If you are considering buying a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera for the first time you might be confused by the wide range of options and models available. We’ve put together a guide to help you choose.
Price is, of course, a major factor in your decision. Prices of digital SLR cameras start from around $400 to a top end camera at $8000. Most newcomers will purchase a camera somewhere between $400 and $1000. One thing to remember is that lenses usually end up costing more than the camera itself so you need to make sure you budget for this.
At the moment there are four formats for 35mm DSLR cameras.
APS-C
This format has around 15.6mm x 23.7mm sensor on a Nikon camera and 15mm x 22.5mm on a Canon camera. Most DSLR’s, except higher end cameras and Olympus cameras use this format. It is called a DX format by Nikon.
Full Frame
Found mostly on higher end cameras the sensor size is 36mm x 24mm, the same size as for 35mm film cameras.
APS-H
Very few cameras have this format. An example is the Canon EOS 1D MkIII with a 18.7mm x 28.7mm sensor.
Four Thirds
Found on Panasonic and Olympus cameras the sensor is 13.5mm x 18mm. It is smaller than the other formats and has a 3:4 aspect ratio rather than a 2:3 like the others.
For a newcomer to DSLR photography there isn’t much difference in the formats. They will all give a good image up to 11″ x 14″ which is adequate for most amateur photographers. The choice usually comes down to price as most sub $1000 cameras use the APS-C or the Four Thirds format.
Image stabilisation systems vary between manufacturers. Nikon and Canon use lenses with moving optical groups and internal gyros. Movement is sensed by the gyros which keep the optical group stationary on the sensor. Olympus, Pentax and Sony use gyros mounted in the camera body called a sensor shift stabilisation method. The sensor is moved to compensate for movement.
Both systems work well. The obvious difference is that the system that has stabilisation gyros in the body will work for all lenses but the lens mounted system needs to be included on every lens you purchase so adds to the lens costs. Some lenses for Canon and Nikon cameras, notably some primes lenses under 200mm have no stabilisation system.
Smaller, lighter cameras tend to be cheaper. For DSLR cameras small sizes are not so important as a DSLR camera complete with lens will always be too big to fit in a pocket. As you will be using a camera bag most of the time differences in weight and size are not so important.
Pixel counts for DSLR cameras start range from around 6MP (mega pixels) to about 22MP. So how many pixels will you need? he largest size of print you will want to make will dictate how many pixels you should aim for. A high quality print will be about 240 pixels per inch so a camera with 6MP will make an very good quality 8″ x 10″ print. Most people will be happy with this size but if you need a 11″ x 14″ print a 10MP camera would be more suitable. At the top of the range a 22MP camera will give you an excellent print as large as 16″ x 24″.
Most lower end cameras have ISo ranges of between 100 and 1600, mid level cameras up to about 6400 and some higher end cameras up to 25,600 and down to 50. At settings between 100-800 most DSLR cameras will have low noise but this increases drastically at the higher ISO settings. It may be a good idea to see photographs taken with the camera you are interested in if you want to use these higher settings as the noise can vary greatly between makes and models.
Noise will occur in all digital images. It is lower at lower ISO settings, greater at higher ISO settings. The noise is generated by the sensor and electronics as the analog signal is converted to digital. In general smaller pixels generate more noise. Noise filtering is present in all DSLR cameras which works well at ISO settings up to 800. ABove this the difference between models is quite large. Noise reduction also softens the image so compare models and makes before you buy if you intend to take photographs at low light settings.
It is difficult to predict how well auto focus systems work from the specifications and most DSLR cameras will focus well on static subjects in bright light but differences in performance are seen when focusing on moving subjects in low light.
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