New Toy!

[Alex]

Essentially it still means the same thing but functionally the key difference in a Digital SLR is that the lens body is mounted and removable where non-SLR cameras all use fixed-body lenses.

There is still a technological value to a mirror SLR over simply using LCDs to compose the image. That benefit is in focusing. No camera-back LCD currently on market (and definitely no view-finder LCD) offers sufficient resolution for accurate focusing.

Finally, the digital SLRs on market now all offer a significant improvement of image quality at the same resolution since they CCDs inside the cameras are larger than the ones inside small digital cameras. Also, the optics of even the standard lenses tend to be better than the micro-lenses found on most standard digital cameras.

So in the digital age "SLR" is essentially a catch-all term for a bundle of features common to SLRs that aren't necessarily dependent on the actual SLR mechanism. There are a few manufacturers of prosumer digital cameras that have interchangeable lenses but do not actually use an SLR mirror.

[Not Afraid]

Please share, Alex!

I miss having changable lenses. My old Minolta was so wonderful to toy around with. But, even my Digital Cannon (which is broken at the moment) has been wonderful to play with.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

Please share, Alex!

Here are the keepers from a trip to the Oakland Zoo. I don't have them set up in a gallery though.

warthog
sunbear
meerkat
meerkat #2
meerkat #3
giraffes
crane
elephant
camel
bobcat
grooming monkeys
not grooming monkeys

[Ghoulish Delight]

Cool, thanks for the clarification, Alex. That's kinda what I figured, but wondered if I was missing something else.

When looking for our current camera, I briefly considered an Olympus SLR that was relatively compact, as SLRs go. But seeing as it would be our only camera, and seeing as the brick-like qualities of our previous camera continually lead to us prefering to leave it at home, we decided that compact was the way to go. We compromised by getting one with a rather impressive 5x optical zoom, but still pocket sized.

Should that one last a while, and if I ever feel like spending the money for a secondary camera, I'll likely get an SLR, but as a primary camera, portability is priority 1.

[Prudence]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Should that one last a while, and if I ever feel like spending the money for a secondary camera, I'll likely get an SLR, but as a primary camera, portability is priority 1.

that ended up being our assessment, too. We were initially looking at the point and shoots that mimic some SLR traits (like the Canon S3 IS) but eventually decided we'd be better off getting a more portable one now for the obligatory holiday snaps and later get an actual DSLR.

[Alex]

With me it was the reverse. We had about a half-dozen small digital cameras and ended up never using them because neither Lani nor I have much interest in casual snapshots (I almost never take pictures of people, it just never occurs to me) so they'd just bounce around the house until they were lost. So eventually it was "why keep buying cheap small cameras we never use, I might as well just spend a couple thousand on a camera and lenses and at least I'll use it."

For me, photography is the closest thing to an "artistic" activity I have.

[BarTopDancer]

KITTY!

[Not Afraid]

Thanks! Great animal shots.

I love this one:





Now, who does this remind me of?

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

Now, who does this remind me of?

George and Laura?

[Prudence]

We have a family history of photo-taking- well, on my dad's side. Lots and lots of family photos. Birthdays, Christmas, Easter, holiday, school events, plays, dance recitals, band concerts, visiting relatives, you name it, my mom took a photo. It's really cool to have photos from prior generations, and in my fantasies I 1) have descendants and 2) they think it's neat to have photos from my generation. In my family, photos are mostly for the album.

I *want* to also take artsy shots. My uncle's travelling all over the world as a photographer (gets press invites to things, too) in his retirement and does amazing work. And now my brother's been out taking photos of canyons and arches and other such things. So now I want nifty shots for my walls, too.