Smart Technology
Digital Cameras for Serious Shooters
Take advantage of the price drop and move up to a camera that performs like the pros.
By Jeff Bertolucci, Contributing Writer
From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, March 2007
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Now that point-and-shoot digital cameras are effortless and inexpensive, why do you still feel dissatisfied? Maybe it's because tiny and easy-to-use aren't everything. Maybe you yearn for the high-quality photographs that only a single-lens reflex camera can take. Professional-grade digital SLRs can run as high as $10,000. But for less than $1,000, you can buy a DSLR that will blow the buttons off your average point-and-shoot.
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Digital SLR models take better pictures for many reasons. Their image sensors are larger than those in point-and-shoots and can capture better color and detail. A DSLR usually comes equipped with a general-purpose zoom lens that is fine for most portraits and wide-angle shots. Plus, like film SLRs, a DSLR's lens can be changed, so you can attach, say, a macro lens to shoot extreme close-ups or a telephoto lens to zoom in from far away.
DSLRs also support a huge array of add-ons for the budding auteur, including filters, flashes and remote-control devices. Be prudent, though. You can easily double the cost of your camera by buying extra equipment. For instance, although the Sony Alpha DSLR-A100 camera we tested costs $700, Sony's SAL-500F80 500mm f/8 Reflex Super telephoto lens also runs $700.
With a DSLR, you eliminate the shutter lag that plagues many point-and-shoots. That's what happens when you press the shutter and then ... wait ... a second for the click. And from the moment you turn it on, a DSLR is ready to shoot -- unlike point-and-shoots, which take time to warm up.
Like point-and-shoot cameras, DSLRs come with an automatic mode that adjusts the focus and exposure for you. But shooting with a DSLR on autopilot is like driving your Porsche only to the supermarket. You'll want to experiment with the shooting modes, including aperture priority, which adjusts the amount of light that passes through the lens. You could, for instance, open the aperture to sharpen the subject -- say, a bird perched on a branch -- and blur the background. Or you might use a higher shutter speed when shooting fast action, such as your child's fast break to the basket.
Learning curve
You'll need to crack open the manual to learn these tricks, though. To a beginner, the icons and abbreviations that appear on the camera's LCD screen may look like hieroglyphics.
That said, a DSLR isn't for everybody. It won't take video clips, and if you've grown comfortable using an LCD to compose shots -- a technique popularized by the digital point-and-shoot -- you'll need to reacquaint yourself with optical viewfinders. On practically all DSLRs, you look through the viewfinder to frame shots; the LCD is used only to view photos or to change camera settings. Serious photographers prefer a viewfinder, which uses a sophisticated mirror system to display exactly what the lens sees. A point-and-shoot's LCD shows a less-detailed electronic copy of the lens image, and the screen sometimes picks up glare.
Size may also be a drawback for some users. Even a relatively petite DSLR, such as the Nikon D40, is a behemoth compared with many point-and-shoots that slide into a shirt pocket. But for those who prefer the feel of a traditional camera, the larger size is a plus: It's easier to grasp and the buttons are bigger and clearer.
When choosing a DSLR, don't fret over megapixels. Even the least-expensive model -- in our roundup, the $585 Nikon D40 -- has more than enough pixels for the largest photos you're likely to print. How large? The 6.1-megapixel D40 can provide high-resolution images for a 13-by-19-inch photograph. The 7.5-megapixel Olympus Evolt E-330 and the 10-plus megapixel models from Canon and Sony that we tested can produce poster-size prints.