best camera?

What a question! I have used TLR, rangefinder, half-frame, large format technical and view cameras, fixed focus and box cameras.... It is easier to say what I hated than which was best. Here's my short faves list for some of the kinds: Large format: Linhof Technica because you could actually carry it about and set up really quickly I enjoyed using the Rollei and Yashika twin lens reflex cameras, but I never mastered the reverse motion for tracking, and I could never afford a pentaprism viewfinder, so I used the sportsfinder instead. That long, smooth throw of the Rollei winder is an enduring joy. Amongst 35mm rangefinders, I have to put my old Yashica Lynx with it's f/1.4 lens on the list and the first 35mm camera I ever owned, a Fuji PET 35. No rengefinder, all manual settings, no exposure meter, a shutter that had to be cocked manually before each shot - I loved it! 35mm SLRs... the Nikon F stunned me with what it could do and how fast it was; then the Pentax spotmatic won my heart; but what I laid out the money for was the Exacta Varex IIa. I still have it 50 years later, and it still works, and it is still the best camera I have ever owned. My favourite digital compact: the Panasonic FZ with the Leica lens (I never enjoyed using Leica cameras...they always felt so industrial) but it looks close to losing that title to a very recently acquired Canon SX1 IS. Digital SLRs..I've tried Nikon's D3 and liked it, and the D300 and D90 (and regularly use others) but prefer the size, feel and layout of the Canon D50, which remains my current favourite DSLR. Is digital better than film? Probably. Resolution is now better than medium format film cameras can manage, but compacts and point-and-shoot digital results are nowhere near as good as cheap film equivalent cameras can manage, but they offer a lot more features; now that these cameras are used for little more than on-screen display, the loss in quality is not so much of an issue....not until yoiu decide to enlarge and print, anyway.

The best camera I've personally used so far is a Nikon D300. I'm sure that there are better cameras out there, I just haven't used them yet. What I like about the D300 is the 51 area autofocus with 3D tracking, low noise levels, and image sensor which produces images with excellent color tones and dynamic range. Film and digital both have their advantages and disadvantages. Digital is good because it's convenient. After taking a photograph, you can immediately see your results and know if you need to change your camera settings. You can also simply delete any images you do not want. It is also better for the environment because developing film photo uses a lot of chemicals, and it uses up more paper making prints of the images. Film really is more of an advantage if you're using a medium format or large format camera. (There are medium format digital cameras, but I've never used one so I'm not sure how the quality compares to medium format film cameras.) Some photographers believe that digital technology will never be at the point where the quality of such large cameras will be as good as the film versions. Others believe we may get there someday, just not now.

I guess I couldn't properly answer this question. When you say camera what are you refering to? Film, Point and shoot or DSLR? In regards to point and shoot the best camera I've used as much as I dislike the company is a Sony Cybershot DSC-H2. The only problem was the shutter button comes off this model making it unusable once it falls off. A known manufacture problem they refuse to fix. Just got a Kodak in replacement and I have to say the Sony was still better. The Kodak has 10 mp Cybershot had 6 I believe and I still took better less grainy photos with the Cybershot. Now I've only really owned point and shoots up till this past december. I now am a proud owner of a Nikon D90 DSLR. Now out of all the cameras I've owned obviously this one takes the cake. Crisp clear photos, so much more to work with and just overall amazing camera that as a bonus lets you take High definition videos which are really neat :D. Out of all my cameras the D90 is the best. But split up it would be D90 as the SLR and the Cybershot as point and shoot. Digital is better I feel because you really have a lot of room for trial and error. you don't like it you can simply delete the file instead of worrying about wasting film. So it allows you to be very creative and expand your knowledge of cameras and your comfort level with it. I use Photoshop to touch up coloring. Besides that the photo is pretty raw. I may add a little blur here or there to add a more dramatic effect. I feel the two go hand in hand. It's far harder to fix up a photo just using film and a scanner. You have to deal with more noise and less coloring from the original. Not only that but with digital the amount of photos you take is really endless depending on the card you get. With digital cameras I was told to have smaller gb cards though and have a bunch of them then one huge card as they say it takes longer to load the photos and slows down the camera. Also the other good thing is that if you have one 2gb card go bad you only loose those photos. Where as if you have an 8 gb card go bad everything is gone nothing is salvaged.