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Best D-SLR and compact digital cameras? - Jamal Hi I am looking forward to buy a camera costing no more than £200. I have never used or bought D-SLR camera before so I am wondering if I should consider that?? Is there a huge difference between them two? Can I get a good D-SLR with a good lense for £200 or I should just buy a good compact digital? Any help will be appreciated.

Best Answer: The debate between buying a DSLR and a compact or "bridge" digital camera comes down to two things: 1) Sensor size and, 2) The ability to change lenses to suit the conditions. The DSLR wins both points. Lets look at two representative cameras, the Sony A230 DSLR and the Canon G11 "bridge" camera. Both cameras have 10mp. The A230 sensor measures 23.6mm x 15.8mm (373mm squared) while the sensor in the G11 measures 7.6mm x 5.7mm (43mm squared). With a sensor that is 8.7 times larger, the individual pixels of the A230 are vey big compared to the pixels of the G11. A bigger pixel can gather more data, making for a smoother image file and the ability to make larger prints. Larger pixels also perform better in low light situations and at higher ISO settings. The G11 has a permanently attached lens with a maximum aperture of f2.8 at the wide setting (6.1mm, 28mm equivalent) and f4.5 at the telephoto setting (30.5mm, 140mm equivalent). When shooting outdoors, or indoors using the flash, this lens is sufficient. If, however, you want to shoot indoors without the flash then it becomes a problem. Your only option is to use a high ISO (800 and above) and then use an editing program in post-processing to "clean up" the resultant digital noise that results from using a high ISO with a camera like the G11. The A230 gives you the option of changing lenses to suit the conditions you're shooting under. Want to shoot in low light without the flash and keep the ISO lower? Just switch to a 50mm f1.4 lens. Unsure as to what this means? Look at this hypothetical chart. ISO 800 f1.4 @ 1/125 sec. f2 @ 1/60 sec. f2.8 @ 1/30 sec. (G11 at 6.1mm/28mm) f4 @ 1/15 sec. f4.5 @ 1/10 sec. (G11 at 30.5mm/140mm) An f1.4 lens is 2 stops faster than an f2.8 lens so to get the same shutter speed with the G11 as the f1.4 lens our ISO would have to be 3200 (ISO 3200 is 2 stops faster than ISO 800). To maintain the same shutter speed with the G11 as we zoom out to 30.5mm and our f-stop drops to f4.5 we'd need an ISO slightly higher than 6400. Unfortunately, unless you stumble upon a really good sale, you'll need to increase your budget. The A230 and G11 are selling in the States for about $500.00 and with the 1.66 currency conversion factor you're about 100 pounds under-funded. In my opinion, if you're serious about photography, the DSLR is the only viable option. ****** EDIT ****** Although I sympathize with your budget restrictions, the two cameras you refer to are NOT DSLR cameras. They are "bridge" cameras just like the Canon G11. Both cameras have an even smaller sensor with an additional 2,000,000 pixels stuffed into a smaller space. This will only worsen the low light, high ISO performance. It is your money to spend as you wish but in my opinion you'd be wise to save a little more and go with a DSLR. -

get a pentax k-x. go and check it out. =) - tootboink

You want the BEST LEICA M9 - tzickell

you cant get a dslr for £200. but here are some good compacts =] canon powershot sx 200 is canon powershot sx110 is kodak z915 all tree are really good cameras, priced around you range. - Eddie

Nikon is the best brand for SLR and compact digi cams. i use it, so can say

This was not an easy edition of the Carnival for me to write. How come? If you've read ANY other digital camera web site over the course of the past week, you'll know what's been going on: photokina. This consumer trade show in Cologne Germany is the source of a HUGE number of new product releases, and all of the digital photography web sites have been kept busy covering all the news. Since they have all done such a good job of that, I'm not going to spend any part of this post providing information about the products recently released. If you really want to find out more about what's new you can read more here, here and here. Instead, I'm going to focus on other issues (some photokina-related I'll admit) that caught my eye. How Many Photos on YOUR Hard Drive? - Kodak general manager Brad Kruchten estimates that approximately 65% of digital images are languishing on various personal computer hard drives, and the photography industry has yet to find a way to capitalize on all of these unprinted photos. I could certainly use some software that deletes all of those poorly exposed and out-of-focus shots.

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