So which camera did I choose, the Pentax K100D or the Canon PowerShot G9?

Neither.

For the last two weeks I’ve been intensely researching my next camera purchase. I’ve analyzed how I use my camera. I’ve compared and contrasted a few cameras that interest me the most. I’ve visited several camera stores to get my hands on some digital SLRs (and their point and shoot competition). I’ve also read countless camera reviews, scoured the camera manufacturers’ websites, and re-educated myself on basic photographic concepts.

In the end I realized there were essentially two things I wanted that my current camera doesn’t have:

• Image stabilization (for lower light shooting indoors)
• Manual aperture and shutter speed settings

And two things I didn’t really want:

• More megapixels
• More weight

Part of the reason I’d actively thought about this for so long was the question of weight. To buy a DSLR means to carry more than a pound of metal and plastic in you hands, or around your neck. When I thought about my photographic style (and the places I like to take pictures), I worried that the weight and heft of the SLR would spoil my mojo. And yet the SLR is such the pinnacle of professional photography. I was having trouble reconciling these perspectives.

Until late last night. I was looking at the sample photos people upload to Amazon for various cameras, and realized no matter what the camera, some people take brilliant, interesting, beautiful photos, and some people take crap. Actually everyone takes crap, myself included, I just wouldn’t upload it to Amazon.

What’s funny is that the quality to crap ratio changes, depending on whether the camera is a point and shoot, or an SLR. I’m not sure how much that’s due to the camera. It would seem that the type of person willing to invest the time and energy to learn how to use an SLR is probably a higher caliber photographer to begin with (read: has a more developed “eye”). Thus their photos are probably going to be more interesting.

But cameras are essentially tools. Different cameras have different strengths and weaknesses. I’m reminded of a project where several professional photographers were asked to shoot a project with a sub-megapixel camera phone. The results were compelling, as is the moral of the story: an artist will create art with a $5 dollar brush or a $5000 brush.

So I decided to get camera that has full manual controls, image stabilization, and only weighs about 50g more than my svelte SD400. Here’s the irony: it’s one of Canon’s entry-level, homely, A-series point and shoots, the A570 IS. Here’s the best part: it only costs $164.