a1 Photo Tips

Only a couple of years ago, a digital SLR camera came with a price tag out of the spending range for many of us. That has surely changed - indeed, it is changing right now. Those advanced digicams are steadily coming down in price and becoming more affordable, while the list of features keeps getting longer.

Well, why would you want a dSLR camera in the first place? If all you do is snap some pictures of the family while on vacation, plus some generic shots of birthday cakes and X-mas celebrations - then maybe you don’t want or need one. But if you are really interested in making good pictures I’m pretty sure you want one - if you haven’t got it already. Or if you have a digital SLR then you may be already thinking about upgrading it!

Some of the strongest reasons for getting a digital SLR, as opposed to a simpler digicam are:

1. You Choose the Lenses

While simpler digital cameras have a non-interchangeable zoom lens permanently attached to the camera body, you can choose whatever kind of lenses you prefer if you have a dSLR. For instance, you may be very much into wildlife photography and therefore need some really long telephoto lenses. Or at the other extreme: you may be a real-estate agent and need to take pictures of interiors of houses, to show prospective buyers - then you want a high-quality wide angle lens.

If you get a camera with permanently attached lens, it will always feel like a poor compromise in case you are one of the people with special interests like these.

2. You Get More Speed

Generally, a dSLR camera has a larger image sensor than a simpler digicam. This means, among other things, that the sensor captures light more efficiently, so that you will be able to make pictures in lower light. For instance, my old Canon Powershot has a sensitivity range up to 400 ISO - and at that setting the image quality is noticeably impaired.

By contrast, a brand new dSLR camera can have an ISO-range up to 6400, with little visible effect on image quality. (Example: the Nikon D700, read more about that and other comparable cameras in my post about Three Full Frame dSLRs.)

What does this mean in the real world? Well, the difference gives you to four f-stops smaller aperture, or sixteen times faster shutter speed. Like, instead of needing to use a tripod for the shot, at 1/8 of a second, you can now shoot at 1/125 of a second - enough to capture most subjects, except the really fast-moving ones.

3. You Get More Control

In general, dSLRs are built for those people who are serious about what they are doing, and therefore offer you more ways to control your settings. You may for instance be able to modify how the camera sets the autofocus - or even disable the autofocus completely and use the manual focusing ring on the lens barrel, like in the old days.

Also, you can most likely get various accessories to your digital SLR, which are not available with a simpler camera; like special gear for extreme macro photography.

All this sounds terrific - but of course there are disadvantages too. The main one is still the cost. And a second one is that a dSLR is by design larger and heavier than a simple consumer digicam.

There are so many digital cameras to choose from on the market, and new camera models are released almost daily. Also, different people have very different needs and expectations. Are you for instance a first-time buyer, or a seasoned photographer? This article is intended to offer some basic advice to those of you who are either going to buy your first digicam, or have a bit of experience using one and looking to upgrade.

1. Ask yourself what you really need. Are you going to make some snapshots of family and friends, and some nice pictures from vacations? Or do you have ambitions to be a serious photographer and even make some money from your pictures? In the former case I advise you to buy a simple, lightweight, point-and-shoot digicam. If you are more of a photo-geek you should probably get a digital SLR.
    
2. How much money are you prepared to spend on buying that camera, including accessories? Most likely, the stronger you are into photography, the more money you are willing to pay. But don’t get caught in the illusion that “if I get a more expensive camera my pictures will be better“! The quality of your results are for the most part determined by your skill and not by the camera you’re using. Like: would you put a precious genuine Stradivarius violin in the hands of a beginner, and expect prettier tones because this newbie is handling a $100,000 instrument? Sure, if you are a really sophisticated user you may have “outgrown” the more simple point-and-shoot type of digicams and need to upgrade. But don’t fool yourself.
    
   

3. Get some idea of what technical specifications like “Megapixels” mean, but don’t rely too much on such things. For instance, lots of Megapixels doesn’t necessarily mean technically better pictures. There are other factors which determine the overall quality of the images a camera delivers - especially the quality of the lens. I recommend putting a high priority on lens quality. Also, a “fast” lens with large maximum aperture gives you more flexibility when taking pictures in low light.

   For digicams with a non-interchangeable lens, it is nice to have a large zoom factor, to enable you to shoot both wide-angle and real telephoto pictures. But beware of “digital zoom”! This simply means the image is enlarged inside the camera, meaning you loose quality in the process. You get exactly the same effect by cropping the picture using an image processing software like Adobe Photoshop - and the latter option also gives you a different flexibility in that it lets you decide exactly how to crop.
    
   

4. Once you have an idea of what type of digicam you need, and the approximate price range, look around and compare. Find reviews of those camera brands and models that interest you, by searching on the Web. There are sites that do a very thorough job with such comparisons, even obtaining pre-release specimens of new camera models for testing.
    
5. And now, very important: try before you buy. What I mean is that you should not make your final choice until you have actually held some digicam candidates in your own hands and tested the “feeling”. Are the controls placed in a way that you find logical and convenient? Does the camera feel OK to hold? Remember that if you don’t feel comfortable using the camera you will end up NOT using it! And even the world’s best camera won’t get you those great pictures if it is tucked away in a closet.
    
   
6. Also at this point, if you are now standing in a camera store - then don’t let the sales pitch from a salesperson intimidate you into buying something you don’t feel 100% happy with. A friend of mine fell into that trap, and came home with a nice little digicam she just did not like. It lay around unused for over a year before I finally got her into making friends with it!

These are some things I find important to remember when buying a digital camera. If you are bent on haggling over the price over the phone, even before entering the store, then by all means do so. On the subject of haggling you are on your own, however. Maybe you prefer to buy your digicam online. Then make sure you are dealing with a reputable seller and read the fine print regarding return policies etc. How easy is it to return the camera if you find you “just don’t like it”?

Photo credits: lens closeup by ssh; Nikon man by Martini Captures