Photography is one of the great crafts and it has never been easier than now in the digital age.

Which, then, is the best type of camera for the ardent crafter who uses photography as an art or as part of another craft?

As an experiment, I embarked on a Photowalk with three digital cameras to discover which would be the most useful, and in which circumstances.

The cameras are, from left to right in the picture:

1. Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ8 — a DSLR
2. Advent MP8 — a compact.
3. Panasonic SDR S7 — an SD camcorder.

Two still cameras and a movie cam.

Conclusion
As expected, I used the movie camera the most. There was just too much movement and activity for static shots.

However, when confronted with a fine view, the DSLR came out and a staged shot was taken. Even so, these were all hand-held. Pulling out my tripod would have involved too much effort and made me too conspicuous.

Where a fairly static scene was involved, but with something interesting going on, I reached automatically for the compact.

So, predictably the ratio was 3:2:1 for video, DSLR, compact.

Does that tell me anything about my usage and preferences? Probably not, except that I’ll make sure I carry the videocam everywhere from now on.