Guide to your Perfect Digital Camera 603
Alan Dang writes "I've just posted a new digital camera buyer's guide at FiringSquad titled A Tale of Two Cameras. It explains why the digital SLR may not be the best camera for you, and helps you narrow down your holiday digital camera buying to a short list."
Why DSLR might not be right for you (Score:2, Interesting)
DSLR Cameras: $1200 and up
Point, shoot and wait cameras: $200-500
Re:Yay (Score:5, Interesting)
I agree, what ever happened to good old HTML? And why so much border? You have a whole browser, fill it up, I had to put my glasses on to read the text and all I wanted to know was where to get a good digital camera for around $150.
Another case of designing for the PHB. What looks good on the latest PC on a high speed connection at work, might not even show up in the browser of the average user. And did you even check to see if it runs on Macs or Linux???
I just got a D70... (Score:3, Interesting)
Some Advantages of Digital for me (I shoot Concerts):
-ISO 1600 is very usable, enabling VERY low light pics like this [umbc.edu] one.
-Auto White Balance (or simply the ability to change it) alows me to go from outside to inside to inside w/flourescent lights
-I can carry the equivalent of 4 rolls of film on a 1GB CF card, which is more than enough most of the time.
$1200 where? (Score:2, Interesting)
If you have a Old School Film 35mm Camera body with a plethora of lenses, then it makes sense to look at a DSLR made by the same or compatible manufacturer. It also makes sense to look at a DSLR if you are at all slightly serious about getting into photography. For either having photography as a significant hobby or to act as a lower cost professional.
Although if you have the insane dough, (often priced $10k and up) there is no reason not to look at Wide-Format Digital Backs for Wide-Format Cameras, the type typically used for Wedding and other professional photographical work.
What are you talking about? (Score:2, Interesting)
I knew going into it that there would be much to learn and that if I stuck to it, I would be able to take some excellent images. Perhaps well enough to do some photography on the side for some extra dough in a semi to actually professional capacity.
Longtime DPreview reader... (Score:3, Interesting)
It's like walking into a Chevy, Ford, or Dodge dealership and asking them, "Hey, what's best?" You can predict what might happen.
Lately, there are fewer and fewer "experts" and more and more newbies. More and more complaints about Canon, Nikon and the lack of progress on this or that. Lots of rumors. If you like rumors, give the place a try. Especially with PMA coming in February.
If you want to hear people whine and complain about this, or that, you can hear that too!
Frankly, fredmiranda.com and robgalbraith.com are seem more civilized. If the search engine were worth $.25 at DPReview, I'd say go there, but it's got to be the worst search engine ever.
Someone should volunteer to help good ole Phil on that search engine.
Dust in the Wind (Score:3, Interesting)
I have two P&S digitals, neither of which work. One is on a slow boat back to its maker for warranty repairs. Thus, I'm looking at alternatives.
Re:Why DSLR might not be right for you (Score:4, Interesting)
They're Huge
Most normal consumers want a digital camera so they can take it to parties, take it on holiday, etc. Even the 3/4 size DSLRs have physically large bodies and get even bigger when you add lenses. They're not the kind of thing you want to carry on a night out unless you're really serious.
They're Heavy
See They're Huge. Even if you don't mind the bulk, you probably don't want to carry the weight of one everywhere you go.
You Can't "Sneak Them In"
That tiny little DSC-T1 will get passed all but the most determined concert security. There's no way you'll get a DSLR with lenses and flash past them.
They're Complicated
Command line is far more useful than a windowed file manager for geeks. For everyone else, it just adds far too much confusion. They want to point, press a button, get a picture. Maybe some other features would be nice but they don't want their grandmother to be intimidated when they ask her to quickly take a family picture.
They Don't Have Previews On The LCD
As the mirror's down to let you look through the view finder, the sensor isn't capturing anything until you press the release. As a result, you don't get live previews on the LCD. This makes holding it up in the air and getting a shot over a crowd way harder than when you can preview that screen. Sure, a serious photographer would never use an LCD for quality reasons - but a typical consumer cares far less about that than the convenience.
No Movie Mode
As the mirror can either send the image to the view finder OR the sensor, if it tried to shoot a movie it'd leave a black viewfinder. Sure, the quality sucks but people still like to be able to email a 30 second clip of wishing grandma a happy christmas.
No Gimmick Features
Why does technology advance? Because the common man can use it for porn. Sony's DSC-V1 is a little camera that lets you take shots in absolute darkness, without flash - perfect for your home porn movies. The movie features mentioned above are just the same. All of those gimmicks are essential to the common man.
Porn Excuse Number 2
Slipping out your little compact with your date might be a little cheeky and adventurous. Pulling out your DSLR, changing lenses, setting up the tripod and mounting your TTL flash is just plain creepy.
DSLRs are amazing things. I can take images I could only dream of with my digital compact. But, for all that, they really aren't anywhere near as flexible for the average person who wants convenience [and the low price point] over spending hours obsessing over the perfect shot.
Finally, as any photo journalism professor will tell you: The best camera you can ever own is the one you always have with you. Very few photojournalist had their DSLRs out when the planes went in to the twin towers. The tourist with his cheap and nasty video camera did. End result? The tourist got the shot. The best camera for you is the one you'll use the most. For most people, DSLRs are just too big, heavy and inconvenient to use that much while a tiny compact can go everywhere with them.
Re:Yay (Score:1, Interesting)
This is nonsense. The article wasn't targeted specifically at serious photographers, and even if it was, photography is among the least "right brain" of the arts. I've known quite a number of engineers who are avid photographers.
And no, flash wasn't the appropriate medium, since the entire article consisted of text and images, which straight HTML can present just fine. If some real animation had been used and not just trivial fades, then you might have a point.
Also, the writing sucked.
Re:Yay (Score:3, Interesting)
When you're ready to come back down to earth, I once read something about web designers are always trying to shoehorn print design into web design
Designing a web page to fit in a fixed area is like designing for a piece of paper. What's the point of having different monitor resoltions, scrollbars and "fluid" layouts if you're just going to shove it in a fixed-sized box that sits in the middle of my 1600x1200 monitor, making me squint to see it? Ludicrous.
Re:Yay (Score:2, Interesting)
There were no "dramatic pauses" or clear white space in this. The information itself seemed cluttered, a result of it being restrained to a box of a certain size. This could have definitely benefited from more white space throughout, rather than just a black void around the presentation.
I hope this was originally made for print, and then just put on the web in essentially the same format in order to save time, otherwise, it was a complete design mistake from the get-go. It operates almost exactly like a book, where you have to turn the pages in order to see what you're getting next, at least a description of what the next page is going to be would have been nice.