7 Reasons to Upgrade to a DSLR

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Want to upgrade your camera

I want to upgrade my point and shoot camera a Traveler DC-5080. I’ve always known that if I decided to upgrade then I wanted to upgrade to a DSLR rather than another point and shoot. But I also want to share why I want to do this, and without further a do here are my reasons:

1. More freedom for image creation

The choice of manual settings on a DSLR are huge and what you can do with them are almost limitless. They just beg to be exerimented with. So this will be a challenge because I have never used manual settings before, which means I will be able to learn and expand my knowledge of cameras.

2. A wide range of lenses

Similar to the first reason, the ability to change lenses is a really big feature of DSLR’s. Some manufacturers have over 40 lenses to choose from. All with specific uses from macro to telephoto zoom lenses. The range of prime and zoom lens are wide ranging but also so are the prices.

3. High quality images especially in low light

Although point and shoot cameras can now rival DSLR’s for high megapixels values, they use smaller image sensors than DSLR’s do, while still trying to fit the same amount of pixels on the sensor. So they consequently have smaller pixels to be able to fit them all on the sensor. So this means that DSLR’s have better image quality because of there larger image sensors and therefore larger pixels.

4. Speed no delay

DSLR’s have no shutter lag due to having a mechanical shutter which opens immediately the image is taken, whereas point and shoot cameras have no shutter. The image sensor is activated electronically whenever an image is taken, this method is not as quick as the mechanical method and therefore there is a slight lag when taking a photograph with a point and shoot.

5. Depth of Field

This is the ability to focus on the foreground of a photograph while the background is blurred, and out of focus. This is an effect that can only be created with a DSLR camera, and gives the opportunity to take more creative photographs.

6. Reflex viewfinder

This means that what you see through the viewfinder is what you get when you take the photograph. Which means there’s no cropping of what you see through the viewfinder, giving a clear view of what you are taking in the image, and how it is composed and focused.

7. Price

This might seem a strange reason as DSLR’s are more expensive than point and shoots, but they have really come down in price recently bringing them in reach of a lot of amateur and hobbyist photographers. Manufacturers have even brought out whole ranges of entry level DSLR’s to make the transition of moving from point and shoots to DSLR’s easier.

These are 7 reasons out of many for upgrading to a DSLR. But choosing to upgrade is not for everyone, point and shoot cameras can produce some fantastic images and because of there size are great for taking on a day out. I know I will still keep mine for that very reason. At the end of the day it’s down to personal taste and where you want to go next on your journey with photography.

Mandy

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Digital Photography Part 1

Following on from yesterdays post , this is the first in a three part series looking at how digital photography has changed the way we take photographs. Today I am looking at taking the image.

Taking the Image

I think the biggest change when taking photographs is being able to see what you have taken on the LCD screen on the back of the camera. You can instantly see if you’ve messed the shot up or not!

Having a digital camera gives you the ability to take a lot of photos depending on the size of your memory card or internal memory. It is not as constraining as film with either 24 or 36 exposures, my camera will take up to 1,000 images on the memory card. No more need to worry about running out of film!

It also means that cost is not as much of an issue anymore. I used to really think before taking a photograph, was it a good enough shot. Because the price of film and developing affected which shots I took, so as to get my moneys worth out of the film. The worst thing to happen would be a whole film of wasted shots, due to a limited budget. But now I tend to take anything and everything just to see what works.

Cons…

What could the down side be to all of this? Maybe hours spent sorting through 100’s of images.

For me it would have to be the amount of batteries or recharges that you go through. Digital cameras are power intensive which makes running them expensive, unless it’s a internal rechargable battery (mine came with the camera) then it’s just the recharge time. And remembering to do it, if I’m caught short then I’m stuffed!

Have I missed anything, what do you feel are the pros and cons of taking a digital photograph? Let me know in the comments. Next time I will be looking at editing the image.

Thanks

Mandy

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Why Has Digital Photography Become So Popular?

So what is it about digital photography that makes it so interesting to people?

• Is it the technology and how images are generated digitally
• Is it because they are great gadgets
• Is it the ease of producing images instantly on your computer
• Is it the quality of the image
• Is it the flexibility given for post production
• Is it the DIY side to processing

Whatever it is digital cameras and photography have become incredibly popular. Everybody from the complete beginner to the professional photographer are using them. I suspect it is a combination of the above statements for most people, I know it is for me. For me it would have to be a bit of all of them. And this is how they have become so popular, they have a wide appeal to a wide range of people.

It’s has taken a while

I think at first it took a while for digital photography to catch on. The cameras were quite expensive on their own, but then if you wanted to take full advantage of their capabilities then you needed a computer as well. Not as many people had computers a couple of years a go and I think this affected how they sold.

But with electronic prices crashing and price wars in full swing. The prices have dropped drastically for the cameras and for computers, and a lot more people have both now. Therefore the savings that can be made from film and processing costs are now being seen. And in turn that makes them rate highly in the affordable gadget category. I know I waited until the prices came down before I bought one!

Has it changed photographers forever?

Digital photography has changed the way photographers take photographs. For the professional it must have saved a lot on film and waiting for developing. But also it instantly lets them see what they have taken, and given them greater flexibility in the post production process. And they have had to become more computer friendly! It was the other way round for me. I became more computer friendly first, then I bought a digital camera and started to realise the great potential that they had. I suppose I didn’t like change, and it took me a while to change from film to digital.

I’ve also fallen into the trap, that I really tried not to do of pictures collecting on my hard drive. I like to look at photos, I don’t want them all on the computer or disc. It’s nice to take the time to look at ‘physical’ albums sometimes. But I don’t get around to printing them off as often as I would like. Which makes backing them up even more important!

Digital revolution

The digital revolution has made digital photography available to even more people as it’s appeal has spread, and has seen a lot of new people taking it up as a hobby. Helped along by the speed at which the technology has advanced. With new cameras coming out all the time with greater power and resolution. It wasn’t that long ago that 3 million mega pixel cameras were the best point and shoots around. Now you can easily pick up a 10 million mega pixel camera for the around the price, that the 3 million was when it came out a couple of years ago.

And the fact that they can be fitted to other devices like mobile phones and digital camcorders etc, makes them available to groups of people that would not normally have been interested in photography. Digital cameras fit nicely into the way we live today, we need to be mobile and have everything at our fingertips. So having a phone that is a camera (and pretty much a computer as well now) makes it easily accessible and instant to capture that moment and send it on.

It will be interesting to see where this digital revolution is going next and whether it will stay as popular as it has become. I hope so, because anything that helps more people take photos and enjoy them better, is good for photography.

Thanks

Mandy

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