| Your daughter is poised to take her first steps. | | | | child, regardless of how much he or she is moving |
| She's sitting in the middle of the living room, and rolls | | | | around. |
| forward onto her hands and knees. She tentatively | | | | There is also a mode called predictive autofocus, |
| assumes a standing position. | | | | which tracks your child's motion and continuously |
| It's suddenly clear to you that she is about to wobble | | | | adjusts to keep the focus sharp. |
| across the room. You grab your compact digital | | | | Larger Sensors |
| camera and turn it on. | | | | Digital SLR cameras are much larger than compact |
| By the time the camera has powered up, she has | | | | cameras. |
| already taken a few steps. You point the camera at | | | | This provides a unique advantage: the photo-sensitive |
| her, but it can't focus in the dim living room light. | | | | sensor inside a digital SLR is physically larger than the |
| The moment is over - she's sitting down again, and | | | | sensor inside a compact camera. |
| you're left without a photo to show for it. | | | | The larger sensors are more capable of producing |
| If you hate missing moments like this, you need an | | | | high-quality images even in low-light conditions. |
| alternative to your compact digital camera. Let me | | | | If you spend a lot of time taking pictures of your |
| tell you about the benefits of a digital SLR. | | | | child indoors, then you'll really benefit from the larger |
| SLR Defined | | | | sensor size of a digital SLR. |
| SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex, and there are two | | | | No More Red-Eye |
| big differences between SLRs and compacts. | | | | You've probably dealt with a lot of red-eye when |
| First, the image that you see in an SLR viewfinder is | | | | you've used the flash on you compact digital camera. |
| the image that the camera will take. Second, you can | | | | This is because the flash on a compact camera is |
| take the lens off the camera and put a different lens | | | | close to the lens, and the light from the flash is |
| in its place. | | | | reflecting off your child's retina. |
| Besides these two differences, there are many other | | | | Every digital SLR flash pops up far away from the |
| features that make an SLR ideal for a family | | | | camera's lens, virtually eliminating red-eye. |
| photographer. | | | | Even though it's easy to fix red eye with today's |
| Instantly Available | | | | photo editing software, is that really how you want |
| You don't have to wait for a digital SLR to warm up. | | | | to spend your time? |
| Flick on the power switch and the camera is ready to | | | | In Summary |
| go. You can even leave the camera on all the time if | | | | If you're a parent and have been thinking about |
| you want to. | | | | upgrading your 3-year-old compact digital camera, I |
| Digital SLRs have a "sleep" mode to preserve battery | | | | urge you to take a good look at the digital SLR |
| life. Just press a button, and the camera is "awake" | | | | models available. |
| and ready to take the next photo. | | | | The have come down in price significantly in the past |
| Even fleeting moments won't be missed waiting for | | | | two years, and are now competitive with the cost |
| the camera to start up. | | | | of compact cameras. |
| Fast Accurate Autofocus | | | | Think about it this way: it's probably worth the extra |
| Digital SLRs have advanced autofocus systems. | | | | money to know that you will never again miss an |
| They include multiple autofocus points, and they can | | | | important milestone in your child's life because your |
| use any one of these points to quickly focus on your | | | | camera wasn't ready. |