Why I Shoot with a DSLR

With many different types of cameras out there, ranging from a vintage Kodak film camera to a Sony a7R V, options are aplenty. Dialing into why you would use one over the other breaks down into your personal preferences. Because photography can be expressed in a seemingly infinite amount of ways, there is likely a camera to fit your exact style.

I have always only shot with a DSLR camera. The best way to answer why is to pinpoint reasons I don’t shoot with other types of cameras.

DSLR versus Film

I don’t shoot film, which leads to the obvious statement that I prefer the digital side of photography.

However, the best way I can break down the differences between why someone would shoot film over digital is by comparing two people brewing coffee in the morning. I witnessed this in real time. This story may be dramatized for added effect. 

I’m an early riser. While waiting in the kitchen for people to come to awareness with themselves and the surrounding world, I noticed two men seeking out that morning cup of joe. One stepped up to the cupboard and grabbed a weirdly specific mug from a local law firm. He then placed this mug under a Keurig, pressed a button, waited a few seconds, and walked away with his prize. 

Let’s call him contestant number 1. 

Contestant number 2, as we will call him, was still unpacking his hand-crank coffee bean grinder and pour over kit long after contestant number 1 started drinking his coffee. While waiting for water to heat up, number 2 could be seen pacing the kitchen floor while rotating a small handle on his grinder for several minutes. Once the floorboards were sufficiently worn down, which is the primary signal that the coffee beans were ground enough, he put the perfectly ground beans into his filter. This naturally fit neatly into a collapsible metal funnel that sat atop his more generic mug.

Clearly this process required an incredible amount of added effort and time. I had to ask the obvious question; why? It’s coffee. You drink it to enjoy life, not waste life making it. 

To my surprise, his quick and slightly wise response was, “It’s all about the journey.”

Both individuals walked away with a hot beverage intended to kick start their metabolic engine. Most coffee snobs would suggest that one was far better in quality. Clearly machines do a better job than anything handmade. Especially ones that blast hot water into a plastic cup full of year old grounds. Ok, maybe not. However, the quality was at a cost of time and work. Sure, it was good coffee, but not everyone values that added quality in relation to the additional effort needed.

DISCLAIMER: To be perfectly clear, I’m not suggesting that film has better quality than digital. This is merely an example to showcase the differences in preference. Back to your regularly scheduled blog post.

Hopefully that helps communicate the differences between film and digital.

If not, see formula below:

Film = Pour Over … Digital = Keurig.

I’m a results oriented person. If I can have the end result in front of me almost instantly versus spending an abnormal amount of time in a dark room inhaling toxic fumes, I’ll take the digital. 

DSLR versus Mirrorless

No one, and I mean no one came here to learn the intricacies of how a DSLR works. Digital Single-Lens Reflex cameras are my preferred option over mirrorless in an extremely shallow way. And the best way to communicate this is through a brief lesson in the workings of each. This did require some Google searching.

In essence, when you pick up a DSLR camera and look through the viewfinder, you’ll see nothing but black. Once you take the lens cap off, you’ll see whatever is in front of you. To be more specific, you’ll see whatever is in front of you in the perspective of the lens attached. Your focal length will largely determine this perspective. One way to think of this is, when you’re looking through a lens at about a 22mm, this is about as close to your natural eye as you can get. Anything wider or narrower than that is a different perspective from what you’re naturally attuned to.

So you look through your viewfinder and appear to be looking straight through the lens. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Your horizontal gaze through the viewfinder is actually pointing you to a pentaprism. Meandering its way through the pentaprism you are now looking straight down. Straight down into a mirror. The mirror is pitched perfectly to point you horizontally out the lens. It’s a few steps but ultimately when you look through your viewfinder, you see what is in front of you. The only thing in your way is complicated glass.

Now what is interesting, and may seem a bit redundant, is that the mirrorless camera doesn’t have a mirror. *Pause for effect* Meaning, when you look through the viewfinder, you aren’t looking at exactly what is in front of you. It is a digital representation of what is in front of you. 

Technology like this works for your benefit in a few ways. First, since it is already a digital representation of your scene, anything you adjust in the settings updates the digital screen automatically. When you adjust the exposure, the image adjusts with you. You never have to question if your image will be too dark or over exposed since it updates in real time.

What I don’t like about this is that you aren’t getting a totally accurate reading of what you’re looking at. The image is delayed, albeit, newer mirrorless cameras are near perfect with eliminating the delay. However, it still exists and can be witnessed by moving the camera back and forth to see the lag. Shallow reason, I get it.

Secondly, the removal of the mirror and updated technology makes for smaller camera bodies. This has been appealing to many as they are easier to travel with and tend to be lighter to carry around. That is, until they realized that the lenses for mirrorless cameras are almost identical in size to the DSLR’s. Also, mirrorless cameras keep getting bigger, not smaller. I don’t care about the size of the camera body, I’m a full grown adult that can handle carrying around the additional cubic inches.

All that to say, I want to see what is in front of me in its purest form and the pros in technology do not outweigh the preference of looking through glass.

DSLR versus Camera Phone

One of the more painful moments in my photography career was an encounter with a fellow photography enthusiast. This person will remain nameless, though, this is a true story. 

I hadn’t seen this person in many years. However, we did follow each other's socials and kept up with each other's photos. As much as I hated social media, it was the only way for people to see my epic pictures of chickadees. I had recently spent a chunk of cash on my dream camera and lens. It was a lot of coin, enough so that it took about two years to convince myself to take the plunge. 

Slightly insecure about my purchase, but extremely happy with it, I used my new camera daily and posted my photos online. This individual came over to where I was living at the time along with a good friend of mine. They wanted to see my camera as they had noticed I was posting a lot of pictures lately. I went and grabbed it to display my lack of fiscal responsibility. And I’ll never forget what this person said in response.

“Why in the world would I carry that thing around when I have this?!” They proceeded to pull out an iphone. 

Anyone who thinks there is any equivalency between an iphone and a Nikon D850 needs to be stopped. Given the nature of our relationship, I sat there and just stared. Speechless, appalled, slightly sick to my stomach, I said nothing. That quickly turned into, “Well, it was nice seeing you!” Just walk away, Josh, just walk away.

But the point is the same. Their preference aligned more with the ease of having something that can capture photos and fits in a pocket. This isn’t what I prefer. I own a camera phone. I use it. But not for photography.

I much rather have the equipment to capture exactly what I want and how I want it. I am willing to sacrifice the ease of carrying equipment for the flexibility in what I can capture.

The Big Three

Those are the three biggest reasons I prefer to use a DSLR over other types of cameras. I prefer to see the result of my image in digital format instantly to provide immediate feedback on composition and lighting. I prefer to see the scene in front of me in its purest form as if I’m simply looking through glass. Lastly, I prefer to have the ability to capture scenes in any way I desire by manually changing and updating my equipment in the field.

Also, have you heard the shutter of a DSLR? That is satisfying in and of itself. Why change a good thing?