Is There a Digital SLR in Your Future
If you haven’t been to an event or function that is geared around kids recently, it’s pretty dramatic how many digital SLR’s are being carried around by mom and dad. I was at Remlinger Farm on a recent beautiful Saturday (one of the few in October) and was struck by how many black-bodied digital SLR cameras people had.
I already know that when you are dealing with taking pictures of children a D-SLR is the way to go. The P&S market is saturated with so many models available and most consumers already own one. Now that prices on the D-SLR’s are coming down it makes more sense to move up to one.
Here is an article from PCWorld Magazine that details the current market conditions.
Benefits Of A DSLR
The benefits are many:
- Fast focusing
- Short shutter lag
- Many lenses to choose from
- Extended flash capabilities
Throwing Hay
The image to the right utilizes three of the four advantages. With fast focusing I’m not having to wait to capture the scene. With the short shutter lag I can anticipate the moment I want and press the shutter and don’t have to wait. My lens was selected for it’s nice zoom range allowing me to not have to be in the kids face to get a decent close up (and keeps the hay out of the camera).
What About The Lens
With those benefit comes many questions, mostly around lenses. Nikon, Canon and Sony all have a huge array of lenses that can be put on their cameras. Knowing which one(s) to buy can largely be a matter of price. Since most people aren’t professionals the higher end lenses are out of reach financially (normally) and don’t make a lot of sense unless you just want the best equipment.
When I am photographing my kids I almost always use my 28-70mm zoom. It provides a nice range for being able to come in a bit closer to the subject when necessary, but still has a decent wide angle. Since my camera is a full-frame sensor Canon 5D, I don’t have to worry about the smaller imaging sensor size.
Don’t Forget The Crop Factor
Most consumer level D-SLR’s have an imaging sensor that isn’t quite the same size as a full-frame of 35mm film. This means that when using a lens made for a full-frame camera the image will be cropped. All cameras with a smaller sensor size will give you a “crop factor” or “multiplier” to give you an idea of how a lens will function. Most are in the 1.4x to 1.6x range.
If we do the math on my 28mm-70mm zoom, the low end on a 1.5x crop factor camera would be 28mm * 1.5 = 42mm. This means a 28mm lens on the camera would look like a 42mm lens. On the higher end we get 70mm * 1.5 = 105mm. This is most critical in the wider angle lenses because you don’t get the full benefit of the lens. To get an equivalent of a 28mm lens on a 1.5x crop factor camera you would have to find an 18mm lens.
Selecting the right lens, or lenses, is the most difficult part of a DSLR decision. It pays to really figure out what kind of photographs you will be taking, and to figure out which lens is going to be the best fit.
