The Value Of A High Priced Camera

I often have difficulty describing to others who may not think about photography most of their waking and sleeping hours what makes an expensive professional type of camera worth the money.

The Canon 1D Mark 4 is a $5,000 camera body, that's without a lens. The last time I bought a camera body with a lens on it was several years ago when I bought my Canon EOS Rebel XTi with an 18-55mm kit lens. I still have and use that camera but the Canon EOS 5D and 5D Mark 2 were purchased as bodies. I have a selection of lenses that I've purchased to do the kind of work I'm in to now.

So the question comes up, "What could make a camera worth the thousands of dollars you folks pay when my camera has the same stuff on it." Well, not quite the exactly same stuff.

The 1D Mark 4, for instance, has a 16mp sensor. That's less than my 5D Mark 2's 21 mp sensor but that's plenty for the shooting typically done with the 1D Mark 4. This is a very weather and dust resistant body; very valuable to a professional who's shooting in whatever condition present at the event.

I'm a Canon shooter so I can relate to Canon products and I'm going to use quotes from photographers which were included in a recent press release from Canon headquarters to show you how the advanced focusing features of the Canon 1D Mark 4 make it worth the investment to someone who's trying to make a living shooting photographs.

“Ever since I’ve been shooting with it, I find that I’m able to get entire sequences of sharp images instead of just individual frames. That’s a huge improvement,” remarked Tom Hauck, of Tom Hauck Photography, who photographed the Super Bowl on assignment for ESPN the Magazine. “The autofocus and tracking are razor sharp. After the NFL Wildcard Playoff game I was submitting 10 to 12 shot sequences all in crisp focus.”

Rapidly changing autofocus and autofocus servo which continues to refocus on a moving subject are present on many cameras but really refined on the more expensive ones.

Turns out Tom Hauck was shooting right at Tracy Porter when he made that wonderful interception:

“I was in the end zone using a 500mm lens on the Mark IV for the game defining interception and I aimed at the cornerback and started firing as he jumped the route. Once the camera locked on, he remained in focus as he ran the full 70 yards to the end zone. Even as other players came horizontally into frame in an attempt to tackle him, the camera never lost focus. When he cut back, breaking free and getting closer, I rotated the camera from horizontal to vertical without taking my hand off the shutter and even the shots taken while turning the camera remained tack-sharp. I don’t believe I have ever fired a consistent 68 shot burst of a single play like that before and produced so many perfectly focused shots.”

Ronald Martinez, staff photographer, Getty Images, had similar sentiments: “The AF tracking is excellent in all the lighting conditions I’ve experienced, ranging from football and basketball to hockey and press conferences. The 1D Mark IV camera’s AF system grabs the subject very quickly and stays with it. It’s been very dependable.”

You and I may think it would be a thrill just to be on the sidelines taking photographs at a big game but these guys only get paid if they turn in great photographs. For them the investment in a great camera body is pretty much mandatory. As I've said so many times before, unless you plan to make fine art photography, there's no need for the average shooter to invest more than $600-$700 in a camera and probably less.