Dec 18, 2008 05:14 PM
11035 Views
(Updated Aug 24, 2009 04:00 PM)
I have been photographing for over 20 years as a hobby. My first camera was Click-III, the box type film camera, when I was a kid. Then I moved over to more modern Minolta point and shoot camera, before moving over to SLR. The obvious reason to move over to SLR was amazing possibility to have different lenses, starting from wide to telephoto.
Few years back, Digital camera’s took the world by storm. Me being a SLR fan, would always keep away from Digital camera’s, as they did not produce as good a picture quality as SLR’s did. But the technology moved fast, and when pixel count moved over 3 Mega Pixels, the print’s started becoming better and better. Moreover, the small compact camera’s used to offer great Zoom too, covering Wide to Telephoto needs. I found that I could do almost everything with the compact camera as with my SLR. Moreover, it was much more compact, convenient to view and store pictures. This is when I sold my SLR and decided to move over to two Digital camera’s, one with 6-8 Mega Pixel count and with smaller Zoom’s (3x) as a in-pocket camera that I could carry everywhere, and second camera with bigger zooms (12x) that I could use for any photographic opportunity. I did not mind my kids picking up my camera and clicking, as it did not cost anything now. This has made my kids even better photographers than I was at their age.
I was very happy with my Digital cameras. I always wondered why anyone would spend so much money on DSLR, if my compact did everything so well. My question was answered when I saw the results of a DSLR.
In the film world, what differentiated the SLR from the compacts was their large lens capabilities. In the digital world, what differentiates DSLR’s from the compacts is their Sensor (Corresponding to the Film in the film cameras). In the film camera’s, everyone used same film, but in DSLR’s, the sensor that captures the picture is different for different cameras. The sensor is made up of many ‘pixels’. More the number of pixels, more the details it can capture, but at the same time, bigger the pixel size, better the colours and lesser noise in low light conditions. The sensor is of limited size, so if you increase the pixel count, the pixel size goes down to accommodate larger number of pixels in same area.
People normally think that more the pixels, better the camera. Yes, by increasing the number of pixels, you can make larger prints, but at the same time, the pixel size becomes smaller, so that the colours produced are worse, and your picture quality becomes noisy as soon as you click in-doors in low light.
The bottom line is, Bigger the Pixel Size give better picture quality. And the DSLR’s have much bigger Sensor than the compacts, more than 15-30 times bigger, for the same pixel count.
Most compact camera’s sensor size in area is small, around 25 Sq. mm, and some better ones are of 45 sq. mm (this is also the reason why compacts have large 10-20x zoom in small size, as small lens is sufficient to form image on a small sensor, reducing size significantly). The SLR’s sensor come in 3 sizes, the biggest being Full frame FX format, where the sensor size correspond to the 36mm film (so you can use your old SLR lenses), and its size is 864 Sq. mm. (see the huge difference in size) The second size is the half size Dx (APS-C) format with sensor size of 384 Sq. mm (use Dx format lenses, as they are smaller, and focal length suitable for Dx format camera, though you can use Fx lenses too). Finally, the third size is promoted by Panasonic/Olympus (four-third format) with an area of 341 sq mm (they are smallest DSLRs).
Bigger the sensor area, bigger the pixel size for the same number of pixel count. This explains why the pictures from DSLR look so good as compared to Compacts. So never go by the pixel count alone. Look at your requirement, and if you don’t have to print large poster size pictures, 3-6 Mp is a good enough capacity. I printed 20 inches picture with 6 Mp compact camera with good results.
With the DSLR, the pixel size is much larger, and this makes it possible to take clean pictures in even dark conditions or indoors even without flash. The compacts never give good results indoor, but DSLR’s always give excellent results, thanks to its sensor size. So if you want a camera for clicking the birthday party or wedding party indoors, DSLR is the only answer.
Today, we get 10 Mp compact cameras which has 25 sq mm sensor size. If the same sensor density is used in a DSLR, we’ll get 153Mp in Dx format and 345Mp in Fx format. Still, DSLR’s use just 6-15 Mp (Dx) or 12-24Mp (Fx), as low density sensor (bigger pixel) offers better image quality.
See more details in my comments below.
