Can my normal digital cam take nice pics with some of the effects of a DSLR?

Question

I’m in the process of improving my photography skills, but I’m not ready yet for a fancy pro DSLR camera. I bought myself a nice and easy normal digital camera (Samsung NV10). Now my question is, can I take nice images with effects and all the glitz and glam with my non DSLR cam, if not which of all the hundreds is a nice cam to start with?

Answer 1

I've used both sorts of cameras for some time and I'd say you can achieve 80% of the results you're after with your Samsung. It's a good camera: http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2006/09/19/Samsung-NV10/p1
No matter what kind of camera you use, great photography is mostly determined by a good eye. You need an eye for light, for composition and for dynamics. You also need some basic technical skills. But you can hone these skills and use them to great effect with just about any camera. Like somebody above me mentioned, the camera's just a tool.
But... some tools are better than others for specific tasks.
If you're into sports photography, it's nice to have a camera that can do 8 frames per second. If you're into portraits, a $1000 lens will give your pictures a shine that inexpensive lenses just can't achieve. If you're into street photography, a digital SLR camera is more responsive. In short, with a dSLR camera, you'll get that last 20%.

Answer 2

I have used film SLRs for nearly 30 years now, so I'm used to all the things a really good camera can do. So when I started digital photography with a small point and shoot camera, I found the limitations to be a bit frustrating.

For example, a few years ago there was a lunar eclipse. I tried to get pictures with my pocket digital camera, but no setting could quite handle it. If you want, I can email some of those as a sample. More recently, I got some pictures of the full moon with my digital SLR, and the results are what I expected and wanted them to be. Fireworks pictures were very frustrating on my pocket digital, but on my digital SLR, it's just like it is when I shoot on film.

Anything with tricky lighting will be much easier on an SLR than on a pocket camera. The more manual overrides, the better!

While it's true that photography is mostly about how you see the world and interpret it digitally or on film, having better tools will more likely get you the results you have in mind before you push the shutter.

Answer 3

Although photography is an art, the tools you use have limitations. A normal digital camera uses a low-sensitivity CMOS chip to capture light, whereas a DSLR uses much more advanced optics. Therefore, since the CMOS chip in a normal digital camera is smaller, it cannot capture light as well as a DSLR, resulting in grainy images when the shutter is left open longer. Nighttime photography is mediocre at best when using a normal digital camera, since the shutter needs to be open for much longer than normal.

Answer 4

Of course you can develop photography skills with any camera.

The thing you will miss the most is selective depth of field. Digicams inherently have lots of DOF, so it is much harder to get some of your picture sharp and the rest out of focus (for instance, making a portrait, where the face is sharp and the background blurry.) Of course, this means you will have landscapes sharp from foreground to infinity!

Get a good beginner's book on photography. Read your camera's manual to see what the settings are and how they affect your picture. Then go out and practice, practice, practice! Oh, and have fun, too!

Answer 5

The camera is only a tool. The result is how you use it, you tell the camera what to photograph. A professional will take good photos with a cheap camera but an novice does not get perfect pictures with expensive cameras.

Answer 6

OMG and Ara are so right. Develop your EYE for seeing pictures. Your camera is quite up to the task. If you want to see some samples taken with YOUR camera, check out:
http://www.dpreview.com/gallery/samsungnv10_samples/

When you click on the thumbnails, you can see the enlarged view.

Answer 7

till you have a ought to effective-track and 'tweak' your photographs, there are a ton of element-and-shoot cameras obtainable that take large photographs, for plenty much less money. yet once you % "better than conventional" %., then a digicam which will take %. in "uncooked" format is effectual.

Answer 8

Yes you can do a lot with a normal digital camera.

Answer 9

yes. you could take any pics with a digital cam.

Answer 10

come on u can do it. for sure, r comon ur soo superb come on u