Professional Digital SLRs

Expensive cameras for professional photographers

Pro-level digital SLRs (priced over $2,000) offer some advantages over less expensive cameras. Their full-frame sensors enjoy a full-sized field of view; the smaller the sensor, the more it will crop out of your shot. Full-frame sensors can also deliver sharp prints at bigger sizes (smaller sensors top out at about 13-by-19-inch prints) and clearer low-light images. Pro cameras are also designed to take more abuse, with full-metal bodies and more extensive dust and water seals.

Different pro-level digital SLRs boast different strengths. Some can shoot practically in the dark. Others can shoot extremely fast -- as many as 9 frames per second (fps) -- which can be essential if you photograph sports for a living. Still others offer twice the resolution of a normal camera (up to 24.6 megapixels), so you can crop the tiniest detail from a photo or crank out an enormous landscape print without losing sharpness. The very best pro digital SLRs can do most -- or all -- of these things.

Under-$3,000 pro  digital SLRs

Pro-quality digital SLRs were once so astronomically priced that only pro photographers could afford them -- and so bulky and heavy that nobody else would want to haul one around. But now, camera companies are building digital SLRs with full-frame sensors, full professional controls and pro-quality images, but with relatively compact bodies and compact prices (under $3,000).

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II (*Est. $2,090 body only) offers higher resolution than even some pricier cameras (21.1 megapixels), and it's the only full-frame digital SLR that can shoot full 1080p HD video, making it the experts' top pick in this category.

Shooting video with any still camera has its limitations, and testers say the Canon EOS 5D Mark II suffers from its share. If you pan too quickly, you might see skewed vertical lines in your footage caused by the camera's "rolling shutter" style of shooting the image. Autofocus is available in movie mode, DPReview.com says, but it's too slow and loud (the autofocus sound shows up on your video) to really be useful. And you can only shoot about 12 minutes' worth of full HD video at a time.

"Nonetheless, the camera produces beautiful video footage," says PopPhoto.com's review of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Perhaps more important is the Canon's still-photo prowess: It delivers "low-light shooting like you've never seen before," with outstanding results from 50 to 6400 ISO, and it offers twice the resolution of its closest rival, the Nikon D700 (Discontinued).

"Put simply, in our tests, even at its worst, the resolution of the Canon beats the Nikon's best," says PopPhoto.com in its comparison of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Nikon D700. "That's the power of 21.1 versus 12.1 MP." 

The Nikon D700 outshines the Canon EOS 5D Mark II in one way, though: speed. It can fire off 5 fps (8 fps with a $260 optional battery pack) versus the Canon's 3.9 fps. The Nikon's low-light image quality matches or beats the Canon's in tests, and it also has a built-in flash which the Canon lacks. The Nikon can't shoot video at all, but experts still recommend it nearly as often as the Canon, and both cameras earn a spot on the "Best 5 DSLRs" list at the U.K.'s WhatDigitalCamera.com. "I defy anyone to use the D700 and not be impressed by its ability to pop out perfectly exposed images in poor lighting conditions or by the amount of detail that it's clearly capable of recording," WhatDigitalCamera.com's Karen Sheard writes. "It's both an engineering masterpiece and a photographer's dream."

The Sony A900, despite offering the highest resolution available on any 35 mm format camera (24.6 megapixels), isn't recommended nearly as often as its Nikon and Canon rivals. The Sony can't quite match their low-light performance or color accuracy in tests, and reviews note that people who have already invested in several Nikon or Canon lenses won't want to switch brands. And like the Nikon D700, the Sony can't shoot video.

Top-of-the-line digital SLRs

Unless you earn your living through certain kinds of photography, experts say these super-expensive cameras are probably overkill. In fact, even if money is no object, these bulky, heavy cameras can be tiring to use without a tripod -- and hard to transport without attracting thieves.

But professional photographers in demanding situations may need a digital SLR with special features and a heavy-duty build. For example, these cameras have shutters designed to last through 300,000 shots, versus about 150,000 for the lower-priced pro DLSRs discussed above. Nikon offers two choices here: the super-high-resolution Nikon D3X (*Est. $8,000 body only) and the fast-shooting Nikon D3S (*Est. $5,200 body only). Of the two, experts more often recommend the D3S, but they say the choice really depends on what kind of photography you do.

The Nikon D3S is designed more for rapid-fire and low-light photography -- for example, for daily newspaper photographers shooting sports by day and spot news by night. For that kind of photography, testers say the Nikon D3S is the best camera money can buy.

"The D3S is unquestionably prime for sports, photojournalism, wedding, and fashion photographers," says George Schaub at Shutterbug. It's "a brute of a camera that seems to adapt to any shooting or lighting conditions with ease."

The D3S can do two major things the pricier Nikon D3X can't: It shoots at twice the speed (9 fps) and has twice the ISO range for low light (ISO 102,400). That means the D3S can shoot practically in the dark, capturing details the naked eye can't see. In exacting tests at DPReview.com, the D3S actually delivers detailed, color-accurate images at and above ISO 12,800 -- "itself unthinkably high only a couple of years ago" -- and if you do careful processing, testers say you can get grainy but otherwise good results even at ISO 102,400. Various sources post beautiful available-light photos shot outside after dark, inside dim museums, etc., to prove it. The D3S can also shoot 720p HD video at lower light levels than any camcorder.

The Nikon D3X, on the other hand, is built more for portrait and landscape photographers. It lacks the D3S's speed and low-light prowess, and it can't shoot video at all. But the D3X does boast an extremely high-resolution sensor (24.5 megapixels, versus 12.1 for the D3S), and it shows in tests. Imaging-Resource.com calls the D3X "the ultimate picture-taking machine, with the highest image quality we've ever measured." Still, reviews say you won't notice too much difference unless you're cropping tiny details out of your photos, or printing them several feet wide. The more versatile (and less astronomically priced) D3S's images still look stunning, and our sources recommend it twice as often as the D3X.

Canon offers two comparable top-of-the-line digital SLR cameras -- the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III (*Est. $7,000 body only) and Canon EOS-1D Mark IV (*Est. $4,600 body only) -- but the latter, less expensive version gets more recommendations from experts. It competes against the Nikon D3S, with a fast 10 fps shooting speed and low-light shooting up to (technically) 102,400 ISO. But testers say that although the Canon beats almost every other digital SLR camera on the market in low light, it can't quite match the Nikon D3S at those extremely high ISOs. The Canon does offer higher resolution (16.1 megapixels) and full 1080p HD video, but the Nikon still beats the Canon in well-designed side-by-side shooting and print tests at EPhotoZine.com and PhotographyBay.com, and experts recommend the Nikon more than twice as often.