At less than Bt25,000, a digital SLR camera makes sense

With prices of digital SLR cameras now much lower than a year ago, anyone thinking of buying would do well to increase their budget and opt for a DSLR rather than a cheaper compact digital camera.

SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex, which means that you see precisely what the lens sees. As a result, DSLRs perform much better in terms of speed and image quality than compact digital models.

DSLRs are built to respond to shutter pressure like traditional film cameras and can even capture a burst of shots in rapid succession.

And there are a lot of accessories that you can add to increase performance, among them a brighter lens and an external flash.

Last year, entry-level DSLRs with a resolution of less than eight million pixels were retailing for more than Bt35,000. Now they're more than Bt10,000 cheaper, and that's for an updated 10 million-pixel-resolution model.

The entry-level cameras perform well and are very affordable, but these prices, except for the Olympus model, are only quoted by shops like Digital2Home, EC-Mall and Bask, which bypass official distributors.

They also import the Canon Kiss Digital X from Japan, distributed by Canon Thailand as the Canon EOS 400D. Although the 450D has now been launched, the cheaper 400D is still a good proposition.

XTRA

Four of the sharpest shooters

>> Canon EOS Kiss Digital X (400D)

Bt20,200

Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

Resolution: 10.1 mega pixels

Continuous drive: 3.0 fps

Shutter speed: 30 sec + Bulb - 1/4000 sec

ISO rating: 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1,600

Memory: 2GB CompactFlash

>> Nikon D40x

Bt20,700

Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

Resolution: 10.0 mega pixels

Continuous drive: 3.0 fps

Shutter speed: 30 sec + Bulb - 1/4000 sec

ISO rating: 100 to 1600

Memory: 2GB SecureDigital

>> Olympus E-510

Bt24,900 (official price)

Lens: 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6

Resolution: 10.0 mega pixels

Continuous drive: 3.0 fps

Shutter speed: 60 sec + Bulb - 1/4000 sec

ISO rating: 100 to 1600

Memory: 1GB xD-Picture Card

>> Sony DSLR-A200K

Bt 24,990 (official price)

Lens: 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6

Resolution: 10.2 mega pixels

Continuous drive: 3.0 fps

Shutter speed: 30 sec + Bulb - 1/4000 sec

ISO rating: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200

Memory: 2GB CompactFlash