9 replies to this topic

[Rafael]

Do you know what you're getting?

Advantages:

Interchangeable lens

Depending on the type of photography you want, you can buy lenses optimized for that task, instead of the one-size-fit-all lens of a compact.
However, this could be a disadvantage as well.

No shutter lag

There’s no delay in between pressing the shutter release button and taking the actual picture – you won’t miss that perfect moment.

Less noise in low light

You can shoot in low light and still get usable image.
The higher your ISO, the more noise.


Disadvantages:

Size

You can’t fit a dSLR in your shirt pocket and if you get more than one lens, be prepared for a camera bag or even backpack.

Less beginner-friendly

Compacts are designed for simplicity and instant gratification, while dSLR require some learning in order to be used effectively.





Forget about brand.

This is something guaranteed to cause controversy. When it comes to camera brands, people get religious. For some reason, people don’t argue loudly about HP vs. Dell or Audi vs. BMW, but when it comes to Canon vs. Nikon, people will defend their favorite brand to the death; if some poor soul dares to suggest another brand, like Sony or Pentax, murder ensures. I heard people saying “Nikons have the best quality“, “I trust Sony to make good electronics“, “I’m a die-hard Oly fan“, “Annie Leibovitz uses Canon“, “Pentax means value for money” and so on.

There are five main dSLR manufactures (I list them alphabetically): Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony and a few smaller ones of which I will only mention Sigma because of its unique Foveon sensor.

Let get this straight: in terms of quality, all of them are great. Sony got into dSLR business by buying everything from Minolta, so all of these brands have a lot of history behind them. Each of these can list innovations, awards and achievements.

When you compare two cameras in the same range (entry-level, advanced amateur, etc.) the differences in terms of quality or features are very small. I won’t attempt to debunk any myths (there are too many of them), but all manufacturers produce cameras with great reliability.





What features to look for?

Lens

Many digital cameras are equipped with a 3X optical zoom lens, and some provide as much as a 6X or 10X zoom. Don't put too much stock in digital zoom, which is a software feature that has nothing to do with the lens. It merely enlarges a small portion of the image at the expense of picture detail. If you'll be doing a lot of low-light shooting, look for a fast lens--that is, a lens with a maximum aperture setting of f-1.8 or f-2.8. The lower the f-stop, the faster the lens and the more you'll be able to capture in low light. Most consumer digital-camera lenses are permanently attached to the camera body, but many are compatible with wide-angle, close-up, telephoto, or even fish-eye attachments. If you want to use a lens shade or a filter, make sure that the camera lens is threaded so that you can attach it. Some advanced digital cameras are compatible with 35mm film-camera lens systems, letting you choose the lens that's most appropriate for your subject.


Sensor

Once light passes through the lens of a digital camera, it's captured by a CCD or a CMOS sensor. The sensor is covered with photosensitive pixels (short for picture elements); the more pixels on the sensor, the higher the sensor resolution. And, of course, the higher the sensor resolution, the higher the resolution of the images captured by that sensor. Higher-resolution images are sharper and show more detail, but they also require more storage space and can quickly fill a camera's media. Casual snapshots look fine at 640x480 pixels when displayed onscreen. But if you want to print your photos or crop them to highlight particular areas, you'll need more than 1 megapixel to get adequate image quality. The resolution you need in an image increases with the size at which you want to print it. If you want to enlarge your photos to sizes greater than 5x7 inches, you probably won't be satisfied with the results from a sub-2-megapixel camera.



Optical Stabilization

Shooting in low light and/or with telephoto lenses can be tricky without a tripod. Almost all dSLR cameras have some sort of stabilization. There is a trick though: Canon and Nikon provide stabilization in their lenses (“IS” lenses for Canon and “VR” lenses for Nikon), while Sony, Pentax and Olympus have the stabilization feature in camera body. The difference is very important because for Canon and Nikon you need to buy IS/VR lenses, which are quite more expensive than ‘normal’ lenses, while with the other manufacturers the stabilization will work with any lens. The effectiveness of stabilization is about the same in both philosophies (3-4 stops); the stabilized lenses have the advantage of you seeing the actual stabilized image in the optical viewfinder, while stabilized bodies enable you to use any lens for the same effect.


Live View

A tiltable LCD may come in handy

With compact cameras, you pretty much rely on the back LCD to show what you’re doing in a WYSIWYG fashion, with the optical viewfinder (if it existed at all) being nearly unusable. Until recently, dSLRs did not have a live view on LCD at all.

LCDs can be useful, but they do lead to drawbacks in design and performance; most notably, if you use Live View, the autofocus will be again slow, negating the speed advantages of SLRs over compacts. If you feel you must have it, make sure the LCD can be tilted, so you can look at it with camera over head or very close to the ground. It’d be also worth looking into the a55 and a65 SLT line from Sony, a new breed of cameras that essentially eliminate the problems associated with Live View.

Batteries

Every digital camera should ship with alkaline, lithium-ion, or nickel-metal-hydride batteries. Alkaline batteries are convenient because you can buy them anywhere, but they don't have as long a life as other power sources. Cameras that use longer-lasting, rechargeable lithium-ion or nickel-metal-hydride batteries should also come with a charging module. Some cameras can use more than one battery type, which gives you both the convenience of alkalines and the longer life of rechargeables. Most cameras also come with an AC adapter so that you can save some battery life while shooting indoors or downloading photos to your computer. If an adapter isn't included with the model you want, it's a good idea to buy one separately. Whatever battery you end up with, be sure to have enough spares when you take your camera on the road.


Warranty

A one-year warranty on parts and labor is standard.



Arrows thanks to Luminaire
Source: www.twin-pixels.com

Edited by Rafael, 23 January 2012 - 07:27 PM.

[Juul]

so you bought a camera.

[Activee]

You don't wanna make a begginer guide wich tells how to make nice photos ? Like I know the rule of the two third but beside that i've no knownledge

[charles (sika)]

I bought a 1990 Lomo LC-A. Is that any good?

[RagaMan]

to make a visible photo the most important things are light meter , shutter speed - to blur and freeze the movement of an object , depends what u wanna do ... hmm what else weather ISO and some other shitty settings . I'm talkin about manual photographin stuff lolz
If u want more tips im the best photographer ever I even got my own photographic book about modern places in London using different angles , perspectives n shit lolz

[SyLt]

bad computer connectivity with 90's cameras i heard,, no usb 3.0 exactly

but on the advantages, you're alternative, congratulations!

[Activee]

that was a pretty godamn usefull guide ragaman. thanks for trying tho.

You really do have a book ? I had to do some photo's for an entry exam. And I really liked it. All these things with images das my stuff. I bought some magazines to learn a bit about photography and there was a guy playing with perspective also. That was pretty good.

PS come at me admins I dare you.. I dare oyu

Edited by Activee, 28 August 2012 - 09:15 PM.

[360]

Do you know what you're getting?

Advantages:

Interchangeable lens Man that was really useful to know. :)GJ

Depending on the type of photography you want, you can buy lenses optimized for that task, instead of the one-size-fit-all lens of a compact.
However, this could be a disadvantage as well.

No shutter lag

There’s no delay in between pressing the shutter release button and taking the actual picture – you won’t miss that perfect moment.

Less noise in low light

You can shoot in low light and still get usable image.
The higher your ISO, the more noise.


Disadvantages:

Size

You can’t fit a dSLR in your shirt pocket and if you get more than one lens, be prepared for a camera bag or even backpack.

Less beginner-friendly

Compacts are designed for simplicity and instant gratification, while dSLR require some learning in order to be used effectively.





Forget about brand.

This is something guaranteed to cause controversy. When it comes to camera brands, people get religious. For some reason, people don’t argue loudly about HP vs. Dell or Audi vs. BMW, but when it comes to Canon vs. Nikon, people will defend their favorite brand to the death; if some poor soul dares to suggest another brand, like Sony or Pentax, murder ensures. I heard people saying “Nikons have the best quality“, “I trust Sony to make good electronics“, “I’m a die-hard Oly fan“, “Annie Leibovitz uses Canon“, “Pentax means value for money” and so on.

There are five main dSLR manufactures (I list them alphabetically): Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony and a few smaller ones of which I will only mention Sigma because of its unique Foveon sensor.

Let get this straight: in terms of quality, all of them are great. Sony got into dSLR business by buying everything from Minolta, so all of these brands have a lot of history behind them. Each of these can list innovations, awards and achievements.

When you compare two cameras in the same range (entry-level, advanced amateur, etc.) the differences in terms of quality or features are very small. I won’t attempt to debunk any myths (there are too many of them), but all manufacturers produce cameras with great reliability.





What features to look for?

Lens

Many digital cameras are equipped with a 3X optical zoom lens, and some provide as much as a 6X or 10X zoom. Don't put too much stock in digital zoom, which is a software feature that has nothing to do with the lens. It merely enlarges a small portion of the image at the expense of picture detail. If you'll be doing a lot of low-light shooting, look for a fast lens--that is, a lens with a maximum aperture setting of f-1.8 or f-2.8. The lower the f-stop, the faster the lens and the more you'll be able to capture in low light. Most consumer digital-camera lenses are permanently attached to the camera body, but many are compatible with wide-angle, close-up, telephoto, or even fish-eye attachments. If you want to use a lens shade or a filter, make sure that the camera lens is threaded so that you can attach it. Some advanced digital cameras are compatible with 35mm film-camera lens systems, letting you choose the lens that's most appropriate for your subject.


Sensor

Once light passes through the lens of a digital camera, it's captured by a CCD or a CMOS sensor. The sensor is covered with photosensitive pixels (short for picture elements); the more pixels on the sensor, the higher the sensor resolution. And, of course, the higher the sensor resolution, the higher the resolution of the images captured by that sensor. Higher-resolution images are sharper and show more detail, but they also require more storage space and can quickly fill a camera's media. Casual snapshots look fine at 640x480 pixels when displayed onscreen. But if you want to print your photos or crop them to highlight particular areas, you'll need more than 1 megapixel to get adequate image quality. The resolution you need in an image increases with the size at which you want to print it. If you want to enlarge your photos to sizes greater than 5x7 inches, you probably won't be satisfied with the results from a sub-2-megapixel camera.



Optical Stabilization

Shooting in low light and/or with telephoto lenses can be tricky without a tripod. Almost all dSLR cameras have some sort of stabilization. There is a trick though: Canon and Nikon provide stabilization in their lenses (“IS” lenses for Canon and “VR” lenses for Nikon), while Sony, Pentax and Olympus have the stabilization feature in camera body. The difference is very important because for Canon and Nikon you need to buy IS/VR lenses, which are quite more expensive than ‘normal’ lenses, while with the other manufacturers the stabilization will work with any lens. The effectiveness of stabilization is about the same in both philosophies (3-4 stops); the stabilized lenses have the advantage of you seeing the actual stabilized image in the optical viewfinder, while stabilized bodies enable you to use any lens for the same effect.


Live View

A tiltable LCD may come in handy

With compact cameras, you pretty much rely on the back LCD to show what you’re doing in a WYSIWYG fashion, with the optical viewfinder (if it existed at all) being nearly unusable. Until recently, dSLRs did not have a live view on LCD at all.

LCDs can be useful, but they do lead to drawbacks in design and performance; most notably, if you use Live View, the autofocus will be again slow, negating the speed advantages of SLRs over compacts. If you feel you must have it, make sure the LCD can be tilted, so you can look at it with camera over head or very close to the ground. It’d be also worth looking into the a55 and a65 SLT line from Sony, a new breed of cameras that essentially eliminate the problems associated with Live View.

Batteries

Every digital camera should ship with alkaline, lithium-ion, or nickel-metal-hydride batteries. Alkaline batteries are convenient because you can buy them anywhere, but they don't have as long a life as other power sources. Cameras that use longer-lasting, rechargeable lithium-ion or nickel-metal-hydride batteries should also come with a charging module. Some cameras can use more than one battery type, which gives you both the convenience of alkalines and the longer life of rechargeables. Most cameras also come with an AC adapter so that you can save some battery life while shooting indoors or downloading photos to your computer. If an adapter isn't included with the model you want, it's a good idea to buy one separately. Whatever battery you end up with, be sure to have enough spares when you take your camera on the road.


Warranty

A one-year warranty on parts and labor is standard.



Arrows thanks to Luminaire
Source: www.twin-pixels.com

[360]

Do you know what you're getting?

Advantages:

Interchangeable lens

Depending on the type of photography you want, you can buy lenses optimized for that task, instead of the one-size-fit-all lens of a compact.
However, this could be a disadvantage as well.

No shutter lag

There’s no delay in between pressing the shutter release button and taking the actual picture – you won’t miss that perfect moment.

Less noise in low light

You can shoot in low light and still get usable image.
The higher your ISO, the more noise.


Disadvantages:

Size

You can’t fit a dSLR in your shirt pocket and if you get more than one lens, be prepared for a camera bag or even backpack.

Less beginner-friendly

Compacts are designed for simplicity and instant gratification, while dSLR require some learning in order to be used effectively.





Forget about brand.

This is something guaranteed to cause controversy. When it comes to camera brands, people get religious. For some reason, people don’t argue loudly about HP vs. Dell or Audi vs. BMW, but when it comes to Canon vs. Nikon, people will defend their favorite brand to the death; if some poor soul dares to suggest another brand, like Sony or Pentax, murder ensures. I heard people saying “Nikons have the best quality“, “I trust Sony to make good electronics“, “I’m a die-hard Oly fan“, “Annie Leibovitz uses Canon“, “Pentax means value for money” and so on.

There are five main dSLR manufactures (I list them alphabetically): Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony and a few smaller ones of which I will only mention Sigma because of its unique Foveon sensor.

Let get this straight: in terms of quality, all of them are great. Sony got into dSLR business by buying everything from Minolta, so all of these brands have a lot of history behind them. Each of these can list innovations, awards and achievements.

When you compare two cameras in the same range (entry-level, advanced amateur, etc.) the differences in terms of quality or features are very small. I won’t attempt to debunk any myths (there are too many of them), but all manufacturers produce cameras with great reliability.





What features to look for?

Lens

Many digital cameras are equipped with a 3X optical zoom lens, and some provide as much as a 6X or 10X zoom. Don't put too much stock in digital zoom, which is a software feature that has nothing to do with the lens. It merely enlarges a small portion of the image at the expense of picture detail. If you'll be doing a lot of low-light shooting, look for a fast lens--that is, a lens with a maximum aperture setting of f-1.8 or f-2.8. The lower the f-stop, the faster the lens and the more you'll be able to capture in low light. Most consumer digital-camera lenses are permanently attached to the camera body, but many are compatible with wide-angle, close-up, telephoto, or even fish-eye attachments. If you want to use a lens shade or a filter, make sure that the camera lens is threaded so that you can attach it. Some advanced digital cameras are compatible with 35mm film-camera lens systems, letting you choose the lens that's most appropriate for your subject.


Sensor

Once light passes through the lens of a digital camera, it's captured by a CCD or a CMOS sensor. The sensor is covered with photosensitive pixels (short for picture elements); the more pixels on the sensor, the higher the sensor resolution. And, of course, the higher the sensor resolution, the higher the resolution of the images captured by that sensor. Higher-resolution images are sharper and show more detail, but they also require more storage space and can quickly fill a camera's media. Casual snapshots look fine at 640x480 pixels when displayed onscreen. But if you want to print your photos or crop them to highlight particular areas, you'll need more than 1 megapixel to get adequate image quality. The resolution you need in an image increases with the size at which you want to print it. If you want to enlarge your photos to sizes greater than 5x7 inches, you probably won't be satisfied with the results from a sub-2-megapixel camera.



Optical Stabilization

Shooting in low light and/or with telephoto lenses can be tricky without a tripod. Almost all dSLR cameras have some sort of stabilization. There is a trick though: Canon and Nikon provide stabilization in their lenses (“IS” lenses for Canon and “VR” lenses for Nikon), while Sony, Pentax and Olympus have the stabilization feature in camera body. The difference is very important because for Canon and Nikon you need to buy IS/VR lenses, which are quite more expensive than ‘normal’ lenses, while with the other manufacturers the stabilization will work with any lens. The effectiveness of stabilization is about the same in both philosophies (3-4 stops); the stabilized lenses have the advantage of you seeing the actual stabilized image in the optical viewfinder, while stabilized bodies enable you to use any lens for the same effect.


Live View

A tiltable LCD may come in handy

With compact cameras, you pretty much rely on the back LCD to show what you’re doing in a WYSIWYG fashion, with the optical viewfinder (if it existed at all) being nearly unusable. Until recently, dSLRs did not have a live view on LCD at all.

LCDs can be useful, but they do lead to drawbacks in design and performance; most notably, if you use Live View, the autofocus will be again slow, negating the speed advantages of SLRs over compacts. If you feel you must have it, make sure the LCD can be tilted, so you can look at it with camera over head or very close to the ground. It’d be also worth looking into the a55 and a65 SLT line from Sony, a new breed of cameras that essentially eliminate the problems associated with Live View.

Batteries

Every digital camera should ship with alkaline, lithium-ion, or nickel-metal-hydride batteries. Alkaline batteries are convenient because you can buy them anywhere, but they don't have as long a life as other power sources. Cameras that use longer-lasting, rechargeable lithium-ion or nickel-metal-hydride batteries should also come with a charging module. Some cameras can use more than one battery type, which gives you both the convenience of alkalines and the longer life of rechargeables. Most cameras also come with an AC adapter so that you can save some battery life while shooting indoors or downloading photos to your computer. If an adapter isn't included with the model you want, it's a good idea to buy one separately. Whatever battery you end up with, be sure to have enough spares when you take your camera on the road.


Warranty

A one-year warranty on parts and labor is standard.



Arrows thanks to Luminaire
Source: www.twin-pixels.com

TY for that really useful. Gj