People used to say SLR, but that's really outdated...Why? Have you ever heard of DSLR? Have you ever search for the meaning of SLR? SLR means "single-lens reflex camera". DSLR? Digital single-lens reflex camera. Of course it's digital, almost everything is digital now. Photos taken will immediately store inside memory card instead of film.

I'm a Canon DSLR user, I own a 350D which is very old. That doesn't really matter anyway, lens are always more valueable than the body.



If you are not really into photography, you probably ask,
Why choose DSLR? Why so troublesome? Is that necessary? Must it end up like picture below?


Skip the following paragraph if you are not interested in my opinion
Well, I actually had answered all these questions and managed to convince my parents to buy me one.
My opinion is, it allows me to fully control a result of an image, I can control its brightness, blurness, colors, and so much more. Even though it's troublesome, but I tell them, no pain no gain. With ordinary automatic digital camera, just one click and it does everything, and that is so....simple....(people are getting lazy nowadays huh?)....However, with DSLR, I get to learn many things, for example, ISO Speed, Shutter speed, Aperture, Exposure, White balance, Lenses, filters, lighting and many more. Is that necessary at all? Why not? Learning new things aren't good? Taking photographs can earn a lot though, you can't really study these sort of things in school. I learn it through exploring, trial and error which is quite risky, therefore, do more research through internet, I also buy magazines and some references from MPH.

Okay....those are just simple reasons to convince my parents since they wouldn't understand if I go any further.
Now, comes the true advantage of Digital SLR. Oh wait, before that, I should say, the disadvantage of Compact Digital Camera which frustrates you immensely. Let me reminds you.

• You're attending a big event and want to grab a shot of a fleeting moment
• For some reason your compact digital camera just won't focus
• FINALLY it locks the focus and you're ready - you press the button
• But there's a DELAY - the camera pauses for a second, then it takes the shot

At last, you've missed the best moment. ARGH!!! Darn it!! That's it, go for DSLR!!!
Haha.

Now, I shall begin my talk on advantage of DSLR. So obviously, it's FAST! How come? Hmmm....it's like electronics VS mechanics. Here comes the Shutter which you can't find it in compact digital camera. What so good about Shutter? Well, Shutter is instantaneous, which means, you click the shoot button, it instantly closes *chick* and opens *chak*. Whereas in compact cameras, the sensor is electronically activated every time you take a photo, after all these processes, theres delay, which means SLOW........

Also, wtih DSLR you can have a lens for every occasion. For landscape shots, I will use wide angle lens. For close up potraits, I'll use telephoto lens. For plants and insects, I'll use macro lens. Theres no such thing as 3-in-1 or All-in-1. Be specific, be professional. Maybe you would say, compact digital camera only has 1 lens and it does everything. Lens in compact digital camera has built in mega zooms, x10, x20....but it takes time to zoom plus the quality of the picture will decrease as you zoom in. Unlike DSLR, the zoom is driven by a motor, plus you can control it manually either fast or slow, close, or far.

Thirdly, DSLR can shoot anywhere, anytime, no matter how bad the weather is. You see...I'm sure you noticed, you will face problem when shooting night scenes, a slight movement will makes the image look blur, so difficult. With DSLR, you are allow to manually control the ISO speed which controls the sensitivity to light. At night, there will be less light, so you need high ISO Speed so that your camera detects more light and your image will look fine. Whereas, a compact digital camera needs flash to shoot a proper night scene.

Again, this is same as my own opinion, you can fully control the result of an image. Most importantly, you can do it manually instead of letting the camera do all the job.

Currently, I have 3 lens:
A standard lens comes with the camera, 18-55mm
Wide angle lens (L-series), 17-40mm
Zoom lens, 70-300mm

You might ask, how far is 300mm? Well, I can tell you that your eye is 80mm wide angle lens. You should have learnt this in science, human eyes are stereoscopic, which similar to wide angle lens. Why wide angle? It's because our eyes is convex shape. Agree? You probably learned this in Physics. Another words, image produce by wide angle lens will have slight distortion at the corner. Bascially, almost all lenses will have slight distortion just that we can't really see it.

You can choose your own path as a DSLR user, choose your lens:

Wide Angle lenses View the world with a wide perspective. • Standard lenses What you see is what you get. • Telephoto lenses Get into the excitement of action. • Zoom lenses Produce innovative photographs with a variety of angles of view and perspective. • Macro lenses Discover the beauty of the small things in life. • Tilt & Shift lenses Tilt and shift the perspective anyway you like it.

Pictures and links will be added when I'm free.