just not used to it?).

Then move on on to Sony Alpha series. They ok for amateur who does not want to go any further into photography, because they cheap. Sony is powerful corporation, they can afford a lot of things, buy new technologies, because they almost never manufacture their own. Pro range from sony is bit disappointing in low light, though is good only in studio, where you can use your own lighting to achieve good results. I dislike build quality, and hate hot-shoe. Disaster for event photographer. One piece of plastic attached onto the other.

Then other brands, like Samsung and Pentax, total disappointment, its completely piece of rubbish, the quality is terrible, i would have to spend half of day trying to bring it back to some standards in photoshop. Sensor its like from mobile phone, and screens they are using from past century, terrible color reproduction, brightness, resolution and viewing angle. Only thing is acceptable its build quality. Not most important for taking good shots.

Olympus, it tend to scale things down, and many people thing "such a great idea, why to have big bulky camera?" but then you are going back to compact camera. Again. Miniaturized optics, maximum quality? No thanks. Doesn't really work. Why is that you can better photos (forget photographer) using lager sensor camera? In this case bigger is better, almost always. Tried to achieve medium format camera effect using your ipod nano? Failed? If you want better small compact camera you are better off buying bridge camera which gives good zoom (i know, quality is not the same like on primes, but) that does not cost as much as proper DSLR. And you do not need to spend money for tiny toy lenses, which cost still quite a lot. And the same applies to their micro 4/3 as well as to  Panasonic.

Yes. Panasonic. That is complete waste of money. I don't know how in other countries, but where i used to live in europe there a lot of Panasonic adverts in cinemas or on tv, and people wants them because they are shown as good cameras. That is power of advertising and it works very well. But i hate that lumix G1, micro 4/3 DSLR camera. No, its not.
From Wikipedia:
"A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that uses a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder on the back of the camera."
Where neither Olympus or Panasonic have. But the prices are high. Because there is market for that. Lucky them. I would spend half of that price on high end fuji camera or get canon powershot G11 instead.
And other brands, Sigma, and their foveon sensor seemed as nice alternative didn't make it, or Fuji, based on Nikon cameras, all well good, with Nikon hard shell and Fuji internals. Attractive alternative but limited market.


Conlusion


One of my friends stated, if the company is not well developed, it will struggle to get potential buyers, and to research new technologies, or to buy them, will need a lot of money, so usually they final product will be more expensive to compensate that. With big brands, that sell loads of their products, they can lower production cost because they sell larger quantities of their products, and therefore will make enough money for further improvements, and technologies. They cheaper because they are popular,  and at some point they may deliver better product at lower cost than competitors. That what canon does. Nikon is lower in ranking, and they are not as good value for money, and 3rd Sony is catching up selling larger quantities of their cheaper products, because they can afford it, too.
More popular system you choose, cheaper will it be to maintain, more choice with second hand stuff, 3rd party accessories, and servicing. Choose wisely as it will most probably last for your entire career, and that is up to you if you will struggle, or struggle more.
Comment what you think.