Posts Tagged ‘single-lens reflex camera’

Digital SLRs for the People

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Frankly speaking, for the serious photographer, a single-lens reflex camera is the Holy Grail. Anyone who’s used a point-and-shoot camera of any sort and then graduated to an advanced non-SLR camera with extra features and more control is probably still dissatisfied and is yearning for a digital SLR.. Whether you’re shooting film or digital, if you’re serious about taking pictures, an SLR is what you really want.

That’s not to say that other kinds of cameras don’t have their place among enthusiasts and professionals.
Leicas and other rangefinder-style film cameras have long been prized for their small size, precision, quiet shutters, and superb optics. Some of the best images ever made have been taken, and will continue to be taken, with Leicas and the like. Twin-lens reflexes like the Rollei have served ably as professional cameras using film sizes larger than 35mm. And view cameras, which accept sheet film holders in sizes up to 8 × 10 (and larger), continue to be important for high-quality illustration and portraiture, although these days view cameras are as likely to be fitted with a digital sensor back as a film back.

SLRs are not the only cameras a dedicated photographer would find acceptable, but, if you compile percentages, the single-lens reflex is way ahead of whatever is in second place. Indeed, in the digital photography realm, the success of so-called “SLR-like” cameras such as the shooters with internal electronic viewfinders (EVF) from Konica Minolta, Olympus, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, and others stems from just how closely they can mimic features that are common to virtually every SLR. In most respects, they are deliberately designed as a “next best thing.” Despite their status as a “junior SLR,” these imitators are not necessarily cheap. You can pay almost $2,000 for a Leica Digilux and more than $1,000 for many of the leading EVFstyle cameras.