Nerd Alert: DSLR Cameras
If you’re shopping for a new digital camera this holiday season, you may see a particularly fancy one with a $1000 price tag and wonder “what’s so much better about this than the $199 pocket-sized camera right next to it?” The answer lies in one of the most expensive acronyms in photography: DSLR. Prepare for some serious camera geekery as we go deep into the technology behind professional digital cameras.
DSLR stands for Digital Single-Lens Reflex. Cameras with this technology are the modern evolution of the SLR cameras that started to gain popularity in the 1970’s. This technology redirects the exact image coming through the main camera lens into the viewfinder. The alternative in less-expensive cameras is to have a separate optical path to the viewfinder. The SLR method has many benefits, including easier manual focus and completely identical reproduction in the viewfinder of the image that would hit the digital sensor or film. The only downside is that when snapping a picture, part of the SLR apparatus has to slide out of the light’s path, which briefly blanks out the viewfinder and emits a “snick” sound that can be annoying in a quiet environment.
As nice as SLR technology is, it is not the primary desirable feature in a professional camera. However, it is an indicator that a camera contains other unrelated high-end features. DSLR cameras typically have a much larger sensor area, approximately 4 to 5 times larger than even mid-range “semi-pro” cameras. The resulting greater ability to collect light can allow faster shutter speeds for action shots and greatly reduced image graininess in low-light scenes. These larger sensors also typically have a higher megapixel rating, although not quite as high as you might expect. Entry-level DSLR’s with 10 to 15 megapixels are common, and more expensive models often go beyond 20 megapixels.
DSLR’s almost always have an interchangeable lens system. This allows specialized lenses for close-up macro photos, or extreme zoom for nature or sports photography. However, for a typical amateur photographer, these lenses can be more trouble than they are worth. Accessory lenses can cost more than the camera itself and will only fit the model lines that they were designed for. Also, dust can enter the camera body while swapping lenses, leading to tedious or expensive cleaning. We would recommend researching a good general-purpose lens with image stabilization and sticking with that until you know you need something more specific.
So what’s the bottom line? If you value simplicity and compactness in a camera, don’t feel embarrassed to get a small point-and-shoot camera at a good price. The quality of all digital cameras have risen to the point where you will get great images out of almost anything on the market. However, if you love fiddling with settings and have a low tolerance for even slight image flaws, a DSLR will open a completely new sense of accomplishment for the photography enthusiast in you.
