One of the most frequent photography-related questions I get is, “Which camera should I buy?” Given the sheer volume of digital camera models being introduced every year, and the mega-hype associated with every trivial feature, it’s not surprising people have a hard time choosing a camera model. When I get asked this question, I usually run down a quick checklist of questions (budget? SLR or P&S? etc.) with the person, and then make one or two recommendations based on my experience.

Apparently, the bloggers at Make The Photo get asked the same question a lot too, because they’ve put together a flowchart with the same type of questions I normally ask, along with their own recommendations for each category of photographer. Their flowchart is available at http://www.makethephoto.com/how-to-choose-a-digital-camera/.

I love this flow chart for several reasons:

1. It uses roughly the same questions as I use, in the same order, so it matches how I decide which camera to recommend.
2. It recommends the same cameras as I would in most situations.
3. The flow chart is regularly updated as new cameras are introduced. The last update was a few days ago, when they added the newly-announced Canon T2i.

In other words, if you use this flow chart, you’ll get the same recommendations as if you’d asked me directly, assuming I was able to keep up with every new camera announcement. From now on, when someone asks me for a camera recommendation, I’ll first point them to the flow chart, and, if they have any questions, I can answer them. Yay for the Internet!