What things can a SLR do that a DSLR cant?

Question

I've been out of the loop for a while. Everything is digital and I'm reluctant to take the plunge. Can DSLRs do time exposures and blurred motion images of running water the same way a SLR and film can? Do I throw all of my filters away if I go digital, which seems like voodoo to me.

Answer 1

If you're thinking about moving from film-based SLR to D-SLR photography, see if there is a model of camera on the market that can use your existing lenses and filters. It can save a lot of your investment.

Modern D-SLRs have borrowed heavily from the film SLR school. Modern D-SLRs can do timed exposures, variable shutter speeds, aperture and shutter priority modes, full Program mode, and many of the other common film SLR tricks. In addition, they add features such as automatic exposure bracketing (pushing), multiple exposures with variable flash power, automatic ISO selection, and other spiffy things that are hard to automate in a mechanical device. In fact, D-SLRs are basically a film SLR with the film replaced by a digital sensor.

Earlier digital cameras had poor low light sensitivity, meaning exposures at ISO 800 or faster would be very noisy (like severe film grain). The latest editions can go to ISO 3200 or 6400 equivalent with hardly any image noise.

Answer 2

Digital is a big learning curve from film.

What you already know will still mostly apply to digital, but there is a whole new world when you go digital.

Going digital means learning a lot about technology, computers, and software. If you are not comfortable with this, then there is no real need to go digital.

However if you are eager to learn new things and want to take your photography to another level, then digital is the way to go.

The easiest way to start, is to get an inexpensive point and shoot, get some basic photo editing software like Picasa (which is FREE), and test the waters - "Play" with it. If you do this, you find it's fun and your excited about it all, then go further into a dSLR and a more comprehensive software like Photoshop.

If you really dive into it, expect to spend a fair amount of money, it adds up quick. As well as spending lots of time learning.

As far as filters, most you will never use again. The main filters you'll want to use are a polarizer and an ND. All those special effects you do in the camera will be done on the computer. Personally I was happy to get rid of all those extras. I prefer using Photoshop, but initially it's hard to learn and some people never make it over that initial hump.

Almost everyone that goes digital gets hooked, but you will spend a lot more money. At the same time you will be taking a lot more photos and trying things you may have not tried before because film and processing is expensive (in that regard digital is cheap). If you use Photoshop, you'll be doing things to your photos only the photo lab could do and so much more. Those little things that come out wrong in your photos now, can easily be fixed. It's a new and exciting world.

You get instant gratification. No more sending photos to a lab and waiting for the result. You see it as you take it. You go home, load up your images, and enjoy them right away. That area that was too dark, you can fix that in a few seconds. That distracting object in the background, poof you can remove it. All kinds of great things!

I find digital much more rewarding. It will take time to get used to it all, but most people find it much more exciting.

I gave up photography for many years, but when digital became more mainstream and relatively affordable, I jumped into it. I have a renewed sense of excitement about it again - maybe you will too.

"What things can a SLR do that a DSLR cant?" Nothing!

Good Luck!

Answer 3

A dslr is like an slr loaded with colour slide film and can do pretty much anything an slr can do as well as long exposures. Here are samples of 2 minute and 30 minute exposures from my D200 http://www.straightshots.co.nz/noisefree.htm

Answer 4

Note: When making the move from slr to dslr be aware that the light sensitive medium (the sensor) does not get replaced from shot to shot as it did with film. It's therefore critical to minimize the amount dust getting inside the camera as it will show up on your images when using smaller apertures, once on the sensor it's a pain to clean and must be done properly or can ruin the sensor. Good cleaning kits are available, see link. Be sure to read the instructions fully and the camera manuf. recommendations. Different cameras have different sensor coatings and sizes - the kits are specific to camera type/sensor size. If in doubt get a pro to do it.

Answer 5

theres some spice in this answer for you......

a dslr can not replicate the "look" of film, it is possible in processing people are telling me now, so make your own call there,

slrs arent limited to "write speeds" and so forth, if you wanted to capture 38 frames of Liz Hurley in 6 seconds then it woud be possible with an average late model to top of the line film cam comfortably , digi it takes 10 times the investment in gear ------ yes its a silly example but i do have many of them, if your doing "run of the mill" shooting and the like using photoshop and DSLR rules, for most everything else your call

for things like Frames per second (high speed photography), reproprosity failure, high res scans and the "look" film still serves people like me and others

if you can keep the slr and also have a dslr you will find like me 95% of the time dslr is best - the other 5% is up to the artist if they deliver or manipulate - some clients wont take manipulated they want transparency film - and thats an arguement i have never had - they want it they get it and its a pleasure to do it

so have both is all i can say, then maybe burn some film now and then and do most things the DSLR way if that suits

the choises are yours, i choose both

(fliters, i still prefer the contrast of filters and film to digi filtered and processing - thats my personal taste) - "its about the look"

compare old movies to new ones - its about the look - somethings look better off film and some are better out of a dslr, depends on what process you want to use et cetera - so i make an easy question hard?

rachel walsh on film looks very pleasing to me - and other movies like the first star wars............some people will look at anything or want everything crystal, so do i but not all the time though

without a doubt 95% of fotogs are best suited to shoot dig 100% of the time........working pros - some still like to shoot film sometimes or trust it more, or have clients specify it, or prefer the look for certain shots

http://flickr.com/photos/martini2005/2015298512/ -

"film its the look" - sorry thought a nice film pict might be a nice break now

so have both i would say again

noise............vs grain......

a

Answer 6

What can't you do with a DSLR that you can do with an SLR? Double exposure in camera...that has to be done in PS. So if you're still using your old matte box, you can chuck that. I still use a few special effects filters and a gradient is still nice for landscapes.


Edit...OMG Dr Sam....wow!!!!

Answer 7

SLR didn't have CMOS sensor,couldn't view the pictures that taken on the spot,but you could take photos without using Expodisc White Balance Filter , this filter was for correction the different lightings and colour balancing,DSLR have CMOS sensor,can view the correction pictures on the spot,using flash with Lightsphere for bouncing on a ceiling,colour correction mode,White balance mode,etc.

Answer 8

Perki, my D200 WILL do double exposures in the camera. In fact, I can set it to do as many at TEN exposures in a single image. The best part is that the camera will adjust the exposure on each image so that it all comes out right in the end. I don't have to do any calculations at all!

Not too many DSLR's have this capacity, though.

Answer 9

Yep, same deal, except that some DSLR's have sensors which crop out the middle of the 35mm image.

As for filters, you can duplicate most film filters in Photoshop. The only exception is polarizer.

Answer 10

less cash
film you have to keep buying film obviously...
and digital is great you just take the picture
and upload it on your computer and you can
modify it very well expecially with RAW
here are some of my pic examples i took
with my Nikon D40