I recently commandeered my sister's graduation present, a Canon Powershot 4.0 MP A520. I was excited, a relief to carry rather than the veritable rucksack that contains my film SLR. But what I found is the Powershot is pretty much a point and shoot camera and maybe a bit worse because its takes a while for the camera to save the image and make itself ready for the next shot. How annoying. My SLR can take pictures as long as 30 seconds or 1/4000 of a second. That's freaking exhilarating. Not too mention, that heavy baby can take about 2.5 pictures a second ... it's a Ferrari Modena compared to the digital. If only it wasn't a Hummer H2 :( body style.
I know the digital SLR, four times the cost of a film SLR are approaching if not surpassing picture quality, however I'm still curious if their speed is close, particularly between shots. Also the instant gratification of seeing my picture after I take it is not really gratifying. Instant gratification seems to be a oxymoron when it comes to picture taking. Sending film off to the developer and waiting for it in my mailbox (don't trust the teenagers working the one hour photo shops) is like getting an unexpected bouquet of flowers.
4 comments:
Digital SLRs can do several shots per second.
For only a mere $4,000 :) worthwhile for the pro
Well, yeah. :) I didn't bother to search for the best price one, just the brand I'm familiar with (I have an A70, not an SLR, but my mom has a.. er.. D40 maybe?). I'm under the impression all digital SLRs are virtually the same as their counterparts in the film world, however.
On a recent one - then Canon A520 does have some
decent manual settings, though it's a bit challenging
to learn them, and you're right, pretty much all
digital cameras have too much shutter lag. There are
"burst" settings to make it take a few shots in a row
much faster. I replaced my stolen camera with
basically the same one - Olympus C-750 - for all kinds
of reasons. Ufortunately I also bought a Sony DSC-W7
in the meantime before I rememberd all of those
reasons. Reasons for the Olympus? Good manual
controls, 16sec - 1/1000 shutter, and 10x zoom -
38-380mm equivalent in 35mm!!! Just try to match that
part in a pocket size camera! Also like the
electronic viewfinder... Really an SLR... I used to
use a Rollei 35 (amazing compact camera) and an old
Pentax Spotmatic F SLR in my film days - and gave my
darkroom equipment to a friend when I left Detroit. I
was such a purist, but no longer have the time or
space. Great to have "real" photography experience
though. It helps in using the capabilities of the
modern digital...
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