Digital SLR Cameras & Photography For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Chapter 1. The Digital SLR Difference

In This Chapter

• Discovering why digital SLRs are a big deal

• Exploring dSLR advantages

• Looking at downsides? What downsides?

Now that you can buy a fully featured digital SLR (or dSLR) for five Benjamins or less, virtually everyone (including your grandmother) probably knows that SLR stands for single lens reflex. However, your Nana — or you, for that matter — might not know precisely what single lens reflex means. SLR is a camera (either film or digital) that uses a marvelous system of mirrors or prisms to provide bright, clear optical viewing of the image that you're about to take — through the same lens that the camera uses to take the picture. The very latest dSLRs offer an even more interesting option — the ability to bypass the optical viewfinder and preview your image right on the LCD (liquid crystal display) on the back of the camera (which also uses the same lens that the camera uses to take the picture).

But the key thing to know about dSLRs is that they're very cool tools that you can use to take photos electronically.

Welcome to the chapter that tells you exactly how smart you were when you decided to upgrade from whatever you were using previously to a digital single lens reflex camera. In this chapter, you find out how a digital SLR transforms the way you take and make pictures, why you may find the strengths of the dSLR important, and ...