While Point-and-Shoot digital cameras are perfect for casual photographers, Digital Single-Lens Reflex cameras (Digital SLR, for short) are the perfect choice for serious amateur photographers and other photography professionals due to the control they provide.
Yes, Point-and-Shoot digital cameras have all the advanced features to take the best shots on-the-go, anywhere, and anytime. However, Digital SLR cameras, although bulky and higher in price, do make it easier to capture even higher-quality, more accurate photos in a “What You See Is What You Get” (or WYSIWYG) way.
A digital SLR cameras utilize a mechanical mirror system. It uses a single lens to simultaneously view a scene and capture that image. Therefore, what you see is what you get—the photograph you will be producing is the image you see through the lens.
For intermediate and experienced users, Digital SLR cameras are more flexible in allowing manual adjustment of the camera’s settings. As a result, very experienced photographers will especially know what the final photo will appear like before it even develops. In comparison, Point-and-Shoot cameras require little to no adjustment of its manual settings. For example, zooming-in and focusing on a subject are usually both automatic.
However, while Digital SLR cameras DO take higher quality photos, they are also quite expensive. A beginner Digital SLR camera, for example, is probably two or three times more expensive than even the most high-end Point-and-Shoot digital camera. Furthermore, unlike the intuitive controls offered by Point-and-Shoot cameras (which are usually so easy as to make the packaged manual obsolete), SLR cameras require more learning and even much more practice. Users of SLR cameras usually need to learn the basics of how their SLR camera works.
Included in their education is learning the basic parts of the SLR camera such as:
- 4-element lens
- Reflect mirror
- Focal-plane shutter
- Sensor
- Matte focusing screen
- Condenser lens
- Pentaprism
- Eyepiece
Another advantage of Digital SLR cameras is the option to use various photographic lenses to match the current scene. This option is probably one of the top reasons why Digital SLR cameras are so popular with serious photographers. On the other hand, this expandability can also have added costs.
The first Digital SLR camera was manufactured by Sony in the early 1980s with the Sony Mavica. However, today, users can find a variety of models from Nikon, Olympus, and Canon, among many others. Furthermore, Canon and Nikon currently dominate the Digital SLR camera market nowadays with Canon having about a 41% worldwide share of the whole market.
Is a Digital SLR camera for you? If you are a casual photographer who uses his/her camera for capturing special memories like your kids’ baseball games, family gatherings, and other get-togethers on an almost day-to-day basis, Point-and-Shoot digital cameras will suffice. They can produce high-quality photos as well (with the quality getting better all the time with newer models). However, if you have an overall strong interest in photography and are willing to take the time to learn, Digital SLR cameras might be something you should look into.
