When you leave the compact camera and get your first SLR it is as if you take it one step further. You go to another level. You look cool You look in the mirror, holding your new SLR camera, and you look "more interesting." However, soon after you start using it, you start to encounter a series of clicks and unpleasant surprises that you did not expect.
Although I am usually a bitter defender of SLR photography, in today's article I put my finger a little on the sore to describe 5 unpleasant surprises (plus a gift) with which one finds when landing for the first time in the SLR world .
1- ZOOM, ZOOM, ZOOM
Most of those who land in the SLR world come from a compact digital camera . They are therefore accustomed to zoom levels that in SLR photography are considered totally out of the ordinary. In addition, many associate, by mistake, the huge sizes of the SLR cameras and how long their lenses look like with the idea of a long-range zoom, and this is not the case. The zoom level that a SLR camera can offer us will not depend on it itself but on the objective that we attach. The lenses of SLR cameras work differently than those of compact digital cameras. In the compact usually compact prevails precisely, they offer the maximum with the minimum. In SLR photography, optical quality, light sensitivity and so on are more favored.2- THE CONSUMERIST PASSION
And speaking of objectives: one of the most frequent dislikes that people take when acquiring their first SLR camera is that the objective that comes standard has a very limited use, and that they need to buy, in addition, more objectives. Moreover, they discover that there is a goal for each type of photo . Why fool us? Most of those who are dedicated to SLR photography and we LOVE it are inveterate consumers. The user, when buying a camera of this type, does nothing but start a long journey of consumerism. The SLR photography industry is based on that. Soon we realize that we need such an objective, or such a filter, or a powerful flash, etc. What can we do! It is an expensive hobby and you have to assume it. (Although I have to admit that it is one of the most rewarding hobbies on a personal and emotional level).3- THIS WEIGHS A LOT DOESN'T IT?
Forget about how agile, small, light and discreet your compact camera was. SLR cameras are anything but light. It is true that among the different ranges of SLR cameras the weights vary from one to another, but in general for someone accustomed to a compact camera, the SLRs weigh and bulge a lot, which leads to the sad situation of not always having it at hand. You can always carry a compact camera in your backpack, shoulder bag, purse, and even in a pocket sometimes. Regarding the SLR, it is often lazy to take them out, we think we are going to need them. Logically sometimes we are wrong and we miss them.4- A MOMENT .. DO I HAVE TO TAKE THE PICTURE ?!
And some will think: Well, I assume all these inconveniences. If my DSLR has to weigh a lot, I accept it. If it has to cost me a lot of money, nothing happens, if I have to change objectives, I don't care at all. The important thing is that I will finally have a camera that will make me some great photos » . Sorry to be a pooper but ... you can't have that either: a camera that takes good pictures you won't have. You will have to do them yourself, friend. True, you will have a better machine, you will access a better tool, but it will only be that: a simple tool. You will remain the photographer. If you took bad, bad, excessively bad photos with a compact camera, I'm sorry to tell you that you probably don't notice much difference with the SLR. SLR cameras do not have any magic formula that corrects our photographic blunders. I will not get tired of repeating it: the photo is not taken by the camera, the photographer makes it. Your.5- THE VIRTUE OF PATIENCE
The compact cameras, in English, are called Point-and-Shoot . It would literally be Point-and-Shoot. Because in essence they are that: they are devices that you just have to turn on, aim at the subject, and shoot. Boooom Look what a cool photo! The SLR cameras, although they also have an automatic mode, in general they are focused on a photographer who is in a hurry, a user who takes time to set the camera, select the appropriate settings, experiment with different settings, and shoot . The ideal user of a SLR camera is a person who enjoys both the preparations of a photo and the final photo itself. He is a very patient user. I always like to use this metaphor: reflex photography would amount to an exquisite Stew cooked over low heat. The photograph with a compact camera would instead be a kind of precooked food, frozen and subsequently made in half a minute in the microwave. Practical, fast, but tasteless.BONUS TRACK: YOUR CAMERA IS NOT PROFESSIONAL (NECESSARILY)
There are people who bought a beginner profile DSLR camera, the Nikon D3100 for example, and a year later they still thought it was a professional camera. It is a very common confusion. SLR camera and professional camera do not mean the same. SLR means the type of camera, or the mechanism with which it works (which is through a mirror inside it). Professional is a range within the SLR. Not all SLR cameras are professional.Inside the SLR cameras we find the beginners, the advanced users, and the professionals. It is not that it is good to buy a professional or bad to buy one of beginners. What's more: I recommend that beginner users refrain from professional SLR cameras because it can be very counterproductive for learning. Please, if you just bought your first SLR and you are discovering that it is not a professional camera, do not be sad , nothing happens. You can take great photos with a beginner camera. Professional SLRs offer features that a beginner user surely does not need, and the only thing they are going to cause are complications, believe me. After reading this, how do you stay? disappointed? frustrated? If it serves as a testimony to you since I use SLR cameras I appreciate photography more, I enjoy every shot, with every detail. The sound of the trigger of my SLR camera gives me real pleasure, I never get tired of hearing it. Control with my hand the objective in search of focus, see how blurry objects and subjects are defined, as I move the focus, and they become sharper. Huuum It makes me crazy to photograph people by blurring the background behind them completely. Then I show them the result on the camera screen and I see on their faces an expression of pleasant surprise, as if they don't believe how handsome they are. I love to freeze the drop of a drop of water, capture lightning and catch stars. The SLR camera makes me feel the architect, a small craftsman. It is a satisfaction that a compact digital camera will never give me. Never.