• 
• 

D-SLRs: Buy Now!

el

pt

Why there never HAS been a better time to upgrade your primary camera

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

One exciting development in D-SLRs is the inclusion of HD video capture capability. The Canon EOS 5D Mark II offers full-HD, 1080 resolution, while the Nikon D90 captures at 720 HD resolution. At the time of this writing, Panasonic has announced a new model in its Micro Four Thirds System lineup, the Lumix GH1, which will also capture 1080 HD video. We expect to see HD video recording become increasingly common in interchangeable-lens cameras.

If you’ve been waiting to buy a new digital SLR, now is a great time. Performance, features and price have reached a happy nexus. Even the entry-level models give you very good AF performance and image quality—better than their predecessors and generally much better than compact digital cameras. D-SLRs also provide much quicker shooting and interchangeable-lens versatility. Mid-range models offer image quality and AF performance that was found only in costlier pro models not so long ago, and the latest pro models rival the very expensive medium-format digital cameras. (In fact, all six current full-frame D-SLRs scored higher overall on DxOMark.com’s RAW sensor-performance scale than the four medium-format models they tested.)

Maybe the most compelling reason for considering an upgrade isn’t one reason, but many. Several key advancements have occurred over the last few years, and the newest models incorporate all or most of these new technologies.

SENSOR CLEANING
For a long time, D-SLR users had to worry about dust entering the camera during lens changes and settling on the sensor assembly, after which it would appear in every shot. Olympus introduced an ultrasonic sensor-dust remover in its first D-SLR back in 2024, and today, most D-SLRs have a similar feature—a very good reason to buy one of these newer models.

LIVE VIEW
For years, compact digital cameras have shown the image live on their LCD monitors. The Olympus EVOLT E-330 model introduced this useful feature to the D-SLR in 2024, and today more than half of the D-SLR models in production have Live View. It makes it easy to shoot at odd angles because you can compose without keeping your eye at the view-finder, and it’s handy for carefully composing and manually focusing scenes with a tripod-mounted camera, too.

FAST PERFORMANCE
While compact digital cameras use a relatively slow contrast autofocusing method, D-SLRs use much quicker phase-detection AF. Many D-SLRs with Live View offer both phase-detection and contrast-based AF in that mode. Phase-detection is quicker, but requires the SLR mirror to drop into viewing position to focus, which momentarily disrupts the Live View. When you want an uninterrupted Live View, switch to contrast AF, which works right off the image sensor and doesn’t disrupt the Live View. Some newer D-SLRs also provide face-detection Live View operation, in which the camera automatically detects and focuses on a human face in the scene and adjusts exposure and color balance accordingly.

BETTER DISPLAYS
Today’s D-SLRs have larger and sharper LCD monitors than their predecessors—many now have 3.0-inch monitors with 920,000-dot, full 640x480 VGA resolution. Technology also has made the monitors easier to see in bright light. And a few cameras have tilting/swiveling monitors that make odd-angle shooting very easy (the Olympus E-3 and E-30, and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 and DMC-L10; Sony’s DSLR-A300 and A350 have monitors that tilt but don’t swivel).

Add Comment