All articles copyright 2007 Jeff Coleman
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The difference between a professional camera and a consumer SLR.
As I saved up money for my first professional digital SLR I dreamed about how much better my pictures would be. They had to be. The camera did so darn much and cost a fortune. After getting the camera in my eager hands it didn't take long for me to realize that the camera didn't take better pictures than the 6 megapixel Digital SLR I was using. The actual image was sharper because I also had new professional lenses but the overall images were the same. If you think that a more expensive camera will magically make your images better because of advanced light metering or faster focus think again. I would say it is actually much harder to get a good image from a pro camera if you don't know exactly what you're doing. Pro camera offer you endless customization but they provide you with few preset modes. The camera was designed for someone who can do everything manually. You won't find a night time, or sports or portraits mode on a pro camera. Pro's know how to do those things manually. With all of the customization available an amateur could easily and almost certainly screw up the camera in a bad way.
Professional photographers constantly change ISO, white balance, shutter speed, aperture, focus point, metering mode and more. We need buttons for all of those things so we can change them quickly. Entry level cameras hide all of that stuff in complex menus. Pro cameras also display all of that information on the top and back LCD screen. The second major reason to own a pro camera is it's durability. I can use my camera in the rain or the dust without any worries. I can drop it or bang it into things daily without a care. A third and somewhat debatable reason to own the pro camera is to impress clients. If you're representing yourself as a professional photographer and you show up with the same camera that the people you're working for own, they may not take you too seriously. With that said, I know many professional photographers who shoot with prosumer Digital SLR that cost about $1,200.
Any camera can produce professional results with the right person behind it. |
