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This article is meant for first-time photographers or beginners to photography. It will provide you some guidelines in choosing a single-lens reflex (SLR) camera for yourself, by highlighting the features to look out for. The article assumes that you are at the beginning stage of learning, and thus it will concentrate on the basic features of a camera suitable for beginners. Manual or autofocus systems? First of all, you must decide whether you want a autofocus camera system. Think about the types of photography you are intending to do - whether it is portraiture, sports, landscape etc. Ask yourself if you need autofocus for your type of photography. If you are doing a lot of sports photography, fast autofocus is almost mandatory. If you are more keen on still subjects such as portraiture, autofocus is a option you might like to consider. Most of the cameras today are autofocus (AF), and many lenses and accessories are made for autofocus systems. Given that many manual cameras are almost as expensive as the cheapest AF cameras, you probably want to get a autofocus camera system. Indeed, thanks to economies of scale, most AF lenses are cheaper than their manual focus counterparts. Of course, there are many good manual focus
cameras such as the Minolta X-300 and X-700, or the Nikon FM2 which some photography instructors recommended highly to students of photography.
These affordable cameras are excellent teaching instruments, since there
are virtually no automation at all. However, should you decide to upgrade
to AF cameras in future, you would have to sell away most of the manual
system.
Brands Now that you've decided whether you want a AF or MF system, now you need to decide on the brand. This is usually determined by your personal preference and your budget. Do some research on the various brands on the market, before stepping into the camera store to check out the cameras. In this way, you are more certain of the offerings from the various manufacturers and less prone to any sweet-talk from the salesmen. Remember that when you purchase a camera body, you are buying into a system, not just a camera! A camera system has many components such as camera bodies, lenses, flashes and other gadgets. Before you purchase a camera, look critically at the various offerings in the system, and decide if the brand has enough room for you to grow should you become more serious in your hobby. If you purchase a camera body simply because it is cheaper, you may find yourself stuck with the system if you discover that the system does not offer you much accessories. Changing to a different system is a costly affair, meaning that you have to sell all your current equipment and buy everything all over again. Choose wisely and start off with the right foot, and you will save a lot of money in the long run! The major players in the market today are
Nikon, Canon, Minolta and Pentax. Most professionals prefer Nikon and Canon
for their comprehensive system of accessories and excellent optics. Minolta
packs an incredible amount of features into their cameras for a very reasonable
price, with a good range of lenses as well. Pentax is more popular for
their compact cameras, but they have some good SLRs cameras.
Ergonomics Before we even talk about features and specifications, it is crucial
to discuss ergonomics. A camera must feel
comfortable - it is one of the most basic prerequisite before you even
consider buying it. You will not use a camera if it feels uncomfortable
to you, no matter how advanced it might be. After you short-list some models
of cameras you are considering to purchase, visit the camera shop and ask
to handle the camera. Feel for yourself the weight and grip of the camera,
and determine if you are comfortable with the handling. Try firing the
shutter release, and changing the shutter and aperture settings. And check
out the various buttons and levers. Do they feel right to you ? Are you
comfortable with holding the camera ? Is it too small or too big ? Is it
too heavy or too light ? Do you have to contort your fingers just to adjust
the shutter or aperture ? Are there any protruding controls, levers or
construction that annoys you ? Make sure that the camera suits you and
your style of shooting even before considering the specifications !
Shutter speed Many people tend to like really fast shutter
speeds. Car magazines always like to tout the top speeds of the cars. So
is high shutter speeds really a important criteria in choosing a camera
? Actually not - the average top shutter speed of most cameras is 1/2000th
of a second, which is more than sufficient to freeze 90% of your subjects.
And also, you would be hard pressed to find lighting bright enough to use
1/2000th sec. with a reasonable aperture (e.g. f/8). I find
that for most of the situations, 1/250 sec. seems to be the average speed
when coupled with a ISO-100 film and a aperture of f/8. I hardly hit the
speed of 1/2000th sec., even though my camera offers 1/8000th
top shutter speed. So any camera with 1/2000th sec. top shutter
speed should meet your needs without any difficulty.
Metering patterns What is metering pattern ? The light meter in the camera measures the amount of in-coming light and recommends a exposure combination. The metering pattern is how it measures the light. Does it measure the light levels from the whole of the viewfinder, or does it only measure the middle of the viewfinder ? There is basically 3 types of metering patterns
Spot metering is only available in the more expensive models. It is basically like center-weighted metering, but instead of taking a wide area from the center, it takes a very small spot reading from the center of the viewfinder. This gives the meter reading from a very small area, and is useful when the scene has many high contrasty and you only want to meter for a small part of the scene. However, it requires a good understanding of incident metering techniques and is complex to use. Most professionals consider this metering mode very useful; others will seldom touch this mode at all.
Your camera will definitely have center
weighted metering. Multi-segmented metering is also getting very popular,
and if your desired camera doesn't have it, you'd better check its age.
Spot metering is definitely a plus, but do not write off a camera just
because it doesn't have it. Most basic cameras will not have it, and even
if it is there, you'll probably not find much occasion to use it.
Lens choice As said before, a camera only holds the film, it is the lens which determines the quality of the image. As long as the camera can perform the basic function of accurate shutter timing and stopping down the aperture accurately, the other factors affecting the picture is the quality of the lens fitted. Most modern lenses, whether original manufacturer (e.g. Nikon, Canon, Minolta) or third-party manufacturer (e.g. Tamron, Sigma, Tokina), are very sharp. They can resolve surprisingly high amount of details compared to older generation lenses. However, the difference is in the mechanical build and colour rendition. Some people just like the colours of certain manufacturer's lenses, but that is personal. The mechanical built is more differentiated. Usually, the original manufacturers' optics are better built, compared to third-party manufacturers. This may partly account for their higher prices. Note: If you're ever offered a camera set (body plus lens) for a substantially cheaper price, check if the set is the same as offered by other shops. Some unscrupulous shops offer lower prices on the set, but what you didn't know is that instead of a original lens like a Canon USM lens, they give you a Sigma AF lens (which is much cheaper and slower). So do note the differences in details. If in doubt, check around the shops or ask an experienced friend to go along. However, there are advantages to getting third party lenses. Firstly, they are cheaper. The thrid-party lens equivalent to the original lens is usually around 25% to 50% cheaper. The savings can be substantial, especially if you are on a budget. But the general guideline is that the original lenses are usually better mechanically and optically. So you should probably get the originals if you can afford it. Secondly, the third party manufacturers offers a very wide variety of lenses to choose from. They have focal lengths or focal range of lenses which are not offered by the original lens makers. Some of the third party lens manufacturers have turned up award-winning lenses which costs less than the original and probably just as good. However, these are more exceptions than the rule. One thing to note is that Canon users should get the original Canon USM lenses whenever possible. Canon's proprietary Ultra-Sonic Motor (USM) lenses uses ultrasonic waves to drive the motor in the lens, which in turns means that the lens can be autofocussed very quickly and silently. Third-party manufacturers who makes lenses for the Canon EOS series cameras does not offer this technology. So the lenses made by them could fit and work on the Canon EOS bodies, but they are much noisier and slower. Canon USM lenses are more expensive, but they're probably worth the price difference. If the difference is way too much to pay for, or Canon does not offer the same lens in the USM lens series, then consider the third-party lenses.
Exposure Modes There are usually four basic exposure modes in a camera. They are: P - Program mode M - Manual mode A - Aperture priority mode S - Shutter priority mode Some of the lower-end models have only
some of the above modes. It is important to have the manual mode available
to you, since there are many instances where you can only use manual mode
to achieve the effect that you want. Program mode offers flexibility and
automation, for those times when you do not feel like making any decisions
yourself, or during a party when you're asking a non-photographer friend
to take your pictures with the camera. Aperture and shutter priority modes
offer convinicience, since you need only set aperture or shutter speeds
and the camera will choose the other for you to obtain the right exposure.
Manual mode is a must-have. And if there is a mode which can be left out,
it is program mode. However, some cameras chose to have program mode and
left out manual mode. When choosing your camera, make very sure that at
least manual mode is available.
LCDs information and illumination The camera's LCD display show you vital operating information of the camera, such as the number of frames left, the shutter and aperture values, the metering mode etc. Different cameras have different types of display. They differ in how much information is shown and how the information is arranged. A good design should show you important information such as shutter-speed/aperture values, number of frames, and metering mode at the very least. Most cameras have 2 LCDs - one on top of the camera and the other in the viewfinder. The top one usually is more detailed, and the viewfinder display only shows the more vital items, such as aperture and shutter-speed. A well-designed LCD is easy to read, without being too cluttered. The information should be sufficient, and the display should be well laid out and pleasing to the eye. The LCD should preferably be fitted with a illuminator or light, so that you can read in the dark. Most LCDs in the viewfinder are illuminated when you depress the shutter release halfway, but most LCDs on top of the camera cannot be illuminated. This is important when you're setting exposures in dark areas (e.g. during a night scene shoot), and you're unable to read what settings you're using without continually bending down to read the viewfinder LCD. This is a plus feature, rather than a must-have. Features Here are a few features that are useful
to have, but lower end models usually left them out. They are not vital,
but will make life much easier for you if they're available.
AF speed and hunting If you've chosen a AF system, why have you chosen it ? Are you using the AF for convenience ? Or are you using it for speedy focusing, such as sports photography ? Canon offers quick autofocusing with its USM lenses, and most Canon EOS cameras are pretty rapid in AF. Minolta's AF is pretty good too, especially with the new Dynax series, such as the 500si to 800si. Nikon is a bit on the slow side with the older generation cameras, such as the F-601 or F-801. However, the newest F90X and F5 are more than a match for Canon's and Minolta's systems. Hunting is when the AF system couldn't detect the subject's focus. It happens when the subject is too bright or too dark, or when the subject has no details or contrast for the AF to focus on. The camera will turn the lens back and forth, being unable to focus. Hunting is a problem with older generation cameras, when the AF modules are not intelligent nor as advanced as the newer ones. Check out the AF module in the camera by focusing on different types of surface or light/dark areas. If it cannot accurately focus quickly/decisively in 80% of the situation, you'd do better to consider another camera. Accessories and system As explained before, when you buy a camera, you do not merely buy a camera body. You are buying into a system. The camera comes as part of a family of lenses and accessories to enable you to expand your range of photographic capabilities. The camera has it's functions, but it is limited to what it can do. To further explore other photographic possibilities, it has to be customized to the specialized function by adding other lenses and accessories. So when you buy a camera, look at the accessories and lenses available to the camera. Do not buy a camera and then realize that the supporting system does not suit what you plan to do. Nikon offers the best system of all, and Canon and Minolta do offer impressive accessories as well, although not as much. DX coding When you load the film into the camera, the camera must know what is the speed of the film you've loaded before it could accurately give you a correct light meter reading. You could either set the ISO speed yourself, or depend on the camera to read the ISO speed off the film cartridge. The camera can do so because film cartridges are painted with a DX code. The DX code is the black and silver patch you find on the cartridge. It tells the camera via some sensors in the film chamber what the film speed is. Some cameras offer you the choice of setting the ISO speed yourself, or using the DX coding to auto-detect. Others offer only either one choice. It is acceptable for the camera to offer only manual setting, but unacceptable if the camera only reads DX code without offering you manual override. Sometimes you need to set the ISO speed to other speeds other than the one on the film cartridge's DX code (maybe for creative effects or such), and having only auto-detect will greatly limit you. Exposure compensation Exposure compensation is useful when the subject is too dark or too light, and you need to compensate for it by over/underexposing the image. Exposure compensation rings allow you to set the value for over/underexposure. Although you can set to manual mode and do the under/overexposure manually, it is more convenient and less confusing using the exposure compensation ring. Motor drive Motor drives allow you to shoot continuous frames. This is useful in situation where you want to grab a series of shots in a short time, such as in sports, photojournalism or fashion photography. A motor drive or power winder is built into most AF cameras, and most manual cameras offer it as a separate accessory. It is not as useful as you think, since most will not make use of it because of the speed it eats up film ! Flash sync speed The flash sync speed is the shutter speed which the flash can synchronize with the shutter. The higher the flash sync speed, the more you could freeze action with a flash. Typical sync speeds range from 1/60 sec to 1/250 sec. Flash technology Some manufacturers offer very high-technology solutions to flash. Minolta is famous for their HSS (high-speed sync) flash with off-the-camera wireless TTL (through-the-lens) metering. Nikon is famous for their matrix-TTL fill-in flash technology which allows you to use fill-in flash effortlessly with professional-looking results. Canon also has its own bag of tricks with their specialized dedicated flash units. Other manufacturers offer reasonably good results with their flash technology, but still need to play catch-up with the big three. So if you're going to be a heavy flash user, do consider what the three manufacturers have to offer before buying the camera or flash. Price and future costs Buying the camera itself is only part of the cost. As said before, you're actually investing in a system. Calculate the entire cost of expanding the system in future before deciding which system is actually the better buy. Is the savings in cost worth the differences in capabilities ? Also take into account other miscellaneous costs such as batteries. Lithium batteries systems may cost much more to power than AA alkaline systems. Do they accept third party flashes and lenses ? For example, Minolta only accepts Minolta flashes. All these various factors may seem to be overwhelming, so you may like to jot down on a piece of paper what you want from a camera (be truthful to yourself !!!), and on the other column write down the short-listed cameras and their features. And choose the one which matches the most features and considerations. Good luck in your purchase !!! (C) Copyright 2002 Nelson Tan All Rights reserved |
