Equipment
In many respects equipment is the least interesting part of Art. How many people ask a painter, "Did you use hog-hair or badger-hair brushes on that oil painting?" There is a lot of good, capable equipment out there. Cameras are fundamentally boxes that only allow light in at specifically controlled times. Far more important is the photographer's vision, when and where he (or she) chooses to make an exposure and what is being communicated.
None the less, I know that there are many out there who are curious, and there are some cameras that have some advantages depending on the photographer's style, purpose and subjects, so I'll include some of that here. Arranged, primarily, chronologically.
35mm SLR Cameras
I've been interested Photography since I was young, starting with a Kodak "Brownie" camera and moving along through my first 35mm SLR (an Exa-1a purchased in Germany) with waist-level view finder. By the time I was a sophomore in high school I had stepped up to a Ricoh SLR and was on the yearbook staff.
In the mid-80's in preparation for a year-long bicycle trip I bought a Minolta 9000 auto-focus camera. This (now two 9000 bodies) and a couple lenses makes up my 35mm camera stable.
4x5 View Camera
In 1995 I started using a 4x5 view camera -- a much different
experience from 35mm. It always takes minutes, if not tens of minutes
to expose a single sheet of film. Because of this I get much more
selective about what pictures I'll take when using the "4x5".
My 4x5 is a Sinar-F1. It is intended as a studio camera, although
I use it almost exclusively in the field.
Digital
As digital became more practical I picked up a 2 and later 5 megapixel Nikon camera. These, especially the 5 megapixel, take very acceptable photographs, some of which are on this site. For example the entire "Japan Gallery" was done with the Nikon 5000. It's light, small, easy to carry and therefore makes a great travel companion.
Medium Format Film - Fuji GX680
But the digital photos come no where near the detail and depth of a 4x5 inch piece of film that I so enjoy, and I missed not being to control the plane of sharp focus. So, I've selected one more camera. It is the Fuji GX680. The Fuji is an amazing (if heavy) camera. It is an SLR with removable film backs, interchangeable lenses and a motor-drive. And I can control the plane of sharp focus with lens "tilts", "shifts", and "swings".
It shoots 6cm x 8cm negatives, just under 1/2 the size of my 4x5. It is another "studio camera", not generally meant for the field. It is hard to impossible to hand-hold - virtually every shot is on a tripod. But the advantages are great! A negative large enough to make poster size (and larger) prints, fast access to film. It's like a "mini" view camera with automatic features.
They used to be "insanely expensive," now, on the used market they are getting much more reasonable.
The "Yosemite Gallery" was all shot with the Fuji GX680.