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As the digital bandwagon makes its way around the world, we are seeing its tracks touch almost every part of our daily lives. From digital chips in automobiles, coffee makers, telephones, televisions and credit cards, one of the most booming industries the digital era has revolutionized is photography.

While film-based SLRs have been around for nearly a century, digital SLRs have only been around for about a decade. Once a luxury and strictly for the professional crowd, digital SLRs have evolved into a camera that today is being picked off the shelves by amateurs and advanced hobbyists. This change has been brought on by falling camera prices, better picture quality and increased capabilities of these cameras.

But why SLR?

Today’s digital SLRs have the best of both worlds: these cameras can morph from a full manual camera to a point-and-shoot camera with a turn of a dial. They often sport higher mega-pixel image sensors, interchangeable lenses, more on-board functionality, beefier and more durable bodies, faster shutter speeds and instantaneous response from the camera once the shutter button is pressed than standard point-and-shoot digitals.

If you’re accustomed to the point-and-shoot cameras of today, there are a few things you’ll probably miss with a dSLR. To accommodate interchangeable lens mounts that are backwards compatible with older lenses, to allow for larger image sensors and to mimic the feeling of traditional SLR cameras, dSLRs are generally much larger than point-and-shoot cameras. While there are many pluses for having a larger body, tourists and those hoping to stay inconspicuous may want to stay with the small confines point-and-shoot cameras.

Another drawback of dSLR cameras compared with point-and-shoot cameras is that there is no live preview on the rear screen. dSLRs lack this for two reasons: first, there is a shutter and a mirror blocking the path of light from the lens to the image sensor; secondly, more and more of today’s dSLRs are using CMOS image sensors (which are less expensive to manufacture and take less energy to use compared to its CCD rival) do not offer a way of having a live preview due to the inability to map pixels into a matrix.

So while dSLRs may not be for those who need live previews or small camera bodies, their capabilities are much greater than point-and-shoot cameras — at a price.

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