What is the difference in a DSLR?

Take it easy on me as this is my first post and I have never even touched a SLR Camera! I currently have a Kodak Z612. (Remember I am new!) What is the differences between this and a Canon Rebel XT, wich is the SLR I am drooling over. Besides being able to use different lenses and having a hotshoe. Be Nice Please thanks

Among other things:

1. Faster focus.
2. Lower noise
3. Higher ISO capability
4. Optical viewfinder
5. Minimal shutter lag
6. Larger buffer and faster frame rate
7. More versatile
8. Better image quality

And welcome to the forum!

Hartness53 wrote in post #3936925
Take it easy on me as this is my first post and I have never even touched a SLR Camera! I currently have a Kodak Z612. (Remember I am new!) What is the differences between this and a Canon Rebel XT, wich is the SLR I am drooling over. Besides being able to use different lenses and having a hotshoe. Be Nice Please thanks

Not sure what type of camera the Kodak is, but with any SLR or DSLR (SLR single lines reflex), means you are actually looking through the lens and metering through the lens vs. looking through separate viewfinder on SP. You are seeing what the lens sees.

To describe this to someone very inexperienced such as yourself:

dSLR camera means
1. Much better overall capabilities to shoot low light, sports, artistically, portraits and unique perspective.

But it costs you:
1. Money, the camera itself costs more than most P&S and the lenses often cost more than the camera....each!
2. Effort. A dSLR shot with no skill or thought will generally yield results similar to or worse than a P&S camera. If you do not plan to read a few books and expeiment a bit (use the manual modes of the camera) then you might wish to stick with a P&S.

Thanks for the polite reply's I have been hanging around here for a couple months now and have picked up a lot of usefull info. I have made countless trips to Barnes and Noble reading books and watching tutorials on the net. And am learning alot. I visited the lens thread to read about the kit lens that comes on this camera and was blown away with the quality of pics. I can never get this quality out of my Kodak. I would like to go to school to learn photography, but with a wife and to small kids and a full time job I just Don't have time. That is why I hang out here so much. It would be neat to have a General Photo Discussuion section on this forum. Thanks for the info, and please keep it coming. I am sure there is plenty other Newbies out there benefiting from all this as well. The politeness and straight answers are truly appreciated.

Advantages of an DSLR are:

1. Fast autofocus
2. Auto focus also works in low light
3. Much decreased depth of field for selective sharpness of main subject
4. Wider usable range for shutter speed and especially apertures
5. Low noise even at high sensitivities such as ISO-1600
6. Suitable lenses for almost all conceivable shooting situations available
7. Generally much faster operation, e.g. no pause between shots
8. High sophisticated external flash system easy to use
9. Long battery life
10. Better image quality for large print sizes (even if the P&S has more megapixels)

The disadvantages (bigger, heavier, more expensive, no video mode, …) are obvious, but these are the prize to pay for the option to take a picture exactly the way you want it and, consequently, get the result that you want.

There are quite a few differences between the cameras many have already been described below. Some of the biggies are that SLRs have removable lenses. This means that along with buying the camera body, you also have to think about the lenses that you will need as well. For instance you Kodak has the ability to cover from 35mm to 420mm. To do the same with a SLR it will require two or more lenses to do the same. As someone pointed out, lenses can cost as much as the body itself.

Another big difference is the size of the sensor. You Kodak has a sensor 5.7mm x 4.3mm. In comparison the the XTi has a sensor 22.2mm x 14.8. So the surface area of the SLR sensor is almost 14 times as large. This is important as the physical photo sites are much larger leading to higher quality, lower noise pixels. It also affect your depth of field shortening it conciderably.

Another big difference is the physical size and weight of the camera and lens. For instance, the XTi body alone is almost twice as heave and it is a very small SLR. Couple that with a quality lens and the camera/lens combo can easily be 3x or 4x the weight of your Kodak. The body as well is larger as the XTi is almost an inch wider and an inch taller as well. In practical terms it means that the SLR is no where as convenient as a compact. Your going to need a bag to carry around all the equipment where a compact can just pop into your pocket.

But the bottom line is quality. Couple the right body with the right lens, spend a little time in post processing and the pictures that a SLR can capture can be stunning.

Welcome to the forum!
To answer your question practically....Your Kodak is what it is....A dSLR is a bottomless money pit...but hey, it's a fun ride and you'll probably get a few nice pics along the way

1. Image quality is much higher due to the larger sensor. All that comes with that - lower noise, better dynamic range, etc...

2. Much better DOF. Most P&S have very little control over DOF. You have a very, very wide DOF.

3. Shutter lag and overall performance. You can shoot action shots with a DSLR and actually have the subject in the frame.

4. Interchangeable - and better - lenses.

J.

can't forget raw images...

Hartness53 wrote in post #3937120
It would be neat to have a General Photo Discussuion section on this forum.

Right here.

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdis​play.php?f=13

When I got my first Dslr a year ago I googled Canon forums and did a search for the model (a D30) and went back to the archives and read EVERY posting on every forum about it...learned more about it from users than I could've from books...remember, the D30 was SIX years old so that's a LOT of posts...the XT being only 3-4 years old you won't have to go back as far as I did...BUT the XT brought many more users to the net so you'll have more posters to learn from...just do a search unless there's a specific forum for the XT series...the x, xt, xti is the basic series, the XXD being the next step up,
and the XD being the pro line...
good luck and enjoy...btw, I just got the XT myself this week and it's very nice.
Forgot to add...the XT is also known as the 350D, the xti called the 400D, and the original X was the 300D.

basroil wrote in post #3938013
can't forget raw images...

What is a raw image?

Hartness53 wrote in post #3938425
What is a raw image?

http://en.wikipedia.or​g/wiki/RAW_image_forma​t