Spewnotes will take a slight detour from its avowed goal of purposeless rambling and meandering tales to delve into a supposedly useful topic (instigated by the blog's collective readership of one and half souls). My apologies if the post below is solemn and takes itself too seriously - a heinous crime in my view.
Should I buy a digital camera or a DSLR?
Well, assuming good pictures is the goal, one has to start of saying that buying a good camera is no guarantee of a great picture. (as author has found out with recurring regualrity - Editor). So, choose a camera with care. For a DSLR, I think a Canon is a fair choice. Simple to use and takes good pictures. Also, very popular in India and the US.
Deals: Best to get from the US or Singapore -cheapest there. You will get a basic DSLR for about 20-25K.
Canon 1000D is probably what we could call a basic DSLR (also known as Rebel XS in the US) - 550-650 US$. In India, retail prices have dropped quite a bit but should still be about 20% higher than the US. If you are adventurous, you can go to Palika bazaar and get the DSLR for an in-between price(I know a guy here I buy from ). Chandni Chowk is the place in Delhi where you get the camera cheapest, but its a wholesale market and may not be great for service. Its a "buy-it, forget-us" price.
For a nation-wide view, cameras generally get imported into Chennai from South East Asia and hence, the grey market prices are lowest there, followed by Bangalore. Of course, this is about DSLRs.
But honestly, I think the rush for DSLR's is a little misplaced and not necessarily for everyone. I'll put it like this:
Low-end digitial cameras >>> Low end DSLR >>>High end digital camera >>> High end DSLR
This is a simplistic view and to be taken as such.
Point I am making so laboriously is that a DSLR is not a necessarily a better camera - its just more accurate in terms of positioning and detail.
For someone not into fine detail photography, a high end digital camera is probably a lot better and a lot cheaper than a DSLR, simply because it has got outstanding flexibility in terms of zoom in and out, Liveview etc. Do check out Nikon or Canon digital cameras and image quality - they cost about INR 20K in India. (Price info applies here as well).
DSLRs, for every new zoom range, you need an extra lens costing INR 5-10 K upwards. The Nikon ones now come with a projector capability - you can project pics directly onto a wall from the camera! For INR30 K you will get an outstanding digital camera or basic DSLR.
The great thing about DSLRs of course is that you can dive deep into the world of photography, learn a lot about it and experiment with different quality lenses (an expensive hobby - my spend on lenses since I started shooting about six months ago is upwards of 20k INR now :))
All in all, buying a camera is a labor of love - else you could find yourself with yet another cool gadget (read all cellphones other than the iphone, thigh massagers, feet scratchers, etc) that you don't use all that much.
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/should-you-buy-a-dslr-or-point-and-shoot-digital-camera
Should I buy a digital camera or a DSLR?
Well, assuming good pictures is the goal, one has to start of saying that buying a good camera is no guarantee of a great picture. (as author has found out with recurring regualrity - Editor). So, choose a camera with care. For a DSLR, I think a Canon is a fair choice. Simple to use and takes good pictures. Also, very popular in India and the US.
Deals: Best to get from the US or Singapore -cheapest there. You will get a basic DSLR for about 20-25K.
Canon 1000D is probably what we could call a basic DSLR (also known as Rebel XS in the US) - 550-650 US$. In India, retail prices have dropped quite a bit but should still be about 20% higher than the US. If you are adventurous, you can go to Palika bazaar and get the DSLR for an in-between price(I know a guy here I buy from ). Chandni Chowk is the place in Delhi where you get the camera cheapest, but its a wholesale market and may not be great for service. Its a "buy-it, forget-us" price.
For a nation-wide view, cameras generally get imported into Chennai from South East Asia and hence, the grey market prices are lowest there, followed by Bangalore. Of course, this is about DSLRs.
But honestly, I think the rush for DSLR's is a little misplaced and not necessarily for everyone. I'll put it like this:
Low-end digitial cameras >>> Low end DSLR >>>High end digital camera >>> High end DSLR
This is a simplistic view and to be taken as such.
Point I am making so laboriously is that a DSLR is not a necessarily a better camera - its just more accurate in terms of positioning and detail.
For someone not into fine detail photography, a high end digital camera is probably a lot better and a lot cheaper than a DSLR, simply because it has got outstanding flexibility in terms of zoom in and out, Liveview etc. Do check out Nikon or Canon digital cameras and image quality - they cost about INR 20K in India. (Price info applies here as well).
DSLRs, for every new zoom range, you need an extra lens costing INR 5-10 K upwards. The Nikon ones now come with a projector capability - you can project pics directly onto a wall from the camera! For INR30 K you will get an outstanding digital camera or basic DSLR.
The great thing about DSLRs of course is that you can dive deep into the world of photography, learn a lot about it and experiment with different quality lenses (an expensive hobby - my spend on lenses since I started shooting about six months ago is upwards of 20k INR now :))
All in all, buying a camera is a labor of love - else you could find yourself with yet another cool gadget (read all cellphones other than the iphone, thigh massagers, feet scratchers, etc) that you don't use all that much.
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/should-you-buy-a-dslr-or-point-and-shoot-digital-camera
