From Compact to DSLR

[busybee]

I used a 350D for a long time and think its a very good camera - and you can get one for a really good price now. As for a lens to go with, I would recommend a Canon EF 28 - 105mm, image stabilised if you can afford it.  Whatever you choose, I'm sure you'll enjoy having a DSLR!

[Pipeman]

I used a 350D for a long time and think its a very good camera - and you can get one for a really good price now. As for a lens to go with, I would recommend a Canon EF 28 - 105mm, image stabilised if you can afford it.  Whatever you choose, I'm sure you'll enjoy having a DSLR!

The 28-105 is a smashing lens - covers most eventualties when out and about - never had it off my camera.

[Carrie]

A bit out of my budget but it is a nice lens by the look of it.
 

[Jenny]

The thing is Carrie, dont let super fancy kit scare you off, you wont regret it, even a "kit lens" will be brill till you learn the cam a bit.
The boys are just saying to check out the other lens options just encase you really get into it.
dont think that its a hobby you cant join in with because you dont have the latest gear, the main thing is to get you into a DSLR.
The rest will follow

 

[Pipeman]

I agree with Jenny's sentiments - I have the kit lens and find it just great - even for taking closeup shots. The thing is that it's a good quality lens and you can therefore crop the image more to get in close. Many toggers knock kit lenses, but not I!

[Jenny]

mine came with a kit lens, and I never changed it, and too wonderful pics with it.
I bought some screw on macro lens attachments for it, think they cos £15 in ebay and that was it.
So its totally ok to go as far as you want with lenses, you can stick with a kit lens and maybe one for close ups,
or you can go the whole hog and the sky is the limit

[Carrie]

Thank you everyone. I've got a bit of investigating to do yet but in the meantime my trysty little compact will get me by.
 

[scoundrel1728]

I've got a bit of investigating to do yet but in the meantime my trysty little compact will get me by.
 

Just what are you doing with your "trysty" little compact, anyway?  Good luck on your investigation, but keep it clean!

[Carrie]

    A Freudian typo.   

[Seven_Wishes]

With price being a big issue, why not think along the lines of a bridge camera ... Most will have features (and specs close) on a par with most budget DSLRs ... Shutter priority, aperture priority, manual, some sort of closeup/macro facility, scene modes, pop-up flash and hot shoe, raw mode and a lens that will cover most eventualities.

It is worth remembering that any camera is only as good as the person behind it.

[scoundrel1728]

Depending on what is limiting Carrie's photographic endeavors, a bridge camera may indeed be the way to go, at least for now.  Even after Carrie gets a dSLR, if indeed she decides to get one, the bridge camera is still useful as a "walkabout" camera or when the expected photographic opportunities do not warrant carrying around the dSLR and a suitable entourage of lenses and accessories.  There are some tradeoffs to consider:

Portability, size, expense: The compact camera wins this one hands-down; the bridge camera, somewhat less so, but still has a considerable advantage over the dSLR kits.  In general, you can get a lot more camera for your money with a bridge camera than with a dSLR.  The size and portability advantage of bridge cameras is especially true for those applications involving long telephoto lenses, such as birding and wildlife photography and outdoor sports played on large fields, such as baseball, cricket, and football (American or European).  This assumes that you choose a model that has long telephoto capability or you can find a good teleconverter to fit to the front of your primary lens.  Good telephoto lenses for dSLR cameras can weigh several pounds and typically begin at USD700 or so and can go up to many thousands of dollars.  Good, though not necessarily excellent, lenses for more moderate photographic purposes but still capable of “professional” quality for general photographic purposes start at USD300 or so when bought new, with a few exceptions.  (I am not counting special-purpose artistic lenses such as the Lensbaby models here.)  

Ease of use: This one also goes to the compact and bridge cameras, but with conditions.  When set to full auto mode and when using a starter kit, the dSLR can also be fairly easy to use - for basic photography of the kind that beginners and casual photographers attempt.  However, for more advanced stuff, the bridge cameras and dSLRs often have buttons for the more commonly-used features, where the compacts and especially subcompacts require the photographer to access the menus - if the feature is available at all. That said, the lack of features can also be an advantage for ease of learning because the user’s manual can be simpler and easier to understand without them.

Speed of use: Here is one area where the dSLR earns its stripes.  The dSLR cameras have more room for buttons and levers for the controls so features can be accessed a lot faster than on the portables and bridge cameras.  Focus is a lot faster on the dSLR, though this depends in part on the lens model.  With compact and bridge cameras, autofocus can take the better part of a second to achieve.  Zooming the lens is also a lot faster because the photographer doesn’t have to depend on a single-speed zoom motor.  Compact and bridge cameras almost always have a noticeable delay between the time the photographer activates the shutter and the exposure is made, even if the photographer has prefocused the shot.  Digital SLRs also have shutter lag - after all, it takes a finite time for the reflex mirror to clear the camera chamber and for the diaphragm to stop down to its working aperture - but this delay is usually a lot less than on bridge cameras.

General image quality: This is the major reason that even casual photographers give for opting for dSLR systems.  The image quality advantage is real but I suspect the actual reason for choosing these systems has more to do with personal vanity.  That aside, the much larger imager of the dSLR allows for a better combination of resolution, ISO sensitivity, freedom from pixel noise or antinoising artifacts, and dynamic range than the smaller imagers on the compacts and bridge cameras allow.  This tradeoff predates digital photography by several decades and the battle is still going strong.  That said, the bridge cameras are still more than capable of decent web images and can do acceptable A4-sized - even A3-sized - blowups.  Unless you expect to enter a lot of photography contests or do salon photography, or regularly shoot artwork for posters, it is doubtful that you will need bigger enlargements more than rarely.

Versatility: Another area where the dSLR has it all over the bridge and especially the compact models.  Much of this limitation of the smaller formats comes from the limitations of having a noninterchangeable lens.  With dSLR systems, the lenses and bodies can be bought separately, with different lenses for different purposes.  When dSLRs are purchased as kits, one or two lenses of moderate quality are included.  One of the big problems the learning amateur faces with these systems is deciding which - if any - additional lenses to buy.  Then, once the photographer has a large enough collection of such lenses, bringing everything on every photographic outing becomes impractical, so he must choose which lenses and accessories to leave at home.

Large vs. Small Format: Much, but not all, of the difference between compact or bridge digital cameras and the dSLR cameras comes from the larger imager typically found in the latter.  This means a bigger image that is not as badly degraded by diffraction effects and, for the same number of pixels in the imagers, each pixel has more area.  This means for the same light intensity each pixel intercepts more light, making it more sensitive.  Or if the sensitivity remains constant, the bigger pixels mean a stronger and less noisy signal.  Or the pixels can be shrunk, allowing more of them onto the imager, hence greater resolution.

On the other hand, the larger imager means a correspondingly larger camera body and larger and heavier lenses.  Also, to do justice to the greater resolution, the lenses must also be more precisely made.  The lenses - especially telephoto lenses - bercause of their larger and heavier size, require more material and more support and must be made stronger.  All of this adds to the cost of the lenses.  The cost of the imagers also grows a lot when they become larger.

Focus is also more critical, partly because the larger physical apertures allow less depth of field.  Depending on what you are trying to achieve, this may be a good or a bad thing.  Portrait photographers often choose lenses with large aperture capability even when these apertures are not necessary for their light gathering ability so that selective focus may be used for aesthetic reasons.  On the other hand, depth of field is hard to come by in macro photography.  Here, the small depth of field of the larger format makes taking good macro and extreme closeup shots difficult.   In fact, most small cameras straight out of the box can frame tighter than most dSLRs can without special equipment for the purpose.

Seriously consider Seven_Wishes' advice.  On the whole, I would say that the typical beginner would find a well-selected bridge camera a better learning tool than a full-blown dSLR system.  There will be plenty of time to select the dSLR before you start running up against the bridge camera's limitations.  Meanwhile, the bridge camera, being less encumbering, will be more fun.

[Carrie]

Thanks Scoundrel. Very interesting but a lot to take in. Much appreciated.
 

[RockArea]

I have to say from personal experience that although I can see Scoundrel's (and Seven_Wishes) advice is well thought out, I don't agree with his outcome. In my own transition a few years ago, I considered the bridge camera option but rejected it and I'm very glad that I did so. I love having a compact to take with me for those days when photography is a side issue but when it comes to the kind of photography I've come to do, it would soon have become a frustration.

I like the northern expression, 'Buy Well, Buy Once'. Each time you trade in you lose more money so it pays to take the long view of what you plan to do and set your target that way. It's not an easy task though as we never know how our mindset might change by the new circumstances we find ourselves in. After a couple of years of my new dSLR I was fortunate enough to be able to upgrade to a better camera but I already had the lenses to go on it and I have the old one as a spare.

Only you can decide what's right for you, Carrie, and there's certainly lots of good advice on these pages. I'm sure you'll sort it out in your own way. In the meantime we'll no doubt continue the debate because we thoroughly enjoy these sorts of discussions!

David

[BigAl]

Sensible advice David - as was that from the other two.

So what it boils down to is whether or not you feel that your finances will take an upturn in a couple of years. If you can see a bright financial future then take the bridge camera option. If the future is uncertain then save for that dSLR.

[Carrie]

Well thank you Rockarea for muddying the waters still further. You and Scoundrel etc. between you really know how to confuse a girl. (only joking).

But I’ve read all your posts with great interest and have noted some salient points. My situation is that I’ve not got a big budget, and also, I asked the same question elsewhere and someone asked what I wanted to photograph. Well, I don’t really know. Everything and anything. So far. I just like taking photographs but I really like best of all messing about in Photoshop, or Elements anyway. It seems this is a bit of a bone of contention here as there are people who seem to dislike anything to do with manipulations, but personally I like to try to make something look good from not very much, which is about all you can do sometimes with a compact. But you can also get some brilliant pics with a compact too (not that I’m saying mine are, but I’m quite pleased with some of them).  And I really like messing about on the computer.

I don’t want to carry around a lot of equipment. Somehitng I can get in a biggish handbag would be find, preferably with a longish zoom. I’ve looked at the Lumix range but their lenses don’t seem to zoom too far and they’re expesive too so they’re out. Ho hum, I think that until I decide what I want to do with it I’ll just snap away see where I end up. At the moment I quite like the macro setting. I’ve got a nice one of the leg of a vase I’ll put up soon. I bet you can’t wait. 

The bit about buy once and buy right is a bit of a worry because how do you know if you’ve bought right when you don’t’ know what to do with it.

Well I ‘ve got a birthday coming up soonish so I’ll have a look round, and if I like to the look of something perhaps I can persuade someone to go halves. You never know.

Thank you so much everyone for your ideas.

 

[RockArea]

Well thank you Rockarea for muddying the waters still further

I know, you ask one simple question and what happens!

I think your thoughts are spot on, Carrie, sticking with what you've got until you have more idea of what you want has got to be a good way of going. And don't put yourself down, didn't you have a Photo of the Day last week? There are people who've been on here years without getting one of them, so you're certainly doing something right. Lots of the pics you see on here are taken with compacts including yesterday's PotD by Jenny.

Personally, I love the photoshop bit and I rarely put a pic up that hasn't had a bit of manipulation, most get quite a lot but I'm sure you know that you can't turn a dodgy pic into a good one with photoshop. You can make a good one better though.

Look around, talk to people and also keep your eye on the bit underneath the pics and comments in the gallery. You can usually see what cameras people use.

[Carrie]

Thank you Rockarea. That's taken the pressure off a bit. I suppose I just get caught up in the moment and want to buy something. I'll certainly take my time and read lots of articles in magazines and look at lots of adverts, but first get an idea of what and why. 

[scoundrel1728]

Really?  I never said you had to have a bridge camera or a dSLR but not both.  I also don't think David is as far from my advice as he is letting on.  If you have already learned the artistic and technical basics before having made the transition to digital and already know pretty much what kinds of photos you will mainly be taking, then my recommendation for learning on a bridge camera doesn't necessarily apply.

Here are some features to look for in a learning tool:

* provision for attaching filters and other lens accessories, either with filter threads or with an optional adapter tube that does have filter threads.  (Canon went the adapter tube route with the G series.)

* fully manual control of exposure time and aperture.

* histogram feature for viewing, preferably with an option that shows the red-green-blue components but it doesn't have to be a live view histogram.  Overexposure warning is also helpful.

* provision for manual focus

* provision for triggering an external flash unit.

* manual preset white balance

* auxiliary viewfinder, either optical or electronic (optical in the case of the G9).

A camera selected as a learning tool will have most of these features.  I would also include a tripod socket and a closeup ability that could shoot a 3 x 5 inch index card without showing any background, but almost all cameras, even the subcompacts, include those features.  Most can do much better than the 3 x 5 inch index card and can frame tightly enough to fill the frame completely with a (2 x 3-1/2 inch) business card.  Some can do the same thing with a 35 mm full-frame negative or slide.  Some would also include the ability to store images in some format other than JPEG, but I don't insist on this option for bridge cameras.

[Carrie]

Well, I've gone into info overload. Giving my brain a rest. Goodbye and goodnight.

[scoundrel1728]

 

Well, I've gone into info overload. Giving my brain a rest. Goodbye and goodnight.