If you want to learn the basics of digital photography, it really doesn't matter whether you're using a digital compact or a DSLR with the exception of these few important differences.
Digital Compacts
One of the biggest benefits of digital compacts is the low cost. Also when you purchase a DSLR you will also need to purchase at least one lens, and if you want to take pictures from afar, you'll also need a good telephoto lens. Digital compacts come with a built in lens and often a zoom.
If you have an optical zoom on your digital compact, you can get some good quality telephoto shots too. An optical zoom is always far better than a digital zoom because a digital zoom works like cropping ??“ it takes away pixels. The more you zoom with digital zoom, the lower the quality of your photograph. On the other hand, an optical zoom maintains the quality of your photo.
Some compacts produce such high quality photographs that many a pro will grab the compact if they dont' want to carry all their DSLR gear. The quality of the photo depends largely on the photographer's skill.
Even though digital compacts don't have as many megapixels as DSLRs, they can still produce a good 8x10 print (perfect for an 8x10 picture frame) even if they just have 5 megapixels.
Finally, learning the digital photography basics of a compact is far easier then learning how to use a DSLR to its full advantage.
Digital Single Lens Reflexes (DSLRs)
A digital single lens reflex is the digital version of the SLR. You can call a DSLR a single lens reflex camera but you can't call an SLR a digital camera. With the debut of the Canon Rebel and other more moderately priced DSLRs (relatively speaking) a few years ago, more photography enthusiasts are discovering the advantages of a DSLR.
The big advantage of the DSLR is its creativity and versatility.?
For example, by using a long telephoto lens you can take a close up of an eagle on the top of a tree and you'll never be able to tell from the picture that he was so far away. With a DSLR, you can find a lens or filter to suit almost any photographic need.
Another advantage to the DSLR is its ability to take crisp, focused sports and other action shots in places with low light where flash isn't allowed. The larger sensor on a DSLR allows you to adjust the ISO and get a good picture, whereas with a compact it usually creates an image with a lot of grain called digital noise.? If you are taking still photos, it's not a problem. The problem with Sports Mode in a low light setting is that the shutter must close quickly so there is just not enough light to hit the image sensor even with a large aperture setting. The only way this can be compensated for is with a flash or a higher ISO setting.
However, you can get rid of most digital noise by using photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop.
Another advantage of using a DSLR is that you can use an external flash instead of always having to use natural light.
Another benefit of DSLRs is that they have more megapixels than even the best digital compacts so you can take and print high quality big pictures for framing in large photo frames like 11x14 picture frames. And lastly, digital cameras are slower to take pictures than film cameras but DSLRs are much faster than digital compacts.
Remember, digital photography basics start with choosing a camera, but the quality of the photographs largely depend on the skill of the photographer. So no matter what type of camera you have or will be buying, it pays to practice.
