The basics of digital photography are pretty much the same whether you’re using a digital compact or DSLR (also referred to simply as an SLR), but there are a few important differences.
Digital Compacts
One of the biggest advantages to digital compacts is the cost. Another thing to consider when buying a DSLR is that you will need to purchase at least one lens for your camera especially if you want to take distant photographs. Digital compacts come with a built in lens and often a zoom.
If you do have an optical zoom on your digital compact then you’ll also be able to take some good quality telephoto pictures. An optical zoom is always far better than a digital zoom because a digital zoom works like cropping – it takes away pixels. The more you zoom with digital zoom, the lower the quality of your photograph. On the other hand, an optical zoom maintains the quality of your photo.
Some compacts will take such high quality images that many a pro will use one when they don’t want to carry all of their DSLR gear. The quality of the photograph is largely dependent upon the photographer’s skill.
While digital compacts don’t have as many mega pixels as DSLRs, with only 5 mega pixels, you can produce an 8×10 print of the type of quality you’d be proud to display in an 8×10 picture frame on your wall.
Finally, learning the digital photography basics of a compact is far easier then learning how to use a DSLR to its full advantage.
Digital Single Lens Reflexes (DSLRs)
A Digital SLR is the digital version of a single lens reflex camera or SLR. DSLR’s are also called SLRs but never the other way around. With the debut of the Canon Rebel and other more moderately priced DSLRs (relatively speaking) a few years ago, more photography enthusiasts are discovering the advantages of a DSLR.
One of the big benefits of a DSLR is its versatility and creativity.
For example, by adding a long telephoto lenses, you can capture a close up of an osprey at the top of a towering pine tree or a child at the soccer goal post when you’re at the other end of the field. With a DSLR, you can find a lens or filter to suit almost any photographic need.
Another benefit of DSLRs is their ability to take sharp pictures of sports or action photos in low light situations where a flash won’t work. The larger sensor on a DSLR allows you to adjust the ISO and get a good picture, whereas with a compact it usually creates an image with a lot of grain called digital noise. If you’re taking still shots, it’s not an issue. The problem with Sports Mode in a low light setting is that the shutter must close quickly so there is just not enough light to hit the image sensor even with a large aperture setting. The only way this can be overcome is with a flash or a higher ISO setting.
However, there are software programs that once learned can often can work wonders in eliminating digital noise created with compacts in these settings.
Another advantage of using a DSLR is that you can use an external flash instead of always having to use natural light.
DSLRs have more megapixels than the best of the digital compacts, meaning you can take and print high quality pictures for framing in large picture frames like 11×14 frames or larger.. And lastly, digital cameras are slower to take pictures than film cameras but DSLRs are much faster than digital compacts.
Although the digital photography basics do start with selecting a camera, the quality of your images will largely depend upon how you use your camera. Regardless of what type of camera you have or will be buying, you have to be willing to practice and enjoy taking lots of pictures with your camera.
Tags: 35mm digital slr, digital camera basics, digital compact, digital photography basics, dslr camera, slr cameras digital