Posts Tagged ‘dslr camera’

What Is The Difference Between A Digital Camera And A Digital SLR Camera?

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

by Michael Arendt

Olympus DSLR Set


In this article we hope to be able to explain the difference between a normal digital camera and a digital SLR camera. When choosing and purchasing a new digital camera, there are some important elements of photography that you need to familiarize yourself with.

girl in viewfinder

To get us started “SLR” stands for Single Lens Reflex. Essentially this means that the lens can be removed and replaced whenever required. A regular SLR camera is a conventional film based SLR camera whilst a digital SLR (DSLR) is a digital SLR camera. DSLR or SLR cameras compared to a normal fixed lens digital camera, are far more complex to use, as certain features and settings within the camera have to be manually changed – such as focus, shutter speed and zoom. These are aspects of a digital camera that most people take as a given, as they are automatically set within the camera. These days, for your benefit, most DSLRs have some pre-set automatic functions – this being the functionality of digital cameras! Along with this, a DSLR can have the lens removed and replaced, meaning that the photographer can take extremely close up images of tremendously high quality.

Shop Calumet Photographic for this week’s MUST HAVE item:

girl taking picture

The reason why DSLRs are so frequently preferred by professional photographers is because they allow an accurate preview of framing at the moment of exposure, and because DSLRs allow the user to choose from a huge variety of alternate lenses. This gives you the best possible choice of photographic effects and quality of exposure. You can get lenses such as wide angle lens, telephoto lens and macro lenses. DSLR cameras offer a level of flexibility that other types of cameras cannot match, they have such a huge array of add ons and accessories. For DSLRs you can buy things like filters,external flashes, adapters, extension tubes, light strobes and a multitude of brackets and attachments. With a DSLR, you can also purchase a large array of tools which opens the possibility of new creative possibilities. Most DSLRs also have a function that allows accurate preview of depth of field.

Lego Camera

Perhaps the most important core component of any digital camera or DSLR is the sensor. This really is the most critical device in the camera and is perhaps the most important in determining the picture quality. Typically on a DSLR the sensor is far larger than those installed on a fixed focal length or digicam type camera. Most of the time fixed focal length cameras have a sensor just a half or one third the size of a DSLR. This in itself is reason enough to get a DSLR over a normal digital camera. The vastly superior picture quality makes it an essential part of any serious photographers arsenal.

A DSLR camera can offer you the ability to become a very skilled photographer, producing some high quality photographs. When you visit a professional camera store they will assist you in making your choice between a digital camera and a digital SLR camera.


Branded 2 468x60

About the Author:

For more advice on DSLR cameras visit our website at DSLR Cameras.

Article Courtesy of: Go Articles

More Art and Photography Info

Tags: , ,
Posted in Photography | Comments Off

Digital Photography Basics – Differences Between Compacts and DSLRs

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

If you want to learn the basics of digital photography, it really doesn’t matter whether you’re using a digital compact or a DSLR with the exception of these 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 always come with a built in lens and sometimes even come with a zoom.

If you have an optical zoom on your digital compact, you can get some good quality telephoto shots too. An Optical zoom is always better than digital zoom because a digital zoom works like cropping and takes away pixels. The more you zoom with a digital zoom the lower the image quality. Unlike regular zooms, an optical zoom maintains the quality of your picture.

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 megapixels as DSLRs, with only 5 megapixels, you can produce an 8×10 print of the type of quality you’d be proud to frame and hang 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. You can call a DSLR a single lens reflex camera but you can’t call an SLR a digital camera. With the release of cameras like the Canon Rebel and other moderately priced DSLRs, more photography enthusiasts are enjoying the benefits of using a DSLR.

The big advantage of the DSLR is its creativity and versatility.

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 all kinds of accessories to suit almost any photographer’s need.

Another advantage to the DSLR is its ability to take crisp, focused sports and other action shots in places with low light where flash isn’t allowed. The larger sensor on a DSLR allows you to do this; whereas with a compact, if you set the ISO high enough to take the shot in the dim light, it would have digital noise (sort of a multi colored grain). 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 compensated for is with a flash or a higher ISO setting.

However, you can get rid of most digital noise by using photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop.

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 in high quality really big pictures, like posters and large prints for framing. 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. So no matter what type of camera you have or will be buying, it pays to practice.

Author Bio: Autumn Lockwood is a writer for Your Picture Frames and loves taking pictures. Shop online and see our large selection of picture frames in colors like white and blue. Visit our easy to navigate website or call us at 1-800-780-0699.

More Art and Photography Info

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Photography | Comments Off

privace policy | terms of service | about us