From cellphone cameras to single lens reflex
Contrary to the belief that cell phone cameras are mitigating the need for digital SLRs (DSLRs), or that the two are mutually exclusive, Roger Machin, Canon’s photo video manager, asserted that the opposite is true.
“The growth and popularity of cell phone cameras is in fact driving more people to DSLRs, and encouraging more photography, not detracting from it,” he explained.
He stressed that there is a world of difference between taking snapshots with a cell phone camera, and creating photographs using a DSLR camera.
“There is a radical distinction between the image quality produced by a forthcoming 12 megapixel cell phone camera and that produced by a 12 megapixel DSLR,” he continued. Contributing factors include a larger sensor in a DSLR, more light being conveyed through a high quality lens and a far greater flexibility of the creative controls.
Making the move
However, one of the most important motivating factors for moving from purely taking photos on one’s cell phone to using DSLR’s is the range of lenses that a DSLR can accommodate. It has long been a photographers’ creed to preferably buy an entry level or mid range SLR camera body and invest in professional lenses, than purchasing the most expensive camera body and trying to save money with mid-level lenses.
Machin advises that buying professional lenses will give professional results, even if they are used on an entry level DSLR. That beautiful painterly background effect you see on many sports photos emanates from lenses that can open up to a 2.8 aperture. Similarly, an exquisitely sharp photograph, where every detail of a dew-laden spider web is clearly captured, is the result of the lens quality, rather than the sophistication of the camera body.
Creatively speaking
Another factor worth considering is that aperture control and shutter speed are two of the fundamental creative controls that can take a few days to learn but a lifetime to master, and this is more easily done on a DSLR.
Aperture control is responsible for how much (or how little) of an image is in sharp focus. If you’ve seen photos of a subject popping out against a clean background, you’ve seen aperture control in action. Shutter speed determines how quickly (or slowly) a subject is captured. Both give completely different effects, and combined with an understanding of light, and the strategic use of a full featured flash, the creative possibilities for any given circumstance are endless.
It’s about integration
The truth is there is room for both the convenience of cell phone cameras and the complexity and creative control of DSLR’s. The use of one doesn’t obviate the other, but rather expands one’s photographic range. According to Machin, DSLRs are likely to adopt video recording capability in the near future. “Many photographers do not realize how much they need video capture on a DSLR. However, there is a definite trend towards integrating high quality video and stills on one camera,” he concluded.
Callphone and SLR camera discussion
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