When most people go to buy a SLR, they tend to get lost in
comparing pixels, frames-per-second, and other things. These are absolutely
valid things to focus on, but they shouldn’t be the only ones, and in this post
I’m going to highlight 5 other things you should think of when buying an SLR
1. ISO Quality
This is first on my list for a good reason: it directly
affects the quality of your photos. When photographers shoot photos inside, we
often have to shoot at 800-3200 ISO. The higher the ISO, the lower quality the
shots will be, little red-green-yellow pixels will start to appear in the
photo. In photographer lingo, it’s called “noise”, and its’ generally not goodJ. So, when we talk
about ISO quality, we’re talking
about a camera’s ability to reduce noise in a photo. As I said photographers
will have to shoot in the 800-3200 ISO range sometime, so why not buy a camera
that takes photos with the least amount of noise? The choice seems obvious, you
should. However, comparing the ISO quality of different cameras is extremely
difficult. Luckily, there’s a camera site that has already done that,
dpreview.com. They have taken every camera and set them up to take exactly the
same photo, that way you can objectively compare the ISO quality of different
models. Here’s an example of DP Photo comparing
different models ISO performance to the K-30’s.*Notice that you can change the
ISO level, and even the camera that it’s compared to.
2. View Finder
This one is, a tragically overlooked component of SLRs. In
fact, it’s so important that I dedicated a whole post to it, which you can read
here.
3. Buy the Kit Lens?
When I bought my first SLR, I bought the kit lens, and a
couple of years later I upgraded the lens. I could have saved a few hundred
dollars just buying the body, and starting out with an upgraded lens. If you’re
going to upgrade, why not do it at the start and save some money?
For somebody who just wants an SLR for taking shots of
family and there kids, a kit lens is perfectly adequate in most situations.
But, if you take photography seriously, want to really improve your
photography, and want to take good landscape and portrait photos, skipping on
the kit lens might be a consideration.
4. Buying Used?
To be honest, I didn’t buy my SLR used. But now, I keep up
with the used marketplace looking for lens and bodies. I’ve noticed that
especially after Christmas a lot of lens and cameras are on Craigslist, as
photographers upgrade their gear. Often times you can get a lightly used camera
on Craigslist that’s for $600 that was originally worth over $1800!
One thing that’s nice about buying used cameras on
Craigslist is that they’re almost always in excellent condition. Photographers
tend to be in the habit of taking excellent care of their equipment!
Just as a precaution, I’d advise you to have the camera
looked over by a camera shop before you buy it. Have them check the camera out
thoroughly and give you a quote as to what they think the camera is worth.
5. Getting a Bag
Often times when people buy expensive products, they tend to
buy cheap accessories to go along with it. Well, I at least know I was one of
those people! When I bought a camera bag, I bought a relatively small one, big
enough for my camera and two small lenses. As, I added rechargeable batteries,
lens filters, memory cards, a bigger lens, and other gadgets, I started to run
out of room quick! When you buy your first bag, don’t skimp, buy one that has
room for adding on later.
*Also, if you buy a name brand bag like lowepro, take off
the logo. Thieves love name brand equipment.
Conclusion
I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and please feel free to
add your thoughts in the comment section!
