Cameras
DECIDE first on your budget and requirements for a DSLR camera, and the rest comes easy, writes IZWAN ISMAIL.
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AFTER years of using a compact digital camera, you finally want to get a supposedly "better" one, the digital single lens reflect camera, or dSLR.
You might have hundreds of questions - the foremost surely is which one to buy. And with a wide range of brands available in the market, choosing one is definitely tough.
Where to start?
If you are a beginner to dSLRs, the wisest thing to do is to get yourself a beginners´ model.
Having said that, this does not mean that these cameras take lousy pictures. They are all good cameras and capable of producing really nice pictures - anytime better than the compact cameras.
If you are not convinced, the next logical move is to invest in an intermediate model.
These intermediate models may cost a few hundred ringgit more than the basic model, but they make a worthy investment.
Trends among dSLR hobbyists over the years show that the majority of them would upgrade to a more advanced camera bodies only after a few months or a year of using their beginner models. Unlike compact cameras, once you start using a dSLR camera, you will grow into it, and many people will outgrow their beginner models faster than they ever thought.
Furthermore, because of their more advanced features, an intermediate dSLR camera may last you for a few years before you jump into the semi-pro side.
Selecting your dSLR
If you have the means, go for the best camera body you can buy as this will save you some upgrading cost.
A good mid-range dSLRs usually costs from RM2,500, including the kit lens.
Among the mid-range models that are worth considering are the Nikon D5000/D90, Canon 500D/550D, and Sony A380/A550.
When choosing a brand, bear in mind that you will also be buying into a range of lenses.
Survey the lenses available for a certain brand. In this case, Canon and Nikon have a lead in their choices of lens and third-party products.
Eventually, you will be spending more money on the lenses than on the camera body. That´s why it´s important to buy a brand that has a good range of lenses to choose from.
Selecting a dSLR is very subjective. Comparing models based on their features can be confusing sometimes.
Since the picture quality is the final thing you´d expect from your dSLR, why not look at the pictures taken from the camera models.
Flickr.com and Pbase.com are the best places to go if you want to look and compare pictures. There are hundreds of thousands of pictures submitted by dSLR enthusiasts from around the world in these digital photo banks, complete with the exif information.
Exif is picture information recorded by the camera when the picture is taken, including camera model, lens type, ISO, and white balance.
This can be a good guide to the camera model that you want as you know the type of picture different models produce.
I often use these sites as my guides when I´m buying camera body, lenses, filter, etc. At least I´ll know the end result I´ll get from certain cameras or lenses.
Other factors
People are often misled by the "megapixel" marketing used by camera makers.
Do more pixels make better pictures? The answer is, not necessarily so.
A dSLR with six-megapixel sensor is good enough if you do not plan to print billboard-sized pictures.
Unless a brand has a fantastic sensor technology that can cramp huge megapixels into the small crop sensor without making noise in the picture, it´s not always a must to go for the most pixel model.
But if you plan to do a lot of action shots or wildlife photography, which requires picture cropping later, then a camera with huge megapixels will be useful.
One final tip before you buy. At the shop, hold and play around with the camera for a few minutes. If it feels good in your hand -- grip, weight, buttons, etc - then go for it. There is no point buying a camera that you are not comfortable holding.
Read more: http://gadgets.emedia.com.my/tipslist.php?id=107/Article/index_html#ixzz151Tj8lZk
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