Digital SLR Cameras - Making Sense of the Options

You may be outgrowing your consumer level point and shoot camera, and looking to upgrade. You may be a professional with a large investment in camera gear looking to step into the digital world. Whatever your needs, if you’re serious about photography, you want to get a digital single lens reflex camera, or DSLR.

The problem with buying a DSLR is that there are so many options out there, and they all make different promises and claims. Do you want the large frame sensor? Do you want image stabilization built into the camera or the lens? Do I buy a certain brand so I can get a certain lens? Which brands or the most reliable? As you can see, you could go on forever, trying to sort through all the factors that go into choosing a camera.

I want to make things simple. Rather than step through every possible feature you could get, I want to let you know that there aren’t really any bad choices to be made, within certain guidelines, and that there are just a few distinguishing features you need to be thinking about among the major brands. To do this, I’m going to spotlight the two major DSLR lines, from Canon and Nikon. By explaining the major features of each lineup, you’ll see what factors you should be choosing off of

Before all that, though, I want to reassure you that you can’t really choose wrong when you stick with the major brands (and even many of the smaller ones, as well). By choosing Nikon or Canon, you’re buying into a system used by thousands of working professionals around the world. These cameras have been proven time and time again to be extremely effective in a variety of situations. Now, these professional grade attributes don’t apply across the entire line of cameras, but you can be sure that you’re getting a quality product in general.

Lets talk about Canon first (going alpabetically here to be fair). Canon’s real claim to fame are their telephoto lenses. Their telephoto lenses are fast, sharp, quick focusing, durable, and more. This still applies to the DSLR line up. If you’re doing a lot of telephoto photography, definitely give Canon a good, hard look. Also, Canon’s interface, which often features dual jog wheels, is preffered by many. However, be sure to try the camera out for yourself to see how you personally like it.

Nikon is all about the lenses. Since many Nikon cameras are compatible, in some sense, with almost the entire lineup of Nikon lenses through history, you can get a lens for any need, at a price for any budget. What’s more, many of these lens are the best in their class. One such example, of particular interest to digital photographers, is the 18-200 VR lens. This lens covers a huge usable range, with amazing quality for a zoom. It also offers image stabilization and other specials features. This lens alone allows you to replace a large number of lens you might have had to carry around, and is almost reason enough to go with Nikon.

As I said before, you can’t really go wrong with any of these cameras. Both lines are created by companies that stand behind their reputation, and are committed to offering you a great product. Buy any of these cameras, learn to use it, and you will be able to enjoy beautiful, high quality pictures for quite some time.

David Wilson is the owner of Discount DSLRs. You’ve found out how to choose the right DSLR for you, now visit the site to get digital SLRs, dslr lenses, and more at very low prices.