Photography is a very interesting occupation; it helps us capture the most interesting moments of life, as well as express our mood and state of mind through the pictures. For many, photography is a profession, and for others it is a hobby, but in any case, photography always remains a form of art. And if you decide to take digital photography more or less seriously, then first you need to start choosing the right camera for this camera. Since professional cameras have a high cost, and for those who will amateurly engage in photography, they are simply not needed, for this purpose, a semi-professional camera is most suitable. However, this is not a concrete, but rather vague and broad concept. And now you will find out what it means and how to choose a semi-professional camera.
How is a semi-professional camera different from a “soap box”?
This group of cameras is intended for people who already have few opportunities for a standard “soap box”, but who are not going to use the camera for commercial purposes, that is, to work in a photo studio.
First of all, such a camera is distinguished by the possibility of manually adjusting the ISO value, that is, the level of photosensitivity of the matrix, the ability to control aperture and shutter speed, and manual focus. In addition, in such cameras you can manually set the white balance. Also, in all semi-professional cameras, unlike ordinary "soap dishes", there is the possibility of changing the lens. One of the decisive factors in deciding which semi-professional camera to choose is the choice of lenses of any brand that produces cameras. The camera fleet may depend on how wide the optics fleet of a certain company is and how accessible these optics are to the customer.
What is ISO, shutter speed and aperture?
If you want to engage in photo art and still have not come across these concepts, then you certainly need to find out what it is. ISO is the level of photosensitivity of the camera matrix. The higher its value, the higher the photosensitivity, however, at high values, noise appears (the presence of a multitude of colorful dots in a photograph). Therefore, it is best to avoid ISO values that are too high when lighting is poor, while compensating for low light levels due to longer shutter speeds. Before choosing a semi-professional camera and finally deciding that you will buy this particular model, if possible, look at the pictures taken with this model of the camera with a high ISO value, while assessing the noise level in the photo.
Shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter between the lens and the camera matrix will open. This period of time can be from a few fractions of a second to several seconds. The amount of light that has time to get on the matrix depends on the exposure. But too slow shutter speeds can lead to blurry photos, in order to avoid this, it is advisable to use a tripod.
Aperture is a device in the lens, consisting of petals. She is able to open and hide. With an open aperture, more sunlight enters the matrix, so you can set a faster shutter speed. Also, the depth of field ( depth of field ) depends on how wide the aperture is. If the aperture is open, the depth of field will be less; if covered, more.
Features of a SLR camera
The so-called "DSLRs" are cameras whose device uses a mirror, as the name implies. It is located in front of the sensor at an angle of forty-five degrees and serves to redirect the image from the lens directly to the viewfinder that you are looking at. This image is inverted, so pentaprism is also present in the design of SLR cameras, which flips the image reflected from the mirror.
Also, in SLR cameras there is a "Live View" mode, which allows you to display the image on the camera screen. If you are not going to use the optical viewfinder, because it is more convenient for you to take pictures, focusing on the screen, then the mirror in the camera will not perform any functions for you.
Many companies are engaged in the production of such cameras, the most famous of them are Canon and Nikon. The answer to the question of which semi-professional SLR camera to choose will depend on your financial capabilities and tastes and preferences. When choosing a camera, be guided by how convenient it is in your hand, how convenient the menu is there and the location of buttons, etc. Well, of course, on the quality of the pictures. You can take a couple of test shots from different cameras right in the store, and then look at the big screen which ones are better. On the camera’s built-in display, evaluating the quality of pictures is quite difficult.
System cameras
System (or, as they are also called mirrorless) cameras are cameras in which there is no mirror and pentaprism, respectively, there is also no optical viewfinder. From the simplest “soap boxes” such cameras are distinguished by the presence of all manual settings, the ability to change the lens, and the larger physical size of the matrix. It is from this size that the quality of the resulting photographs depends. The larger the matrix, the more high-quality images you can get in low light, the less noise will be. Therefore, even when choosing a “soap box”, you first of all need to pay attention not to the number of megapixels, but to the physical size of the matrix or the crop factor. The crop factor is a value that shows how much the size of a given matrix is smaller than the size of a full frame (35x24 mm). For example, crop factor 2 means that the matrix used in this camera is 2 times smaller than the size of a full frame. Nowadays, cameras with a full-frame sensor are quite rare and are professional, in addition, they, of course, have a high cost.
System cameras mainly use a matrix measuring 17.3 x 13 mm, that is, 3 x 4 inches. The crop factor is two. Less commonly used are matrices with a crop factor of 1.5, that is, the same size as in SLR cameras. Cameras with such arrays are mainly manufactured by Sony - this is one of the most popular manufacturers of mirrorless cameras.
Also, the most famous manufacturers of mirrorless cameras are Olympus and Panasonic.
Housing
Since you want a good and high-quality semi-professional camera, you need to pay attention to the quality of the plastic of which the case is made. Also, the case can be metal - this is even better. By all means, when checking the camera in the store, you need to click on all the buttons to make sure that they work well and do not fall down.
Since choosing a semi-professional camera is a responsible task, you can find user reviews about the particular camera model you are interested in (before buying it).
Checking the camera matrix before buying it
Now you already know how to choose the right semi-professional camera, and you can go to the store. When you have already looked at a model that you like, checked the quality of its assembly, it remains to conduct another small test - check the camera’s matrix for broken and hot pixels. Broken - those pixels that are inoperative and do not respond to light, are dots of white color. Hot ones are also defective pixels, which always remain of a certain color.
To check, you need to turn off the flash, close the camera lens and take a couple of shots at different shutter speeds. When performing this procedure, the minimum ISO value, the maximum image resolution, and the noise reduction function must be disabled. Now you need to see these pictures on a large monitor.
If the photo contains dots of different colors - the matrix with the marriage, since this is the very hot and broken pixels. They will be present on all the pictures taken with this camera, without exception, especially if they are in the center. If the photos are completely black, you can safely take this copy.