Question Trove
I am a serious enthusiast and want to buy a D-SLR to learn and do more of travel and wildlife photography (I do not have patience for bird photography though). My husband has a Nikon D90 and I find it heavy after hand-holding it for 10-15minutes continuously. ( I have a light body structure and small hands and wrists). I have been thinking about a Nikon D3200 (as I can share some lenses and gear with my husband in the future), but have certain concerns and doubts after reading the recent review by and other reviewers online. The concerns are: 1. D3200 is a 24 MP camera. I read your article ‘ MegapixelMadness’ in the latest issue. It has confused me about D3200. Is such a high megapixel resolution required or instead can I get a better IQ from any other DSLR? 2. Is Autofocussing of D3200 a tad slow/inaccurate? Could you please explain why and how slow the focussing is? Is it so serious a problem that one should reconsider buying it? I would also like to know what drives a camera’s auto-focus speed and accuracy. I am now wondering whether I should rather go for D3100 or any other D-SLR, may be from Canon?
3. My husband is of an opinion that I should go in for a D7000, since I might outgrow the D3200
fast and the D7000 is better overall (I have used Nikon D90 quite a bit). What is your opinion?
4. I like the red body of D3200. Can it be a distracting issue while shooting wildlife?
5. I am also reading a lot about mirror-less cameras now a days. Are these better than D-SLRs in terms of IQ? Should I wait for some time before buying my D-SLR so that prices of these bodies and lenses are cheaper? Deepa Ashar via E-mail 1. For general, day-to-day photography, you do not require such a high resolution camera. High resolution cameras also require top-notch quality lenses (read that as very expensive) if you really want to achieve the maximum image quality the camera is capable of. However, such cameras are at an advantage when you crop your pictures. Do note that high resolution models require a very steady hand, because along with the high resolution, they also bring out the ill-effects of hand shake during exposure. 2. I would not say that the autofocussing on the Nikon D3200 is inaccurate, but slow or fast autofocussing depends
on the lighting conditions, contrast at the point of focus, and the lens speed. Almost all cameras struggle to autofocus in low light/low contrast situations. A camera’s AF speed and accuracy depends on the autofocus module that the camera uses (that is the manufacturer’s decision, you have no control over it), the ‘speed’ of the lens (fast lenses provide quicker and more accurate AF), contrast and lighting conditions. When you use fast lenses, the cross-type AF sensors get activated, resulting in more accurate and faster autofocus. 3. You could outgrow the D7000 too! Just joking. I too use the D7000 and it is a very good camera. You mentioned that you are interested in wildlife photography too. Do note that the long telephoto lenses required for wildlife photography are very heavy (I am mentioning this since you said that you find your husband’s D90 to be heavy). 4. Not really. Many animals do not recognise colour, and even if they do, the camera body is generally hidden behind the lens.
5. I for one do not believe in waiting for
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