For a long time the accepted wisdom was to put money into camera lenses and not camera bodies. This makes a certain amount of sense – Nikon lenses from 1960 can be used with almost no loss of functionality on most of Nikons current lineup of DSLR’s. Non-autofocus lenses don’t magically become autofocus, but they work. The investment is protected. (And before you complain about the D40/D40x/D60 cameras and their limited support for old lenses – keep in mind that most people who have significant investment in glass from the last 40 years aren’t worried about the cost difference between a D60 and a D90).

Part of that wisdom, however, relied on the fact that the mechanics of the cameras didn’t change all that often. Apart from integrated light meters and improved autofocusing systems, in film cameras the fastest way to change the personality of your camera was to load new film. A photographer might switch from Kodak Tri-X to Fuji Velvia, depending if they wanted their camera to perform well in low light or if they wanted to capture every color highlight of a sunset.

The DSLR revolution, however, is turning common wisdom on it’s head, and it’s financially to the benefit of the camera makers. As the sensor in a DSLR can’t be switched out to optimize it for a certain kind of shot, a lot of research is going into making a single sensor that can do everything. At first, it was laughable. My D70 was almost unusable at ISO 800. My D200 is acceptable up to ISO 1200 or so. The new FX cameras run all the way to ISO 6400 without breaking a sweat, and can be pushed to ISO 102,400 if needed.

If you think about it, a 50mm f/1.4 @ ISO 1600 (the limit of push-processed Tri-X film and coincidently my D200) has the same light gathering effects as an f/2.8 @ ISO 6400 – which means much cheaper lenses can be handheld for indoor work. If you go up to the limits of the sensor in the D3S, you get 4 more full stops. Granted, at this insane ISO, you are going to lose a lot of edge detail and color clarity to sensor noise, but look back at what we are comparing with – Tri-X push processed to ISO 1600 – which is 6 stops lower.

Even if you aren’t looking at the über-high end camera, remember that a $900 camera body can now capture this image, indoor and handheld @ ISO 3200. It’s also got a roll of film well over 1000 shots long, and there’s no worry about changing film types, or forgetting you had ASA100 loaded when you walk indoors. In my book, the smart money is in the camera bodies these days – well, a handful of fixed-focal primes, and camera bodies. Replace the camera body every 3 or 4 years, and slowly build that collection of lenses. If you’re pressed, go with the body.