The Best Digital SLR of 2010

Five years ago, picking the best digital SLR of the year was a relatively easy task.

There weren't all that many different cameras to choose from, and often one of the cameras released during the year really stood out from the rest thanks to a special innovation or unique feature set.

In 2010, picking a diamond from the rough is not so straightforward.

The digital SLRs released in 2010 all have impressive features - dust control, image stabilization, movie modes, high-speed autofocus - and there are a variety of cameras designed to appeal to different types of photographers (beginners, intermediates, advanced enthusiasts, etc.).

So, selecting the best digital SLR of 2010 is much more subjective than it has been in the past.

When picking the best DSLR of the year, I often go looking for cameras that aren't just following the pack but instead introduce some new feature or function that has the potential to dramatically alter how people capture images with these cameras.

I was looking for innovation, and I certainly found it in the best digital SLR of 2010.

The Contenders

The big trend of 2010 was to turn the DSLR camera into a hybrid: one that could take BOTH still images and video.

It became abundantly clear that High Definition video in DSLR cameras is here to stay, as all but two of the cameras released in 2010 include a video mode.

If you're looking for a DSLR without video, then you'll have to hunt around for older models. Some of the digital SLRs of 2009 can still be purchased new, but many of them are becoming scarce.

Let's take a look at what the new DSLRs of 2010 had to offer:

RELEASE MONTH	CAMERA	NOTES
April	Canon T2i 550D	The sequel to the T1i 500D, the T2i has a wider LCD screen, more control over video exposure and an external microphone port for improved audio.
July	Sony A290	This ultra-basic camera leaves off features - like a movie mode - to keep the price down and make it a more affordable DSLR option.
	Sony A390	A slight move up from the A290, this camera has live view (the A290 does not) and a flexible LCD screen for high and low-angle shots.
September	Canon 60D	The first Canon DSLR to include a flexible rotating LCD screen, the 60D also gives you manual exposure and audio control when capturing movies.
	Nikon D3100	The small and light D3100 packs in a live view mode and Full HD 1080p movie mode that were missing from its predecessor, the D3000.
	Olympus E-5	The weather-sealed frame of the E-5 keeps out moisture and dust and a new HD 720p mode lets you capture videos using the flexible LCD.
	Sony SLT-A33	By replacing the optical viewfinder with an electronic one, the SLT-A33 is able to have fast autofocus in live view mode and when recording movies.
October	Nikon D7000	Built for rugged use, the D7000 can rip through 6 photos per second while leveraging a 39-point autofocus and a high ISO of 25600.
	Pentax K-r	Although a basic camera (and therefore less expensive), the K-r includes an HD 720p movie mode, 6 photo per second speed and a max ISO of 25600.
	Pentax K-5	The more advanced K-5 has the greatest ISO range (80 to 51200), captures Full HD 1080p movies and is weather and cold-proofed for use in extreme conditions.
	Sony SLT-A55	Slightly more advanced than the SLT-A33, this model has a higher megapixel count and can capture photos faster (10 per second)

And The Winner Is...

My pick for the best digital SLR of 2010 is the Sony SLT-A55.

Without further clarification, this might seem like an odd choice.

After all, there are some pretty impressive contenders in the lineup above like the Canon 60D with its flexible LCD, the Nikon D7000 with its high-speed autofocus and the weather-sealed Olympus E-5 and Pentax K-5.

However, what the SLT-A55 may lack in name recognition it makes up for in the realm of innovation.

I'll explain what is so interesting about this camera - and why it has such potential - in the paragraphs that follow.

Mirror, Mirror In the Camera

Let's take a look at an issue that has plagued digital SLRs since they were first released.

Inside the body of a digital SLR camera, there is a mirror. This mirror sits in front of the camera's sensor, and it reflects light up to a system of mirrors (either called a pentaprism or pentamirror) that bends the light by 90 degrees so that when you put your eye to the viewfinder you see EXACTLY what the lens sees.

If you whip the camera around with your eye up to the viewfinder, the view is just the same as if you didn't have a camera in front of your face.

For many years, the ONLY way you could compose pictures with a DSLR was to use the viewfinder - you could not use the LCD. However, you COULD use the LCD to compose photos on every compact camera.

The problem was that mirror - since it was sitting in front of the sensor and reflecting light up to the viewfinder, the sensor could not send a "live view" image to the LCD at the same time.

"Live" View

Suddenly, there was a breakthrough in the thinking about how a DSLR should work.

Somewhere it occurred to some camera-building engineer that "if I could just get that darn mirror out of the way, THEN the SLR could have live view just like a compact."

And so, the "live view" DSLR was born.

On a live view SLR, the mirror flips up out of the way of the sensor when you switch to live view mode. While this blocks the viewfinder, it enables the sensor to feed a live image to the camera's LCD screen.

This same live view functionality is what has led to the HDSLR revolution: also known as the ability to shoot video with an SLR camera.

However, there's one HUGE problem to many live view systems, and I'll explain what that is next.

Goodbye, Fast Autofocus

A digital SLR's multi-point autofocus system resides within the system of mirrors that bends the light in the viewfinder.

See the problem yet?

Any time a camera is in live view mode and the mirror is UP, the mirror blocks the camera's sophisticated autofocus system.

The first crop of DSLRs with live view forced you to focus manually because of this problem - the current generation of cameras do have live view autofocus but (here's the catch) it's the same autofocus used by many compact digital cameras (also called contrast-detection autofocus).

In a word, it's slow.

So now you have a choice: you can either take still images using the viewfinder and the benefit of a lightning-fast autofocus OR you can take pictures and video using the LCD with an autofocus that's as slow as you compact camera.

However, if you get a Sony SLT-A55, then you don't have to compromise.

Single Lens Transparent

This is what Sony's SLT acronym stands for, and it makes sense once you know that the mirror inside the camera in front of the sensor is partially transparent.

Some of the light that strikes the mirror reflects up to the viewfinder and some passes through to land on the sensor.

Net result: a live view and movie mode with a speedy autofocus that you'd expect from a DSLR camera.

This semi-transparent mirror is also what gives the SLT-A55 the ability to grab consecutive still images at a rate of 10 per second. Since the mirror doesn't have to move out of the way for every shot, this ultra-fast consecutive speed is possible.

This mirror system does come with one drawback: the viewfinder is now electronic rather than optical, which makes it harder to track fast-moving subjects though the viewfinder.

If you'd rather use the large LCD screen rather than the dinky viewfinder to compose your images, then this won't be much of an issue.

More Than a Mirror

If the SLT-A55's only claim to fame was its innovative mirror, that might be enough for some.

But in today's competitive DSLR environment, the SLT-A55 has to have a few more tricks to appeal to a variety of photographers.

One such trick is a feature called Sweep Panorama.

In the "old days" if you wanted to create a panoramic image, you had to take multiple consecutive shots while moving the camera either horizontally or vertically across the landcape.

Then you'd have to use an image editing program and - depending on the size and scope of your panorama - spend a good deal of time stitching all those individual shots together into a single massive image.

The Sony SLT-A55 lets you create panoramic images by pressing and holding the shutter release and then "sweeping" the camera across the view.

Do you enjoy travel and like being able to pinpoint where you've taken a particular photo?

Then the built-in GPS of the A55 should suit you well. It keeps track of location information (longitute, latitude) for every shot you take.

Finally, if you like taking photos from all sorts of angles (shot from the hip, above your head) then you can use the articulating LCD screen to frame shots even when the camera's not at eye level.

In Summary

As you can see, the main reason that I selected the Sony SLT-A55 camera as the best digital SLR of 2010 is because of its innovations.

With its semi-transparent mirror, flexible LCD, fast live view autofocus, panoramic sweep and built-in GPS the A55 has a lot to offer to all sorts of photographers from action junkies to portrait enthusiasts.

Some will argue that it's not a "true" SLR (since it lacks the optical viewfinder), but I feel this camera shares so many features of an SLR that it really falls into the same category.

Only time will tell how well the SLT format catches on - and whether or not any other manufacturers adopt the same idea.

Regardless, the SLT-A55 provides a unique solution to a problem that has impacted the useability of DSLRs for a very long time.

Digital SLR Camera Types

A few short years ago, there was only one type of digital SLR you could get your hands on: those with sensors smaller than a standard frame of 35mm film.I'll go into more depth in just a moment about these cropped sensor SLRs, but first a revelation: today there are five different types of digital SLR cameras in the marketplace.While presenting consumers with more alternatives, the different "styles" of digital SLRs can also lead to a lot of additional confusion.This page helps to break down the five different digital SLR camera types currently available, and explains the defining feature of each one.

SLR Type 1 - Cropped Sensor

The vast majority of the digital SLR cameras available today fall into this category.

Here's the high-level introduction:

These digital SLR cameras have sensors that are smaller than a frame of 35mm film.

Those just making their first leap into the world of digital SLR cameras need not be overly concerned about this, since it primarily affects those who have used film SLR cameras in the past.

The net effect of a cropped sensor is this: the same lens used on a film SLR won't capture the exact same image when it's used on a digital SLR.

Since the digital sensor is physically smaller than a frame of film, the digital SLR captures LESS of the image that passes through the lens - this crops out part of the image and result in an artificial zoom effect.

The amount of scenery you're able to see when looking through the camera's viewfinder is directly related to a property of the lens called focal length.

• Lenses with short focal lengths (between 10 and 20mm) allow you to see a lot of scenery which is why they are also called wide angle lenses
• Lenses with medium focal lengths (between 50 and 100mm) capture a pretty standard view of the world which is why they're called standard lenses
• Lenses with long focal lengths (between 200 and 600mm) are used to get up close and personal with subjects that are far away and are called telephoto lenses

The reason that I just spun off into a brief introduction to lens focal lengths is because when you use any film lens on a digital SLR with a cropped sensor, you're going to have to take the focal length multiplier into account.

An example:

• You're using a digital SLR camera with a cropped sensor, and a 1.6x focal length multiplier
• A standard 50mm lens captures images more like an 80mm lens when used on this camera (50 x 1.6 = 80)

The exact same multiplier can be used with every lens that you attach to the camera: a 100mm lens frames more like a 160mm lens, while a 300mm lens frames like a 480mm lens.

Since I have an entire page that discusses the impact of crop factor, I won't go into any more detail here.

For the purpose of this page, it's important for you to understand that virtually all digital SLR cameras (as of 2008) fall into this category.

Popular entry-level cameras like the Canon Rebel XSi and the Nikon D60 both have cropped sensors, but even higher-end cameras like the Canon 40D and Pentax K20D also have them.

SLR Type 2 - Full-Frame Sensor

The second digital SLR camera type makes sense once you understand the concepts of crop factor and focal length multiplier.

Full-frame DSLRs have sensors that are virtually the same size as 35mm film.

Nikon D700

While you might have already guessed the end result, here it is: a full-frame digital SLR has NO crop factor, or a focal length multiplier of one.

A 50mm lens on a full frame digital SLR captures scenery just like a 50mm lens on a film SLR camera.

Besides preventing you from pulling out a calculator constantly to determine the "true" focal length of your lens, full-frame SLRs come with another benefit: higher image quality.

In the world of digital sensors, size does matter and bigger is better.

The most noticeable improvement in image quality with a larger sensor is reduced noise at high ISO. Even though most digital SLR sensors are cropped, they are still larger than the sensors in compact digicams.

This is why the low-light performance of a digital SLR is significantly better than that of a compact camera.

Images taken at ISO 800 on a compact digital camera are a mess of colored pixels, while ISO 800 images taken with an SLR are sometimes hard to tell from ISO 100.

If cropped frame sensors can handle noise so well, imagine what a full-frame SLR can pull off.

SLR Type 3 - 4/3rds

When Olympus first starting releasing their current line of "E" digital SLR cameras, they did so under the banner of a new standard: something called the 4/3rds system.

The idea behind the 4/3rds SLR system was simple:

Cameras that use the 4/3 system can use ANY 4/3rds lens, regardless of the manufacturer.

Olympus E-520

Prior to this, lens compatibility was pretty much a one-to-one relationship between the company that made the camera and the one that made the lens.

For example, if you bought a Pentax digital SLR, then you'd have to get a Pentax lens to go with it to ensure compatibility. A Canon digitial SLR worked best with a Canon lens attached.

The 4/3rds system attempts to do away with all of this and ensures that any 4/3rds lens will work with any 4/3rds camera.

For a long time, Olympus was the only company adopting the standard and making cameras and lenses that were compatible with 4/3rds. Now both Olympus and Panasonic (who've become partners) develop them.

Recently Panasonic has gone down a new path with this technology, and I'll get to that in just a moment.

The main advantage that 4/3rds digital SLRs have over the others is that they are smaller andweigh less. In fact, the cameras made by Olympus are some of the smallest and lightest digital SLRs on the market today.

4/3rds lenses are also quite light, without sacrificing image quality in the process.

If the idea of an incredibly small sized digital SLR is appealing to you, then you just need to be aware of two things:

1. The 4/3rds sensor doesn't have the same aspect ratio as other (more common) sensors, and this will affect how your photos print
2. 4/3rds sensors are smaller than ones that aren't, resulting in a more significant crop factor (all 4/3rds SLRs have a focal length multiplier of 2x)

SLR Type 4 - Micro 4/3

To be precise, a micro 4/3rds camera is NOT a digital SLR.

The letters SLR stand for Single Lens Reflex, and the "reflex" part of the name means that inside the camera there's a mirror that reflects light up to the viewfinder.

The end result of a reflex system is that you see exactly what the lens sees (which allows you to track even a fast-moving subject through the viewfinder).

Micro 4/3rds digital cameras don't include the same optical viewfinder that's part of every digital SLR camera.

Panasonic DMC-G1

Instead, they replace the entire optical system with something called anelectronic viewfinder (or EVF). The EVF is like a tiny television set inside the viewfinder that broadcasts the image being captured by the sensor.

However, the big difference between compact cameras and Micro 4/3rds cameras is that you CAN change the lenses on a Micro 4/3rds camera.

Essentially, these cameras are hybrids: they have the compact size and very low weight of a compact camera, but they also have the multiple lenses and higher image quality of an SLR.

Currently, only Olympus and Panasonic are developing cameras that fall into the Micro 4/3rds category, and their hope is that these cameras act as a bridge for all those people out there with compact cameras who are indimidated by the size, weight and features of an SLR.

SLR Type 5 - Video/Still Cameras

Not long ago, every digital SLR was missing one feature that is now quite common on every compact camera: the ability to capture video.

This was no real suprise to the community of existing SLR users, but it often came as a real shock to people who "upgraded" from a compact camera only to find out that their new SLR was missing this feature.

There are two main reasons why SLRs lacked video for such a long time:

1. SLR purists argued that there was no reason for them to capture video - SLRs were precision instruments for capturing stills and need not be blended with the hundreds of capable video cameras already available
2. On the technical side, the companies had to find a way to bypass the reflex mirror (an integral component of an SLR camera) and needed to fully develop live mode first

Live view mode (the ability to preview an image on the camera's LCD before you take it) paved the way for the introduction of video.

Nikon D90

The very first digital SLR camera to include a video mode was the Nikon D90, followed closely by the Canon EOS 5D Mark II (both released in 2008).

While the D90 is for the consumer market, the 5D Mark II (in both features and price) is more for professional and semi-professional photographers.

The unique aspect of capturing video with a digital SLR rather than a conventional video camera is also what sets SLRs apart from compact digital cameras: the ability to change lenses.

Now you can capture videos with extreme wide angle lenses and extreme telephoto lenses. You can capture video of tiny insects with a macro lens.

And the video captured by these cameras is not limited to a tiny format only suitable for display on your computer. Both the D90 and the 5D Mark II capture High-Definition (HD) widescreen video, which can then be played back on a modern flatscreen TV.

To make it even more obvious that a TV is the intended display medium, both cameras include an HDMI port. HDMI stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface and it's a new way of transferring a digital video and audio signal from a output device (like a DVD player, video camera, game console, etc.) to your television set.

When you connect camera to TV with a special HDMI cable, you're maximizing the quality of the audio and video captured by the camera.

As we get into 2009 and 2010, expect to see many more digital SLR cameras with HDMI ports that are able to capture both video and stills.