My conclusion on dSLR cameras

[skieur]

well, i left you guys alone for one moment and this happened. tut tut. i like the point that no photo is undeveloped, even raw and non-digital shots. there are no rules in photography, just good photos - that much i know. i think that dSLRs give a lot of people the comfort of thinking they have a good eye for photography, but i also think that a photo needn't be of the most impeccable quality to be viewable or acceptable. These are not very alternate views but i so tired right now.

That is the greatest amount of misinformation and perhaps fantasy in the shortest paragraph that I have even seen.

Get some experience, then communication with you might be possible. :thumbdown:

skieur

 

[Hertz van Rental]

I have a number of cameras I use, depending on where I am, what I'm doing and what mood I'm in.
I have a DSLR, and a point & shoot digital, and a cheap little weenie thing.
I am the same with film. I used to have a 10x8. I still have a 5x4, a 6x6, 3 35mm SLRs, an Advantix, two P&S, a half-frame with fixed focus, and several interesting plastic jobs (one of which I found in a bin).
They all have things going for them as well as drawbacks but they are all fun.
The difference is that I realise that it is the person who uses the camera, not the camera itself, that makes a picture.
If you want to have a camera as a status symbol, or you want to rubbish someone else's - it's fine by me.
You take your pictures your way and I'll take my pictures my way

 

[DSLR noob]

Whyy I like my SLR

-Instant power up
-no shutter lag
-fast drawn out bursts
-fast autofocusing
-great color replication
-un-tampered RAW files to keep the creative options there
-WYSIWYG viewfinder (what you see is what you get)
-vast quick controls
-the ability to expand in terms of lenses, flashes, and filters
-they feel good in the hand, and they're durable
-long battery life in terms of # of photos taken

 

[skieur]

Whyy I like my SLR
-WYSIWYG viewfinder (what you see is what you get)
-vast quick controls

If you are talking about film SLRs that is certainly the case, but NOT true with DSLRs.

skieur

 

[Iron Flatline]

How is that not true skieur?

 

[Clutch]

I have a number of cameras I use, depending on where I am, what I'm doing and what mood I'm in.
I have a DSLR, and a point & shoot digital, and a cheap little weenie thing.
I am the same with film. I used to have a 10x8. I still have a 5x4, a 6x6, 3 35mm SLRs, an Advantix, two P&S, a half-frame with fixed focus, and several interesting plastic jobs (one of which I found in a bin).
They all have things going for them as well as drawbacks but they are all fun.
The difference is that I realise that it is the person who uses the camera, not the camera itself, that makes a picture.
If you want to have a camera as a status symbol, or you want to rubbish someone else's - it's fine by me.
You take your pictures your way and I'll take my pictures my way

I must agree completely with this gentleman. If you've never used a Graflex 4x5 or shot a few rolls with something like a Mamiya C330 or felt the wonderful mechanics of the film advance lever on a Nikon F2 you just don't know what you're missing!

Use what you like - if there's one thing that can be said about photography in the 21st century... it's a VERY broad, wide open discipline!

 

[skieur]

How is that not true skieur?

Well, I suppose it is open to interpretation but DSLRs have optical viewfinders so you do not see the effect of changing exposure or contrast etc. in the viewfinder. You may see what is in your frame if you have a 100% viewfinder but most DSLRs don't even have that.

skieur

 

[usayit]

Well, I suppose it is open to interpretation but DSLRs have optical viewfinders so you do not see the effect of changing exposure or contrast etc. in the viewfinder. You may see what is in your frame if you have a 100% viewfinder but most DSLRs don't even have that.

skieur

- DSLR and FIlm SLRs both have optical viewfinders
- Neither modern Film nor Digital SLRs show the effect of changing exposure or contrast. This is unless the camera itself allows for manual stopping down of the lens aperture which is possible on many SLRs both film and digital
- THe viewfinder of both DSLRs and Film SLRs are rarely 100%.

I will agree.. that most consumer level DSLRs do not have as high of a quality view finder as OLDER manual Film SLRs which were a necessity for manual focus.

I think what Iron was thinking is that DSLR design (the camera itself not the electronics) are/were based on existing Film SLR design. For example, the 1v EOS was the basis for the 1 series Digital SLRs. So in regards to your post, there is more in common between FSLRs and DSLRs than you think.. the differences you pointed out are simply not true.

 

[skieur]

Point taken. I was thinking electronic viewfinders rather than optical viewfinders and of course both FSLRs and DSLRs have optical viewfinders.

skieur

 

[RyanLilly]

Whyy I like my SLR

-Instant power up
-no shutter lag
-fast drawn out bursts
-fast autofocusing
-great color replication
-un-tampered RAW files to keep the creative options there
-WYSIWYG viewfinder (what you see is what you get)
-vast quick controls
-the ability to expand in terms of lenses, flashes, and filters
-they feel good in the hand, and they're durable
-long battery life in terms of # of photos taken

+1

and, may I add the convenience of using different lenses for different situations.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

WYSIWYG viewfinder (what you see is what you get)

If you are talking about film SLRs that is certainly the case, but NOT true with DSLRs.

Well, I suppose it is open to interpretation but DSLRs have optical viewfinders so you do not see the effect of changing exposure or contrast etc. in the viewfinder. You may see what is in your frame if you have a 100% viewfinder but most DSLRs don't even have that.

No DSLR viewfinder shows 100% of what is being taken - but then, the best that 35mm SLRs ever managed was about 95% so not really much difference there.
35mm SLRs often had the option to manually operate the aperture so that an assessment of the depth of field could be made at the selected aperture but in practice it made the viewfinder so dark you couldn't really see a thing and I don't know anyone who ever used it.
I know of no viewfinder that shows the effects of contrast - this is an assessment that is normally made with a light meter or a density viewer.
With 5x4 and 10x8 depth of field could be checked accurately by stopping down and going over the ground glass with a magnifier - and you could shoot of some polaroid using a polaroid back.
The advantage of DSLRs is that you can instantly see what you have shot, magnify it to check focus, use the histogram to check exposure and then delete it if you don't like it. With film you had to wait for it to come back from the labs before you found out you had cocked up

 

[TheOtherBob]

35mm SLRs often had the option to manually operate the aperture so that an assessment of the depth of field could be made at the selected aperture but in practice it made the viewfinder so dark you couldn't really see a thing and I don't know anyone who ever used it.

Don't some current DSLR's have that? I think the 20D/30D has a "Depth of Field Preview" button, which sounds like what you're describing. (And, yeah, I rarely use it -- not because it makes the viewfinder too dark, but because I just don't find it that useful. )

 

[Socrates]

Don't some current DSLR's have that? I think the 20D/30D has a "Depth of Field Preview" button, which sounds like what you're describing. (And, yeah, I rarely use it -- not because it makes the viewfinder too dark, but because I just don't find it that useful. )

My D80 has it.

 

[MX962]

Don't some current DSLR's have that? I think the 20D/30D has a "Depth of Field Preview" button, which sounds like what you're describing. (And, yeah, I rarely use it -- not because it makes the viewfinder too dark, but because I just don't find it that useful. )

It has its place i still use it,I can set my camera to manual focus and such on a particular jump at the moto cross track focus check to see with the D-preview button that all will be in focus at a given spot then just wait for ther racers to hit this spot and shoot away

 

[68Whiskey]

After buying a DSLR, I will never go back to a POS Point and Shoot camera. I have yet to see a camera that takes just as stunning pictures with a person who knows what they are doing behind it. I would put a DSLR against a PS any day of the week without fear.

Bring a Point and Shoot camera to the gym I take basetball pictures in and lets go at it, I will be victorious.

I have believed that it is a 50/50 effort, 50% Equipment and 50% Knowledge. I am going on the basis of sports photography when I make comments, every point and shoot I have ever touched has had too much delay. The lenses are a big plus and is a major selling point for DSLRs, so whoever posted that complaint or what ever about that can run out and buy a point and shoot whenever they want more focal length.