Hi folks,

I should start by saying I’m not a “photography person”, and neither (right now) is my wife.

Since our son was born in June, she’s been taking pictures by the dozens each day. She has a Canon Power Shot (not sure which one, exactly) that is I think maybe 3 years old (maybe older, it’s pretty beat up…). We had some professional photos taken a few months ago, and obviously they look a lot better than what we get with our old point and shoot. Both of our parents recently got new point and shoot’s, and she’s also noticed that the picture quality from them is better as well, just because the cameras are newer with better technology.

Her birthday is coming up and she mentioned she wants a new camera. One of her friends came by with a Canon EOS, and she mentioned she might be interested in that style of camera instead of a smaller point and shoot. So, I went to Best Buy and started looking at point and shoots and DSLR’s. I was thoroughly confused. However, the guy there took 45 minutes to give me a pretty thorough and relatively technical explanation of the differences between the two types of cameras (image sensor size, lenses, etc...). I also talked to a friend who know a little about photography and cameras, and then used the internet to fill the gaps and supplement anything I may have missed.

The point is that at this point, I have a pretty good understanding of the differences between point and shoot and DSLR. As far as picture quality, customization, and “room to grow” go, the DSLR is obviously better. The point and shoots win out in terms of size and simplicity of use. Even the point and shoots that we're looking at are the bigger ones, so either way we’re not really looking for something that can easily fit in a pocket and be taken out to bars on a Saturday night (we have phones that can serve that purpose now). We (or at least I) are leaning toward a DSLR. It sounds like fun. After shopping around, we’re specifically looking at the Canon EOS Rebel T2i. For comparison, the point and shoot she’s looked at is the Power Shot SX40.

What I’m trying to figure out is if the DSLR will be “convenient” enough for what she wants to do. If she just picks the DSLR camera up to grab a candid shot and uses the “auto” setting, will we still get a better picture than with the Point and Shoot on auto setting? Or are we wasting the nicer features of the nicer camera? Does she need to learn how to manually adjust settings on the DSLR to get better picture quality?

Another thing she’s interested in is the ability to take multiple shots at a time. The T2i claims 3.7 fps, but is that in “auto” mode (ie – will she be able to use that feature on the fly)? The PS SX40, on the other hand, claims 8 fps. 8 fps seems like overkill to me, but this isn’t really my area of expertise, either.

What do you guys think?

PS – We both know that a Point and Shoot will serve our “needs” in this case. But it’s her birthday and I’m all for including some “wants” as well. I just need to make sure a DSLR will meet our “wants”.

Last edited by malibu43; 01/20/12 10:28 PM.

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