HD Cameras vs DSLR cameras

[Guest AndreaAltgayer]

Hi everyone,

 

What is the difference between HD cameras and DSLR cameras?

 

Regards,

 

Andrea

[Phil Rhodes]

Where did that question come from?

 

DSLRs are a type of stills camera. Some modern DSLRs can shoot video at HD or even 4K resolutions, so some DSLRs are HD (or 4K) cameras.

 

One minor point: the term DSLR refers to a "single-lens reflex" camera, which is the common arrangement where the viewfinder image is bounced off an angled mirror in front of the sensor (or film) which mechanically flips out of the way when an image is taken. Some modern stills cameras don't actually work like that, instead running the sensor continuously in video mode and relaying that image to an electronic display in the viewfinder. The Panasonic GH series and Sony A7 series work like this. These are not strictly DSLRs (Sony calls the A7s an "interchangeable-lens camera") but for most purposes work the same way.

 

P

[Max Field]

Yeah was about to say that every DSLR I've encountered technically is an "HD camera"

 

Did you mean to ask the difference between a DSLR and a digital cinema camera?

[Giacomo Girolamo]

Is about the system. The DSLR have a mirror that bounce whatever the lens take to a viewfinder. When you have a mirrorless camera, you are looking a tiny screen which created through the sensor an image.

Some says that the mirror system is great because you are looking the reality an not a screen, affected by light and battery, etc. Others say that mirrorless are better because you always look the real deep of field (you can do it this in DSLR with a buttom).

 

And, the most important difference is that the mirror system need to occupy certain space, so the mirrorless cameras tend to be smaller and lighters. I do prefer DLSR if you are trying to learn about photography and cameras, though.

[Tom Visser]

I think when taken in context when cameras first were making the transition to HD the cameras that came before were SD, and this push primarily came in the televised markets like news and sports, So when I hear SD / HD cam, I think of 1/3, 1/2, but mostly 2/3 Panasonic, Sony, and JVC... XDCAM, HDCAM, you know, like AJ-900s, F800/850/900/900R, and other large shoulder cams shooting mostly tape and disc media. When HDSLRs came on the scene in force (5D mkii) all those cameras were already HD so no big distinction was ever made in them being HD from a marketing standpoint. In fact marketing was totally unprepared for what happened with the 5D, it was an unexpected accidental success.

[Landon D. Parks]

DSLR is a term that means 'digital single lens reflex', and is a type of camera. If you have seen a digital Cannon stills camera, you have seen a DSLR. A great many newer cameras are not DSLRs at all, like the Panasonic's, etc - they are mirrorless. HD is a resolution, and has nothing to do with the camera. Your DSLR can be HD or SD or even 4K, and your HD camera might not be a DSLR at all. Basically, DSLR is a form factor, HD is a resolution. The two are not interchangeable or related.

 

I'm not sure how to expand on that. Perhaps you meant something different, like what is the difference between what we think of as a DSLR for video and traditional HD video camera? I don't want to go into a lot of detail without first knowing the intent of the question.

Edited December 19, 2017 by Landon D. Parks