Digital Photography Basics - Differences Between Compacts and DSLRs

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Digital Photography Basics - Differences Between Compacts and DSLRs

Friday, February 19th, 2010 Subscribe To Our Feed

If you want to learn the basics of digital photography, it really doesn’t matter whether you’re using a digital compact or a DSLR with the exception of these few important differences.

Digital Compacts

One of the biggest advantages to digital compacts is the cost. Also when you purchase a DSLR you will also need to purchase at least one lens, and if you want to take pictures from afar, you’ll also need a good telephoto lens. Digital compacts come with a built in lens and often a zoom.

If you do have an optical zoom on your digital compact then you’ll also be able to take some good quality telephoto pictures. An Optical zoom is always better than digital zoom because a digital zoom works like cropping and takes away pixels. The more you zoom with a digital zoom the lower the image quality. Unlike regular zooms, an optical zoom maintains the quality of your picture.

Some compacts will take such high quality images that many a pro will use one when they don’t want to carry all of their DSLR gear. The quality of the photo depends largely on the photographer’s skill.

Even though digital compacts don’t have as many megapixels as DSLRs, they can still produce a good 8×10 print (perfect for an 8×10 picture frame) even if they just have 5 megapixels.

And lastly, learning how to use a digital compact is a lot easier than learning how to use a DSLR with all of its functions.

Digital Single Lens Reflexes (DSLRs)

A digital single lens reflex is the digital version of the SLR. DSLR’s are also called SLRs but never the other way around. With the release of cameras like the Canon Rebel and other moderately priced DSLRs, more photography enthusiasts are enjoying the benefits of using a DSLR.

The big advantage of the DSLR is its creativity and versatility.

For example, by using a long telephoto lens you can take a close up of an eagle on the top of a tree and you’ll never be able to tell from the picture that he was so far away. With a DSLR, you can find a lens or filter to suit almost any photographic need.

Another advantage to the DSLR is its ability to take crisp, focused sports and other action shots in places with low light where flash isn’t allowed. The larger sensor on a DSLR allows you to adjust the ISO and get a good picture, whereas with a compact it usually creates an image with a lot of grain called digital noise. If you’re taking still shots, it’s not an issue. The problem with Sports mode in a low light setting is that the shutter must close so fast that in spite of a larger aperture setting, there’s just not enough light hitting the image sensor. The only way this can be compensated for is with a flash or a higher ISO setting.

However, there are software programs that once learned can often can work wonders in eliminating digital noise created with compacts in these settings.

Another DSLR advantage is that you can use an external flash which can make a huge difference.

Another benefit of DSLRs is that they have more megapixels than even the best digital compacts so you can take and print high quality big pictures for framing in large photo frames like 11×14 picture frames. And lastly, digital cameras are slower to take pictures than film cameras but DSLRs are much faster than digital compacts.

Although the digital photography basics do start with selecting a camera, the quality of your images will largely depend upon how you use your camera. Regardless of what type of camera you have or will be buying, you have to be willing to practice and enjoy taking lots of pictures with your camera.

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