If I’m out and about on my daily business and unexpectedly see a great photo opportunity, I’ll automatically reach for my smartphone, it being the camera I always have with me. But when I’m heading somewhere, or to meet someone, that I know will end up making for a great photograph, I’ll make sure I pack my interchangeable lens camera – even if said camera is a Canon EOS 550D / Rebel T2i DSLR, also known as the Kiss X4 in Japan.
Outdated for video and action photography and improved upon since it may be, but this 16-year-old DSLR is still my go-to as a very capable 18-megapixel APS-C sensor camera that consistently produces excellent results, even when ‘just’ equipped with the standard 18-55mm f/3.5- 5.6 lens it came with. Relatively compact and lightweight too at 530g with battery and SD card, it may not meet the craze for low-resolution plastic-y fixed lens snapshots, but at the time of writing this DSLR can be picked up second-hand for essentially the same as what a very basic point-and-shoot will cost me new.
I believe this makes it an excellent choice for anyone seeking to learn the art of photography who wants a fully featured camera with enough functionality that I’m able to see the effects of manually changing settings in real time as I thumb buttons and spin the top-plate command dial. My nieces have both borrowed it when learning photography as students.
I also love the way that the DSLR’s eyelevel viewfinder removes peripheral distractions – and, when compared with an Internet-connected phone, additionally removes a whole load of other distractions with it. Yes, I could call using the DSLR a ‘purer’ form of photography compared to using an iPhone if I wanted to sound fancy. And while results from the DSLR may look a little flatter in comparison, having not already undergone heavy in-phone processing, I’m quite happy adjusting contrast and retrieving shadow detail myself, thank you.
And here we get down to the crux of the matter as to why a DSLR, even an old one, will still be better for ‘proper’ photography than a smartphone. Yes, my DSLR has a physically bigger sensor than my phone, allowing it to collect more light, plus utilises high-quality optical glass – that’s a given.
But this combination also produces a result that feels more authentic – something we’re all striving for in the current age of digital images not always being as they seem – without the need to rely on digital guesswork or AI to fill in any gaps, or the artificiality of digital smoothing to produce an acceptable result in low light.
OK, so maybe we need to know a bit about what we’re doing to get the best results from a DSLR… compared with just needing to point and shoot with our iPhone and achieve acceptable ones.
But that’s an integral part of the real enjoyment of photography, right?
