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Suitable Cameras
The PhotoSchool location workshops and Online Course are designed for Digital SLR camera users, but if you have a Bridge camera, advanced compact or mirrorless camera, which allows you to change shutter speed, aperture or ISO settings, and has modes like 'Aperture Priority', you will be able to follow the lessons and complete the course too.
If you're thinking about buying a camera, here's a brief introduction to the main types available. Check out the Camera Buying Advice page, too.
Digital SLRs
DSLRs are normally the larger size of camera body available, and they have interchangeable lenses. Their digital sensors are LARGER than smaller cameras, resulting in sharper images.
DSLRs are divided into 'full frame' DSLRs which have the largest sensors and biggest camera bodies, and 'cropped' sensor (APS-C etc) cameras.
DSLRs generally offer the pinnacle of flexibility in ergonomics, usability and digital photography in general, but are normally larger, heavier and more expensive than other types of digital camera.
When you're weighing up DSLRs remember you can't simply compare the number of megapixels - for example, a Canon 5D Mk I, whose sensor has 12.3 MP and is a larger, 'full frame' sensor, produces sharper images than a Canon 700D, whose smaller, 'cropped' sensor has 18 MP.
In other words, knowing how the physical size of the sensors in cameras compare is just as, if not more important than knowing the resolution of the sensor... Your phone's manufacturer shouting about 40+ megapixels in their advertising may sound pretty impressive, but the images are almost certainly going to look pretty rubbish compared with an image from a lower resolution, larger sized DSLR camera sensor.
Hint: Use your phone for making phone calls and communicating, and your camera for taking pictures.




'Bridge' Cameras
So-called because when they were introduced they 'bridged' the then gap between compact cameras and DSLR cameras. Most bridge cameras have a non-interchangeable, large range zoom lens, and most have a single lens reflex (SLR) system which enables the photographer to see the image in the viewfinder through the lens which takes the final photograph (there's no separate viewfinder, such as those found in older design compact cameras).
On the plus side, they're normally smaller, lighter and less expensive than DSLRs with similar quality as some cropped DSLRs, and as long as yours has Aperture Priority (A or Av) or Manual (M) exposure mode, you'll be able to follow my courses and workshops.
Be aware though that the cheaper bridge models often limit the functionality of key features (for example, some limit the choice of f. stops that the photographer can set to a choice of just two!!) and that as with smaller mirrorless or advanced compact cameras, because space on the camera body is limited it's often fiddly to get to functions that are used often. Larger DSLRs with more traditional control layout don't suffer from these problems quite so much.
Most bridge cameras also do not have an optical viewfinder like the majority of DSLRs. What's an optical viewfinder? One that doesn't have a small LCD screen that you use to frame / focus your image with - many photographers prefer to see a 'real life' analogue image through the lens that takes the picture. If that's you, you may not get along well with an electronic viewfinder (EVF).
Mirrorless
Recent years have seen a rise in popularity of mirrorless camera designs. 'Mirrorless' because there is no need in the design of these cameras for a mirror to be mounted inside the body to allow the photographer to see the image through the lens that takes the picture.
NB Mirrorless cameras are split into two broad groups - those with no viewfinder and those that look visually very similar to a DSLR, but which actually have an electronic, as opposed to an optical viewfinder (the bit you look through is a smal LCD screen, rather than an analogue view through the camera lens!!)
Whilst mirrorless cameras without viewfinders are smaller and more compact, the fact that there is no viewfinder forcec you to operate them at arm's length - not great for avoiding camera shake or subtly taking candid shots!
However, mirrorless cameras are a sign of things to come, wth many models boasting a range of high tech features that aren't on many DSLRs. Image quality on higher spec models matches what any DSLRs can deliver.
And as battery technoolgy improves, we won't have to worry about cameras that are so heavily dependent upon, and use so much, battery power.
My advice - don't ever be tempted by a mirrorless camera without a viewfinder. Just say no.
However, the good news is that if you have a mirrorless camera already, even one without a viewfinder, and your camera allows you to adjust aperture, shutter speed and ISO, and select modes like Aperture Priority (AV or A) or Manual (M), you'll at least be able to complete the lesson tasks at PhotoSchool Workshops and on the Online Course.
Compact Cameras
Sometime around the late 70s / early 1980s, camera manufacturers settled on a new label for smaller-than-SLR size 35mm cameras... the COMPACT camera. They were small, normally had a fixed, non interchangeable lens, and a separate viewfinder which displayed ever so slightly a different view from the view of the lens which would take the final picture. Compact Cameras were another step up in the camera evolutionary scale from the 'instamatic' cameras of the 1960s and 70s, themselves a development of the first mass produced 'point and shoot' cameras of the 1920s and 30s.
Today's compact cameras, of course, are a lot more clever, and a lot more digital than the cameras of 90 years ago. The most advanced compact cameras today offer a similar degree of control as the features on DSLR cameras, but they suffer from non-interchangeable lenses, and, like mirrorless cameras, from having to use their rear LCD screens as viewfinders. Like mirrorless cameras, their design is fundamentally flawed and their operation clumsy.
However, if you have a compact camera as your main digital camera and your camera allows you to adjust aperture, shutter speed and ISO, and select modes like Aperture Priority, you will at least be able to complete the lesson tasks in this course.

Is your camera suitable for use on this course?
The following cameras are suitable for use on this course:
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Digital SLR cameras with interchangeable lenses
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Advanced compacts or mirrorless cameras with either Manual or Aperture Priority ('M', 'A' or 'AV') exposure modes offering a high degree of user control
Please note that the lesson on focussing and reference to interchangeable lenses may not be applicable to your camera if it doesn't have the ability to change lenses. Otherwise, most cameras which have the above controls or allow the user to change shutter speed or aperture or ISO settings are suitable for use on this course..
Suitable DSLRs include:
Canon
D30, EOS 1D, EOS D60, EOS 1Ds, EOS 10D, EOS Digital Rebel (300D), 350D, 10D, 20D, Digital Rebel XT (350D), 5D, 30D, 400D (Digital Rebel Xti), 40D, 450D (Rebel XSi) Rebel XS (1000D), 50D, 60D, 70D, 80D, 5D MarkII, 5D MarkIII, 5D MkIII, 6D, 500D (Rebel T1i), 7D, 550D, 600D, 650D, 700D, 750D, 760D
Nikon
D100, D200, D300, D500, D600, D610, D700, D750, D800 / D800E, D40, D50, D70, D80, D90, D5000, D5100, D5200, D5300, D5500, D5100, D7000, D7100, D7200, D3000, D3100, D3200, D3300, D5, D4S, D4, D3X, D3S, Df
Olympus
E-5, E-3, E-30, E-410, E 420, E-510, E-520, E-620,
Pentax
Pentax K-r, K-x, K-7, K-5, K20D,
Sony
A900, A850, A700, A580, A550, A390, A380, A350, A200, A100
Sigma
SD1, SD10
Fuji
FinePix S1, S5, FinePix S9900W, S9800, Fuji X-T1, X-Pro1, X-Pro2, X-T10, X100T
Other cameras that you can use on this course include:
Some advanced Compact Cameras (Canon G10 and similar), Some Mirrorless Micro Cameras (Olympus PEN, Sony NEX series, Fuji X series or similar)
If you're uncertain about whether your camera is suitable for use on the course, email me c/o the CONTACT page or call 07941 040143 (UK business hours) before purchasing a place on a workshop.