Way back in the previous century, Kokak had a philosophy of "you press the button, we do the rest", and made what they thought could be a camera for anyone. They developed a system which cleared people from needing to know how to deal with the photographic process and take images with a click of the shutter.
Almost any of the digital cameras today fulfill Kodak's dream. Its just that some seem to do it better than others.
The current range of Digital SLR cameras, even the cheapest 'consumer' grade models produce images which in many ways are superior to almost anything that has ever gone before in a hand holdable camera.
So if everything is perfect, why am I writing this then?
Well, because things aren't perfect. In this article I will explain why Firstly an SLR style camera is not always a perfect design. For those who only see the world straight on, putting a camera to your face and photographing what you see is an obvious choice, but its not the only one. If you take macro photographs of things in the ground, work with copy stand, photograph through a microscope or even hold the camera over your head in a crowd then a SLR style offers quite a few dis-advantages, as the eye piece will be nowhere near your eye for you to see into it. Try taking an image like this one below with an SLR. This was taken with a Nikon Coolpix 990, with the camera sat on my foot (for support) while I kneeled down to get the camera close to the scorpion. She was also on the run from some ants, who seemed keen on making lunch out of her babies which she has packed on her back.
Its important to know that the best cameras were not always SLR's (many a Leica owner would argue still aren't, and then there's the big studio sheet film cameras to consider). Prior to the 60's the rangefinder camera was the dominant style. Press photographers who worked in low light favoured these cameras over the SLR's which were gradually introduced. It was mainly in the area of long telephoto (sporting photography) and macro photography which the SLR had advantages.
Gradually over time, the optical rangefinder camera fell out of the public eye, with only experienced professionals really understanding what the advantages of rangefinder cameras (such as the Leica M series) really were. If ever you've struggled in low light to get focus, you should try using a rangefinder camera!
While SLR's offer interchangable lenses, this was a feature of many camera systems well before the SLR style was invented. The SLR style while bringing many advantages to the use actually introduced equally many design problems for the camera makers, not least of which was finding room for that moving mirror between the back of the lens and the film.
Zoom lenses have really altered all this too, as mounting a zoom (such as a 28-105) gives a range of lenses which for most people covers all they ever need. I wonder just how many people never put another lens apart from the "kit" zoom lens that came with their SLR.
One other disadvantage that many current SLR designs have is viewfinder size of viewfinder . Size makes a difference in seeing what is and isn't in focus. When focusing was done manually it is critical to see just what is and isn't in focus. If you haven't looked through the viewfinder of a professional 35mm SLR or full frame DSLR then you just havent seen how clearly you can see your subject. The sheer size of the image you see is vast after peeking through the keyholes of many modern cameras, you need to turn your eye left and right just to find the edges of the frame!
I have had a number of photographs seem blurry only to find that the camera did not focus on what I though it did.
Depending on the lens and f-stop, focus can be quite critical. In the images below I have tried to give a feel for
the differences between a large viewfinder and a small one, and how that might help in making your
image better. Try to see if the camera is focused on
Its much clearer in the bigger image yet almost impossible to pick in the smaller one.
| Small viewfinder | Large viewfinder |
|---|---|
 |
 |
"Sure sure, but what difference does that make?" I hear you ask, well if you are trying to check focus or manually focus you'll have trouble with an SLR with a small view finder. In terms ofthe image if you are always going to resize your pictures down to tiny web pictures like the small one above it really doesn't matter at all. However if you are thinking of making prints even as large as 5x7 inches you'll see the difference. Looking at this segment below, you can see just how much I missed the focus, as its clearly on the table not the person. Even the checkerd cloth beside them is out of 'depth of field'
Some DSLR's have been known to focus on some point other than the point under the focus indicator. Look at these links for issues on DSLR focus problems.
So even with our auto focus SLR cameras, we still need to focus manually, or at least to check that we are focused on what we think we are focused on.