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MIRROR LOCKUP: Plan on using long tele lenses on a tripod? According to our tests, camera vibration can fuzz your shots, particularly between 1/8 and 1/60 sec. Mirror lockup unfuzzes them.
COMFORT: Is the camera you desire really convenient to hold, or are you just kidding yourself?
REMOTE RELEASE: Whether wired or infrared cordless, your camera should have some provision for slow-speed shutter release on a tripod.
ANTI-SHAKE: Find it difficult to hold long teles or zoom lenses steady? Image Stabilization or Vibration Reduction lenses let you shoot without camera shake at slower shutter speeds, equivalent to 2 EV or more, according to our tests. Does the camera brand you want have such lenses in the focal lengths you will need?
COMPATIBLE LENSES: Do you have some precious, old, manual-focus lenses you intend to use on your not-yet purchased camera? Better check to make certain you’ll have use of the exposure system when these lenses are mounted.
BUILT-IN DIOPTER CORRECTION: Have perfect eyesight? Only person using the camera? Skip this. But I’m always amazed at how many near- and farsighted people really can’t see the finder screen clearly and don’t realize it. Viewfinder diopter correction is essential. Single-diopter-correction lenses are OK, but if more than one person uses the camera, built-in diopter correction is even more important.
Have more complicated eye problems than diopter correction can solve? A good ophthalmologist should be able to fix you up.
LENS AVAILABILITY: If you’re a stickler for using only camera-brand lenses, make sure your brand has the focal lengths and apertures you want. If you’ll accept independent-maker lenses, just about anything you can think of (except perspective control) is available. Only Sigma SLRs are limited to one brand: Sigma. But the variety of Sigma optics is enormous—if you can live without a high-speed 50mm.
INFRARED AF AIDLIGHT: Like most of us, passive autofocus in SLRs goes blind in poor or no light. It stumbles around trying to find focus, and often fails. SLR designers’ solution: in dim to no light, or when the subject lacks sharply delineated lines on which the camera can focus, the camera automatically throws a beam of near-infrared light from the camera to the subject, preferably one that has a design pattern. The AF system can detect the beam and focus on the grid pattern, which is barely visible to the human eye. An infrared AF-aid beam can be a lifesaver. The first time you easily autofocus the system on a blank white wall, you’ll be sold.
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