Getting started with serious digital photography Part 1: Buying a Camera

Budget and brand issues aside you have a couple of choices;

• film and digital
• SLR and “Compact”

Film Photography versus Digital Photography

Film cameras are your traditional camera that take film that needs to be processed before you see the pictures you have taken. This blog is about digital but there is still much to be said in favour of film, especially black and white. In my opinion though there are way many more advantages to digital, especially when you are starting out learning serious photography. People learn better with fast feedback loops and reduced risk, two things you only get with digital!

Digital SLR versus Compact Digital Cameras

I am not sure why most “point and shoot cameras” are called “compact”, some are anything but. Having said that you can use most digital SLR cameras in fully automatic modes so I guess the subject is even more confusing than I at first thought!

The main difference is in the acronym SLR which stands for “Single Lense Reflex”. With a SLR camera what you see is what will come out in the picture because you are seeing exactly the light that will hit the film or image sensor. While this sounds clear cut, many compact cameras also now give a good representation of the final image also. Manufacturers are adding more and more professional features into leisure focussed cameras but there are broadly still differences and advantages that DSLR cameras have

• Interchangeable lenses – with a compact you are stuck with a general purpose lense which ends up being pretty poor at everything, while the kit lense that comes with your DSLR will not be fantastic either you have the ability to switch to a lense that is perfect for your task.A good lense will do wonders for the quality of your pictures.
• Complete Control – once you have learned the basics of photographic composition you will want to experiment with other aspects such as aperture and shutter speed. DSLR cameras give you as much or as little control as you need.
• Exposure and speed – DSLRs have a better range of lighting level capability than other cameras, from low light through to faster speeds. With a good lense and some tweaking of settings such as ISO you can capture images that any other camera would give up on.
• Flash – like lenses you don’t want to be stuck with a basic little wimpy flash unit. Flash has the power to cheapen a photograph or make it light up, with a good flash you have more chance of it being the latter. Even the lower end flash units work better than the built in flash because of the ability to bounce and position the light.

Of course there are disadvantages too, mainly

• cost – digital photography if you are really serious is not a cheap hobby. The basic kit will cost around upwards of £500/$1000, then there are accessories and additional lenses. Having said that I started out with film SLR and the cost of film and processing on top of the camera itself worked out way more expensive.
• complexity – although I expect you would get better results even on full auto with a DSLR, if all you want to do is take pictures of your kids on vacation then stick with a compact. It takes time and effort to learn digital photography with a DSLR.
• fragility – I hear the upper end Canon digital cameras such as the 1Ds, 5D and 20D are more robust than my entry-level 350d (shown above), they are still something to take a lot of care over, especially  where dust particles and scratches are concerned.
• size – once you have the basic body and one or two lenses you are not going to be able to slip it into a pocket or purse like a compact!

What about Megapixels?

You will see a lot of reviews mention megapixels. When looking at digital SLRs you do not really need to concern yourself with this too much as all the DSLRs I have seen have 6mp or above.

If you want good quality prints then work out how many pixels you need simply by working out how large a picture you will print and the dots per inch quality you need. A good photograph will need 300 dpi or better but you might get away with 150dpi. Even some phone cameras but definitely newer compact cameras now produce images with size and quality sufficient for a 6×4″ photograph print (3.2mp upwards). It is only when you get to larger sizes like A4 they might struggle. Check out Microsoft’s diagram here.

Newspaper journalists often use entry level DSLRs like the Canon 350d and Nikon D70s whereas magazine print quality and stock photography often demands the higher pixel count of the more professional cameras such as the full frame, higher resolution cameras such as the 12.8mp Canon 5D and suchlike.

Resolution is not just about printing but also about the sharpness and detail of the picture and potential for cropping. You still want a decent amount of image left after zooming or cropping out unnecessary  junk from your photograph.

Recommendation

I will leave description of these cameras to more detailed posts that single out the cameras individually. Suffice to say Damian and I use the Canon 350d / Digital Rebel XT (around £550), Mark uses the Nikon D70s (around £750). You should also take a look at the new kid on the block, the Nikon D50 which is a slightly cheaper and newer brother to the D70s and is available at around £450.