Why DSLR???

Dan Crowley Nov 2, 2005

  1. Dan Crowley

    Dan Crowley Guest

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    What is the main reason to puchase a digital SLR over some of the prosumer non SLR camera's. I understood the the need in the analog optic days, but am struggling with the the need in todays electronic world?????.

    My recent purchase takes pictures of what it is pointed at and displays them exactly as they appeared on the LCD sceen.

    For my uses I could not justify spending the money, but admittingly do not know much about cameras. Can someone explain what the benefit an DSLR has over a non SLR digital.?
     
  2. okane

    okane TrainBoard Supporter

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    Dan

    For me the reason was simple. We owned a Nikon 90 FX film camera, with a investment in a wide variety of lenses already. We wanted to go digital and held out so we could interchange the lenses between the regular film SLR and tha DSLR.

    Thats the only way we could justify the purchase. The other is that most compact digital camera are point and shoot with little control over settings such as aperture etc, so manual settings was an issue and we needed that feature, among other Bells and Whistles.

    Point and Shoot are great we own a Cannon point and shoot as well, and use this, when we do not need all the other features we looked for above.
     
  3. Fotheringill

    Fotheringill TrainBoard Member

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    I don't want to wait for developing and I already have several lenses.
     
  4. Powersteamguy1790

    Powersteamguy1790 Permanently dispatched

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    Dan:

    The digital SLR camera's offer many more options than your typical Digital camera.

    I would much prefer an f stop of 22, than the 13.4 f stop when I manually set and push the Nikon 4300 Coolpix to it's limits.


    On my old Canon A-1 I have one 1:1 macro lens that I could use use to count the striations on the head of a pin.

    Unfortunately the Canon digital SLR camera won't accept the lens mount of this older 1:1 macro lens which has a ring light and point light attachment . I used this lens for intra -oral photography for many years.

    I find the digital camera's severaly lacking when it comes to depth of field.

    I am at a juncture where I might decide to move to a Nikon SLR digital camera as Mark did.


    Dan:

    BTW, how were able to stabilize your camera during the four exposures needed for your Heligon image without using a tripod or shutter release.

    I used the Heligon software and had to use a tripod and shutter cable release to avoid any movement of my Nikon camera when I took 4-6 exposures.

    What is your secret so I could try it out? [​IMG]

    Thanks... [​IMG]

    Stay cool and run steam..... [​IMG] :cool: :cool:
     
  5. chessie

    chessie TrainBoard Supporter

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    Digital SLR's generally have more features, plus the ability to use SLR lenses as opposed to Point_N_shoots,,,

    Harold
     
  6. Doug A.

    Doug A. TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well, in addition to some of the points above, my reasoning was mostly for railfanning and is summed up in four words...

    "Five Frames Per Second"

    With my 20D and a 2GB CF card I can shoot full rez 8MP photos of EVERY car in a 100-car train, moving at 40mph, and be able to read the dimensional data.

    Granted, I have pretty extreme requirements, and I agree that some of the Point-and-Shoot models are very good. I had a Sony P&S before and besides being one of the slowest digital cameras ever made, (as stated by one of the prominent digital camera review sites) it was top notch on photos. Only problem was it took about 6-8 seconds to power on, and then about 4-5 seconds to cycle between shots. Not good when trying to photograph a moving train, especially when you had to "lead" a little bit so it was quite an art to get good shots with it.
     
  7. okane

    okane TrainBoard Supporter

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    Good Point Doug I forgat that reason
     
  8. Dan Crowley

    Dan Crowley Guest

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    Thats what I thought too. The new Panasonic Lumix with Lieca optics though blew me away Completely manual if you want. Has additional lenses that can be purchased. The lens that comes with the camera is a 12X optical zoom. It feels like a SLR, acts like an SLR, but is not an SLR. I don't know about three frames per second, but it has something called flip animation that allows you to take mulitple shots and then animate them to create motion if you want. Also by using the video mode you could take a video of a passing train . I haven't used the vidoe option so I do not know how picture quality suffers. It has a 20 fps option though???Like I say I went to the store armed with some cash and came away with this $500 camera that seems to be able to do everything.

    The guy at the camera store was all googo over it and he sold everthing else in the store. He told me to take it home and try it. He was confident I would be back to buy it, and I did.

    Trust me, the Lumix DMC ZX20 is not your average point and shoot digital. It can do that if you want, but it is completely manual and has some optional lens if you want.

    Bob, I swear this camera was designed for model railroad photography, When set on a layout the camera body forms a tripod. It has a flat spot on the lens that levels the camera with the camera body, forming a steady platform. The design still allows you to manually adjust the focus ring, as clearance has been allowed to do this.

    This camera acts just like a Film SLR. Very intuitive. All picture taking functions are done with buttons designed for the purpose. You want manual , you rotate a knob to manual, press one button labelled exposure, and all you manual functions are shown instantly on the display screen, shutter speed, aperature settings, light meter are all there to see. Adjustments are made by using the joypad. No need to go through menus to make adjustment settings. To focus you look at the LCD screen and rotate the lens, just like a old SLR, except you don't have to peak through a viewfinder.

    I actually tried the DMC ZX 30 which is an 8 Mpix step up, but found it not as well designed as the smaller ZX20(For model photography anyway).

    [ November 02, 2005, 10:45 PM: Message edited by: Dan Crowley ]
     
  9. Dan Crowley

    Dan Crowley Guest

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    I just went to the website. 3fps at full resolution.

    Lumix DMC ZX20
     
  10. Fotheringill

    Fotheringill TrainBoard Member

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    I saw a micro lens for the Nikon that said it was at f/32. I will have to do a lot more reading.
     
  11. Dan Crowley

    Dan Crowley Guest

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    With Helicon software the f stop for model photography becomes irrelevent I think.

    Four stacked photos taken with an F stop of 5 will result in a picture in focus throughout the scene. Basically an infinite depth of field.
     
  12. Doug A.

    Doug A. TrainBoard Supporter

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    Dan,

    I took a look at the link and that looks like a fine camera that will probably do 99.99% of everything you will ever need. In my opinion, there are always gonna be "party crasher" products that keep blurring the category lines and it looks like your camera may be one of those. I think my old Sony would have been one of those (in its day, of course) except for the speed issue.

    I couldn't find what I thought was an innovative, party-crasher camera when I decided on the 20D...the Rebel was VERY CLOSE (although still a DSLR) but the 20D's fps edge plus the metal body were two of three primary factors that made me take the leap to the 20D. The third is the ability to add professional glass to the equation. I can feel pretty safe in buying high-end lenses for the 20D and know that in X years when I get ready to upgrade I won't lose that investment.

    You may not enjoy that advantage, but then again you are at least $1000 ahead of me budget-wise at this point, so you are definitely in a good position to upgrade in your own right. So, enjoy your new treasure and let's see some pics!!!!
     
  13. Dan Crowley

    Dan Crowley Guest

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    I have been an Olympus user for Years, OM1- then the OM2 with a complete bag of lenses.

    I have an Olympus digital that was taking fine shots but the manual features were hard to get at, having to use the LCD screen and about 6 keystrokes.

    When the Helicon software came out, my Olympus wasn't suited to it. I went out to the store with a completely open mind, and felt I would be pulling a lot of money out of my wallet to get me the camera I needed. Then that store clerk shoved this thing from Panasonic in my hands and says play with this for awhile.

    Hmmm metal body, Leica optics. Feels like a an old manual SLR camera. Easy to use with intuitve knobs and buttons,manual focus ring.

    Then the guys says , take it home, use it for what you need it for and see if it works for you.

    I have to say I am very happy with it. You can buy addition lenses for Macro and telephoto work as well. Yes I am very happy with this camera even though it isn't a beloved Olympus.

    I think these Panasonic Lumix DZ20 cameras may be the undiscovered treasure. I wanted to bring this to peoples attention who think they need to spend $2000 to get a camera to do what they want.

    Check the specs out on the Lieca optics on this camera. F of 2.8 across the entire focal range. Makes me wonder why I need a bag full of lenses!!!!!

    Lets face it, camera's are a hobby to people as much as trains are. We all have our reasons for buying what we buy. Even if your main objective is to spend as much money as you can on a camera who am I to say the motivation is wrong

    I am talking more to the modeler who wants to be able to take good pictures of his layout, and doesn't want it to cost him the yearly hobby budget. To that guy I am raising up my hand and yelling Yoohooo, have a look at this Lumix camera.
     
  14. MK

    MK TrainBoard Member

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    Two words: shutter lag!

    You can never bet the zero shutter lag of a DSLR.

    In addition, the quality/noise factor. Just due to the larger physical size of the sensor of a DSLR, the image will be cleaner. Skin tones are smoother, etc.

    I own a Coolpix 950 (2MP), a Canon A85 (4MP), and a D70 (6MP). There's a huge different in noise and quality between my D70 and the other P&S.

    For speed work, the lack of shutter lag of a DSLR is a reason in itself to go the DSLR route.
     
  15. Doug A.

    Doug A. TrainBoard Supporter

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    Dan,

    I appreciate you turning us on to this, as I have fellow modelers that are always asking me, as the "computer nerd/digital camera guy" what to buy. Also, I am doing a writeup for our local NMRA newsletter about "The Modern-Day, High-Tech Railfan" and I am providing a couple of examples of good cameras for railfanning and modeling...this one will probably be added into the list.
     
  16. Dan Crowley

    Dan Crowley Guest

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    3 fps at full resolution with a Lumix DMC ZX20. No shutter lag there.

    You might want to compare the imagine sensor size against a DSLR as well.

    Also came across another interesting bit of news when I was researching cameras. During the Gulf conflict all but one brand of DSLR froze up and became unoperable. Many of the photo's displayed came from good quality point and click digitals. The one DSLR that did keep functioning was the Canon. Sorry I can't back up this with a link. The information was on a consumer website. Take it with a grain of salt as it is info from the web, but someone reported this.

    Also discovered there is a problem with removable lenses in front of CMOS chips making the transer of technology over to digitals a slightly problematic. Instead of a new film plane to collect an image a digital SLR uses the CMOS chip. Dust and particles entering the camera body can collect on the chip and degrade the picture quality. An aspect not considered when SLR technology was applied to digital cameras. A fixed lens camera does not open itself up to this fact.

    If you think I'm kidding , have a look at the new Olympus DSLR's They designed something to try to counteract this.
    So there is a reason you are starting to see some companies reinventing cameras based on some real life experiences.

    Very interesting times in the camera world these days.
     
  17. okane

    okane TrainBoard Supporter

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    Dan

    Have Fun with the camera. The specs look good, as I said it comes down to choice and what you are comfortable with.

    I for one will always go with an SLR or Medium Format. It's not a question of dollars for me, it's the requirements of the pictures we take, Not just railfaning or models, but nature etc.
     
  18. Lenny53

    Lenny53 TrainBoard Member

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    There's more to photography than shooting models indoors, like railfanning the prototypes. The DSLR range of available lenses allow for some faster optics that can not be had with point and shoot.
     
  19. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Absolute ditto!

    If someone would put a DSLR-quality imaging chip in a point-and-shoot, I'd buy it. Pixels are not pixels, and lenses are not lenses.

    What do I mean?

    Bigger pixels (as in DSLRs) can capture more information than the smaller pixels of the P&S.

    SLR lenses (or DSLR lenses) are much sharper than their P&S counterparts. It's a matter of size and quality of glass--and price. Camera makers could build P&S cameras with the quaility of DSLRs, but that would (1) cannibalize sales of DSLRs, or (2) boost the price of P&S cameras.

    We own, as a family, a wide range of digitals. My wife's little 5M Sony can't compare with the 6M D70 or D100. My daughter's Canon S2IS is quite a camera, but still not as good.

    But--the gap is closing!
     
  20. Dan Crowley

    Dan Crowley Guest

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    Absolute ditto!

    If someone would put a DSLR-quality imaging chip in a point-and-shoot, I'd buy it. Pixels are not pixels, and lenses are not lenses.

    What do I mean?

    Bigger pixels (as in DSLRs) can capture more information than the smaller pixels of the P&S.

    SLR lenses (or DSLR lenses) are much sharper than their P&S counterparts. It's a matter of size and quality of glass--and price. Camera makers could build P&S cameras with the quaility of DSLRs, but that would (1) cannibalize sales of DSLRs, or (2) boost the price of P&S cameras.

    We own, as a family, a wide range of digitals. My wife's little 5M Sony can't compare with the 6M D70 or D100. My daughter's Canon S2IS is quite a camera, but still not as good.

    But--the gap is closing!
    </font>[/QUOTE]Pete You need to follow the link to the Lumix DMC ZX20. I suspect your view that camera makers could use quality lenses and componets in point and clicks is actually being done with the Lumix brand. This is not what you would expect a point and shoot to look like. A Metal case and Leica optics ,set it apart from a lot of P and S cameras.

    Hold the shutter down and the camera will take pictures at 2 fps until the card is full

    I may be wrong but I think some people have jumped in without looking at the link supplied to the Lumix website. Look at the spec page and you will see this is not a traditional point and click.

    I would hope that people would take the time to follow the link, check out the spec sheet before comparing this camera to their assumption of what a Point and click camera is.

    Just when you think you got it all figured out something different comes along. Although not an SLR it has "Through The Lens viewing done with electronics instead of optics.

    The camera has won a lot of awards, and not just for "Best Buy". If you have an interest in cameras you might want to find out about these.

    I am not so sure you can say that you need to buy a DSLR camera if you want certain features. It appears if traditional thinking is being challenged again.
     

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