compact cameras

Over the recent days there was a lot of media coverage due to fresh video evidence on the tragic death of Namir Noor-Eldeen, an Iraqi photographer working for Reuters.

A contributing factor in his accidental killing was when the gunner in an American Apache helicopter mistook his camera for an RPG.

Zoom lens: mistaken for an RPG

Of course this is an almost-absurd event. War photographers might often actually be protected by their large and obvious cameras, identifying them as presumably neutral observers.
But this serves a good introduction to the point I actually want to make – the “best” camera is often not the best camera to have. You might be encumbered by it, or even worse, might not have it with you at all.