If you are shopping for a digital camera to be given as a gift for a birthday, graduation, or Christmas you may have lots of questions about which camera type to buy. At the most basic level you need to decide what the camera will be used for and what the skill level of the person using the camera is. If your camera is just for shooting the occasional picture of friends and events a simple point-and-shoot camera may do the trick.
If the person using the camera wants to make artistic shots with complete control over aperture, ISO and shutter speed, you need a DSLR camera. DSLR cameras seem complex, but for the most part learning how to use them is a simple job that anyone can do. In fact, when in doubt many DSLR cameras feature auto modes that turn them into point-and-shoot cameras. However, when lighting conditions are challenging the DSLR will allow you to get a properly exposed image when a point-and-shoot camera simply can’t do it.
Let me give you an example of when a DSLR camera comes in handy. My daughter loves gymnastics and I tried, in vain, with a point-and-shoot camera to take a decent shot during class. The problem was that the flash on the point-and-shoot wasn’t bright enough expose the image properly. The point-and-shoot also wasn’t adjustable enough for me to change aperture, shutter speed and the ISO speed to get a good shot. Of all the pictures I took I did not end up with one correctly exposed image, they were all too dark and grainy. Not to mention the fact that the shutter speed and focus time were too slow to get fast moving targets in the shot.
I decided I had enough of missing pictures of my kids because the point-and-shoot I used was too slow and I bought a DSLR camera. Now I can get perfectly exposed images in most any condition using manual settings on the DSLR camera. One nice feature is that the shutter speed is fast enough to freeze fast action like soccer games and running kids. If you are having the same problems I did with poorly exposed images and you normally end up with nothing but your kids elbow in the image because your current digital camera is just too slow, this DSLR camera buyers guide is for you.
If you shop around and don’t need all the bells and whistles on a DSLR, you can find one for not much more than a high-end point-and-shoot camera. The cameras below are arranged in no particular order. Also keep in mind that DSLR cameras typically come in kit versions that include a lens and body only versions which do not.
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