SLR The Camera Of Today

SLR or single lens reflex cameras are the camera of today. When you mention film today your likley to get a puzzled look. As recently as ten years ago digital cameras produced poor quality pictures with only one to two megapixels. These cameras were expensive costing three hundred to seven hundred dollars and held a limited number of pictures. Paradoxically as the quality of the picture and the ability to hold more data has improved the cost has decreased. For example You can now purchase a 13 megapixel camera with 16 gig of memory for about seventy dollars. Who knows what improvements the next ten years may bring to SLR camera!

The things that are true for the old style camera are equally ture for the more sophisticated SLR camera. The once prohibitive expense of these cameras have dropped from thousands of dollars to hundreds of dollars. Back in the day my pride and joy was a Pentax K1000 with three lenses. I lugged this camera around in a camera case togeather with twenty rolls of film and the three lenses. It must of weighed twenty punds and the only aqutomatic feature was the light meter. Although I took many great photographs I missed many others attempting to manually adjust it. Now the days of film are past and I am eager to get a digital single lense reflex camera. I’ve narrowed it down to the Canon EOS or the Nikon D90.

Canon and Nikon SLR camera are alike in many ways.  Both are SLR cameras(single lense reflex) . In short this means they have a series of mirrors that let you look right through the lens. This means that what you see is what you get. Both have basic bodies that let you attach a wide variety of lens. There are lenses for telephoto long shots. There are lenses for wide angle and panoramic shots. There are lenses for close-ups and many more.

Both cameras allow the photographer to choose the size and quality of image. They both mimic choices based on the film standards of ISO and f-stop for determining the amount of light the camera lets in and the speed of the shutter.  As you get more sophisticated and experienced both cameras let you shoot in what is called RAW format. It’s the digital equivalent of being in the old fashioned darkroom. It allows you to creatively play with the picture as if you had a negative in a dark room.

Video is another great feature of the new digital camera. You can even edit your video. The quality available on the more expensive modles is remarkable.

With SLR cameras you have the ability to share your pictures and videos on sights such as Facebook. You can upload them to Facebook or Picasa or any number of other photo sharing sites. You can post them on a personal website or get them published in a book or on a calendar.  You can even run your videos on your televison set!

It’s a brave new world in photography.