Hey! After beginning my project a little while back, I've really been seeing the beauty and fun that's involved in photography! I love going out, taking photos, and uploading them on here to share!
I have a question though. All I have now is a little FujiFilm P&S 10MP camera. I would really LOVE to own a DSLR, but am a little tight on cash. So what I was wondering is this: is a camera's quality based mainly in the MP the camera has? For instance, in your opinions would it be better for me to buy, say, a 6-8 MP DSLR camera, or should I just stay with my 10MP P&S? When I use my girlfriend's DSLR, my photos are a lot better (in my opinion), but her camera is about 16 or so MP. Do you think I'd be disappointed if I were to buy a smaller MP DSLR?
oh the old favorite of P&S vs DSLR. here is my take on it.
The Body of the DSLR although important, is not as important as the Glass you put on in front of it. If you are tight on cash, (relative term here) it depends how much you are willing to put into your glass. The glass can make a picture brighter, cleaner, and overall better. The Dslr typically have a larger sensor which allows for an image to be better when blown up even if you are going between a 6mp dslr vs 10mp p&s. it is similar to the 35mm film to medium format, you have a larger image (sensor) to begin with, you will have better blown up pictures in the end. Don't get me wrong MP help in that you get more information to do more work (post and such) with in the end, but a larger sensor is were the money is. I would love to have a full frame DSLR myself but to give you an understanding, the D700 from Nikon (full frame) is about 2,500 usd And to be honest that camera will be revamped and updated in a few years, BUT your glass... your good fast lenses can cost you about the same as the body and they will last you forever. At least in the nikon bodies, I am not sure on canon so I can't speak to that. As you may or may not know I did a P&S study and shows that you can take nice pictures with a P&S it is the artist behind the camera, not the camera that makes a good picture. I would suggest that you go touch some cameras, figure out what feels good in your hands. No one but you can do this. Then start looking at what you would like to spend your money on as far as a body and lense, then shoot with your P&S until you can afford the camera gear you want. Last thing you want to do is spend thousands on a low end DSLR and low end kit lens to not be happy with the end result.
That is my 5cents worth since I feel I went over my 2 cents :)
edit:
btw, I still shoot with an OLD D100 and your point and shoot has more MP then mine and I would love to get a D700, D300s or low end is a D90 (basically the d300s but built more on consumer grade materials).
I am quite sure that Jeff O (named after Jackie?) mentioned this but that's way too tl;dr for me so here's the main point I wish to make, just in case:
The sensor in a P&S (or PoS as I'd rather call them) is typically very small with not much space between the individual light receptors. The sensor in an SLR is bigger with more space between them, and lower electricity levels used too. This makes the SLR sensor inherently less noisy, never mind any other factors, so you get clearer images out the back of them. This, for me, is enough of a win to justify the price.
MegaPixels are used only if you are printing largesize photos. for example you may want to print a 13" x 19" of your photo then i think 6MP up is great for that. if you are looking for a great dslr camera that produces great quality image, then i might suggest going for the bigger processors.
I was told recently that MP don't really matter, it's the size and quality of the sensor. For example, you can get a good quality A4 print from a 3MP camera, providing the sensor is decent. Also, Canon (I think) are apparently downsizing and providing less MP than they were at one point now because they are hearing that people want other things to be better than MP.
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The Body of the DSLR although important, is not as important as the Glass you put on in front of it. If you are tight on cash, (relative term here) it depends how much you are willing to put into your glass. The glass can make a picture brighter, cleaner, and overall better. The Dslr typically have a larger sensor which allows for an image to be better when blown up even if you are going between a 6mp dslr vs 10mp p&s. it is similar to the 35mm film to medium format, you have a larger image (sensor) to begin with, you will have better blown up pictures in the end. Don't get me wrong MP help in that you get more information to do more work (post and such) with in the end, but a larger sensor is were the money is. I would love to have a full frame DSLR myself but to give you an understanding, the D700 from Nikon (full frame) is about 2,500 usd And to be honest that camera will be revamped and updated in a few years, BUT your glass... your good fast lenses can cost you about the same as the body and they will last you forever. At least in the nikon bodies, I am not sure on canon so I can't speak to that. As you may or may not know I did a P&S study and shows that you can take nice pictures with a P&S it is the artist behind the camera, not the camera that makes a good picture. I would suggest that you go touch some cameras, figure out what feels good in your hands. No one but you can do this. Then start looking at what you would like to spend your money on as far as a body and lense, then shoot with your P&S until you can afford the camera gear you want. Last thing you want to do is spend thousands on a low end DSLR and low end kit lens to not be happy with the end result.
That is my 5cents worth since I feel I went over my 2 cents :)
edit:
btw, I still shoot with an OLD D100 and your point and shoot has more MP then mine and I would love to get a D700, D300s or low end is a D90 (basically the d300s but built more on consumer grade materials).
http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/how_many_megapixels/index.html
this may be helpful?
The sensor in a P&S (or PoS as I'd rather call them) is typically very small with not much space between the individual light receptors. The sensor in an SLR is bigger with more space between them, and lower electricity levels used too. This makes the SLR sensor inherently less noisy, never mind any other factors, so you get clearer images out the back of them. This, for me, is enough of a win to justify the price.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Nikon-10.2-MP-D3000-Kit/12169833?sourceid=1500000000000003183800&srccode=cii_7240462&cpncode=22-5000161#ShortReviewTitleBar