SLR: Doorway to Digital photography
Well a lot of we would love to have a SLR camera. But what’s the secret of SLR cameras, why they are so expensive and adorable. Only way to find out is get to know SLR, I am sure you won’t regret it.
The term digital SLR is short for digital single lens reflex, so named because these types of cameras use a mirror positioned behind the camera lens to direct light toward the viewfinder when you're composing a photo. When you release the shutter, the mirror swings quickly out of the way, letting light from the lens travel straight to the sensor and momentarily blacking out the viewfinder. The viewfinder in an SLR incorporates a prism--usually a pentaprism--that flips the incoming image around so that you can see it right side up and bounces it onto the focusing screen where you see it.
The SLR design allows one camera to accommodate a very wide range of lens focal lengths, and that's the biggest reason that SLRs dominate serious photography. The explanation? With a non-SLR camera, you have to match the angle of view of the "taking" lens with that of the "viewing" lens. That's easy with a fixed lens or a short-range zoom, but it requires increasingly complex and expensive viewfinder mechanisms as you try to cover a wider range of focal lengths. With an SLR, you avoid this problem because the taking and viewing lens are one and the same.
There are manly 3 types of SLR camera available:
Interchangeable-lens full system digital SLR
These are what most people mean when they say "digital SLR," and they are the primary focus of this buying guide. As the name implies, the ability to remove one lens and replace it with another--to go from, say, ultra-wide-angle to supertelephoto--is what sets these cameras apart. Most of the modern day SLR is belongs to this type. Example- Canon EOS 30D, Canon EOS ID mark II.
Fixed-lens digital SLR
The lenses on these cameras can't be removed, which limits their versatility. The best known of these models use a semitransparent, non moving mirror to bounce some light to the viewfinder while letting most through to the sensor, which means you can use their LCDs for composing. Example- Olympus E20N.
SLR-like or SLR-style
These are standard digicams that use an electronic viewfinder (EVF)--just a small LCD--in place of an SLR's pentaprism or a point-and-shoot's optical finder. They can't truly be considered SLRs because they have no mirror, and we've yet to see an EVF that approaches the image quality of a decent pentaprism viewfinder. These cameras are sometimes called ZLRs. Example-Sony Cybershot DSC-R1.
Unlike other cameras in case of SLR camera, you got to be picky; the cheapest one I know is about US$800 and it can go as high as US $5k (don’t laugh). But all depend on for what purpose you will use it, what are your intended results. For example- someone wants to hold his/her memories and buy Canon EOS 1D Mark II will be a west of money, and resources. He/she can easily satisfy her/his needs with just a 6 or 8 mega pixels SLR, since no need for high speed frame rate and bulky zoom lenses. So you have to explore your needs first before you jump into decision to buy a SLR camera.
The term digital SLR is short for digital single lens reflex, so named because these types of cameras use a mirror positioned behind the camera lens to direct light toward the viewfinder when you're composing a photo. When you release the shutter, the mirror swings quickly out of the way, letting light from the lens travel straight to the sensor and momentarily blacking out the viewfinder. The viewfinder in an SLR incorporates a prism--usually a pentaprism--that flips the incoming image around so that you can see it right side up and bounces it onto the focusing screen where you see it.
The SLR design allows one camera to accommodate a very wide range of lens focal lengths, and that's the biggest reason that SLRs dominate serious photography. The explanation? With a non-SLR camera, you have to match the angle of view of the "taking" lens with that of the "viewing" lens. That's easy with a fixed lens or a short-range zoom, but it requires increasingly complex and expensive viewfinder mechanisms as you try to cover a wider range of focal lengths. With an SLR, you avoid this problem because the taking and viewing lens are one and the same.
There are manly 3 types of SLR camera available:
Interchangeable-lens full system digital SLR
These are what most people mean when they say "digital SLR," and they are the primary focus of this buying guide. As the name implies, the ability to remove one lens and replace it with another--to go from, say, ultra-wide-angle to supertelephoto--is what sets these cameras apart. Most of the modern day SLR is belongs to this type. Example- Canon EOS 30D, Canon EOS ID mark II.
Canon EOS 30D
Fixed-lens digital SLR
The lenses on these cameras can't be removed, which limits their versatility. The best known of these models use a semitransparent, non moving mirror to bounce some light to the viewfinder while letting most through to the sensor, which means you can use their LCDs for composing. Example- Olympus E20N.
Olympus E20N SLR
SLR-like or SLR-style
These are standard digicams that use an electronic viewfinder (EVF)--just a small LCD--in place of an SLR's pentaprism or a point-and-shoot's optical finder. They can't truly be considered SLRs because they have no mirror, and we've yet to see an EVF that approaches the image quality of a decent pentaprism viewfinder. These cameras are sometimes called ZLRs. Example-Sony Cybershot DSC-R1.
Sony Cybershot DSC-R1
Unlike other cameras in case of SLR camera, you got to be picky; the cheapest one I know is about US$800 and it can go as high as US $5k (don’t laugh). But all depend on for what purpose you will use it, what are your intended results. For example- someone wants to hold his/her memories and buy Canon EOS 1D Mark II will be a west of money, and resources. He/she can easily satisfy her/his needs with just a 6 or 8 mega pixels SLR, since no need for high speed frame rate and bulky zoom lenses. So you have to explore your needs first before you jump into decision to buy a SLR camera.
