Do I really need an SLR camera?

Thanks for the compliment - but I am one of those pain in the ass always upstream guys. I'm not a fan of mainstreamism or conventional wisdom. The biggest kick I get out of photography is doing more with less.

Sure, if your job depends on it - or you don't have time to mess around and retry,retry,retry - then an SLR makes sense. Most of the pros here will tell you that.
 
Thanks for all the answers everyone, really appreciate the details you guys went into. It seems like my lack of photography knowledge might also be the cause of the not so great pics. I need to get my manual out and read through. I havent done this, so I recon this is where Im falling off.

Im still leaning towards to DSLR just from what you guys have said...but recon I wont toss out the P&S just yet. Will play around with it and will check out my in laws DSLR too.

Again...thanks so much, you have been so helpful! :)
 
CrazyFig said:
Saw a special now...Nikon D3000 with additional VR lens, R5499. Good deal?
Click to expand...

Yeah, but that's 2 lenses that you have to handle. Let's say you see something you want to take a pic of, but by the time you change lenses, the moment is gone. bummer.

I travel a lot of gravel roads when overlanding, and the picture moment is very fleeting. It's very dusty, and changing lens when driving a 3t landy on a gravel road is not much fun.

So I got rid of my 18-55mm & 55-200mm Nikon lenses and got myself the Tamron 18-270mm VR.

I have one lens, I can use it whenever I want to take a pic no matter what the range, and best of all, no more changing lenses with a baboon facing you 1 metre away.

You have to live with the compromises though - lots of distortion at minimum focus and it's a slowish lens.

But if you the the Nikon 18-200mm VR you will not be disappointed.
 
Nuro said:
My wife uses a DSLR, and I use it too on occasion. It is really awesome to get the picture you want, after you study some basic photography. SLRs allow you to go very technical.

That being said, I still use our bride camera a lot. You get a great zoom range without the expense or hassle of interchangeable lenses. It is also very easy to carry around, and less expensive. I'm lucky because we have both, but as the previous posts said, depends on what you will be using it for.

P.S, bridge cameras work well for me, but i'm not a big fan of compacts.
Click to expand...
I'd say that if you didn't have the inclination to study the basics of photography then you'll most likely be disappointed with a large percentage of your pictures taken with the DSLR used on "Auto", especially if a poor quality lens in thrown into the mix.
I know of two people that went back to high end point and shoot because they couldn't be bothered to master the capabilities of the DSLR.

If you're keen on learning a little, then I agree with most of the other responses here, the DSLR will suite your needs.
 
Rouxenator said:
Thanks for the compliment - but I am one of those pain in the ass always upstream guys. I'm not a fan of mainstreamism or conventional wisdom. The biggest kick I get out of photography is doing more with less.

Sure, if your job depends on it - or you don't have time to mess around and retry,retry,retry - then an SLR makes sense. Most of the pros here will tell you that.
Click to expand...

I also compliment you on your skills.

I look at it this way, imagine a young kid batting exceptionally well with a cricket bat cut from an old plank found in Dad's garage, then put a good quality well made bat in his hands and it is guaranteed to produce better results.
Then, someone that doesn't have an eye for the ball with a top quality bat, cant compete with the the kid using his carved plank.
 
swift412 gave some very sage advice in his first post in this thread.

The photographer takes the picture, the camera just helps you get there. You can spend R100k on the best camera gear in the market and still take the most boring pictures in the world.
 
I would recommend trying out both the entry level DSLRs and high-end compacts like the Canon G9/G10/G11 or the new, absolutely stunning Powershot S90.

If you decide to go with a DSLR and don't want to spend too much, see if you can get stock of older models - they're all good. I bought my dad a K100D Super for about R4000 - it's a great camera, takes great pictures.
 
CrazyFig said:
Thanks for all the answers everyone, really appreciate the details you guys went into. It seems like my lack of photography knowledge might also be the cause of the not so great pics. I need to get my manual out and read through. I havent done this, so I recon this is where Im falling off.

Im still leaning towards to DSLR just from what you guys have said...but recon I wont toss out the P&S just yet. Will play around with it and will check out my in laws DSLR too.

Again...thanks so much, you have been so helpful! :)
Click to expand...
Good plan. Try as many different cameras out as possible before committing.

Then buy whatever is going to make you happy. It doesnt matter if you get a dslr and never take it out of full auto or get another point and shoot and fire away in full manual as long as you're having fun. :)
 
I'm also starting to look at dSLR cameras - not sure which one to go for...

The Nikon D3000 looks ok, but hear that there's no image stabalizer so you need to have a tripod with you?

What in your opinion is a good dSLR camera for R4000 - R7000?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X