Does everyone need a DSLR?

[jwolf6589]

Back in 2001-2002 I worked for a college newspaper. My primary job was writer but on occasion did I also take photographs. Guess what my main camera was for shooting photos? Point and shoot. The $400 Powershot I own today I could not have dreamt of owning at that time. We did have some pro cameras but primarily the job was done with point and shoot. Then in 2004 I worked for Youth4christ and guess what my primary camera was for taking photos? Point and shoot. These were not cheap point and shoot cameras but nice ones like the one I own for their time period.

Many today think that they need DSLR cameras for tasks that can be accomplished with a point and shoot. Granted some need a pro camera but many do not and can get by with the camera I own or something similar. They just want a pro camera to have all the bells and whistles and the image of looking professional.

 

[tizeye]

NO...Send your DSLR's to me for proper recycling.

Oh wait. I've moved on to mirrorless.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Photography has been part of my life for nearly 60 years. In a box in the basement I have a couple of Nikon SLRs, a Rolei TLR, and a 4x5 field camera and some expensive lenses.

My first venture into the digital world was back in 2003 with an Olympus 3.2MP P&S. It would zoom from 35mm to 105mm equiv. At the long end it was luck of the draw as to sharpness. No latitude to over exposure, very limited on the under side.

Next up was a Canon A550 Powershot. Faster shutter response, better sensor and a mighty 7MP, but careful testing led me to the conclusion that everything past 2 or 3 MP was interpolated in the camera. Zoom range was ~35-140 equivalent. Exposure latitude still very narrow.

Followed by a Kodak z915 38-380mm equivalent. Still some shutter lag and somewhat better exposure latitude. This camera is still in occasional use. 10MP but we shoot at 5MP as again everything beyond that is interpolated in the camera.

Also a pair of waterproof/shock resistant cameras. First a 12MP Olympus Tough 28-105mm (equiv) pancake style zoom lens. It had terrible barrel distortion at the wide end, when 20-30 feet from the subject. Again I shot at reduced resolution. This camera now dead in the water. Currently a Fuji XP90 16MP shooting at 8MP. Lens is a pancake 28-140mm equiv. Barrel distortion almost non-existent. This camera uses a CMOS sensor. Great latitude to under exposure, very little shutter lag. Decent ISO range, usable up to 400 and even 800 will do in a pinch. And it has a machine gun mode that will shoot 10 full resolution images in about a second and a half. Superb close-up abilities as well. All that said some images are not quite as crisp as with the earlier CCD cameras. However I carry the Fuji in the pocket of my life vest or my regular jacket, which means it's usually with me at times I would leave a larger camera at home.

None of these cameras cost me an arm and a leg. All of these cameras will produce images good enough to display on either of my current monitors, although some images can be a bit iffy should I want to go full screen on the larger 1080x1920-24inch NEC. Anything bigger than an 8x10 print would depend largely on the subject, but nowadays I hardly ever print anything.

That said if I were to splurge on a 4 or 5g monitor I would also need to spend big bucks on a larger sensor camera. OTOH I am quite happy with my current set-up.

My ideal camera? Give me something similar to the Fuji with a somewhat bigger sensor and just slightly extended zoom range. Current sensor is about 4.8x6.4mm. I think even 6x8mm would give me the improvement in resolution I would love to see. Could certainly be accomplished at 7.5x10mm, if that did not make the camera too large.

 

[mollyc]

No of course not everyone needs a dslr (or mirrorless). But an interchangeable lens camera does things that a point and shoot cannot in many cases. Those of us who use an ILC do so because we have specific needs or wants in our work. Even as a hobbyist I have honed my craft and a p&s camera won’t do the job.

if your powershot does what you want then happily use it and don’t worry about other people’s gear.

 

[jz0309]

Everyone has different needs, whether professionally or as a hobby ...if your new camera works for you be happy.
I'm happy with my DSLR.

 

[MacNut]

Does Grandma need a big camera to take pictures of her grandkids, no. Really all she needs is an iPhone. Does someone working at a newspaper need a high end camera, yes. Same with wedding photographers, anything making money or those that want more control over their images.

 

[MacNut]

I see things from the other end of the spectrum as the OP. I would always want those sharp looking pictures I would see on websites and wondered why my camera could not do that. The look I was looking for was from a full frame sensor. Nothing else can compare to it.

 

[mollyc]

Does Grandma need a big camera to take pictures of her grandkids, no. Really all she needs is an iPhone. Does someone working at a newspaper need a high end camera, yes. Same with wedding photographers, anything making money or those that want more control over their images.

I know plenty of grandmothers whose portrait work knocks the socks off of some working “professionals.” Please don’t pigeonhole people based on stereotypes.

gear is good if you know how to use it and want to use it. And if you aren’t inclined then use a phone or p&s.

 

[MacNut]

I know plenty of grandmothers whose portrait work knocks the socks off of some working “professionals.” Please don’t pigeonhole people based on stereotypes.

gear is good if you know how to use it and want to use it. And if you aren’t inclined then use a phone or p&s.

My grandmother could barely use the TV remote. Any camera not a film point and click was out of the question.

 

[mollyc]

My grandmother could barely use the TV remote. Any camera not a film point and click was out of the question.

Well I’m aways away from being a grandmother, but I’m certainly not putting my camera on a shelf when it happens.

 

[MacNut]

Well I’m aways away from being a grandmother, but I’m certainly not putting my camera on a shelf when it happens.

To be fair my grandmother never used technology. It's not how she was brought up and had no intent to learn.

 

[mollyc]

To be fair my grandmother never used technology. It's not how she was brought up and had no intent to learn.

There are men in this forum who feel similarly.

 

[Clix Pix]

I'm old enough to be someone's grandmother and even great-grandmother, and I've been taking photographs since I was eight years old..... There are still a few women my age and older who never learned to drive cars, but the majority of us in my age cohort live very different lives than our grandmothers or mothers did, and we do drive, use current technology, experience what life has to offer.

My mother, who was 95 1/2 when she passed away, drove a car from the time she was sixteen (actually my grandfather taught her when she was around fourteen, but she couldn't get her license until age sixteen, of course), she flew a plane (open cockpit, this was the 1930's) and sure enough, embraced technology as it came along. She took photos, too, with a folding Kodak something-or-other and I suspect my love of technology and photography is connected to her, although she didn't really get into the whole thing beyond the basics -- just enjoyed taking pictures.

Although she didn't have a cell phone or smartphone -- the iPhone hadn't yet come along when she died -- she did have an "internet appliance" called the I-Opener, and after she'd mastered that was ready for her first computer! She did just fine with it, too, although really didn't do much more than emails and web-browsing, which was enough and satisfying to her. She liked being able to look up subjects in which she was interested and to send me an email any time she felt like it, although we also of course still talked on the phone several times a week.

 

[Clix Pix]

I got sidetracked and forgot to respond to the initial topic..... Through my long life I have used Brownie cameras, point-and-shoot cameras, Polaroid cameras, and 35mm SLRS when it comes to film. My introduction to digital photography was with the Nikon Coolpix 900, a delightful P&S that did amazing things in a new and different way from my film experience. I went through a series of Coolpixes for a while and the SLR and lenses pretty much spent a lot of time on the shelf as I was having fun with the digital cameras that didn't require being processed by a film lab and had this neat little card that I could take out of the camera and stick into my computer and look at my images right then.....

Eventually, though, I hit the wall with the Coolpix when one day I was out shooting and trying to get the camera to do what I could easily do with my SLR-- and that was the day I realized that it was time to move on to a DSLR, Nikon's D70. Bought the D70 and once again my SLR and lenses remained on the shelf as I bought new lenses and happily got back into the kind of shooting that I most loved, and re-experienced the joy of being able to control the camera and the lens in order to achieve the kinds of images I wanted. Went through a series of DSLRs then as Nikon kept bringing out newer versions of the bodies and added more to their lineup of bodies and lenses....

My introduction to mirrorless came when a friend came over one day and brought his new Sony NEX 7. It was the first time I'd ever handled a mirrorless camera and the first time I'd looked through an EVF. He talked excitedly about something he called some strange name that I couldn't quite decipher and how it helped with manual focusing when one wanted to use that (later on when doing a Google search I finally realized that he was talking about Focus Peaking). I was fascinated by that smaller, lighter weight NEX 7 and its lenses, and sure enough, soon I had one of my own.

Time went on and I ebbed-and-flowed when it came to photography, at times not picking up a camera for weeks. When I did it was usually the NEX 7 or the small RX100 camera with a 1" sensor that I'd picked up to use for travel. Things began to shift when I purchased the RX10 IV "bridge" camera for a specific trip because it ticked all the boxes I'd need for that trip and I figured it might be nice to use once in a while around home, too.....

That camera, which I still have and still use often, is the one which finally got me back into photography in a more active way -- that, and the POTD thread right here at MR. I started out by posting a few images from my archives but then found myself wanting to share new, fresh images and soon I was shooting on a frequent, nearly daily, basis. Eventually I wanted to do the kind of shooting that I most love -- macros and closeups -- and while one can do closeups with the RX10 IV, it's not the same as shooting with an interchangeable lens camera where one can easily swap out to the right lens for the job. I wanted to be using a real macro lens again.

So, fine, I had a bagful of lenses in the other room and the camera bodies to which they could be attached, but by this time I had been thoroughly spoiled by that EVF and the whole mirrorless camera thing. My NEX 7 was getting long in the tooth and I began to realize that I was ready to make a change from DSLR to mirrorless and to buy some new gear -- but what to buy? This whole process took a long time, as I began wrestling with different possibilities and watching the camera market to see what was coming along and what was already available out there.

The day I brought home my new mirrorless A7R IV, I had two macro lenses in the bag with it and a medium-long fast telephoto for starters..... The first time I put that 90mm macro lens on the camera and shot a closeup and adjusted my settings and shot another one, I knew I was HOME......

No, everyone does not need a DSLR. I don't need a DSLR any more, either. I loved them when I had them and used them but for me that time has passed. For me the present and the future lies in mirrorless and I am more than happy when I have a lens on the camera that is suited to whatever it is I'm about to shoot, and I spend some time in experimenting with various settings, and then in swapping out lenses if along the way I have an idea of another approach to the subject, and then reviewing everything in the computer and tweaking things here-and-there as needed (which it is when one shoots in RAW).

Over time I have added more and different lenses for different types of shooting with my A7R IV and I have different types of cameras for specific purposes as well -- travel in particular. I shoot pretty frequently -- often every day, actually -- and I love being able to pick up the right gear for the ideas I have in mind and to get the kinds of images I most love.

 

[akash.nu]

I’m certainly gonna say everyone doesn’t need a DSLR and even a point and shoot for that matter. But it all comes down to usage of the said pictures and the preference and skill of the photographer.

Camera is a tool only exactly how a hammer is for a builder and a brush for a painter. What comes out of it is photography and that’s on the person who’s shooting it.

 

[r.harris1]

I both need and want an ILC.

I need one because it gives me access to stunning optics which then affords me control over my image, image quality and the amount of light I need to capture it. I enjoy post processing so I want the most quality photons I can gather and the best base ISO capabilities I can muster. ILCs have fantastic and large imaging sensors to do that. If I need to shoot in low light, I count on that same imaging sensor to manage noise at higher ISO. I like to print, sometimes pretty large, so I like that same image sensor to provide as many pixels as I can get which helps in certain kinds of detail capture. When shooting wildlife, I need that ILC because modern ones provide fast, accurate autofocus on moving (flying) subjects. I need full manual control as a first class citizen on my camera.

I want one because I am extremely interested in (and passionate about) photography.

I should say that not all of my cameras are ILC - my Fuji x100f has an attached lens. It has lots of control and a nice APS-C sensor so it does tick most of the boxes. I have an iPhone too that I’m trying to be “spontaneous” with for @akash.nu ’s pesky weekly contest. Abject failure so far .

Do enjoy your camera! My interests and needs are very different than yours. None of us have our cameras to “look professional”, which I found to be a rather odd statement, I have to say. I don’t carry a camera around because “chicks dig it”. My wife is bored silly by them .

It’s all good.

 

[mollyc]

I do think it's really odd on how hung up the OP seems to be on professional vs not professional. Why can only professionals use nice cameras?

 

[Clix Pix]

r.harris, I hear what you're saying about trying to be spontaneous with the iPhone for that weekly competition....today I finally shot something and entered it; two other tries from earlier in the week were simply unsatisfactory although they were shot spontaneously. This entry finally managed to be interesting and definitely was shot spontaneously -- I noticed it today, grabbed the iPhone and shot.

 

[Clix Pix]

I've never been a professional photographer, have never had aspirations to be one, but I definitely like good gear that will be a tool that will be part of the journey into shooting images that I like and hope that others like as well. Even though there is the saying that "it's not the gear, it's the photographer behind the gear," to a certain extent, yes, it actually IS also the gear as well. It's a synergy among photographer, camera, lens and subject with use of technique and skills developed over a period of time -- often years -- which makes the difference. Many very, very skilled photographers do not and never have made their living with their gear (making a living/being paid for one's work being the definition of "professional" in the photography world).

 

[MacNut]

If there is one thing we have learned from Instagram is that nobody needs anything other than a cell phone to take pictures. Now most of those pictures are at a drunk frat party and the people posting don't really care about composition or depth of field.

If you want to get serious about photography you need more than an iPhone or point and shoot. It's more to do with physics and not abilities. There is only so much a small sensor can do.

 

[mollyc]

If there is one thing we have learned from Instagram is that nobody needs anything other than a cell phone to take pictures. Now most of those pictures are at a drunk frat party and the people posting don't really care about composition or depth of field.

If you want to get serious about photography you need more than an iPhone or point and shoot. It's more to do with physics and not abilities. There is only so much a small sensor can do.

It depends on who you follow. Most photographers are posting photos from real cameras. I’d say 99% of the people I follow are not using phone cameras.

 

[MacNut]

It depends on who you follow. Most photographers are posting photos from real cameras. I’d say 99% of the people I follow are not using phone cameras.

Agreed, but the majority of posts are from iPhones. Not to mention they don't make it easy to post on anything other than a cell phone.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Am I a professional? Heck no. Do I use professional gear (in my case a DSLR in signature), yes.
Haven’t owned a point and shoot for years. Don’t really enjoy taking photos with an iPhone.
But to the OP just use what makes you happy. We are all different.
What does it matter?

 

[MBAir2010]

i would invest in a camera you like, that has everything you need to take photos.
Nikon makes great cameras while Kodak makes great pictures.
this means you gotta know what you redoing behind a nikon or that will show after plopping the car din the laptop
Kodak was less forgiving and took excellent photos without the science.
that lion photo from last week was on a Kodak basic modal "easy shot" with no detectable lens.

 

[Clix Pix]

It depends on who you follow. Most photographers are posting photos from real cameras. I’d say 99% of the people I follow are not using phone cameras.

Well, some of us have interests beyond photography and do run into Instagram posts/images which make a photographer shudder..... I don't follow a lot of people on social media in general anyway and so this isn't a major concern for me. I do participate in photography-related forums online and expect to see and offer different kinds of results than I anticipate seeing when online in a group or forum related to some other topic altogether.