Digital SLR Camera Guide

www.sony.co.uk - Digital SLRs are the new type of Digital Camera, but choosing the right one can be complicated. This Buyer's Guide explains what you need to know about SLRs to make sure you're getting the latest and greatest camera.

Knowing Which Digital SLR Camera Lens is Right for You?

When shopping for a Digital SLR Camera people often overlook or skimp on the camera's lenses. Camera Lenses serve as the digital SLR cameras "eye," the lens determines what and how your camera will see your subject and how well that view is transmitted to the camera's sensor chip for recording. The way I like to look at camera lenses is as painter's brushes, broad strokes, medium stokes, all purpose brushes, and small detail brushes. There is a lot to learn about digital slr camera lenses and this article will serve as a basic outline to understanding them. The following sections explain the basic types of digital SLR camera lenses, how they work, and how to select them.

Focal Length

On a digital SLR camera the focal length of the lenses measures the distance between the lens and the image sensor, measured in millimeters. Lenses can be classified into subgroups like prime, macro, wide angle, normal, telephoto, and zoom lenses. They are also rated in regards to f-stop or speed an example would be a F2.0 50mm lens or a 1.4F 80mm lens. We will explain this later in this article.

Prime Lenses:

Prime lenses are fixed focal length lenses like a 50mm 1.4f lens. To zoom with these types of lenses you need to use your feet and to get closer or farther away from the subject. Traditionally prime lenses are sharper and faster then zoom lenses. If you are on a budget you can pick up some amazing used older prime lenses off eBay or your local camera store.

Macro Lenses:

Macro Lenses are your detail brushes they enable you to get up close and personal with your subject. These types of lenses are used for extreme close ups on small objects like daisies, pennies, and food but not limited to these types of subjects. Examples of macro lenses are 50mm and 100mm macros. These lenses are also great for selective focus types of photos.

Wide-angle Lenses:

Wide-angle lenses are your broad stroke brushes; these types of lenses have short focal lengths. The short focal length has the visual effect of "pushing" the subject away from you and making it appear smaller. The beauty of wide-angle lenses is you can be relatively close to your subject and fit a broad stroke of the background into the scene.

One problem with wide-angle lenses is known as convergence, a distortion that makes vertical structures appear to lean toward the center of the frame. A way to check if the wide-angle lenses you are interested in has convergence is to take test pictures before buying the lens. With high quality wide angles lenses like Canon L series lenses address this convergence issue well. Examples of wide-angle lenses are 15MM, 17mm, 24mm and 28mm lenses.

Normal Lenses:

Normal Lenses try to mimic how the human eye sees and are some of the most versatile lenses you can use. These are my all purpose brushes, and are somewhere between a wide angle and a telephoto lenses. If you buy just one lens try and buy the fastest normal lenses you can like a 50mm 1.4f lenses. Some examples of normal lenses are 35mm; 50mm, 65mm and some consider a 80mm a normal lens.

Telephoto Lenses:

Lenses with long focal lengths 100mm and higher are called telephoto lenses. A long focal length seems to bring the subject closer to you and increases the subject's size in the frame. Telephoto lenses also give your subjects a graphic look and flatten out your subject. These lenses are my short stroke brushes.

Zoom Lenses:

Zoom lenses are special because they can be very versatile. These types of lenses vary in their focal lengths and come in many in wide-angle, telephoto, and wide-angle to telephoto. In my bag I carry a 17mm to 35mm my wide-angle broad brush, 24mm to 70mm my medium brush, and a 80mm to 200mm my short brush. With these three lenses I get a very board range of focal lengths for any situation. All of my zooms are at least f2.8 through out the lenses range, which means my f-stop can stay constant while I am zooming in and out. These types of lenses are very expensive but so get what you pay for. When shopping for a zoom lenses check out the f-stop range rating. An example is a 24mm to 300mm f3.5-f5.6 lenses meaning the lowest f-stop you can shoot is at the 24mm range of the lenses and when you zoom to 200mm the lowest you can go is f5.6. Zoom lenses can give you flexibility and versatility all in one lenses. When buying a zoom lens try and get one that is made of glass and is the fastest you can afford, you will not regret it.

Understanding what these different groups of lenses can do will help you make more informed decisions on what lenses to purchase and what to put in your camera bag.

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Why Use SLR Cameras?

Single Lens Reflex or commonly known as SLR cameras makes use of automatic moving mirror system. This enables photographer to capture exactly a photo or any digital system. You do not need a film when you have this new breed of camera around because the quality of images copied by a film is the same as what is taken by the SLR except it requires no films. This is why most photographers choose this model unit because it is very convenient and cheap. You can retake shots and edit them. This would save you time and money. You can take as many shots as you would like. Compared to cameras that requires a film which is limited to dozens of shots the SLR enables you to store more than a hundred images as long as the memory allows it.

The great thing about SLR is not only limited to its capacity to store more images but also its ability to focus far away images. This feature enables the photographer to capture images like wild animals and distant landscapes. You need not to be in close proximity because it can be focused to fit the images as if you shot it in close range. This is very ideal if you are going out on a safari. Capturing wild animals in their in their natural state certainly adds life on the picture. The raw image is something worth taking. Having to shoot them doing their daily activities for survival is the essence of nature. It provides the photographers the confidence they needed to take the picture. They would no longer worry of being chased by those wild creatures. In this way they could take their time and shoot with such precision.

The SLR also has a feature that enables it to adopt in its surroundings. Unlike compact cameras that requires a substantial amount of lighting. The SLR can be adjusted in lower light conditions even without a flash. In this way it enables a narrower depth field. You can blur the background behind the object you are capturing in order to highlight or make it more prominent. It can also capture moving objects in such high precision. Taking it as if it were slow motion or it can capture it as if you were able to stop the movement of the object you are shooting. Some use multiple automatic shots to enable this kind of precision. This is really beneficial for paparazzi in taking candid moments of their target celebrities.

The SLR still has some disadvantages. One of which is that it weighs heavier and bulkier because of its long lenses. It is also a bit expensive compared to compact cameras because of its intricate designs of the mechanism. It is not an ordinary camera after all. Even though with its drawbacks the SLR is still worth every penny because it provides you the best experience when you are taking pictures. The photographer has no limits when taking shots and it will not be hindered by low lighting and distance.

For more information on which slr digital cameras to buy or for help in choosing which is the cheap digital cameras for you. Visit my site for information on compact and slr digital cameras. Including reviews and user reviews

Canon Rebel XS Digital SLR Camera Review - A Great Low-End SLR Camera

When you're ready to graduate to a Single-Lens-Reflex camera, the Canon Rebel XS 10.1Mp Digital SLR Camera might be what you're looking for. When you're looking at the DSLR lines, it's a good entry level to this line.

All of the cameras at this price level are incredible, of course. They'll give you distinct huge photographs that rival anything that a professional might shoot.

However, this Canon is very affordable, being only a little above the price of the high-end point-and-shoot cameras. If people are afraid to pay those big bucks for the big SLR cameras, this might be a good choice.

Here are some of the features of the Canon Rebel XS:

1. When the LCD screen gets up to this camera's 2.5 inch size, that helps keep the camera compact, yet allow the user to have a good view of what they're going to be taking a photo of. The menus of these cameras are very important, because they're how you'll be navigating when you're looking to turn on the special features.

2. Since you can purchase the body separate from the lens, this is good because it's so low priced that you can get a better quality lens to go with it, yet end up with a very reasonable camera for the price.

There are so many features, it will take you weeks before you're completely knowledgeable about the unit, but most people won't use all those features. Being a successor to the XSI, it's quality and overall design is very similar.

Here are some more of the features of the Canon Rebel XS 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera:

1. Ten megapixel is about as much as you want to go when you're going to manipulate the photos on a computer. Anything above that will have unreasonably large load times when they're brought into Photoshop. Since the DigicIII sensor in the camera allows the image quality to be better than normal, that ten megapixel will definitely be an advantage.

2. Although, the camera comes with its own software, most people are going to just use Photoshop, if they're at this level of expertise.

3. One really important feature that the camera offers, which few SLRs offer, is Live View. Some Olympus SLRs offer this. It means that you can see what's coming through the lens can be seen on the LCD display.

In all fairness, I must mention the cons of the Canon Rebel XS:

1. The Live View takes some getting used to with a digital camera. It means that you're seeing what's coming through the lens, not what's coming through the CCD. That's a very distinct difference which has to be experienced to understand. The CCD is the integrated circuit which grabs the image. The CCD image might be drastically different than what's coming through the lens, particularly if you're shooting into the sun. Many can't get used to that huge leap of difference, and others love the feature.

2. Also, because there is no spot metering while in live view, that greatly impedes its function.

3. The plastic case makes it look poorer quality than some other cameras of its price range. However, you might appreciate that plastic case; it greatly reduces the camera's weight. That might be a disadvantage, though, because having less momentum, the camera will shake more.

All-in-all, despite its flaws, the Canon Rebel XS 10.1Mp Digital SLR Camera is a great low-end SLR camera.

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