My new camera hasn’t yet arrived (Update: it just arrived!), and I’m already thinking about my next camera. I guess that’s what I get for choosing super saver shipping and it actually taking up to 9 days. Idle hands makes my mind wonder.

Why? Well, there was a paragraph in A camera is only a tool that I never got around to writing once I’d finally decided on the Canon A570 IS. In my head, it went something like this:

Other than weight, the number one bummer of the current crop of affordable digital SLRs is their field of view crop factor. Because their APS-C-sized sensor is smaller than a standard 35mm negative, the corresponding view through the lens gets cropped. This has a number of disadvantages, for one it makes every lens less “wide” (or more “telephoto”)—and in doing so, it wastes weight and glass. It’s also a bit of a challenge to match up a decent prime lens with the desired field of view and aperture, given the crop factor, without having to sell the farm.

The obvious solution? Get a digital SLR with a full frame, “35mm” sensor. Apparently making a flawless 24×36mm hunk of CCD/CMOS is neither easy nor cheap. And so the most portable and affordable SLR with a full frame sensor, the Canon 5D, costs a sweet two grand. This is A Lot Of Money™. The body alone weighs 895g. Hence, the big dog.

But at least with a full frame sensor, I can buy a 50mm f1.4 normal lens and not have it transformed into a semi-telephoto 80mm on the Digital Rebel. Same goes for the 28mm f1.8, a nice wide-angle perspective that would be transformed into a non-wide 45mm field of view.

I dunno, I think I’m finally coming around to Jonathan’s advice: different cameras for different situations. The A570 IS when portability is key or when I’m worried about possible camera causalities, and something like the Canon 5D (or its love-child with the new 40D) in safer scenarios and indoors.

Now I just need to find my photographic benefactor.