SLRs

With the biennial fall Photokina show in Germany always come many interesting product introductions. This year's batch included seven new feature-packed digital SLRs. All are scheduled to be on sale in the United States by the time you read this, except the Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro (which will be available in early 2007) and the Sigma SD14 (no release date as of this writing).

Choosing a digital SLR is a bit trickier than choosing a film SLR because you have all of the film-camera considerations, plus a number of digital aspects to weigh. One benefit, though, is that you can't go wrong with any of today's D-SLRs—they all offer lots of features, good performance and enough resolution to produce quality 12x18 inkjet prints.

From the moment it was created, photography has been inseparably connected to technology. Born of light-sensitive substances coated on a metal plate and now evolved to today's CCD and CMOS sensors, photography's growth has been measured as much by its technological advances as it has by the creativity of its photographers.

I love digital SLRs and do just about all my shooting with them. D-SLRs have a couple of drawbacks, however. Dust can settle on the image sensor each time you change lenses, and you can't see the image live on the LCD monitor or tilt the monitor for odd-angle shots as you can with compact digital cameras.

When you buy a compact digital camera, you buy a camera. But when you buy a digital SLR, you buy into a whole camera system. That SLR body accepts a wide range of lenses, flash units, viewfinder attachments, optional power sources and other accessories, all of which add tremendous versatility. So to get the most out of your purchase, you should look at the whole system, not just a particular camera model, when deciding which D-SLR to purchase.

Whatever brand D-SLR you shoot, Sony's new entry into the market affects you, as it puts a very strong camera into the competitive fray. I had a chance to spend a couple of days shooting solidly with the Sony DSLR-A100, or Alpha camera, early this summer.

Today's digital SLR is probably the best camera type for most photographers, offering the widest variety of features, the quickest autofocusing and burst-shooting performance, and the greatest array of interchangeable lenses, along with excellent image quality, easy portability and affordability.

Much of my photography involves walking the streets of Los Angeles, looking at light, shapes and people, and searching for that special combination of just the right elements that make a memorable photograph. Carrying a huge pro-end D-SLR isn't necessary, though it may do wonders for my ego. Instead, a smaller camera with key features like those found in the new Nikon D80 often provides just the tools I need.