What types of cameras do professional photographers use?

I dont want to buy a mainstream "SEMI PRO" SLR.
I am curious to investigate and see what my options are.
What would you recommend? Do you know of a site where I can take a look at pics that were shot with respective cameras?

dont worry youre not a pro.

For a great, low-cost, professional option, go with the Nikon D40 for sure. You can get it now for $499 (comes with a lens standard) or even refurbished for $399.

For references, check out Ken Rockwell's site.

Happy shooting!

Er, what do you have in mind when you say "semi-pro SLR"?
Because a proper semi-pro setup, like a Canon 40D or Nikon D300 with a 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom and a 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens will set you back almost $5000.
If you want a professional quality digital SLR camera, like a Nikon D3x or Canon 1Ds Mark 3, with two or three lenses, a flash, a tripod, a stack of memory cards and other odds and ends, you're looking a well over ten grand.
Those would be my recommendations by the way... I'm just checking that this is what you have in mind.
If your budget is slightly less extravagant, an entry level Nikon D60 or Canon XTi with the standard 18-55mm kit lens will produce excellent results for less than $800. Not as good as the professional stuff of course, but a heck of a lot better than any point & shoot or megazoom "SLR-like" camera.
For in depth information and tons of sample pictures, check out the reviews for these models at
http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_...
and
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/default....

If you are asking about digital cameras, once you buy a DSLR camera with an APS-C sensor, you will get technically good images. To get photos that are well composed, well lit, and evoke emotion - that's the photographer. A good photographer can take a point & shoot and create a more appealing image than an inexperienced photographer with a $10k setup. I know a pro newspaper photographer who always carries his ancient 3M pixel Olympus point&shoot when he's not lugging his big expensive stuff. Better to catch the news on a junk camera than miss it.

Photographers use many different types of cameras, and a lot of them edit the picture to make it look better in quality then the camera has. I personally have 3 cameras and I recommend them all.

Olympus e-500 digi
Canon EOS Rebel
Nikon d40

All of those are up there in the price range. If you are looking to take pictures as a career you should start with step one and work your way up. First off from just reading your question, you aren't anywhere near professional. If you have a regular all purpose camera such a Nikon 4600, go outside and take some nature pictures. If you have access to photoshop and what not then fool with your picture and you will find out that the need of a pricy camera isnt needed.

a lot of it depends on the lens! you should probably think about investing in a good one. sites like deviantart have photography on them and you can find the details of the camera that the photo was taken by.

You question causes me to ask you two questions?

How will you be using this "professional" camera? You may not need to spend $10,000 of a camera body and two lenses.

You can see the shots taken by pros on this website: http://www.blackbook.com

If you are trying to decide what camera to buy by what the photos look like, you are using a bad premise.

It isn't the camera that take the great photos, it is the photographer,whether they are using a Sinar 4x5 veiw camera or a tiny old Minox (8mm still camera).

If you really want to impress your friends and photographers, buy the Hasselblad H3D ... with about four lenses. That will do it.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamer...

DSLR's SLR's Medium Format