It is getting to be the holiday season and I have been getting a lot of questions from friends and clients about purchasing a camera.  Many people purchase cameras this time of year as gifts or for recording their own family memories.  They often ask my opinion as a professional about what camera they should buy.  I have put together a list of a few of my favorites:

Favorite Point and Shoot Camera under $200:            

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ4 Digital Camera – This camera is remarkable in many ways.  It has a compact, stylish body that is small and easy to carry. The camera’s 8.1 effective megapixels of resolution means that you can make larger prints of your favorite images. Best of all, the camera has a Leica brand lens.  Leica lenses are typically only found on more expensive cameras.  These lenses are incredibly sharp and well made (equivalent to 28 - 280mm on a 35mm film camera). This versatile camera is well suited to a broad range of shooting opportunities both close up and wide angle.

Favorite SLR Camera under $500:      

The Nikon D40 Interchangeable-lens Digital SLR – This camera boasts handling and performance advantages that do away with the frustrations often associated with compact digital cameras. For consistently crisp, clear and better images SLR cameras are the way to go.  It features a high-resolution 6.1-effective-megapixel Nikon DX Format CCD image sensor and a highly advanced Nikon Image Processing Engine. Furthermore, Nikon’s exclusive 3D Color Matrix Metering II assures accurate exposure control even in difficult lighting conditions, and an AUTO ISO feature makes the most of available light by automatically setting the camera’s light sensitivity from the available ISO range of 200 to 1600.

This camera comes equipped with a specially designed 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor lens.  Because it is a SLR camera you can change out the lenses and upgrade as you become more interested in photography.  The D40 is light and compact, making it easy to carry anywhere. The camera’s design also incorporates fewer potentially confusing controls then other SLR cameras, allowing those who are not professionals to still take great photos.

I hope you find these tips helpful.  Remember that the most important camera tip is to relax and have fun taking your photos regardless of your equipment!

Jennifer and Nick were married at the Sundial Beach and Golf Resort located on Sanibel Island, Florida. It actually started to rain during the ceremony, but the ceremony continued with the use of large golf umbrellas!

Jennifer and Adam were married at the South Seas Resort on Captiva Island, Florida. We brought along our new fisheye lens for some fun shots!

Nicole and Erin were married at the South Seas Resort on Captiva Island. The couple had their ceremony on Sunset Beach and their reception at King’s Crown.

The great thing about pictures at Sunset Beach is you can have the gulf and the beach as your background as well as the golf course and palm trees as well.

The groom actually went face first into their wedding cake!

Brandi and Todd were married at the Hideaway Beach Club on Marco Island. This is a great venue to photograph at…it seems to always have the most beautiful striking blue skies!

The reception theme was blue and brown with a lovely cake and a candy table!

Amy and Adam were married at the Bonnie Castle Resort on St. Lawrence Seaway in New York. This historic resort was situated on a peninsula with islands surrounding it. The resort is owned by the groom’s grandfather!

It was fun walking all over the property for pictures of the bride and groom!

The reception was beautiful decorated in brown and pink.

Chris and Travis were married at the luxurious Marco Beach Ocean Resort located on Marco Island.

Besides the picturesque beach, the Marco Beach Ocean Resort has many other great locations for taking pictures. Here are some of our favorites from their wedding.

The bride and groom having their special moment…

Nicole and Arthur were married at the breathtaking beach resort, the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. These images show just a few of the many beautiful locations at the Ritz-Carlton for photographs…

Laura and Matt were married at Grandezza Country Club located in Estero, Florida on July 26, 2008.

Here are some of our favorite getting ready photos…

At the ceremony, the reserved seats had these “reserved” seating cards…

Grandezza has wonderful spots for pictures both inside and outside. Here is a picture of the bride inside the entranceway at Grandezza.

Here are a few pictures from the reception. The guests and the wedding party were all having a great time!

The past couple of weeks we have had a bunch of babies and toddlers in our studio for portraits! It has been so much fun using all of our new backgrounds!