P&S to DSLR, has it been an easy journey for you?

[Ephemeral]

I see many threads about ppl who are thinking about moving up from P&S to DSLR. I too did the very same thing 2 years ago and have found the transition easy and learning all things that I've learnt off the net and POTN to be none too taxing.

How about the rest of you. How have you found your journey? Did you find the whole exposure thing got in the way of taking a picture? Did you stick with auto mode for an age before venturing into the creative zones?

[elysium]

I never even owned a point and shoot. All I had was a camera phone. The entry into photography was really bad. I bought my 400D and thought I was great and then got laughed at by friends without any real help until I found POTN.

It has been a great journey so far and getting better as I make friends. After I found this forum as a lurker, I moved from Green Box to P then to Tv, Av and Manual. I now know what to use and when to use it.

I learnt glass before body and the advantages/disadvantages of primes/telephotos etc and difference between crop and full frame sensors. Thanks to this place, I am now an owner of a 5D and glad I took this route.

Yes this place is addictive and may seduce you into higher end bodies or faster glass but the support and advise I have seen and got on here is second to none.

[JeffreyG]

Most people here have read extensively from the forums and are probably doing fine.

The strugglers have read nothing and have their D40X on the green box mode and wonder why it takes pictures that look like slightly higher resolution versions of what their P&S did.

[Moppie]

I joined the forum about the same time I bought my A80, which was about 18 months after I bought an A40.
The first thing I did when I got the A40 was take it to a beach, switch it to Manual, and start shooting.

So my transition to a DSLR has not very problematic at all, just getting used to the extra weight and gear to carry around, and the odd occasion where I get the DOF wrong.

But all the basics of photography, exposure etc, are the same, regardless of the camera.

[rammy]

I never owned a camera before getting my DSLR. I spent a lot of time practising on full manual and learning about light, composition and advanced techniques which, as Jeffrey alludes to, is very important if you want to get the best from your DSLR.

[cdifoto]

P&S to DSLR, has it been an easy journey for you?
Financially, no.

[DStanic]

My last P&S that I had for a year was a Sony H5 (similar to S3 IS) which had many of the same manual modes as a DSLR. I always liked to shoot in Av mode and I still do. But I have learned how to use M (I had a manual film SLR before too and knew the basic operations) for when I need to use it. It's been alot of learning but a fun experience! Since I started DSLR in the winter, I had lots of time to practise my indoor shots. Now is the fun stuff going outside and shooting.

[neilwood32]

Financially, no.

Aint that the truth!!!:p

With the help of this forum and another i frequent (Digital Photography School http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/ ), i think i have made the transition to DSLR owner pretty well. Have only used "green box" mode a couple of times in the first week - the rests been Av,TV and manual (which is where im at now)

[Ephemeral]

Financially, no.

LOL. That should be a given when one ventures along the DSLR journey. :D

[Nice Glass]

Went straight for the SLRs and skipped over P&S completely. I am happy I did as well!

[garryknight]

I owned a couple of P&S cameras over the last 5 years or so then in February bought the Casio EX-Z700 when the price was reduced. It was the best P&S I'd ever owned but it cost twice the price of the previous ones. The pictures were great and didn't even need any post-processing. Previous to owning the Casio my photos were all snapshots. Even my best sunset shots had tilted horizons. But just before I bought the Casio I'd been looking at Flickr's Explore Last 7 Days Interesting page and realized what I'd been doing wrong up to then. That's what spurred me to spend £150 on the Casio.

But it was limiting. It was fully automatic with something like 30-odd "scene modes" but you could change enough of the settings to make me want much, much more. And the 3x zoom just wasn't enough for what I wanted to do. So just 3 months after I got the Casio I bought the Canon S3is for £200, and then found the s3users.com site. And because I wanted to get the most from the camera I put it straight on Manual mode then experimented with Tv and Av and it's stayed on Av ever since apart from a couple of crucial shooting sessions. And, of course, the S3 was too limiting. It's a great bridge camera but it really makes you work to get good shots sometimes. Like when the light is too low.

And then on the last day of December my mother died, and in March I received a small legacy that allowed me to buy the Canon EOS 40D and a couple of lenses to go with it (details in my sig). So the ramp up from P&S snapshots to the kind of picture I can produce these days has been easy in technical terms but not quite so easy in emotional terms. Sometimes it's not just about finances...

[RPCrowe]

Transition was extremely easy since digital P&S was only a short detour in my photographic history.

I used a P&S for only a short time when I needed instant digital images of my purebred puppies to e-mail to prospective buyers. Film was just too unhandy and expensive. I needed the images right away and didn't have time to shoot, process and scan the images. Sometimes would only need 2 or 3 images and using an entire roll of film and then paying for processing was wasteful.

Unfortunately, early DSLR cameras were awfully expensive so I opted for a P&S. The P&S allowed me virtually instant imagery but I really hated the camera. The delay between pressing the shutter button and acquiring the image was far too long. I didn't like the parallax problems with the optical viewfinder and the use of a polarizer was clumsy.

When the prices of DSLR cameras finally came down, I opted for a 10D. I have that camera still working and a 350D and a 30D. I also have an older D60 which is converted to full-time infrared.

I have used film SLR cameras since the 1960's. Getting back to SLR's from my quick detour into P&S photography has been refreshing and I have not looked back.

[nicksan]

I've been shooting with P&S Digital Cameras since 2000 or so. My first DSLR was the 300D and the kit lens.

I didn't have a problem at all with the transition. I was eager to learn to be more creative with photography, something my cheap P&S cameras didn't allow me to do, so I was more excited than anything. I went through the typical thing...reading the Understanding Exposure book, talking to some friends who happened to be "educated" photographers, visiting POTN on a regular basis (probably was the biggest help), etc.

It also helps that my wife generally feels that it's a nice hobby with benefits to her in the form of nice travel photos, etc.

I just ran with it...and I am pretty happy with where I am at. Always looking to improve!

[ZeroOne86]

I used a P&S for about a year and then my wife was wanting to step up to a DSLR. We finally got one and it's a hobby that we both enjoy together. It was a little rough at first, but after quite a bit of research and experimentation we've gotten use to M mode. Our next hurdle is our 430EX. So far we've been improving, but still have a ways to get it down to a science.

I can glady say we may have only used the green box maybe once and that's about it. I think it was just to try it out. I agree too that it hasn't been easy financially, but I'm glad we got the 50mm to hold us over till we have the money for a better lens.

[speedy_2]

Easy for me. I had a Sony DSC-P72 as my first camera.

I was in the navy and went on 2 deployments with it. I got my XT after my 2nd deployment. I wish I would've just started with a DSLR first instead of trying to be cheap and getting that Cybershot. So many great shots I missed while underway and in ports. I did manage a few nice shots with the Sony, but I'd do those deployments over again just to take pics with my XT. lol. Can't believe I just said that.

[DavidSR]

I bought my 400D and thought I was great and then got laughed at by friends without any real help until I found POTN.


Same thing with me! lol..but with my fiance, so much for morale support huh? She constantly tells me I don't know how to take "pictures" and she also believes that everything should be centered and she knows absolutely nothing about composition. I'm learning a lot and practicing so she doesn't think my DSLR is a waste of time or money.

[neumanns]

P&S to DSLR was easy....Learning how to maximize all the dslr's potential has been a bit toufgher.

But then again I was never as critical ...of the images out of a P&S. I don't believe I ever looked at a "good" shot and said, Yeah it's not bad but I wish I had used a slightly slower shutter speed to have showed more motion.

My only regret is...Having ever bought a POS, (ups I mean P&S) oh if I could just go and reshoot some of my older kids early years.

[bacchanal]

Good thread to revive. ;)

When I finally moved from P&S (S30) to DSLR (30D) a couple years ago it was like taking the chains off. I was familiar with shooting in M and Av, so the picture taking was a snap (no pun intended). I could finally get the images that I wanted (low light action).
The things that took a little hand holding and getting used to were things like sensor dust, narrow dof, RAW processing, post processing in general, and of course, the amount of money involved.

[Jimmer411]

I discovered that I enjoyed photography when I purchased a few disposable cameras and went with my now wife tonorthwest trek. Talk about exploring your limits. From there I started checking reviews and decided on a sony h2 which was on sale at a good price.

I figured that I would use that camera to learn everyrthing and decide if I wanted a DSLR.

After a trip to the aquarium and woodland park zoo it was all too aparent that I needed more. It would horribly over-expose in daylight since iso 50 ans 1/1000 was the limit, and above iso 400 it had horrid noise noise so indoor shots were equally as bad.


Maybe 3 months later if that I had a new 400D in my hands and its been smooth sailing... other than deciding on lens choices lol. Thankfully the wife supports it and encourages the spending :)

For the record I never shot auto, it was always av and m

[Persephone]

Not especially.

A lot of what I built on the P&S fell apart when trying to transition to the DSLR. For instance, I didn't know that my Nikon only had fixed apertures of f/2.7 and f/4.4, which explained the mystery of why it was so hard for me to get my face in focus when turning the camera around to take self-portraits. The P&S has a 6-50mm range, and it was (and still is) awkward to try to turn the 20D around to take a self-picture; i had to hold it a lot further away to get the same range as the P&S. I haven't yet figured out how to set it so the shutter button both focuses and sets exposure, so there's a lot of fumbling around with using * and then trying to click the shutter. On the flip side, the noise tells me that it's in focus, and shots are always clear and noise-free.

Weight also has cut down the standard sunset run. I used to go about a mile out furtther with my scooter when it was just the P&S, but with the DSLR thumping on my chest, I've had to cut it down to the minimum distance. An Amazon.com review cited that the 18-55mm II is one of the lighest lenses out there, so I can't imagine how it will feel to ride a scooter with the camera around my neck with a real lens rather than the cheaper, plastic lens.

The sunset run also made extensive use of behind-the-fence shots, of which the P&S still reigns supreme. I can put it over the fence, stick it through somewhat-larger holes, and strike much cleaner angles when I put it up against the usual fence slats. I've since learned how to put the 20D over the fence, but due to a lack of Live View I fire blindly and my keep rate plummets pretty badly. I have to turn the lens to 35mm at least to try to replicate the up-against-the-fence shots and I cannot stick the camera inside the hole, period. If I was still daring like I was in 2006, I most ceratinly couldn't take the 20D when I lift the bottom of the fence, and slide in and underneath the hole (that technique dusted up my Canon A400 pretty badly until I brought a plastic bag to house it while I went under).

That being said, the 20D with AI Servo was already super awesome when I went to take shtos of football camp for the newspaper, and that was just with the 75-300mm - which I've learned is widely regarded as Canon's worst telephoto lens. It can surely only get better as I upgrade to the 70-200mm or thereof better lenses. Indoor shots are more difficult, but at least i know what the settings are and i can kick it up to 1600 ISO without having to worry much about noise (the Nikon only went up to 400 ISO and it was a pain to adjust), or try to set it to f/3.5 (f/5.6 at the 55mm end) in hopes of letting in more light. That, too, can only get better, especailly when I upgrade to the 17-55mm.