# is there any point to a digital slr camera? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279 "2005-04-14T13:29:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/21 "2005-04-14T18:57:20Z")
Something noone’s mentioned yet is that the CCD of a DSLR is different from a normal digital camera. In normal cameras, the LCD screen serves as the viewfinder. Although this is great, it means that they need some way of “shunting” off the excess electrons, such that the CCD doesn’t get overwhelmed and just show white. Therefore, there are little “gutters” built into each light sensor “pixel” on the CCD. This is also what allows the normal cameras to get video. What this means is that on each CCD, a significant proportion of the surface is “gutter”, and not light sensitive. The manufacturers use lenses to make up for it, but generally speaking a DSLR will get higher definition as compared to a non DSLR. This also means that DSLRs cannot use their LCD screens as viewfinders, as someone has noted. It also means that DSLRs cannot take video. But still picture quality will be MUCH enhanced. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/22 "2005-04-14T19:18:33Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > I also have a Digital Rebel. You can’t use the LCD for framing shots, but the default setting is that it stays on, and whenever you take a shot, it appears on the LCD immediately afterward, for a couple of seconds, for instant review. It also shows the current camera settings. It still burns less power than on a digicam where you use it to frame shots, but if you turn it off until you need it, it’s even more economical of battery power. Hmmm, I’m holding my ES300 as I type this. The LCD is not actually ‘on’ except for the 1-2 second period right after you take a shot. The camera settings are shown on a little black and white display just above the color LCD, not on the LCD itself (some are also shown through the view finder). Yeah, I knew you could turn off the ‘review’ display that shows after a shot, I just never bothered since the battery life is already so marvelous. If I end up in the outback or something for a few days with one battery, I guess I’d turn off the reviewing feature. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/23 "2005-04-14T19:30:38Z")
> [@Roches](#): > > …and they’re rather expensive for proprietary accessories that only work with a certain model of camera. I have no idea about my lenses – they’re some type of “standard” size, because they’re the same lenses I used with my old VHS camcorder. I just needed a different size adapter ring. I hate the fact I need to use the LCD to use them, though. All in all, I was just pointing out that one _could_ use lenses on certain non-SLR cameras. If I were a serious photographer rather than a snapshot taker, I’d definitely move into a high-end DSLR. ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/24 "2005-04-15T06:13:15Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > …This also means that DSLRs cannot use their LCD screens as viewfinders, as someone has noted. It also means that DSLRs cannot take video. But still picture quality will be MUCH enhanced. Check. My user manual confirms the LCD screen as a viewfinder. Thanks for the explanation. Do you have a cite on this info? I’d like to read up more on it. ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/25 "2005-04-15T06:15:23Z")
> [@Leviosaurus](#): > > Check. My user manual confirms the LCD screen as a viewfinder. Er, that should read “My user manual confirms you cannot use the the LCD screen on my Canon 20D as a viewfinder.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/26 "2005-04-15T11:23:07Z")
[http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1158537,00.asp](http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1158537,00.asp) Good grief, most of the sites out there are totally clueless! Makes me want to slap them upside the head - there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON why an SLR cannot have a LCD viewfinder. So what if you need to flip the damn mirror out of the way, you can always make that another shooting option. Hell, the addition of video alone will probably make up for the extra complexity (not like it’s that much more complex anyway, you flip the damn mirror EVERY TIME YOU TAKE A BLOOMING PICTURE) It’s the frikken CCD that makes the difference, you dunderheads! _pant pant pant_ ---
**Author:** ![Boldface\_Type](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@Boldface\_Type](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boldface_Type)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/27 "2005-04-15T15:47:43Z")
One disadvantage of dSLRs … dirt on the sensor. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/28 "2005-04-15T16:27:53Z")
I’ve recently been Rebelized…I drink the kool-aid. Another advantage I haven’t seen mentioned is burst mode. On the original rebel you can shoot up to 4 shots in 2.5 seconds IIRC, the Rebel XT has an even improved burst mode. The Rebel stores the images in a buffer before moving them over to the CF card. I could be wrong, but I’m not aware of standard P&S dcams having this ability…which is great for many kinds of situations. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/29 "2005-04-15T16:46:58Z")
Actually, a few of the P&S’s do 2 or 3 shot bursts. In fact it’s slowly getting widespread and being improved. For example, this one [this one](http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscv3/) will do a 15 shot burst at .9fps, or 8 frames at 2.5fps. At 7mp. Not bad. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/30 "2005-04-15T16:49:26Z")
And on the lower end, we get the [canon A510](http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona510/) which will shoot 3.2mp @2.5fps continously. For $190. Nice. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/31 "2005-04-15T16:53:33Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Actually, a few of the P&S’s do 2 or 3 shot bursts. In fact it’s slowly getting widespread and being improved. For example, this one [this one](http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscv3/) will do a 15 shot burst at .9fps, or 8 frames at 2.5fps. At 7mp. Not bad. Thanks for the clarification…guess that’s another feature trickling down to P&S cams since I bought mine a few years back… ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/32 "2005-04-15T17:01:33Z")
Dust on the sensor is an issue but it hasn’t been so bad for me and I live in dusty Phoenix. I don’t change lenses when the wind is blowing but I avoid that with film SLRs and of course the CCD is covered by the shutter anyway. I actually do need to clean the sensor on my D100 but it’s a pretty simple procedure with Eclipse fluids and special cleaning swabs. Nikon also has software that allows me to take reference shots and digitally remove dust specs from images. DSLRs use a different type of CCD than consumer digicams for high performance so there there is no live video feed output. A better way to have a true SLR with a live LCD preview is to use a semi-silvered beamsplitter instead of a standard moving mirror as the Olympus E-10 and E-20 did. The drawback is losing one stop of light. I’d much rather use ground glass as a viewfinder than any LCD. LCDs and EVF’s will need vastly higher resolution and faster response times to make serious photographers want to give up SLR viewfinders. ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/33 "2005-04-15T17:17:27Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > [http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1158537,00.asp](http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1158537,00.asp) > > Good grief, most of the sites out there are totally clueless! Yah, I know 😃 I researched the hell out of my 20D before I bought it, read tech docs on all kinds of sites, and I never ran across this info once. Thanks for the link! ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/34 "2005-04-15T17:25:49Z")
My Canon SD300 4MP will do 2.5 fps indefinately. It’s really a cool feature, no longer restricted to the high end cameras. You can still do better with the dSLRs but it’s not as big a difference as before. ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/35 "2005-04-15T17:28:41Z")
\ By the way, if you’re reading this thread and considering buying a DSLR, do yourself a favor and check the ratings of the source you’re buying from here: [http://www.resellerratings.com/](http://www.resellerratings.com/) or the BBB. Or better yet, both. There is an overwhelming number of unscrupulous outfits out there selling illegal or counterfeit DSLRs online. Don’t get taken. \ ---
**Author:** ![Boldface\_Type](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@Boldface\_Type](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boldface_Type)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/36 "2005-04-15T17:50:27Z")
> [@Padeye](#): > > Dust on the sensor is an issue but it hasn’t been so bad for me and I live in dusty Phoenix. I don’t change lenses when the wind is blowing but I avoid that with film SLRs and of course the CCD is covered by the shutter anyway. I switch the camera off and turn it upsidedown, to minimise any dust buildup. Still happens though. I also avoiding changing lenses in the house, to avoid the CCD getting covered with half an inch of cat / rat hair. > [@](#): > > I actually do need to clean the sensor on my D100 but it’s a pretty simple procedure with Eclipse fluids and special cleaning swabs. Nikon also has software that allows me to take reference shots and digitally remove dust specs from images. I should clean the sensor on my D70, but haven’t bit the bullet yet. There’s an [article](http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning) on cleaning at pbase. The dust reference photo does seem to work quite well, but it’s a palaver to keep the dust reference photo and the photos to which it applies together. Maybe I just need a better directory structure for my photos. I think there’s a Minolta camera that has a super magic vibratey sensor, to get rid of the dust. Dunno if it works. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/37 "2005-04-15T18:54:00Z")
Olympus’ 4/3" DSLRs use the vibrating dust cover on the CCD. You might be thinking of Minolta’s **anti** shake system that moves the CCD to compensate for camera shake. It really isn’t that difficult to clean the CCD but do make sure you have a clean environment, preferably without dry, staticky air. You don’t even need to have an AC adapter as with the D100, just some Eclipse fluid and a sensor swab. They make swabs specific to sensor size so it will exactly fit the vertical dimension of the CCD. A drop of fluid, wipe once to pick up the dust, turn over and wipe to pick up the fluid. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/38 "2005-04-15T22:38:03Z")
There is a dSLR that does have a shake feature on power up that vibrates to remove the dust from the sensor. I’ll have to dig through my magazines to see which it is, but I do think it is either a Minolta or a Nikon. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/39 "2005-04-16T14:23:01Z")
**TellMeI’mNotCrazy** The [OLympus E-1 and Evolt](http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympuse1/page4.asp) cameras have what they call a supersonic wave filter to deal with sensor dust. Scroll a bit past halfway down the screen. Konica Minolta has an [anti-shake system](http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/konicaminolta7d/) in the Maxxum 7D and some of the Dimage consumer cameras that moves the sensor to compensate for camera movement and reduce blur with long shutter speeds. To my knowledge this does nothing to remvove sensor dust. AFAIK no other manufacturer has a moving sensor for either reason. Nikon and Canon have anti-shake systems that serve the same purpose as the Konica Minolta system but it is built into specific lenses rather than the camera body. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279/40 "2005-04-17T05:26:48Z")
Thanks, \*\*Padeye \*\*- I’ve read so many reviews that they all start to run together in my head. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-point-to-a-digital-slr-camera/299279.md?page=1)