What Type Camera Should You Use?

OK...lets start with basics. What will you be using your camera for? Will you be taking pictures of the kids birthday party? or the family day at the beach? or maybe you will be taking pictures of the family visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house. If these images are only going to be used to show family and friends some of your everday events, then you probably only need a Point and Shoot camera. It is the most common consumer camera these days. The prices are pretty affordable for the average consumer. They are very compact (usually can fit right in your pocket) and are very convenient. All you have to do is turn them on and start taking pictures. The images are recorded in the JPEG mode which compresses the files and allows you to store a huge amount of images in your camera. The automatic settings will take very good pictures without you having to focus or make adjustments for shutter speeds, lighting and other things that go into taking a picture. At most, you might change the automatic setting for landscapes or extreme close ups. The landscape setting will give you a wider field to use, and the macro setting will help you get better detail in close up shots such as a flower. So if you just want to whip out the camera out and fire away, a point and shoot camera will take care of just about all your needs.
On the other hand if you are going to be more serious about your images and possibly want creative control on how your images are made, then you probably will need a Single Lens Reflex camera. They are not as small as Point and Shoot cameras and can cost quite a bit more. They have the same type automatic settings as the point and shoot camera, but those settings can be turned off to allow you to do things like control the amount of light intake and the shutter speeds. Also, a Single Lens Reflex camera allows you to change lenses according to what you want to do. For instance, you can take off the standard lens and replace it with a telephoto or wide angle lens. Although point and shoot cameras usually have a zoom button, their range is no comparison to the interchangeable lenses. Another difference is that Single Lens Reflex cameras can shoot in the JPEG mode same as point and shoots, but they also use the RAW mode which dosen't automatically compress the images. The RAW mode will give you much higher quality images which is great if you are going to enlarge an image past the regular photo store sizes.
The Single Lens Reflex camera is better for someone who is who wants to have more control over the image and who might want to use the images for more than the simple things people normally use a point and shoot camera for.

Here is a helpful site: www.goodpics.info