wtf is SLR

[donnabhain]

I've seen folks talk about upgrading to DSLR cameras. What's this all about?? Remember, I'm not artsy fartsy so you gotta explain it to me like a guy who buys one-time-use cameras for $2 at CVS. I have a cheapo digital at the moment and am hesitant to upgrade to anything over $100 since I tend to break my cameras every few months. I have a digital camera graveyard in my desk.

[Megster]

SLR stands for single lens reflex.  DSLR = digital SLR, lol.

Basically, you have to switch lenses off the body of the camera, which can run into not just the hundreds, but thousands of dollars.  I just bought a lens for $1299 (the precious...).  The kit lens that comes with an entry level SLR is bound to be crap and won't have the range the point and shoots have for the same amount of money, and if you don't know anything about photography, I'd actually stick with the point and shoots.

SLRS do take some (ok, a lot of) getting used to, but if you just want a decent camera where you can zoom to 15x without changing a lens, you don't have to spring for the SLR.  Dropping $500 will get a point and shoot camera any hobbyist will be happy with, or an entry level SLR that can't do much and will annoy and confuse the hobbyist who just wants to get into it.

SLRS/DSLRS are an investment, and the investment isn't in the camera body, but the lenses.  The good thing is that some lenses for the film SLRS are compatible with the DSLRS (talking Canon's EOS system here), but you can get adapters to use lenses from other manufacturers, which is a plus.

A lot of the guys on this forum shoot with DSLRs, but that's because they give us control over how we want the image to be made.  No lie, I've got about $7k invested in my equipment and am going to drop another $3500 on lenses by the end of the year, but I make more than 1/2 my annual income through working as a freelance photographer so I can write it all off on my taxes.

Best advice I can give you is to go play with the cameras at best buy.  Also know what pisses you off most about the limitations of your current camera, so you can address that issue.  That's all I've done since I've started with cameras, going on 10 years as a hobbyist and 2 as a pro.

[zman]

Rob - if you need a camera, I've got 2 old point and shoot olympus ones you can have.  One is 3 MP, and the other is ( I think..) 10mp, with 10x zoom.

[donnabhain]

Thanks megs! And thanks zman! I'll shoot ya a PM. Like I said, I've got the camera graveyard in my desk so putting a few $k into something that I'm gonna break when I fall through a floor isn't in the cards for me. If I was doing something safe with it maybe a different story I suppose the best thing I could do is get a tripod so pics dont come out shakey in low light maybe.