SLR vs Compact Digital Cameras

In photography,
it’s all about light. Without lights, the world will be blackout by
night. Without lights, plants and trees will be unable to do
photosynthesis process which transforms the harmful carbon dioxide into
oxygen that enables other creatures to live. There’s also plenty of
useful usage form lights that created by the Almighty Allah S.W.T. He
doesn’t create something that is only a waste or didn’t bring any
benefits to human. Only us, the human didn’t realize or think about His
magical creation.

Photography, to some people this might be not an interesting topic
to be discussed or shared. Some of us might think that photography is
just a simple work by taking a camera, point at your subjects and
pressing the shutter button. But, for photographers, this might be
interesting subjects to be discussed. Lights, aperture, exposure,
shutter speed, lenses and so on are the key aspects in achieving a good
and professional looking picture. You can’t just simply point your
camera and shoot at your subjects in order to achieve perfect pictures,
but all the key aspects that I have stated before, are the most
important things to consider since they plays an important point in
achieving good pictures.

To achieve this, one might need a good camera. Nowadays, digital
cameras have replaced the good old trusted film cameras. The difference
between these two cameras is technology. Analog cameras uses film that
are very sensitive to light. So, when a light passes through the camera
lenses, it captures every moment of lights that passing through the
lenses. While digital camera did operate in the same way as the analog
camera, but it doesn’t using film at all. Instead, it was replaced by
CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) or a CCD (Charged Couple
Devices) sensor which is also sensitive to lights. But, with these
sensors, you can review your picture before it is taken. Usually CMOS
sensors are used in cameras for taking pictures while CCD is often used
in video camera due to reason such as power consumption.

Usually,
normal compact digital cameras are equipped with small size CMOS
sensors. Smaller size CMOS sensors tends to generate noises when the
ISO setting (or also known as film speed during the analog camera era)
are set too high. ISO is a setting inside the camera which makes the
camera more sensitive to lights. Also, smaller CMOS sensors produce a
slither low quality images compared to the bigger ones. The reason why
compact digital camera utilizes smaller CMOS sensors is because of the
size of the sensors. Since it is compact, the manufactures decided to
reduce the size of the sensors. That’s why some professional
photographers still consider buying a digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex)
camera for their photography needs. Since it’s a little bit big, it can
house a larger CMOS sensor. Thus, it will produce a good result when
compared to a compact digital camera.

The reason why this type of camera is called the ‘SLR’ because it only
have single lens that enables light to go through the CMOS sensors or a
film. Surely a digital SLR uses CMOS sensors to acquire a picture.
While it has only single lenses, the word reflex means the mirror
inside the camera that will reflex or turn up when the shutter button
is pressed, allowing lights to go through the CMOS sensors and record
them as an image. The mirror actually provides and reflex lights from
the camera lenses to the viewfinder which is used by the photographer
to compose and take picture. While SLR uses ‘real’ image viewfinder,
which means what you have seen is what you capture, compact cameras
uses ‘fake’ image viewfinder. Normally, this camera uses other lenses
in front of the camera in order to enable the photographer to compose
his image. However, the picture taken might be slightly different since
it doesn’t provide 100 percent accuracy of the real image taken.

SLR also provides full manual control, whereas the photographer gets
all the freedom he needs in order to achieve good pictures. They can
manipulate all the settings like aperture, shutter speed, exposure,
focus point and so on to produce excellent image. Some compact digital
cameras did offer some of these manual options, but, when it comes to
SLR, you will get a total power of manual controls.

For
example, a camera with an autofocus function might focus a subject
perfectly but at certain time, the autofocus system might be confused
with the subjects that it tries to capture. Consider this, when you are
trying to shoot a picture of a bird through a cage, the autofocus
system might be confused. It might focus on the cage instead of the
bird. So, this is where the manual focus function will play its role.
Users will be able to set the focus point manually rather than trusting
on the autofocus system.

Another advantage of SLR camera is the wide range of lenses that a
photographer can choose from to achieve his imagination. A normal
compact digital camera didn’t have the ability to expand its lenses or
interchangeable lenses. SLR did provide this. You can choose a wide
range of lenses to suit your use based on your subjects. For example,
you might need different lenses to shoot a landscape picture, a group
of people or doing close ups. It enables the photographer to expand his
needs and creativity in order to achieve good pictures.

Of course, while there are advantages of SLR cameras, there are also
some disadvantages. The first one is the size. The sizes of the SLR
camera are pretty big and bulky, so it needs to be handled properly.
Compared to compact digital camera, one can carry this camera inside a
pocket while an SLR camera might need one to carry it by either holding
it or putting it inside a carrying bag.

The second one is the costs. While the body of the SLR camera it self
does burn a hole in a pocket, the price for the accessories is also
pretty high. For example, some of the lenses are sold at the same price
as the SLR camera only. Thus, one might need plenty of funds in order
to invest to fulfill his interest in photography.

A SLR camera also needs some technical experience. The photographer
needs to know things like the terms (aperture, shutter speed, exposure
and so on) and the good settings of combination in order to achieve
excellent results while and after taking pictures. Users also needs to
handle and take care of the camera properly since SLR camera are more
prone to dust due to the interchangeable shooting lenses which could
give effects to the picture taken. So, a good technical experience is
needed in order to handle the camera properly.

Photography provides excellent example on how one can appreciate life’s
and expressed their creativity. It’s an art where all the results are
presented on one picture. Like one of the most popular proverbs has
said, a picture is more worth than a thousand words