Do I need a DSLR?

Lets face it, we all ask ourselves this question whenever we look at the work of a pro and want to do something similar. A DSLR, or a Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera is by far the most popular camera across the legions of professional and amateur photographers around the world, but does that mean you need it? No, maybe not.
A DSLR will not improve your photographs outright. You need to learn the nuances of photography and the specific controls to get a good output from your DSLR. So think twice before you invest your $1000 on a DSLR.

• Do you just need a camera to capture the moments spent with your friends and family?You don’t need a DSLR.
• Do you need a camera to document your recent travel abroad and share your “been there done that” clicks with your near and dear ones in Facebook?You don’t need a DSLR.
• Are you a designer or a homemade product manufacturer looking to document your designs and products or the manufacturing processes?You might not need a DSLR.
• Does photography amuse you and you consider it as a better hobby than anything else? Does your casual shots get appreciated among your friends?You might need a DSLR.
• Are you a complete photography buff? You already own a digital camera and you read photography magazines to improve your craft and shoot like the pros?You need a DSLR.
• You have come a long way in photography and you are keen to take it up as a profession?You definitely need a DSLR. 

The Ease of Convenience

Are you looking for a camera that will be convenient to flick into your pockets anytime you are not clicking? Then you need a compact digital camera or rather a point and shoot. The quality of compact cameras has gone up like anything and you can make a great buy at half the price of a DSLR. You won’t be lugging with a backpack full of different lenses and yet you will be documenting those important moments in life. If handling a huge camera when out of home, gives you nightmares, buy a simple and compact camera and forget about a DSLR. A big and heavy camera may spend more time on your shelf than in your carry-on-bag.

The Megapixel Myth

For a camera market hyped with the “megapixel thing” by the camera manufacturers and distributors, you will most probably end up making a choice on this ubiquitous term “Megapixels”.
The Megapixel count is printed in bold on most cameras and trust me it is just a myth that more the megapixels, better the image quality. If you intend to take pictures only to share them via email or facebook to your friends, a camera of almost any megapixel count will do. A camera with anything more than 7 megapixels is enough to produce a sharp 8-by-10 print. So don’t jump into the bandwagon, you might not need all those megapixels offered in the ads.

The Zoom Thing

We all love zooms don’t we. We often miss an interesting shot of a bird resting on a high perch or a boat sailing far from the shore, because of lack of zoom. If you are planning for a DSLR, then your choice of lenses will decide your zoom capabilities, but for a compact camera, the zoom ratio is an important feature. Go for the camera with a better zoom ratio. An 8X zoom would provide you a greater range of focal length to play with than a 5X zoom. Which means you have a bigger range between the widest you can shoot and the closest you can go.
But beware of digital zoom! Most camera manufacturers add digital zoom along with optical zoom and show a total zoom in the specs. The digital zoom is practically useless as it will provide far more inferior image quality than the optical zoom.

Manual Exposure Controls

This is one of the most important features to look for in a camera. Does it allow you to manually control the amount of light that should enter your camera? Look for this feature. Look for an “Aperture Priority” or “Shutter Priority” mentioned in the specs. This might help you once you learn a bit more technicalities about controlling the exposure yourself. But this feature will be found in the top models of the compact camera category and can be a bit pricier.

Video Capabilities

We don’t buy digital cameras to shoot videos, do we? Instead we go for the more specialized camcorders. But having a better video quality in your digicam can come in handy at times, when you need to capture a sudden moment for life and you don’t have a video camera at your disposal.
If you already own a camcorder or you are a purist like me who will never try taking a video, don’t even care about this feature.

Anti Shake Feature

Nowadays most of the compact cameras have optical image stabilization features added to them. They help avoiding blurry images due to a shaky hand. A shake might not be visible at broad daylight but during dusk or evening, when the light is low, it might end up giving you blurry, useless shots. Canon uses IS and Nikon uses VR as its specification for anti shake features. Try and get camera loaded with this feature.

Exposure Modes

Not all compact cameras will give you a complete manual control on the exposure, but will surely give you different exposure modes for taking better pictures at different situations. Check out for those modes when you make a buying decision.
The modes that might interest you are Night Scene, Portrait, Macro, Underwater, Snow or Long Shutter. The names might change for each manufacturer, but all of them will be offering more or less the same modes. Check for the ones you feel you would love to shoot and make your choice.
Nowadays a few compact cameras are also offering certain special effects like Sepia, Soft Focus, and High/Low Key. This will save your post processing time and provide nice artistic results.

Flash Capabilities

Flashes have their own place in photography, but in-built camera flashes have been discouraged always for the harsh shadows they produce on the subject. But what if you want to capture a moment in low light and you don’t have an external flash; obviously use your in-built one. A bad photo is better than no photo.
The compact cameras come with various flash modes to choose with, like Slow Synchronization, Red-Eye Reduction, Shutter Sync and Rear Slow Synchro. These can be useful during certain challenging lighting conditions. Look for them in the specs.

Battery Life

Life is short and no one wants to miss out capturing the moments for a camera with poor battery life. It is difficult to figure out looking at the specs how the battery life will be for a camera, but try and gather as much information from your friends or the internet on the battery life of the camera you have shortlisted. Some of the manufacturers release a CIPA rating of the Cameras. This can be useful to predict the power capabilities of the battery. The higher the rating the better it is. If a camera has a rating of 200, it means that it can approximately take 200 shots before the next charge. For a compact camera, it can be anywhere from 100 to 300 and for a Pro SLR it can be around 4000.
So look for the CIPA rating, if provided before you make your choice.

Hope these tips will clear the doubts for many prospective camera buyers and help them making an informed decision on which camera they really need.

Image Credits: David Castillo Dominici,Photostock and Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot