Pro Telephoto

Pro Telephoto
Tiny cameras can take surprisingly good photos
Technology has enabled cellphone cameras and point-and-shoots to produce better-than-ever images.

Digital Photography Basics - Selecting A Camera That Is Best For You

If you want to learn the basics of digital photography, it really doesn't matter whether you're using a digital compact or a DSLR with the exception of these few important differences.

Digital Compacts

One of the biggest benefits of digital compacts is the low cost. Also when you purchase a DSLR you will also need to purchase at least one lens, and if you want to take pictures from afar, you'll also need a good telephoto lens. Digital compacts always come with a built in lens and sometimes even come with a zoom.

If you do have an optical zoom on your digital compact then you'll also be able to take some good quality telephoto pictures. An Optical zoom is always better than digital zoom because a digital zoom works like cropping and takes away pixels. The more you zoom with a digital zoom the lower the image quality. Unlike regular zooms, an optical zoom maintains the quality of your picture.

Some compacts produce such high quality photographs that many a pro will grab the compact if they dont' want to carry all their DSLR gear. The quality of the photo depends largely on the photographer's skill.

While digital compacts don't have as many megapixels as DSLRs, with only 5 megapixels, you can produce an 8x10 print of the type of quality you'd be proud to frame and hang on your wall.

Finally, learning the digital photography basics of a compact is far easier then learning how to use a DSLR to its full advantage.

Digital Single Lens Reflexes (DSLRs)

A Digital SLR is the digital version of a single lens reflex camera or SLR. DSLR's are also called SLRs but never the other way around. With the release of cameras like the Canon Rebel and other moderately priced DSLRs, more photography enthusiasts are enjoying the benefits of using a DSLR.

One of the big benefits of a DSLR is its versatility and creativity.

For example, by using a long telephoto lens you can take a close up of an eagle on the top of a tree and you'll never be able to tell from the picture that he was so far away. With a DSLR, you can find a lens or filter to suit almost any photographic need.

Another benefit of DSLRs is their ability to take sharp pictures of sports or action photos in low light situations where a flash won't work. The larger sensor on a DSLR allows you to adjust the ISO and get a good picture, whereas with a compact it usually creates an image with a lot of grain called digital noise.  If you are taking still photos, it's not a problem. The problem with Sports mode in a low light setting is that the shutter must close so fast that in spite of a larger aperture setting, there's just not enough light hitting the image sensor. The only way this can be overcome is with a flash or a higher ISO setting.

However, there are software programs that once learned can often can work wonders in eliminating digital noise created with compacts in these settings.

Another DSLR advantage is that you can use an external flash which can make a huge difference.

Another benefit of DSLRs is that they have more megapixels than even the best digital compacts so you can take and print high quality big pictures. Finally, digital cameras are slower to take the picture, but DSLRs are far faster than compacts.

Remember, digital photography basics start with choosing a camera, but the quality of the photographs largely depend on the skill of the photographer. So no matter what type of camera you have or will be buying, it pays to practice.

About the Author

Autumn Lockwood is a writer for Your Picture Frames and loves taking pictures. Shop online and see our large picture frame selection in a wide variety of styles, colors and types like our popular floating picture frames and cool magnetic picture frames.

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