How to buy a DSLR camera

How to buy a DSLR camera

This is a small guide on how to buy a DSLR camera. I usually get many questions from people asking me ‘Which camera should we buy to get good quality pictures?’ or ‘I want to buy a camera which can give very good quality pictures’? And many other questions too. This article will answer all your questions that come in your mind while buying a DSLR camera and an answer to How to buy a DSLR camera.

This is probably the most frequently asked question that ‘I have a digital point and shoot camera and want a DSLR Camera to get best professional looking pictures’. But hold on. This is a common misconception that one can only create professional looking pictures with a DSLR only. This is absolutely wrong. I have seen many photographers using point and shoot camera for wedding, travel and landscape photography and they get good quality too. Like Nikon has a ‘P-Series” Point and shoot cameras (‘P’ defines as Performance Series) which is used to get good professional looking pictures by many photographers. Even we have many options in Mobile phones these days where you have good quality in-built lenses to get good quality pictures. So here is another question. Does a camera really matter? Yes it does and it doesn’t. For people who love to do photography, it doesn’t but professional photographers who sell their photos to earn, it really does.

DSLR

Photography is all about light. Good light creates beautiful photographs. So if you really want to get good quality pictures then you need to understand the light which results in good quality pictures. It really doesn’t matter what gear you have and which camera you use. But before knowing anything else, do you know your camera? Yes, Camera’s functionality and techniques are equally important while taking quality pictures. Many people just put their camera in ‘AUTO’ mode and don’t even know camera settings and different modes. Obviously, ‘AUTO’ modes are good, but do you think your camera is clicking good pictures according to your wish every time? My answer is NO.

Reasons behind not getting good quality pictures are below:

– Light is not good.

– No Creativity.

– Technique is not correct.

If you look back at your photographs, you will get to know that most of the bad photographs are taken indoor i.e. parties, Living rooms etc and most of the good pictures are taken in bright light or outdoor. This is because of light conditions. In low light or indoor photography, Digital point and shoot camera increases the sensitivity of Sensor (ISO) which results in a lot of noise (When ISO is increased, you will get grainy pictures so recommended ISO should be in between 100-400) while in bright light or Sunlight, camera automatically decreases ISO level which results in good quality photographs.

Comparison between ‘Point and Shoot camera’ and ‘DSLR Camera’

– A point and shoot camera has integrated general lens while DSLRs has different specialized lens for different purpose like Wildlife photography, Close-up shots, Landscape, Fashion photography, Low light photography etc.

– A DSLR camera has a bigger sensor which results in faster speed and better image quality than point and shoot camera.

– A DSLR camera has better shutter speed and focus so DSLR can take more than one or more shots in a single second (it depends on DSLRs) but point and shoot camera lacks this quality and sometime it is very hard to get pictures of any moving subjects like flying bird and any sporty action.

– DSLR has lots of control on camera as DSLR can be customized everything from ISO to focus point but point and shoot camera has limited options.

Types of DSLRs?

Anyways let’s come to the main point of ‘How to buy a DSLR camera’. As we have many DSLRs camera in market which are generally classified into three categories:

– Entry Level DSLRs

– Semi Professional DSLRs

– Professional DSLRs

Entry Level DSLRs: As name says, Entry Level DSLRs are camera for beginners. These are widely used and sold. These are affordable and excellent choice for beginner photographer for easy learning. These come in range of INR 30,000 – 50,000. e.g. Nikon D3200, Nikon D5200, Nikon D5300 etc.

Semi Professional DSLRs: Semi professional DSLRs come in between Entry Level and Professional DSLRs. They have better features than entry level gadgets but lesser than professional lenses. These come in range of INR 55,000 – 90,000. e.g. Nikon D7200, Nikon D7000, Nikon D300s etc.

Professional DSLRs: Professional DSLRs are used by professional photographers. These DSLRs are much higher in cost and give most features, speed, best sensor technology; best focus and made for professionals. These DSLRs come in range of INR 1,25,000 – 6,00,000. e.g. Nikon D810, Nikon D750 etc.

As we are very much advanced in online purchasing these days and have many online portals who sell DSLRs at a very good price but still we have the same question which DSLR should we go for? Some online portals ask for your budget so that they will be able to recommend you the best one in your budget and requirement. But i would say NO to these recommendations at all. If you are rich enough and you budget is unlimited, does it mean you should purchase a professional DSLRs just because you can afford that camera? My answer would be ‘BIG NO’ because professional DSLRs are too complex to handle and when you are beginner of this field then it will be totally waste of your time and money as you won’t be able to understand all those functions and camera’s functionality. I would suggest you to go for Entry Level DSLRs so that you will be able to understand the three main keys of any photography – ISO, Shutter speed and Aperature. Once you shoot enough photographs with your entry level DSLRs and learn all the functions of camera then only you can move up to Semi-professional or Professional DSLRs depending on your need. I hope now you got the answer.

How to buy a DSLR camera

What other gears/accessories should I purchase with the camera or after purchasing the camera?

I have separated this list to two categories: ‘Must Have’ & ‘Optional’

MUST HAVE:

– A decent camera bag that can hold your DSLR with 2-3 lenses. Lowepro and few more companies have good quality camera bags which are much in demand. I would prefer all weather Camera Bag for protection in rainy season.

– Extra memory card of 4 GB at least preferably Lexar and Sandisk which have good speed.

– A clear UV filter to your lenses preferably Hoya which protects your lenses from any scratches or dust.

– Extra Camera Battery.

– Lens cleaning kit (But Don’t try to open the camera and clean it by yourself as it might harm your camera as well as costlier lenses).

OPTIONAL:

– One or more External Flash units especially when you are shooting in a indoor areas.

– A good Tripod for Night & landscape photography.

– Specialized lenses like Telephoto, Macro or fish eye lens for specialized photography.

Should I go for higher Megapixels cameras?

All Cameras companies engage customers in megapixels war and people think more megapixels means better quality images. If you look at point and shoot cameras, people buy the camera with higher megapixels because they think that a larger image will have more details in it but it is completely wrong as image sharpness has nothing to do with the number of pixels. A 12 Megapixels sharp photograph will be much better than 24 megapixels blurred photograph. Megapixels only matter to professional photographer who needs large print size to sell those pictures. Also sometime they require to crop the images to give those better look and they need higher megapixels to get larger prints after cropping too.

I hope you are satisfy on ‘How to buy a DSLR camera’ guide. Request you to please share your inputs in comment section to make it more informative blog on How to buy a DSLR camera.