How to choose a semi-professional camera? Important points in choosing a semi-professional camera

Photography is a very interesting activity, it helps us capture the most interesting moments of life, and also express our mood and state of mind through the pictures. For many, photography is a profession, and for others - a hobby, but in any case photography is always one of the art forms. And if you decide to take more or less serious digital photography, then first you need to start choosing the right camera for this. Since professional cameras have a high cost, and for those who will be amateurishly engaged in photography, simply do not need, for this purpose the most suitable semi-professional camera. However, this is not a concrete, but rather blurry and broad concept. And now you will find out what it means and how to choose a semi-professional camera.

How does a semi-professional camera differ from a "soap box"?

This group of cameras is designed for people who already have few options for a standard "soap box", but who do not intend to use the camera for commercial purposes, that is, work in a photo studio.

First of all, such a camera is characterized by the possibility of manual adjustment of the ISO, that is, the level of the sensitivity of the matrix, the ability to control the aperture and shutter speed, and manual focus. In addition, in such cameras you can set the white balance manually. Also in all semi-professional cameras, unlike the usual "soapboxes", there is the possibility of changing the lens. One of the decisive factors in deciding which semiprofessional camera to choose is the choice of lenses of any brand that produces cameras. The choice of a camera depends on how wide a fleet of optics is in a certain firm and how much this optics is available to a customer.

What is ISO, shutter speed and aperture?

If you want to be engaged in photo art and have not yet come across these concepts, then you definitely need to find out what it is. ISO - this is the level of photosensitivity of the camera's matrix. The higher its value, the higher the photosensitivity, but at high values there are noises (the presence of a number of multicolored dots on the photograph). Therefore, it is better to avoid too high ISO values whenever possible in case of insufficient illumination, compensating for low illumination due to lengthening of exposure. 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, evaluating the noise level in the photo.

Exposure is the amount of time that a shutter will be opened between the lens and the camera's matrix. This time interval can range from several fractions of a second to a few seconds. From the exposure depends the amount of light that will have time to get on the matrix. But too long exposure can lead to a blurry photo, to avoid this it is desirable to use a tripod.

Aperture is a device in the lens, consisting of petals. It can open and hide. With an open diaphragm, more sunlight enters the matrix, so you can set a shorter shutter speed. Also, depending on how open the diaphragm is, the depth of field depends (GRIP). If the aperture is open, the depth of field will be less, if covered - more.

Features of a SLR camera

The so-called "SLRs" are cameras that use a mirror in their devices, which is clear from the title. It is placed in front of the matrix at an angle of forty-five degrees and serves to redirect the image from the lens straight to the viewfinder, which you are looking at. This image is inverted, so in the design of SLR cameras there is also a pentaprism that turns the image reflected from the mirror.

Also in SLR cameras there is "LiveTV" mode, which allows you to display the image on the camera's 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, the mirror in the camera will not perform any functions for you.

Many companies are engaged in 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 the hand, how convenient the menu is there and the location of the buttons, etc. And, of course, the quality of the pictures. You can make a couple of test shots from different cameras right in the store, and then look at the big screen, which is better. On the built-in display of the camera, it is quite difficult to evaluate the quality of the images.

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 possibility of changing the lens, the larger physical size of the matrix. It is from this size that the quality of the photos is dependent. The larger the matrix, the more quality images you can get in low light, the less noise there is. Therefore, even when choosing a soap box, first of all, it is necessary to pay attention not to the number of megapixels, but to the physical size of the matrix or the crop factor. Crop factor is a value that shows how much the size of this matrix is smaller than the size of the full frame (35x24 mm). For example, the crop factor 2 means that the matrix used in this camera is half the size of the full frame. In our time, cameras with a full-frame matrix are quite rare and are professional, in addition, they, of course, have a high cost.

In system cameras, the matrix is mostly used with a size of 17.3x13 mm, that is 3x4 inches. Crop factor is two. Less commonly used matrix with a croping factor of 1.5, that is, the same size as in SLR cameras. Cameras with such matrices are mainly produced by Sony, one of the most popular manufacturers of mirrorless cameras.

Also the most famous manufacturers of mirrorless cameras are Olympus and Panasonic.

Housing

Since you choose a semi-professional camera you want a good and high-quality, you must pay attention to the quality of the plastic, of which the body is made. Also the case can be metal - it's even better. Without fail when checking the camera in the store you need to press all the buttons to make sure that they work well and do not sink.

Since choosing a semi-professional camera is a responsible task, you can find user feedback about a specific camera model that you are interested in (before buying it).

Check the camera's matrix before buying it

Now you already know how to properly choose a semi-professional camera, and you can go to the store. When you have already watched the model that you like, checked the quality of its assembly, it remains to conduct another small test - to check the matrix of the camera for the presence of broken and hot pixels. Broken - those pixels that are non-working and do not respond to light are white dots. Hot - also faulty pixels, which all the time remain some kind of specific color.

To check, you need to turn off the flash, close the camera lens and take a couple of pictures at different shutter speeds. This procedure must be set to the minimum ISO, the maximum resolution of the picture, and the noise reduction function disabled. Now you need to see these pictures on a large monitor.

If there are dots of different colors in the photo - a matrix with a reject, since this is the same hot and broken pixels. They will be present at all pictures taken with this camera, especially unpleasant if they are in the center. If the photo is completely black, you can safely take this copy.