A total beginner - DSLR or Point and Shoot

[Sarmad]

Deleted.

 

[Rick58]

Go DSLR. You can leave everything on auto and there's your P&S. Then you can slowly take control as your confidence grows.

 

[snowbear119 50]

I think Rick58 said it all - the dSLR gives you more flexibility.

 

[joshhuntnm]

You can learn. the question is; do you want to. If you don't want to bother to learn just stay with a point and shoot. DSLR have lots of possibilites but if you dont' want to learn it you will be wasting your money.

 

[snowbear119 50]

So that means I should straight go to DSLR?
I can't carry a heavy backpack all the time

An entry-level dSLR with a kit lens is not very big. Start off with this and learn the basics, then add more gear as your needs increase.

 

[Rick58]

So that means I should straight go to DSLR?
I can't carry a heavy backpack all the time

I can't speak for other entry level brands, but my Sony 230 is very light and works very well.

 

[xxWesxx]

Canon - EOS Rebel T3i 18.0-Megapixel DSLR Camera with 18-55mm Lens - Black - Rebel T3i with 18-55mm Lens

that is exactly what i started out with and still have. But the cannon Rebel t2i which would be a bit cheaper would be good as well. the only diference between the t2i and the t3i is the swivel screen on the t3i and the t2i does not
18-55mm lens is what it comes with which is a great starter lens.
Good luck!
-Wes

 

[lisaf]

I only started expanding from point and click recently after years of point & click. I have a Canon Elph that I've taken many point and click photos with. It's a nice, compact camera which can fit into a purse or a pocket. Back in March, I bought my first iphone. The camera in that is pretty good for a phone, better than any other phone camera I've had. I don't notice much difference between that and the Elph.

Around the same time I got the iphone, I bought a Canon EOS Rebel T3. I didn't buy lenses beyond the lens that came with it, though I do eventually want to get a telephoto lens and tripod for nightime skyline shots. So far, I've been very happy with it as a transitional camera, because I can take auto shots or landscape or portrait, but I can also do manual settings. I've found the point & clicks don't do the skyline justice. I live on Staten Island and we have some amazing, beautiful harbor and skyline views. Once I get more practice with manual settings, I want to photograph some of those.

There is a difference between the weight and the size. I commute to midtown NYC, which presents a fair amount of photo opportunities for things like sunlight, people doing interesting things, etc. The T3 camera is too heavy to carry back and forth with me on a daily basis. So I tend to rely on the phone camera just because it's convenient and easy to use. Another factor is that I'm on a bus when I see a lot of things I want to photograph. So there's not a lot of time to capture it, plus the bus movement can cause motion blur. If I was taking the time to set things, I'd probably miss them. But that may be different for someone who knows what they're doing with settings, lol

The first photo is from my phone, of a sun rising, with a tree. The second is one I took last weekend with the T3. I was playing with the settings to get the reflection clearly (I want to take a fall foilage one with the trees reflecting in the lake, so I was practicing on lake reflections). The third one is of a double rainbow this summer I happened to catch with my phone. I might have taken a better photo with the T3 of the rainbow, but I didn't have it with me. There was also a great moment where there was this scene plus lightening, but I wasn't able to catch it and I thought aiming electronics at the sky in a thunderstorm might not be the best idea. The 4th is a photo of the lake taken with the phone camera. I can't say that it's identical because it was taken in the Spring at around noonish while the other lake photo was taken in the Fall aroun 4pm ish. But I think it does give some idea of how much more definition you can get by playing around with the ISO/aperture/shutter speed.

 

[Solarflare]

My D5100 is so lightweight I dont know from picking up my backpack if I have put it inside or not. Granted, I'm a tall person and theres plenty stuff in my backpack.