Are the days of the DSLR numbered?

[Richard Farrow]

I'm very happy with my Panasonic Lumix DZ 45, (with Leica lens ) bridge camera.
24X optical zoom and 14mp. Good battery life, good manual controls and easy to use.

[nicepix]

To answer the question: Yes. But not yet.

The viewfinder in a DSLR is indispensible at the moment if you want to take certain shots at a high level of image quality especially macro photography where depth of field is critical. Eventually there will be an acceptable digital image in the viewfinder that will make the swinging mirror obsolete. And if you want the ultimate clonk for your bucks try a Mamiya RB67. It goes off like a pigeon scarer.

Before the digital craze started I had a Contax RTSiii with all the Carl Zeiss lenses I needed. But I could also go out with a 1936 Contax ii or five quid Rank-Mamiya rangefinder from the charity shop and take photos good enough to get printed in magazines. The photographer's ability is more important than the equipment.

Now I just use a Panasonic bridge camera. I have no need for anything better or more expensive.

[Ron The Hat Clay]

Originally Posted by nicepix

Before the digital craze started

It's interesting that you call the modern use of digital cameras "a craze".

I get the impression that you are one of these traditionalists wielding dinosaurian pin hole cameras with a massive bellows at the front and huge film plates.

You certainly don't still chuck nasty polluting chemicals down the plug hole do you?

[nicepix]

Originally Posted by Ron The Hat Clay

It's interesting that you call the modern use of digital cameras "a craze".

I get the impression that you are one of these traditionalists wielding dinosaurian pin hole cameras with a massive bellows at the front and huge film plates.

You certainly don't still chuck nasty polluting chemicals down the plug hole do you?

The 'digital craze' was meant to refer to the fisrt few years when photo magazines would publish photos of poor image quality taken using digital cameras and ignore better quality photos taken on film. Editors were falling over themselves to show the new technology even though colours were muddy and definiton was nowhere near as pin sharp as even mediocre 35mm equipment.

Your impression is incorrect as you would realise if you had read my last two sentences

[chav professor]

Be warned!!! lens availability is very poor - new inventions are are time of flux - best to wait for prices to come down significantly and the 'market' to settle on the new chosen format. I would hate to be stuck with an incredible new development that failed to capture the imagination of the public!

[Ron The Hat Clay]

Originally Posted by nicepix

Your impression is incorrect as you would realise if you had read my last two sentences

What's a "bridge camera"?

[nicepix]

Originally Posted by Ron The Hat Clay

What's a "bridge camera"?

One that looks like a DSLR but without the mirror. They have screens on the back for viewing and also a proper viewfinder albeit with a digital image and also a fixed zoom lens that usually encompasses wide angle and telephoto. They are often referred to as bridge cameras as they bridge the gap in features between a DSLR and a compact camera.