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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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 will do a 15 shot burst at .9fps, or 8 frames at 2.5fps. At 7mp. Not bad.
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.
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!
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.
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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/ 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.
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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 should clean the sensor on my D70, but haven’t bit the bullet yet. There’s an article 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.
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.
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.
TellMeI’mNotCrazy The OLympus E-1 and Evolt 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 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.
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!