From prosumer to SLR...

So why do people go from the world of compact cameras to the bulky SLR ones? Having been bitten by the bug very recently, I am compelled to articulate.
Simply put, its the desire to take better pictures irrespective of the situation you happen to be in. I quite liked my prosumer Lumix FZ-18. I captured some pics, especially landscapes in broad daylight, which I still feel happy about. But once I took the next step and started to use the manual controls more, the deficiencies started showing. Every so often, while taking a portrait against a not-so-plain background, I'd think - oh how I wish I could throw the background out of focus like the pros do. Or, while shooting indoors, I wished I could do it without using the flash and destroying all the ambient light. And when focussing on thin, delicate objects, I wished the manual focussing was a little more usable. And the list went on.

So now that I have one, how is it different?
Having a DSLR is a lot different from having a consumer/prosumer camera. When I was still living in the 'compact' world, I had little idea of how these differences would affect how I took pictures.
The first and the most tangible difference is really the speed. It takes sub-second time to startup and start clicking. Saving pics to the card is pretty much instantaneous too. And manual focus is a breeze using the lens' focussing rings. Where it slows u down is while changing lenses, if you have to. But then most of the time, you have a good general idea of what kind of shots you'll be taking in a given situation, so the need to hurriedly change lenses shouldn't really exist.
Next, and very importantly, is image quality. The automatic white balance is more accurate in general (if you don't prefer to set it yourself), you can achieve beautiful bokeh (blurring) of background in portraits (depending on the lens you've got), easier focussing means that you capture exactly what you want, how you want.
There are a few things I miss from the Lumix though - the compactness of course... and the fact that the lens cover is not attached to the body of the camera but has to be (clumsily) handled every time I want to go into photo-taking mode. Minor annoyances.
So if you are at (what I call) the threshold of your compact camera, like I was, maybe it is time.

Digital SLR

After tinkering with my prosumer Lumix FZ-18 for a couple of years, I have finally decided to take the leap and get a DSLR. Having said that, the Lumix has definitely performed to my expectations. I still look at some of the pics I took with it and think, thats not bad for a prosumer camera.

The first choice was of course which system to buy. I asked a few people, the local camera-shop guy, and of course, dpreview.com and concluded that it had to be Canon. The best DSLR body within my budget was the Canon EOS 550D (or the RebelT2i in the USA). Another reason for this choice was that it allowed me to save enough for the lenses. The whole point of getting a DSLR is to have good lenses, after all.

When it came to buying lenses, the camera-shop guy's advice was loud and clear. Pretty much everything you'd want to do, as a beginner DSLR user, can be done with the twin-lens-kit which one can get with the 550D. But I checked the reviews and found that the 18-55 mm lens included in the kit isn't quite that great a choice. After checking out a few other canon lenses, I found the 85mm f1.8 prime lens. This lens is primarily for portraits (and specialises in indoor and lowlight situations) and had consistently positive reviews.

For the second lens, I decided to go with the 55-250, as it seemed to give good bang for the buck.

So then thats the combo I've gone with. Now I need to find a good case, maybe a lens hood and a SD card. More about that later...

And another one...

	Had a good start to the day, courtesy this Grey Butcherbird. Was having my usual cup when his mixture of piping cries and throaty calls caught my attention. That's the one common thing amongst all birds who visit me, they're all incredibly noisy!
	I had clicked this bird in June thinking it was the omnipresent Magpie-Lark until today I saw the "hook" on the beak. It feels good to get it right now. More information here.

New kid on the block

On an inevitably lazy Sunday morning, I heard a recognizably new voice outside the balcony. Luckily he was gracious enough to allow ample time to get some reasonable shots (though the tree branches and criss-cross wooden planks of my balcony wall made it a bit hard to get a good look at him) It is a male Oriole(Fig bird). Few more pictures here. Hope the visitors keep coming often!