A tough decision war happens to all who want to buy a digital camera, whether to buy a compact digital camera or an SLR digital camera. SLR is Digital Single-lens reflex camera, which is a standard tool for professional photographers. It provides the advantage of large, bright and accurate optical finder with large controls and fast operations.



Among the digital cameras, the SLR camera is the best for you provided if you are a family oriented person having a serious appetite for photography. For capturing pictures during family vacations, birthdays and holidays, the SLR camera will be the best companion.

The main advantage and biggest difference that exit in the SLR is that there are more manual operations than the point-and-shoot cameras have. To get a perfect shot, your camera should be always in ready mode. SLR cameras offer instant start up and also minimum shutter lag. The point-and -shoot cameras have shutter lag of 2 or 3 seconds, which means you can miss a shot.

The SLR camera's shutter lag is less than a second and so you can get all the shots without miss. Another advantage is that the SLR cameras can accept interchangeable lenses. This helps you in getting best shots of sports and nature where you cannot go close for taking pictures. You can zoom the lens of SLR digital cameras and take close-ups. The other advantages are long battery life, high-speed continuous shooting, great image sensor and the ability to save RAW images.

The digital SLR is built in such a manner that it enables to deliver high quality images. In a compact digital camera, the image that you see in the eyepiece or through LCD screen is generated digitally; but in SLR the image is sent by the lens and mirrors to viewfinder that reflects the images from one mirror to another. The digital SLR is versatile and that is why the image seen in an SLR is exact without any alteration. The interchangeable lenses allow you to utilize custom lens for a meticulous shot like Portrait, Landscape and Macro or Micro shots. Some lenses are even available for taking motion shots.

The image sensors in SLR provide good picture quality and quick shoot and click capability with no time lag. Detachable lenses give more attraction for photographers in choosing SLR as their choice. If you are not comfortable with manual operations SLR cameras have automatic settings and this provides transitional steps in learning to use an SLR.

If you go during off hours, you should have plenty of time and space to try out all the cameras you want. See if you can cajole them into letting you take a few home to try out. After this exercise, your short list should be really short. Maybe even a list of 1.

Picking the best camera brand is very hard, and is something that varies greatly. Some may say Canon, while others may say Kodak. Technically, there is no best camera brand, and it really just comes down to individual preference. Nonetheless, there are quite a few brands that really do dominate in many ways. These brands include Olympus, Leica, Panasonic, Minolta, Fuji, Pentax, and Sony. As you can see, it is hard to pick just one brand, as there are many brands that are right up there as "the best camera brand".

As for quality, this may be a bit easier to rank. At the top would be Leica, followed by Panasonic, Minolta, Olympus, Yashica, Practika, Pentacon, Fuji, and Zeiss. There are several other brands, and just because they are not on this list does not mean they are bad brands. In fact, in this time there is really no such thing as "bad camera brand", but there are just certain brands that really shine.

Overall, many would say that the Leica could be the best if it was smaller. Many people do not like it because it is not one you can fit in your pocket. Olympus is probably one of the best digital SLR, and if you are willing top pay big bucks for lenses, then this is your best bet.

There are five categories, and before picking a specific brand you should definitely know which of these you will likely want. The categories include ultra compact (very small), compact (small), creative compact (a bit bigger than the compact cameras), SLR-like (larger), and the SLR (the largest). Some brands will not have good SLR cameras, so if you want a good SLR camera, some brands may not be an option for you. Try out some different cameras; see how you like their look, and their interface. It really comes down to individual preference over anything.