Comparison . . . matching your wants with what’s on offer.
In the earlier section “Your photography style.”, you found which style or styles of photography you will be doing most of when you buy your new Digital SLR Camera.
Now you’ve identified your photographic style(s) and understood all the relevant bits of D-SLR jargon, you can determine which specific features of a D-SLR are most important for your particular photographic style, which then makes camera comparison much easier.
Outdoor photography. If you shoot a lot of photos in harsh outdoor contitions, then it is important to get a camera with good dust-control, and rugged build.
Travel photography. For this area of photography, a smaller, lighter weight D-SLR might be easier to carry around than a big heavy one. Also, determine which sub-area of travel photography you want to be doing . . . people shots or landscapes, wildlife or building interiors (see other styles for details). Image stabilisation and wide dynamic range are important.
Action photography, sports, children. Action photos need a high shutter speed, high ISO, many frames per second of continuous drive (with a large buffer), continuous auto-focus, and the best lenses for the type of action photography you’re going to be doing. Don’t forget that photographing children counts as action photography, as they don’t sit still for long!
The most important features for action photography are a high number of frames per second in “continuous-drive” (sometimes called “burst mode”), a large buffer, and a fast multi-point autofocus. You might also need to consider the maximum shutter speed . . . there are some expensive cameras which offer an unusually fast shutter speed, which can make a difference for this photography style.
Spontanteous photography. Of course, a fast start-up and wake-up time is very important for this area of photography, so you don’t miss any great shots while you are waiting for your camera to be ready to use. Also, a fast, multi-point focus is essential.
Photojournalism. The most important additional lens if you’re aiming to do photojournalism is a wide angle lens or, actually, an ultra-wide angle lens. It will give your photographs perspective and allow the subjects in your pictures to stand out. I find the ultra-wide angle lens ideal for taking interesting photos of individual people, although for group shots it is less ideal.
Planned or studio, and portrait Photography. Consider image stabilisation, a live-view LCD and color control, and keep in mind that you will probably need a flash (or other specialist lighting equipment . . . check that your camera will be compatible with it), and a tripod.
Indoor photography. Important considerations are image stabilisation, low noise at high ISO, and options for different external flashes. You will also need a tripod and external flash(es).
Landscape photography. You will need wide-angle lenses for this. Consider image stabilisation, wide dynamic range, dust control and color control.
Macro photography. Obviously, macro lenses are a must, although if you are not yet sure if this is the style for you, you might be able to get macro-filters which attach to normal lenses, just to try out the style. Important points to consider are image stabilisation, live-view LCD and that the camera will be compatible with suitable macro lenses.
Night or Low Light photography. Consider image stabilisation, low noise or noise reduction and a remote shutter release, as well as a tripod and a flash.
Wildlife photography. A great zoom lens is vital for wildlife photography, along with fast start-up and wake-up, and a fast, continuous auto-focus. You’ll need a tripod too.
Fashion photography. For this specialist area you should choose a camera which offers colour-temperature settings and manual white balance. You will probably need a flash (if your camera doesn’t come with one)
Here are some additional points to consider . . .
How many layers of menu are there to get to what you want?? It can be a lot easier if most functions are available directly at your fingertips, than if you have to go through lots of menus to get to things.
The LCD screen size can make a difference . . . the bigger and brighter it is, the better, although for a price, some cameras offer larger, separate monitors.
Automatic modes can be very helpful, especially when you’re doing action or spontaneous photography, where you might not have time to adjust all the settings manually.
Some cameras, for example Nikon, can have the autofocus motor built into the camera body, so can autofocus older manual lenses.
The quality of lenses will affect the quality of the finished photos more than the quality of the camera does, so it often makes sense to by a slightly less expensive camera and spend more on good lenses.
Don’t choose a camera to be compatible to your existing memory cards . . . a new memory card is so cheap relative to a camera and lenses, that it should be ignored as a way to choose a camera.
Keep in mind that a professional flash can be considerably better than the one built-in to some cameras, so if a flash is important to your style, consider buying a really good one.