Q: Why do I need a Digital SLR while most digital point&shoot cameras have manual settings for ISO & aperture?

Question

I am planning a trip to Tanzania safaris. A digital camera is no brainer. However, considering between a digital SLR (dSLR) and a standard digital point & shoot (P&S) camera, I find it hard to justify the cost of dSLR.

Film SLR's provided 2 advantgaes over P&S cameras: a) interchangeable lenses and b) WYSIWYG pictures.

With P&S cameras advancing so much these days, we get P&S cameras that have zoom ranges longer than 400 mm (e.g, considering the 1.6x differential between the 35 mm format and the digital CCD format, a standard 10x optial zoom in a typical P&S digital camera gives you a zoom of about 400 mm). With image stabilization added in P&S cameras, I do not see a distinct advantage with dSLR's.

So, if I choose a P&S camera that has:

1) 10x or longer optical zoom
2) image stabilization
3) manual settings for ISO, aperture, and shutter speed
4) fast lens at higher zoom ranges
5) minimum shutter lag

Why would I need a digital SLR?

Answer 1

There are a few more advantages to a digital SLR:
A dSLR is vastly more responsive than a compact. With a dSLR, you press the shutter button and the camera fires. With a compact, the electronic viewfinfer has a delay, and when you press the shutter button you get another delay - without exception, they're terrible for up close action.
With a dSLR you CAN get fast lenses. Fast autofocus AND great in low light. For $1600 you can get a Canon or Nikon zoom that effectively does 105-300mm tack sharp at f/2.8. With a compact, you're probably looking at f/5.6 ... and you probably need to stop it down to f/8 before it delivers decent image quality. If you're out at dusk, that could make the difference between getting a few crisp shots, or waiting for the autofocus to get a lock only to discover that your shutter time is impossibly long.
With a dSLR you can set the ISO to 800 and get good image quality. In a pinch, you can crank the ISO up to 3200. With a compact, ISO 400 is usually pretty poor, and you're lucky if it goes higher at all. Again, a great advantage in low light situations.
With a dSLR you get better continuous shooting. With the entry level models you get 3fps for about the first 8 shots and the buffer clears quickly. With my Nikon D200 I get 5 fps at 10 megapixels for 22 shots before it starts to slow down. Top of the line models do 8+ fps.
All of this extra performance comes at a considerable finanial price however. On the other hand, you could rent the gear, or sell your gear after the trip at only a small loss. Another down side is that a dSLR setup can get pretty bulky and heavy - no problem in a jeep but I'd hate to hike 10 miles with it.

Answer 2

A good part of the advantage of interchangable lenses is that zoom lenses are not really optimized for maximum sharpness and "f stop" accross all the range of focal lengths. Having a selection of lenses is best if you really want to maximize what you want to do with the camera.

The other reason for going with the digital SLR (or a really advanced P&S) is the option of using an external flash using a socket on top of the camera or cord. That really opens up the options to uniquely light up various parts of the scenes with several remotely triggered flashes, etc. But those technicalities are beyond this brief discourse, is a subject for you to explore on your own, and for you to decide if you really want to do that.

Decent digital cameras have "WYSIWYG" too, whether they're SLR or P&S. Being able to get WYSIWYG is a digital non-issue these days.

The _REAL_ questions you have to ask yourself are 1) can you afford to pay for, and want to expend the effort to lug around, a bunch of extra lenses and external flash units, and 2) are you going to, or want to, sell the photos to an employer or indepently as a free-lancer? If you answer "no" to both questions, stick with the advanced P&S. If you answer "no" to the first and "yes" to the second, get the P&S and see what sells - then you'll have a better idea of what kind of lenses you'll need for your next trip. If you anser "yes" to both questions, then the dSLR is your best choice.

Answer 3

My personal reasons (I have both a P&S and DSLR)
1. Interchangable lenses. My S1IS has 10x zoom but can't match the wide angle performance of a 10-22mm.
2. Much better ISO performance above 400. Most P&S (although they're getting better) don't produce usable output above that (Fuji F11 and some others are exceptions of course)
3. Shutter lag. And this is not just shutter lag but also auto focus speed.
4. Ability to use prime lenses. For superb sharpness and quality.
5. Hotshoe and PC Sync. If you do studio shoots you'll probably need this.

Answer 4

We purchased the Rebel SLR so that we could use different lenses and found that we can also use enhanced flash equipment. That's the big thing I would think... different lenses and enhanced flash. We shoot weddings and portraits with ours, so this was important. Almost all other settings are duplicatable on the smaller digicams.