What is the best camera out there to use for professional photography?

Thanks a bunch!

If you would get a DSLR (Digital Single Len Reflection) Camera you'll get nearly with every one 10 MP. On Amazon.de I only found 1 DSLR that had less than 10 MP. I think Nikon and Canon have the best DSLR's but it would be best if you search around in the internet your self. Hope you find a good cam for you and if you do, tell us which you'd choose :D

Will do! Thanks!

A lot of DSLRs are 6 megapixels actually (for Nikon, the D50, D70, D40, etc.). What size prints are you making? Or are you doing CDs? If you're doing prints, you're not going to be able to tell the difference between 6 megapixels and 10 megapixels until you get to some pretty large sizes.

ThunderCrash is wrong. The Pentax K10D is 10.2 MP.
I just got it! Its GREAT!

PS:

If you are going digital. it's for certain that you will need some imaging software but don't go spending a fortune on Photoshop or it's clones...

Open source GimpShop offers great imaging software for free:
http://www.plasticbugs.com

I haven't tried it yet but it's recieved high ratings from Computer World magazine.

Where can you find the D80 for under $1,000 with a lens? I'm still saving up for it and haven't seen it under $1,299 anywhere.:( It is $999 without a lens though, so I'm considering just buying it and using it with my old manual lenses for awhile.

You probably can not use the Nikon SLR lenses on a digital camera body. I know that Pentax has some compatablities with some of their SLR lenses on some digital bodies, but I don't think Nikon has this feature for any of the digital SLRs. And if the lens is more then 5 - 10 years then it probably is not a good idea to use on a new digital SLR.

One of my friends is using some very old Nikkor lenses on her digital body (D70). I guess she says almost everything will work, except absolutely do not put a zoom lens meant for a manual camera on a digital body. I only have fixed lenses anyhow. My lens may be old, but they're still in excellent shape. The only thing is, I won't be able to use a lot of automatic features with them, only manual. Not a problem though, as I didn't have auto features on the manual SLR.

I used to think that, and it's true to a point. I've gotten a lot of excellent photos out of 2 megapixel cameras as long as the lens was decent. And I've gotten excellent photos out of disposable film cameras as well.

But still, with a better camera you can do more. You can get in closer with a telephoto lens, or take snapshots in the evening if you have a flash, etc. You can't shoot a wedding with a disposable camera. You could, but it wouldn't be very nice.

One of my friends' moms thought that her Canon PowerShot Digital Elph was a good enough camera to professionally shoot a wedding. Aside from it just not being up to that level, could you imagine how ridiculous the photographer would look at a wedding with a simple digital point and shoot? No bride would take that seriously and hire them, even if they could do it. Some things just require a DSLR.

I would think being able to just point and shoot a good digital camera would be great for a wedding. I'm getting remarried in June, and I don't want my photographer out there having to hit the button and wait for it to take. You won't get any good candid photos that way. And I certainly don't want any still photos taken to take forever. I plan on enjoying my wedding in it's entirety, not having to spend 2 hours taking pictures because the photographer's camera takes forever to get the shot. All I have right now is my little Vivitar 6 megapixel digital camera (until I can afford a much better one), and it has a lag on getting the shot. I would never use it for a wedding or other such event. You want to be able to get quick spur of the moment photos for those occasions. Otherwise, you are gonna be waiting for your camera to take one photo while you could be getting another great one too!

I've shot weddings with those prosumer cameras (nearly an SLR, but you can't change lenses, they're just equipped with a nice zoom). Anything less than that though I would think would be too limited. At least I could add an extra flash and change f-stops etc.

You don't have to wait for a DSLR. You must have used really old ones. They're fast now. Better than point and shoots typically. You can still take candid photos with a DSLR. You're probably thinking of the older DSLRs where in RAW format it took a really long time to store the image after taking it. Memory technology has since improved.

I agree you want a faster camera. But a point and shoot isn't better. You need someone who actually knows how to use the camera. Maybe you should go with a prosumer model instead of an SLR. I used one for pet photography and it worked fine. Had a hot shoe, lots of manual settings, but I just had to stick with the lens I was given. But the nice thing was, I could use the screen to take photos with. While with most SLRs, you don't have the use of the screen until after you've taken the photo (with exception of the Panasonic Lumix).