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digital SLRs
Do I need an DSLR camera?
Lets first define what a DSLR camera is. For the purposes of making the explantion simple I’ll define DSLR’s as cameras that have removable lenses, and those that have a reflex mirror which allows live optical viewing through the removable lens. An SLR camera uses a mirror to reflect the live image to your viewfinder. When you press the shutter the mirror flips up allowing the chip to capture the image.
Some cameras are being advertised as DSLRs because you have ‘through lens viewing using electronics’ but they are not true SLR’s. This does not necessarily make them a bad camera - but in my opinion they are different.Just look through the viewfinder of a true SLR and you will see the difference in quality straight away. Take a look at the choose a digital camera page for more information>
SLR ( single lens reflex ) digital cameras are really for those with a genuine interest in photography and the results they get, so as this website is aimed at beginners or those that want pointing in the right direction, I have not included detailed reviews of the individual cameras but we have given initial impressions or comments and the information I think will be useful to make the right choice for you. - Ask yourself what type of photos do you want to take?
- Using these pages, do your research to understand what you options are
- List the features most important to you, for example price, portability, price of lenses etc
- Ease of use, cheaper consumer models have more program modes like compacts
- Look at things like top info LCD's, menus, button layout etc
Then the most important part of any SLR purchase, where possible check them out in person. The right camera for you will be the one that not only ticks all right the box's, but the one that feels right, its not easy to define why you may prefer one camera over another, but you will most likely know quite quickly which models you don't like, so work from there. A bit like choosing a car.
Some features which may be usefull -
- Live view mode which is being able to see the image on the LCD screen before you capture it. May be useful for framing shots on a tripod at un-usual angles eg: flowers
- Anti shake or vibration reducing facilities, some times in the camera body or as with Nikon in the lenses, allows slower shutter speeds and bigger apertures
- Aperture and shutter program modes and full manual exposure adjustment, for more advanced control of your camera and the images you can capture
- Continuous shooting modes with some models offering six frames per second or more for sports photography
- Auo bracketing exposure settings, allowing you to set the camera to account for a margin of exposure error, by taking maybe 3 frames at once at different exposure settings
- Moveable LCD screen currently only available on the Olympus E3 DSLR but is a very useful feature for very high or very low angles
- Ability to capture RAW images meaning no camera proccessing on your images. You use software to make decisions and adjustments after you have taken it
- Face recognition focus and predictive focus for sport
It is also worth bearing in mind that almost all professional photographers will have more than one camera, and most will have a compact camera of some sort for convenience.
So will a high quality compact or super zoom do the job ? have a read of the choose a digital camera page to help you decide
The Canon verses Nikon question -
There two ways to answer the age old question
First - ask yourself what type of lens or lenses you would like to capture your favourite photos, then see which camera manufacturer can supply that lens. It is worth bearing in mind independant lens manufacturers like Sigma, Tamron and Tokina may also provide the type of lens you want for the camera body of your choice.
Secondly - both camera have a "feel" just like different makes of car. So try any handle both makes, and see how they feel, and how they position the controls and see how you get on with their menu systems.
It is also worth remembering their are several other manufacturerers making really great cameras. Its only because Nikon and Canon captured the professional market that they are singled out in a competitive market.
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