The three breeds of digital cameras

June 3, 2:37 AMCleveland Photography ExaminerDennis Bodzash

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Photo by Dennis Bodzash. Compact (left), advanced (middle), digital SLR (right).

Ever since digital cameras started to become popular, developers have created many designs to suit the needs of individual photographers. Despite the fact that digital cameras come in many shapes and sizes, they can be broken down into three basic groups, which are compact point and shoots, advanced point and shoots, and digital SLRs. Depending on the needs of the photographer, each kind can offer valuable attributes.

Compact point and shoot
At the low end of the price spectrum is the compact point and shoot camera. The reader should note that this category is sometimes broken into the two categories of compacts and sub-compacts. For practical purposes, these cameras are about the same except for physical size. Of all three types, these are inherently the most user friendly to the beginner. These cameras often have fully programmed settings that only require the photographer to push the shutter button to start taking pictures. Most compacts only offer the user the ability to manually adjust a few settings, which can be a positive or a negative for different people. There are exceptions. A few compacts offer the user great control, sometimes full manual control, over settings. Besides the ease of use, compacts make great travel cameras because of their small size.

Advanced point and shoot (super-zoom)
In the middle of the camera spectrum lies the advanced point and shoot. These cameras will feature the fully automatic modes seen in the compacts but most also offer the user greater or even full manual control over the settings, which allows greater creative freedom for advanced photographers. These middle range cameras are much larger than the compacts, but for good reason. Packed into the body is a fully self contained optical system that, in some models, allows for zooming power of over 20x, which is extremely useful for shooting distant subjects. This type is also the smallest segment of the market, as this type of camera has decreased in popularity since the advent of affordable digital SLRs.

Digital SLR
The digital SLR (single lens reflux) sits atop the totem pole of digital cameras. Digital SLRs are the largest cameras and retain the basic design of cameras from decades past. Unlike film cameras, digital SLRs use electronic sensors to capture images. The digital SLR can be anything from a big point and shoot to a fully manual image making machine, depending on how the photographer wishes to set the controls. What sets the digital SLR apart from other cameras is unrivaled image quality and the ability of the user to change lenses according to photographic needs. The price of digital SLRs can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. The differences in digital SLRs will be addressed in a future article. However, what all digital SLRs have in common is the fact that their capabilities are far and away better than those of any point and shoot, which is reflected in the higher price.

For more info: 
ConsumerReports.org guide to digital cameras