is mine a DSLR?

Nikar7 SG

hi,

is there any way of knowing whether my camera is a digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR)? it's a Canon Powershot series.

ThunderFbolt SG

i don't think powershot is DSLR.

but as always, google is your friend!

Plastic Bag SG

Canon's powershot series =/= DSLR. A DSLR is one that can change lens.

Gedanken SG

Canon's powershot series =/= DSLR. A DSLR is one that can change lens.

Almost, but not quite. Apart from being able to dismount lenses, DSLRs also have a mirror in the body that you can see once the lens is off, e.g.:

A few years back I would have said that interchangeable lenses would have been the distinguishing characteristic, but what with the introduction of the Olympus EP1 and the Panasonic GF1, a changeable lens doesn't necessarily means DSLR anymore.

That said, you're right - PowerShots are not DSLRs.

Farmerseed SG

Been trying hard to define and differentiate a compact and single lens reflex. So found one definition in my opinion best explain the difference.

Quote from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/reflex+camera

"(Miscellaneous Technologies / Photography) a camera in which the image is composed and focused on a large ground-glass viewfinder screen. In a single-lens reflex the light enters through the camera lens and falls on the film when the viewfinder mirror is retracted. In a twin-lens reflex the light enters through a separate lens and is deflected onto the viewfinder screen".

As what Gedanken mentioned some 'non-DSLR' grade cams can offer interchangeable lenses but i feel the DSLR market still offers people who wants better quality photos more choices of perspective output with the available lenses in the respective lens mount and camera systems.

Clearly stated at Canon's website they classified their camera lineups under 'compact' and 'DSLR'. 'Ixus' and 'powershot' range falls under 'compact'. The powershot series are prosumer / bridge cam while Ixus serious fore sleek and style.

Gedanken SG

Yeah, that's about right, Farmerseed.

The key advantage of DSLRs lies in the autofocus system - the reflex system allows for use of separate phase-detect autofocus sensors, as opposed to the slower and less precise contrast-detect systems used in point-and-shoots, or DSLRs in Live View (blech) mode.

The other problem with the "compacts", even if they do have interchangeable lenses, is that their sensors are too small; even with Olympus' four-thirds system, you'd need an f/2 lens to get f/2.8 performance on a full-frame DSLR. All things being equal, bokeh and image quality on a small sensor are much more difficult to get on a four-thirds sensor than on a full frame sensor.

Now if we wanted to go larger we could go with the monster sensors on the new Hasselblads, but those use high-speed scanners rather than sensors, limiting their speed.

Between itsy-bitsy sensors and slow, large ones, full-frame DSLRs like the 5D or D3 give you the best balance between functionality and image quality.

Farmerseed SG

I have not read thorough on smaller sensors since i am just a camera user just like most people out there.

I feel that DSLR is more responsive compared to most compacts. Disable the electronic shutter sound from a compact and after using it for a while one will know what i mean.

Except for a few prosumer bridge compact camera models that offers mechanical zoom ring this is also another factor i place the DSLR over a compact. Zoom operation to me seems more precise on mechanical than electronically controlled units.

Most compact also offer no options for a hotshoe to external flashlights not to mention a circuitry control to use ext flash so in some challenging situations when flash is needed for users of lower end DSLR or compact to take a shot appropriately it seems like DSLR is the way to go unless of course you have a pro body with good noise control in terms of ISO.

Gedanken SG

I'm assuming that part of the responsiveness that you're talking about involves shutter lag, which is that pause between you pressing the shutter button and the camera actually taking the photo.

A big part of shutter lag is influenced by the autofocus system. The contrast-detect system used by point-and-shoots is slower than the phase-detect method in DSLRs. The upshot of this is that the point-and-shoot will take longer to make up its mind about when proper focus is achieved before triggering the shutter, and as a result your chances of taking the shot after the magic moment are higher.

Vis-a-vis manual versus electronic zoom, there's no difference in precision. The speed with which you get the right zoom, however, is likely to be reached with a manual system.

As for hotshoes, more and more point-and-shoots are getting them now, which is fine as long as people actually know the basics of flash photography. There's no point shelling out $500 for a flash when all you're going to do is point it right at your subject - you may as well use the built-in flash. Regardless of how good your low-light performance is on a DSLR, there are some situations when a flash still comes in handy, even if we're not getting into things like fill flash.

Farmerseed SG

Good to have some discussion on pros and cons of Compact and DSLR.

Some things i feel about sensor size is noise seems to be more obvious when you shoot a photo with a campact camera of smaller sensor compared to the same shot on a DSLR with a bigger sensor at the same megapixel setting. For casual shoots it is fine. But if there is a requirement to blow up the image for print that is another area to explore.

Focusing points. Most casual Pns shooters probably will not mind or worry too much about this but for people into specific photography jobs when precision of the point in focus at a smaller area takes precedence then the multiple focusing points offered by DSLR is a plus.

TTL flash synchronization with the camera body. This is one very useful control of communication between external flashes and DSLR. If we can incorporate this in all compact it will bring them on par in this function.

Aperture. I can stop this down to f/32 in a DSLR but i will not have this option available in compacts. Extreme macro and getting up to the eye details of an insect as small as a few millimeters in size is almost impossible with most compacts. Sometimes in a landscape shoot the light is so strong that you have to stop down the aperture value even after using the fastest shutter speed to get more details out of the blue sky.

Gedanken SG

Now that you mention sensor size, I just remembered that I had soemthing which I hadn't gotten round to posting on this very topic. I've posted it here: http://www.sgforums.com/forums/3205/topics/393154

With the focussing issue, many point-and-shoots now allow focus lock when you keep the shutter button pressed down halfway. All you need to do is focus on your target, keep the shutter button half pressed and recompose. All in all, not a big issue.

TTL's handy, but if you know your way around flash power settings, it's not all that big a deal either. Most photography courses will have manual flash settings as part of the syllabus so that you know exactly how the flash's power affects your photos, rather than leaving it to TTL to do the thinking for you. Over the past few months, I've been toying around with and using manual flash settings more and more.

Now with aperture, there are two things to be considered. f/2.8 on a compact is not the same as f/2.8 on a full-frame camera - the smaller the sensor size, the bigger the depth of field. Chances are that with a point-and-shoot's sensor, by the time you get to f/8 it would be similar to f/22 on a full-frame.

On top of that, you need to keep limits of diffraction in mind - as you decrease your aperture size, you increase diffraction and past a certain point, increasing your f-number will make your pictures more blur. Even when shooting macro, f/32 is not a setting I'd recommend.

Farmerseed SG

Agree with you on what you mentioned. But when i am doing work for commercial purposes i am still sceptic. I will rather stick to a DSLR. If i can afford in future i will definitely get semi-pro or professional bodies once i saved enough money. In situation when light is always changing and you have only once chance to take a properly exposed shot i will trust my i/TTL capabilities with external flashes. What you mentioned on focusing well i guess that is what most consumers need to take a shot. Coming to aperture it is better to have a wider range for selective use. The aperture values and limits were designed and made for a purpose i guess.

Cheers.

Gedanken SG

Fair point. If you've got commercial work that demands that you capture that right moment, the last thing you want to do is watch that moment go by while the camera decides if it wants to take a shot. That rules out point-and-shoots and yes, TTL would be good under those circumstances. If lighting conditions are challenging, you're most likely better off having a lens that gives you the largest, rather than the smallest, aperture. At very least get a lens that goes down to f/2.8 - trying to get a good fast shot at f/6.3 in even moderate light could compromise your results. I normally shoot with thse two setups.

Between them I've got 24-320mm (full frame equivalent) covered, all at f/2.8 and good for at least ISO1250.

Farmerseed SG

Heavy setups and gears you have there. At least it is IMO. Cannot imagine myself lugging all these equipment and shooting around. It is good to have faster lens. I will not expect a f2.8 lens to be able to capture blur free photos in extreme low light conditions alone. I doubt even a f1.2 lens could alone. Together with a camera body with good noise control sensor and system, some VR/IS if available. Every aspects combined help to make shots in challenging conditions possible.

However in dawning or dusk when the natural lighting starts to transit you will be able to see a difference in performance between say a lens of f1.8 speed versus one with f4.5 speed assuming all other hardware setup between the two remains constant. Yep just my 2cents.

Gedanken SG

Spot on, Farmerseed - a large aperture in not a cure-all for low-light conditions. Also, VR/IS only deals with the camera's movement - in low light or with a slow shutter speed, it will not help with the blurring of a moving subject.

Ultimately, in low light conditions, if you want a nice sharp picture, there really is only one sure fix: introduce more light into the scene, either with a flash or with some other light source.