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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Best Digital SLR Camera - Bar None

By Chris Campbell

Now that you've decided to graduate to the big boys end of the pool. Time to buy yourself a shiny new SLR digital camera, and leave the old point and shoot for the kiddies to play with. However, after reading up on SLR technology, your a little baffled and bewildered.

Digital SLR photography, is one those hobbies that is rich with technological jargon. It gets worse, if your one of the perfectionist type that really likes to minutely analyze any major purchase . . . intent on getting the best digital SLR camera for your money. You could be in for a long bumpy ride. Today it's time to shorten that ride and smooth out the bumps.

Buckle up baby, and lets go. Believe it or not, all that technology your battling to understand is a good thing. Really, it is. The past few years in the digital camera industry, have been extremely competitive for the manufacturers and retail folks. As a result, each year they cram more and more features into those shiny little SLRs, and continuously drop prices to stay ahead of the competition.

OK, here's the easy part. If you want to buy a good SLR, there's no need to fret. Just about any of the top three SLRs will do the job for you. It's pretty much impossible to get a bad camera out of this bunch. These days my short list would look something like this. Anything from the Canon Rebel lineup would be good. The XSi or the new T1i should be a corker. Or for some variety, a Nikon D40 or Olympus Evolt E510.

When you take a look at the price of these very capable cameras, it's really quite remarkable. For around $1000 or less in most cases, you get a phenomenal machine. My first point and shoot cost be about the same price six years ago.

When looking for the best digital SLR camera you can find, the important word to remember is "YOU". Ask a dozen camera enthusiasts why they their favorite camera is their favorite, and you likely get a dozen answers. Every photographer takes pictures for different reasons, values different attributes in the finished pictures, and handles a camera differently. And so will you. A good hands-on exercise before making your final selection, would be to go to a specialty camera store with lots of models on hand, during a non busy time.

Another thing you can do, if your still interested in looking around a bit more, is to get some hands on experience. Borrowing a SLR from a friend or relative to try out is a good idea. You'll get a feel for the controls and how everything works. The more different models you try out, the better feel you'll have for what feels right for you. Like I said, your the most important part of the picture taking process.

Still feel a need to look some more? That's fine. Like I said there are a crazy number of choices when it comes to digital SLRs. It never hurts to take a peek into what Canon, Nikon, Olympus and others are offering as the latest and greatest SLR cameras.

Just remember, the more time you spend looking for a camera, the less time you spend taking pictures.

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