Choosing a Digital Camera – Understanding the Different Types

If you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between the three types of digital cameras then here is your chance. Let’s talk about the main differences between Digital SLRs , Point and Shoot Digital Cameras and Bridge Cameras.

Digital Single Lens Reflexes (DSLR’s)

A digital single lens reflex camera (commonly referred to as a DSLR) is a professional style camera that can be  manually adjusted for greater control and flexibility. These types of cameras used to be exclusively used by professional photographers but now are becoming more commonly used by serious hobbyist photographers.If you’re really serious about photography then this is the type of camera for you.

Advantages of DSLRs:

• Being able to change your lens in order to take different types of shots such as using a macro lens for super close images or a telephoto for taking distance shots.
• Being able to manually adjust your camera settings like aperture and film speed so you can always be sure to capture the shot you want regardless of the light or the amount of movement of your subject.
• Large light sensors so you can increase your ISO and get shots in low light without getting digital noise (unsightly graininess in your picture) like other types of digital cameras.
• Lots of cool accessories, like external flashes, you can add to your camera in order to help you get the perfect shot.
• Super fast shooting ability with no processor lag like other types of digital cameras. This allows you to click the shutter and get your shot instead of having a time delay.
• Many cameras have high resolution video capture functionality.

Disadvantages of DSLRs

• Cost. DSLRs are the most expensive type of digital camera and require you to buy additional lenses for your DSLR in order to take different types of shots.

Point and Shoot Digital Cameras

Point and shoot digital cameras (often called automatic cameras or sub-compacts for the pocket sized version) are the most popular type of camera and are designed for ease of use. Here are the pros and cons of these simple to use digital cameras.

Advantages of Point and Shoot Cameras

• Easy to use. You really can’t find a more basic and easy to use camera as a point and shoot.
• Low cost. These cameras are designed for the average person so they have a very low cost so almost anyone could buy one.
• Very compact and portable so you can take them almost anywhere.
• Have preview or movie mode so you can see you can view your picture or even shoot a YouTube video with some cameras.
• Some models also give you a few manual controls like aperture priority and shutter speed priority.

Disadvantages of Point and Shoot Cameras

• No ability to change or alter camera settings- it’s simply a point and shoot camera.
• Some inexpensive point and shoot cameras may have a short lifespan as they are not built to last.

Point and shoot digital cameras are great for taking quick pictures and when you need to travel light but if you want to capture really great photographs without a lot of photographic gear then you’d be better off with another type of camera…the bridge camera.

Bridge Cameras

These cameras “bridge” a gap between point and shoot cameras and DSLRs. Bridge cameras (also called prosumer cameras) are a blend of the best of automatic cameras and DSLRs so here is a breakdown of their advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of Bridge Cameras

• Intermediate price point. More expensive than point and shoot cameras but much less than a DSLR since you don’t have to buy all the extra lenses.
• Have larger sensors than point and shoot cameras so you can make some adjustments to the ISO.
• Most have movie mode or preview LCD screens so you can compose your picture on the screen.
• Many have super zooms which means they have optical zooms in ranges of 10x-20x.
• Do have quite a few manual controls for greater control and flexibility.

Disadvantages of Bridge Cameras

• They have more adjustments than automatics but don’t have the manual control and huge flexibility of a DSLR.

Hopefully this has helped you get a better feel for the difference between these three different types of digital cameras so you can be sure to get a camera that is right for you.