Re: Ten reasons to choose a Digital SLR over a Point and Shoot

On Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:07:03 -0800, SMS 斯蒂文• 夏 wrote:

Ten reasons to choose a Digital SLR over a Point and Shoot

1. You shoot in low light.

Modern digital SLRs are able to produce low noise images at ISO speeds
up to 1600, depending on the camera. Point and shoot cameras, with their
small sensors, begin to exhibit noise at ISO 200, with some poorer
models being too noisy even at 100 ISO.

My Kodak P850 works well at speeds I need to use.


2. You want to use flash attachments.

While a few higher end point and shoot digital models have hot shoes for
an external flash, most do not. Some Canon P&S models without hot shoes
can use a wireless flash, but it's not a great flash unit.

My Kodak P850 has a hot shoe and a built-in flash. Besides, have you ever
heard of a 'hot shoe slave'??



3. You need a wide-angle lens.

Digital SLRs have super-wide-angle zoom lenses available with an
effective focal length of as little as 16mm. There are no point and
shoot digital cameras with lenses that wide.

I don't need that wide - I've never used anything less than 35mm.


4. You need a long telephoto lens.

Whether it’s doing wildlife photography in Alaska, or shooting at
sporting events, only a digital SLR can use long telephoto lenses. If
you only need a specialty lens for rare occasions, you can even rent one
for a couple of days.

My Kodak P850 with 12x zoom goes to about 420mm - I could not afford an IS
lens that long for a DSLR.


5. You need fast auto-focus.

Most digital SLRs (with the exception of Pentax) use lenses with
internal high-speed focusing motors). Point and shoot digital cameras
cannot focus nearly as fast.

I don't often shoot sporting events. Haven't needed 'fast auto-focus' yet.


6. You need low shutter lag.

Whether it’s photographing your child on a merry-go-round, or capturing
the crack of the bat against the baseball, you cannot obtain these shots
with a digital point and shoot camera because the time between when you
press the shutter and the image is captured is far too long.

The shutter lag I experience is quite managable.


7. You want to produce images that can be printed in large sizes.

Only a high-resolution digital SLR is suitable for poster size prints.

B.S.


8. You want an optical viewfinder.

While a few point and shoot cameras have retained an optical viewfinder,
it’s been cost-reduced out of most models. Composing a picture on the
LCD screen, in bright sunlight, is very difficult.

I don't WANT an optical viewfinder - I find a lot of advantages to an EVF
- and I'd just as soon chuck the outside LCD - it's useless to me.


9. You want full manual control.

While some high-end point and shoot models have retained some level of
manual control, most have cost-reduced it out. On some Canon models,
there is third-party software that can get some of the manual control back.

I have full manual control on my Kodak P850.


10. Expandability and upgradability.

Not only a wide variety of specialty lenses, but flash attachments,
filters, vertical grips, remote shutter releases, etc. If you eventually
want to upgrade to a better D-SLR body, a lot of the lenses and
accessories can be used on the new body if it’s from the same manufacturer.

If I 'eventually want to upgrade to a better D-SLR body' I will do so.

You forget one major handicap of the DSLR - portability. I do a LOT of
hiking, bicycling, snowshoeing and I can't manage all the crap it would
take to equal what I have now in one compact package. For me, the 12x zoom
EVF is much preferable to a DSLR for that reason.

.

Relevant Pages