Choosing Lenses for your DSLR Camera

I've mentioned earlier if you're just getting started in photography, your kit lens is enough. Why? Because you don't know yet what kind of photography you're more interested into and the more often that you'll buy lenses or other equipments which you will not use for a long period of time. As you start learning photography there is gap between what you want to be; a portrait, landscape, commercial, band, editorial, sports or a wedding photographer. This gap will narrow as you start to learn more and progress being a photographer. There are variety of lenses to choose from; wide angle, zoom, telephoto, macro and prime lenses. Here are some guides on how to choose lenses for your DSLR camera:

1. What type of photography that you're more interested?

This is the most important question in choosing lenses. If you don't know the answer, spend more time shooting and learning. This will help you realize what type of photography you're more interested and keep you on the track. Also remember that you want to be a photographer not a lens collector and you should choose  the appropriate lenses for a certain type of photography. 

2. Focal Length

If you already know what type of photography you're into, the next consideration is the focal length for coverage of the scene. For landscape, architectural or group you may want to the focal length from 11mm - 35mm; for portraits you might consider shooting 50mm or more because you want to give space or distance to your client in shooting and avoid distortion or chromatic aberration. For sports, wildlife and bird photographers they use 200mm or more. While from macro varies 40mm, 60mm or 105mm which will allow you focusing as much as 6 inches to your subject like flowers, insects or smaller objects. There are also prime lenses (fixed focal length and aperture) which are lighter in construction than zoom lenses and offers sharper images.

3. Maximum Aperture

The aperture values on consumer zoom lenses varies; every time you change the range of focal length, the aperture change along. Again it falls on what type of photography you're into but also considers the stops of light it can add to your settings especially if you're shooting in low light conditions.

4. VR (Vibration Compensation), IS (Image Stabilization), VC (Vibration Compensation) or OS (Optical Stabilization)

If you have shaky hands and can't shoot steadily in lower shutter speed settings then you  should consider VR(Nikon), IS(Canon), OS (Sigma), VC(Tamron), it compensates the subtle movement of the camera so that you will not have blurry images.

5. Crop/ Full Frame Lenses
Do you have plans moving from crop to full frame DSLR camera? Then you should also consider investing to lenses which are compatible to full frame bodies. Crop lenses are not compatible to full frame bodies while full frame lenses works great for crop and full frame bodies.

6. Budget

Again, how much are willing to spend? If you're just an amateur not earning to compensate on what you're shooting then you should consider this as well. How about third party lenses? There are so many third party lenses and you should do a research about it. But you should keep in mind that you get what you paid for and it will not be as great as Nikon or Canon. Sometimes you'll read lot of positive comments from the users but it does not guarantee that you'll be happy using it.

7. Rent or Borrow from Friends

If you're unsure with lens that you're about to buy, the most inexpensive way is to rent or borrow from friends. In that way, you will have the freedom to choose before spending your money rather than buying the lens and selling it for a lower price if you're not using it anymore.

A little piece of advice, invest more on lenses than camera bodies. With so many advances in the DSLR camera industry, you'll find more camera bodies are coming out with cheaper prices. But with lenses, you'll see that it takes manufacturers years to replace it and the value doesn't go down that much.

Color Management

Getting consistent exposure with correct white balance, you may opt to print your images. But why my images are too dark, too light and it's not the same color from what I'm seeing on my monitor when I'm printing? Here's a video from another well-known photographer Karl Taylor on Monitor Color Calibration.

Monitor Color Calibration from Karl Taylor

After calibrating your monitor, you need to calibrate also your images. The image below which looks like a make-up or water coloring kit is a color checker passport which is used for color correcting your images. The tool creates a profile which you can use to achieve an accurate and consistent colors. Check out the video on how to use the color checker passport.

X-Rite Color Checker Passport

Using the Color Checker Passport from X-rite

The videos above are only the basic of color management, you may want to check other books, tutorials or references for an in-depth understanding.

sRGB and AdobeRGB

There are two main color spaces in digital photography; sRGB(IEC61966-2.1) and AdobeRGB. What's the difference and what should I use? Why my images seem to be different in Chrome, Internet Explorer or Safari? Here's a video of Peachpit presented by Matt Kloskowski to know better.

A video from Peachpit presented by Matt Kloskowski

If you're just beginning and haven't heard of this guy, he's the one you shouldn't miss when it comes to editing like Lightroom and Photoshop. To learn more about his tutorials you can visit http://lightroomkillertips.com/ and his work at http://www.mattkloskowski.com/. Just a reminder if you're shooting RAW, you can see that sRGB or Adobe RGB is not available in the color space option. Don't worry about it because all the information and data are already stored in the RAW format and you can choose what color space you will use in the editing stage.

Understanding RAW & JPEG

On your camera there is an option which you can choose the file format of the captured images, RAW (Canon CR2 - Canon RAW version 2 and Nikon NEF - Nikon Electornic Format), JPEG or even both. Here's a video from Mark Wallace for AdoramaTV, an in-depth explanation of RAW and JPEG files.

RAW vs. JPEG by Mark Wallace

In most cases, RAW offers flexibility to the shooters, in terms of exposure (2 stops overexposed and 2 stops underexposed), white balance, sharpening, etc. With affordable electronic storage space (memory card & hard drive) available in the market, file size will never be a problem. But will be bit expensive in terms of software to be used for editing. While JPEG offers portability which allows you to shoot thousand of  images without carrying dozens of memory card. RAW and JPEG have their advantages and disadvantages. Which is better? There is no definite answer to that question. But for beginners I would suggest to begin with JPEG, why? 

1. To focus more attention in shooting than sitting in the front of computer.

2. To understand what camera setting is required for a certain scenario.

3. To develop consistency/ instinct in shooting.

And just a piece of advice, if you're already shooting RAW there's no excuse to say that you'll make corrections (exposure and white balance) in the editing software when you can make them right away on the camera. 

Metering Modes

The metering of the camera works by evaluating the amount of brightness in the scene. For every scene there's also a specific metering mode to be used. The metering modes include: 

1. Matrix Metering - is the default setting mode of the camera and used for all around shooting. The camera meters the wide area of the frame.

Matrix/ Evaluative Metering

2. Center-Weighted Metering - the camera meters the whole frame but assigns the greatest weight to the center area. Recommended for portraits.

Center-Weighted Metering

3. Spot Metering - the camera meters approximately less than 3% of the frame. Recommended when the background is much brighter or much darker from the subject.

Spot Metering

Autofocus Modes

The autofocus of the camera works by detecting the contrast in the image to be taken (passive autofocus) or send off a signal to estimate the subject distance (active autofocus). In some cases you'll find yourself struggling in taking photographs because the camera can't find a contrast or your subject is too close or too far (third party lenses) that your lens can't focus as well. The autofocus is also an essential part of photography, without it we are stuck with manual focusing and we can't capture the moment which only happens in matter of seconds thus leaving us also an out of focus images.

The number and types of autofocus may vary from entry, middle and high end DSLR models and lenses being used. There are two types of autofocus sensors; a cross type which has a higher accuracy due to the two dimensional contrast detection  and vertical line type which has a lower accuracy due to one dimensional contrast detection.

Another factor which can affect the autofocus performance is the selection of AutoFocus Mode. Depending on what you are capturing there's also a corresponding mode. AF-C (Continuous) is used for moving subjects, AF-S (Single) is used for stationary subjects and AF-A (Automatic) which detect automatically either Continuous and Single will be used for a certain scenario. Manual Focus can be used also but not recommended for moving subjects.

Another settings you might consider is focus locks when the shutter-release button is halfway pressed and assist beam to illuminate the subject to detect your subject. You can read your camera manual for more information.

Composition

Photography is not just about pressing the shutter release button and capturing images. An image should be compelling and attract an interest of the viewer. Composition is one of the most critical aspects in photography; it can create drama, uniqueness and tell a thousand words on your image. There are several composition techniques that most photographers use that can help you to get better results. 

1. Rule of Thirds - imagine dividing your frame into thirds, horizontally and vertically. The intersection of the vertical and horizontal lines will be the placement of your subject. It creates a more natural balance in the eyes of the viewers.

Fig.1 Rule of Thirds

Fig.2 Rule of Thirds

2. Shapes and Patterns - shapes and patterns are everywhere which can add contrast to the images. Emphasizing these can create compelling images.

Fig. 1 Shapes and Patterns

Fig. 2 Shapes and Patterns

3. Color, Details and Texture - the color, details  and texture of the subject separates the background creating a point of interest. Imagine if you have almost the same color with the subject and background or the background has more contrast than the subject. Which will be more striking and where will be the point of interest for that scenario?

Fig.1 Color, Details and Subject

4. Frame the Subject - instead of avoiding trees and other natural elements, it can be used as a frame which can isolate the subject and draw the viewer's point of interest.

Fig. 1 Frame

Fig. 2 Frame

The above techniques are only guides which can improve the perspective of the images and worth considering. Others would say that there are rules in composition to create such images but these can broken. Experiment and think out of the box to find the best possible composition that you might create. It takes a lot of time and practice.

Understanding Histogram

Understanding histogram plays a vital role in controlling the contrast and tone of the image. In most cases you'll be surprised that the images from the camera lcd are different when viewed in the computer. Most photographers rely on their histograms to tell whether their images are properly exposed, whether how much more they can increase/ decrease their exposure and even tell whether they are losing details of the subject. 

Fig. 1 Histogram Properties

Fig. 2 Image with tones most in the shadows area

Fig. 3 Image with tones most in the midtones and  highlights area

From the images above you can see how the histogram behaves from each image taken. We can easily see if our shadows or highlights are clipped or the graph escalates so much in the upper left or upper right most part of the histogram. There's also a setting in the camera which shows the clipping highlights of the image, refer to your camera manual for the settings. A dark scene or black surfaces will have clipping in the shadows area while shooting shooting under the sun or bright sources of light will produce clipping in the highlights area. For these kind of scenarios, the clipped shadows or highlights areas are acceptable. You only want to avoid underexposing or overexposing your images so much that you cannot see the details in the shadows or highlights area. Histogram is also useful tool for photographers shooting portraits, as they prefer not to have clipping in the red histogram because it will affect the skin tone of the subject. 

Understanding the histogram will make your adjustments a lot easier in your exposure in terms of: by how many stops of light should you increase/ decrease. A great exercise will be taking multiple images with different exposure and observing how the histogram will also adjust for every image taken. There's no such thing as an ideal histogram and it's only a guide for the photographers from what they want to achieve in their images. 

Exposure Reciprocals

Still remember the examples of aperture values of f1.4, f2, f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16 & f22? How about the shutter speed values of 1sec, 1/2sec, 1/4sec, 1/8sec, 1/15sec, 1/30sec, 1/60sec, 1/125sec, 1/250sec, 1/250sec, 1/500sec and so on.. And ISO values of 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 and so on.. Did you get the pattern for every stop of light as well? It should be yes because where moving on what we called the exposure reciprocals and make it easier to achieve the same exposure with the different values of aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

Let say that you've taken a properly exposed image with an aperture value of f8, shutter speed of  1/125sec and ISO 400. Using the reciprocals you may also use the values of:  

Aperture                  f1.4                   f2                   f2.8          f4          f5.6              f8           f11           f16

Shutter Speed     1/4000       1/2000      1/1000    1/500     1/250       1/125       1/60       1/30

ISO                            400                400                  400       400         400        400         400          400

Aperture, shutter speed and ISO are parameters in creating an exposure. Each parameter can be adjusted to compensate the increase/ decrease of stop/s of light. In the example above you can see that if you change each parameter the other parameters can be adjusted to produce the same exposure but with a different perspective effect to your images. ISO can be also adjusted in the example above, if you need a shutter speed of 1/500 sec with an aperture value of f8, your ISO will be 1600. The shutter speed was decreased by 2 stops therefore you need to increase the sensitivity of your sensor by adjusting your ISO by 2 stops so that the exposure will be the same. The rule of thumb is whatever you decrease/ increase to each parameter, you should also decrease/ increase to other parameters equally to obtain the same exposure. Below is a video from Bryan Peterson, a photographer and an author who explains that you can create different images with the same exposure.

Understanding Creatively Correct Exposure with Bryan Peterson

White Balance

Okay, we've already discussed about aperture, shutter speed and ISO to create a proper exposure. But why our images have this unrealistic color contrast or orange color? White balance has to do with the color temperature of our light. With a different source of light there are different white balance we have to use. You can see how white balance affects the color of the images below. 

Fig. 1 Auto White Balance Setting

Fig. 2 Custom White Balance Setting (2,200k)

 White Balance explained by Mark Wallace

White Balance Tools  from Marlene

I use auto & cloudy white balance most of the time in outdoors (except sunset) because it gives me realistic colors in my images. For indoor like bedroom, restaurants and sunset I use the custom white balance because images will appear to have an orange color. Shooting in RAW will give you also the ability to adjust your white balance using softwares than JPEG in post processing. However, we should realize that our aim is to get it right when we press that shutter release button so that we can spend more time taking pictures than spending time in the computer. Don't worry we'll have an article comparing JPEG and RAW. For time being we'll only be shooting JPEG images.

ISO

ISO refers to the sensitivity of the camera sensor to light and along with aperture and shutter speed works together to produce an exposure. It is also represented by stops of light, 100, 200, 400 and so on. Lower ISO values makes your camera sensor less sensitive to light while higher ISO values makes your camera more sensitive to light. In a sunny day you can use an ISO minimum value of 50 or 100, 200 - 400 in an overcast day/ dim lighting and 800-above in night. However, you should keep in mind that by increasing your ISO amount decrease also the quality of the image. Noise/ Grain/ Specs will start to appear in some of the lower camera  models at higher ISO settings and less in high end camera models. Here are some example of images taken in ISO 100 and 800 respectively.

Fig. 1 ISO setting 100 (more available light less ISO required)

Fig. 2 ISO setting 800 (less available light high ISO required)

Photographers adjust their ISO settings based on aperture/ shutter speed demand. To be able to fully understand this, get your camera and shoot inside your room with only the window as the source of light and outside of your house for comparison. Choose the manual mode, let's say you want an aperture value of f5.6, shutter speed of 1/125sec and ISO 100. Put your eyes in the viewfinder, are the exposure bars mostly in the left (underexposed) or right(overexposed)? And you don't want to  adjust your aperture and shutter speed settings to get a properly exposed image. Start increasing your ISO see what happens to your exposure bars. Adjust it until you have it in the middle or 0. You can also do this with aperture, shutter speed and programmed auto mode. If you want to shoot at a lower ISO settings to get a better image quality, you can adjust your aperture (depth of field/ subject sharpness from background) and shutter speed(motion blur/ free or show motion) settings.

Shutter Speed

Have you ever wondered why some of your photos are sharp or blurry if your subject is moving? Shutter speed is the length of time that the shutter curtain allows the light to fall on to the camera sensor by opening and closing the shutter curtains. It affects the motion blur of a moving subject, it can freeze or show the motion. Faster shutter speed freezes a motion and slower shutter speed shows the motion of a moving subject. The value of shutter speed is also expressed in stops of light and sequenced in a standard ratio of 1:2 in each stop. Example: Bulb Mode (allows the shutter to be opened as long as you want).. 8 4 2 1 1/2 1/4 1/8 1/15 1/30 1/60 1/125 1/250 etc. A value between them are 1/3 and 2/3 of a stop. Again by default and every dial of the shutter speed setting is 1/3 of a stop. You can see the images below that you can add creativity by freezing/ showing the motion. You may also consider the rule of thumb for focal length if you want to avoid blurry images if you handheld your camera; shutter speed = 1 / focal length. Example: 50mm lens will have a shutter speed of 1/60 sec, 200mm = 1/250 sec. But this is only limited to certain types of moving objects. A tripod can be used if shooting with a slower shutter speed to prevent blurry images. 

Image 1 - Panning with Shutter Speed of 1/8 sec

Image 2 - Long Exposure with Shutter Speed of 20 secs

Image 3 - Long Exposure with Shutter Speed of 30 secs

Image 4 - Shutter Speed of 1/500 sec

Slow motion of shutter curtains from cameratest

A slow motion video from cameratest shows how the shutter curtain works. The mirror is lift up, 1st curtain moves down, 2nd curtain moves down also, captures the image, mirror drops back . Watch closely how the 2nd curtain and 1st curtain resets and moves up again before the mirror drops back.

Depth of Field

Depth of field is the distance between the scene which is acceptably sharp. It also isolates the foreground from the background. The foreground stays sharp while the background is out of focus. Most of the photographers use a shallow depth of field to be creative and sometimes hide the distractions from the background. In this example you can see how I isolated the head of the cat from the background. I've used a 50mm lens with an aperture of 1.8 to produce a shallow depth of field. 

Depth of Field explained by Mark Wallace

Aperture as I've said earlier is only one of the factors that affect depth of field. Distance from the camera to subject and focal length are also factors that affect depth of field. The greater the distance from the subject the greater depth of field you'll have, the closer you are from the subject the shallower depth of field you'll have. Same with the focal length, visually the wide angle lenses make the subject farther while telephoto lenses magnify or make the subject closer.

There is also a useful tool called depth of field calculator here that might help you decide. It's only a guide and I suggest that you practice more on shooting to get a visualization on how aperture, focal length and distance from camera to subject will affect your image sharpness.

Aperture

The opening of the lenses are specified in terms of f-stop value which are expressed in numbers: f1.4, f2, f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16, f22 etc. The examples shown are one (1) stop increment. Between them are 1/3 of a stop by default in digital cameras. Every time you turn the aperture dial towards to the left or right it increases/ decreases by 1/3 of a stop by default. (Note: There is also an option in your camera setting that you can increase/ decrease by 1/2 of a stop but most photographers use 1/3 of a stop.)

Do I have to memorize the examples? Yes! You'll see in the succeeding articles why it's important and how you are going to decide your exposure with your "reciprocals" using the exposure values of your aperture, shutter speed and ISO. It's not hard to memorize the example, you can see that there is a pattern in every increment of a stop by multiplying it by 1.4 and rounding it to a whole number or alternately it doubles in figure. Below are examples of the opening of an aperture, from large (smaller figures) to small (large figures) values. If you're more into the technical side, check out the video from Imre Z. Balint.

Fig 1. Examples of aperture opening

Aperture Revisited by Imre Z. Balint

The Viewfinder and Metering

Before we go through the aspects of aperture, shutter speed and ISO, let us first understand the viewfinder and metering (images from Nikon D7000 manual). 

 Fig. 1 Viewfinder 

Fig. 2 Metering

If you look through the viewfinder you will see the metering of the camera. So what does it means? Normally if the bars are in the left most part, your images will be dark(underexposed). Bars in the right most part indicates your images will be brighter (overexposed). Zero (0) indicates a balance exposure based on the camera's metering. It's not as perfect as the human eye and it's up to you whether you will increase or decrease the bar/s to the left or right to achieve your preferred exposure. A single bar corresponds to 1/3 of a stop by the camera's default setting. A "STOP" is used to express the exposure value of the light. Turn the dial again in the same direction then you'll have 2/3 of a stop, another turn in the same direction and you'll have "FULL or a STOP" of light. You will hear most of the photographers saying decrease/ increase the exposure by 1/3, 2/3, a stop and so on or I'm underexposed/ overexposed by 1/3, 2/3, a stop and so on. Understanding how your camera's metering behavior in different scenarios will help you decide whether you will increase/ decrease your exposure by certain stop/s of light.

The Four Major Modes of Camera

There are four major modes in the camera and these are Manual Mode (M), Aperture priority (A or Av), Shutter speed priority (S or Tv) and Programmed Auto (P). (Note: The image is from Nikon D7000 manual, dial mode vary depending on camera model and brand.)

Fig. 1 Camera Mode

1. Manual mode - you are in control of your aperture and shutter speed settings to produce a consistent exposure or dictate the camera that this is the exposure that I want.

2. Aperture priority - you will be able to only adjust the aperture setting and the camera will decide the shutter speed setting based on what it meters. However you may adjust your exposure compensation to fine tune the exposure.

3. Shutter Speed priority - opposite of aperture priority. You will be able to adjust shutter speed setting and the camera will decide the aperture setting based on what it meters. Exposure compensation can be adjusted also at this setting.

4. Programmed Auto - you can adjust the aperture and shutter speed settings and the camera will automatically adjust either the aperture/ shutter speed settings for you based on what it meters.

Although there are four major modes in the camera, most of the photographers prefer the "Manual Mode" because it produces a consistent exposure based on photographer's taste. The camera meter isn't perfect as the human eyes and sometimes produce an underexposed/ overexposed images in certain scenarios. Shutter and aperture values also changes from time to time in the other three modes. To be able to gain control for the different scenarios they use the Manual Mode. The other three modes are also useful depending on the scenario you will shoot, with Aperture priority if you want to control the depth of field (length of the scene which is acceptably sharp), Shutter Speed priority will control the motion (freeze or show motion) and Programmed Mode is the combination of Aperture and Shutter Speed Priority, it's also called flexible mode. Exposure compensation can be used in the three modes to fine tune the exposure values. There are also other modes in your camera that you might ask but these are also automatic modes and we will not go through those. What mode should I use? I'll ask then, what are you more concerned into: depth of field, motion or both? It's your choice. For a better understanding of this article it's suggested to try each mode and see what the camera will produce in each scenario and mode with a certain value of aperture, shutter speed & ISO.

Understanding Exposure

An image captured by your camera whether dark or light is determined by exposure. To achieve a certain exposure there are many different combinations on how we can control the light by quantity, time and quality. It is controlled by three parameters; 1. aperture 2. shutter speed 3. ISO.
Exposure is relative to filling a bucket with water from a faucet. If we fully open the faucet, the more amount of water will come out and the faster the bucket will be filled. If we reduce the opening of the faucet, the more time it will take to fill the bucket because the amount of water will be less. In this scenario, we can get the same result which is to properly fill the bucket with water having different combinations by amount and time. The opening of the faucet is our aperture, the water is the light and time is our shutter speed. An underexposed image collects less light while an overexposed image collects more light, we just have to ensure the right combination to get the right exposure.

Each parameter however controls a different perspective of exposure:

1. Aperture - is the opening of the lens which controls the amount of light going to the camera's sensor. It is also one of the factors affecting depth of field.

2. Shutter Speed - controls the time of light going to the camera's sensor by opening and closing the curtains (shutter). It also affects motion blur.

3. ISO - controls the sensitivity of light. It also controls the quality of the image by affecting the noise (grains).

There's a lot more that can be discussed from this topic and you may want to check the other succeeding articles.

The Best Book in Photography - The Camera Manual

Many of us take for granted to read the best book in photography and that is your camera manual. It’s already included when you purchase your camera. If you bought a second hand or refurbished camera, you can search it through the internet and download it for free.

Many camera users would say that a manual is not interesting to read because of the volume of pages it has. With so many features and information your camera has to offer it’s hard to absorb all of these at one shot. But why do we have to read our camera manual?

The manual introduces all your camera information in categories which can be found in table of contents. We can browse easily which specific item we are looking for. Do I have to read it from cover to cover? Definitely not this time if you are just starting to know about your camera. Then, what do I need to know? Start by knowing how to mount your lens properly, battery, accessories (eyecup, lcd protector) and memory card/s.

There are essential features on how to read your camera manual. By knowing these, all of the information will be easier to understand and digestible.

1.       Aperture

2.       Shutter Speed

3.       ISO

4.       Auto Focus

5.       White Balance

6.       Metering

7.       Photography Modes (M,A,S & P)

8.       Image Type (JPEG & RAW)

9.       Color Workspace

10.   How to reset your camera in factory settings

11.   Exposure Compensation

12.   Flash Compensation

13.   Bracketing

Once you are done with these key features, you can start reading your camera manual. I would suggest that you put flags so that you can simply turn to the pages that you would like to read again.

Choosing your DSLR Camera

With so many models of DSLR cameras out there in the market that are already in reach of average users, one question remains: What should I buy? And if you will be asking your friends or posting in forum sites you will just get yourself confused because there’s always a debate between Nikon and Canon users. It’s controversial when you talk about DSLR brands, people will defend what brand their using no matter what.

Most people don’t realize that camera brand doesn’t matter. These DSLR giants produce products with great reliability. The differences in terms of features will depend on models that you are comparing with and in terms of quality it will be relatively small.

How would I choose? Here are the factors that you should consider:

1.       Budget - How much I’m willing to spend on it? Prices may vary from Entry (Beginner), Mid-Range (Amateur) and Professional Level models. Camera bodies ranges from $500 up to $ 8,000.

2.       ISO Performance – ISO measures the light sensitivity. Higher ISO performer will produce less grainy images on less available light or darker situations. It means that you can shoot images in low light conditions by increasing your ISO with less noise and still get usable images. Some camera models will produce grains starting at ISO 400 while others are at ISO 800 or higher.

3.        Auto Focus – Sharper images are produced from precise focusing. The camera manufacturer includes the number of auto focus points in the description. The more auto focus points the camera has, the focus will be faster and accurate.

4.       Ergonomics – Most of DSLR cameras are designed to fit into the hands of the user and user friendly. It plays a vital role for the comfortable, efficient, precise and healthy use of a photographer. Buttons and knobs which can be easily adjusted without taking away your sight from the viewfinder. Some will suggest Nikon while others will suggest Canon. Again, be reminded that it’s your personal choice. Knowing your gear will help you navigate the buttons and knobs easily. It’s best to visit a camera store to have a grip of the camera, take pictures and decide which model that you should to buy.

5.       Megapixels/ Resolution – It’s often a myth when we talk about megapixels. The larger the images the better, right? It depends on what is your purpose but if you’re just a hobbyist and not planning to print a billboard size printout then why should you buy a higher resolution DSLR? A 12 megapixel DSLR can give you at least a print of 12” x 16” with details on it. Higher resolution also requires you to have higher capacity of memory cards and computer system in opening the images.

6.       Lenses – Most of the packages offer kit lens and it’s not beautiful lenses in the world. But it’s a great and affordable lens for the people who are just getting started with photography. You can take good pictures out of it without breaking your budget. A 18-55mm, 18-105 and 18-135mm usually ranges from $100 up to $250.

I know a lot of you still have questions about the gears and equipments especially for the lenses. We’ll talk about it later and I would suggest that you pay attention on the basic photography articles. Having a DSLR camera with lens attached on it will be enough as starting point for the next few months. Learn and shoot from it. Knowing more about photography will help you choose the right gear and equipment in the future. Photography is not about the best gears and equipments; it’s about how and what you can create out of it.
I hope that this guide will help you in choosing your camera. If you have comments or questions please let me know.