There are 2 basic types of cameras, small point and shoot, the most affordable and most common, and the 35mm SLR. Small point and shoot cameras now come with zoom lenses, which let you capture details at a distance. They take great photos during the daytime, but they have severe limitations at night. They can act as a back up camera or to carry in your bunker coat or car. They are relativity inexpensive. If you were just starting out or a seasoned professional I would suggest buying one. The Auto-Focus 35mm SLR is the most used camera in taking those pictures you see here and in many of the fire service magazines. My first camera was a manual focus Konica fp1. I still have it and it has taken some very good pictures. Now I use all Canon equipment, which I think, is the best stuff around. I would suggest going to several camera stores and try all of the cameras that you can. IF you get a name brand camera, then you will be ok. The model you find affordable, comfortable and easy to use is what you should get. The main thing to remember is that you do not have to spend thousands of dollars for state of the art equipment, you need only to know how to use the equipment that you have.

Lenses:

Today zoom lenses are the way to go. They are very well made and can save a lot of weight in your camera bag. I would suggest having a wide angle, short telephoto, and a medium telephoto lens in your bag. This could be a 17-35mm, then a 28-70mm, and finally a 70-200mm. Here you would have covered from 17-200mm, which is very good. And if you have 2 camera bodies then you could be using 2 lenses at once. You should buy the best lenses that you can afford. If you own a Canon EOS-1, then I would buy canon lenses.  When you buy the lens, you should also be looking at the f-stop. This device regulates how much light gets to the shutter. The lower the number the better (heavier, and more expensive) the lens will be, and the better the lens will function in low light situations. Wide-angle lenses are ideal for capturing the action in a narrow or congested area where a lot of stuff is happening, like in the front of the building. They are also good for large fires where you can get a shot of fire and smoke conditions involving several floors of the building. One thing to be careful about is if you point the camera to high. This could distort the image, so just be careful. Short telephoto is my main lens on my camera and it takes 90% of my images. I use a 28-70mm 2.8L which is canons professional lens in this category. This lens is great; cause I can take wide angle shots and still gets relatively good shots of the guys on the roof. Medium telephotos let you zoom in on the action. It will help you get pictures when fire conditions, smoke, fire lines or irate fire police won’t permit you to move closer to the action. The everyday use of this lens would be for close up shots of firefighters operating hose lines, elevated platforms, ladder pipes, or a truck mounted deck pipe. The main disadvantage of this lens is that it needs to be held very steady. The larger the lens in size (e.g. 400mm) the harder it will to be hold it steady. Especially if it is cold or windy outside. To keep the camera steady, you can brace yourself against the side of a building or fire truck. If you have a large fire, and you have a tripod, then you should have no problem with the camera moving, just mount your lens on the tripod and you are all set.