What are the benifits of having a dslr which are chunky compared to a slim digital compact?

Question

I like dslr cameras but are they worth the extra money and the hassle of carrying it about, compared to the ease of using a compact digital camera?

Answer 1

if you cant be arsed to carry it round then dont get one

you will end up never taking it out and it wil be a waste of money

Answer 2

For 37 years I have carried as many as 3 SLR bodies and up to 7 or 8 lenses as I wandered around various places taking pictures and enjoying photography. Quite often I have a tripod with me since one never knows when it will be needed.

Since I do a lot of macro photography and my subjects aren't always in the best light, you'll usually find a macro ring flash in my camera bag.

One benefit of a DSLR is image quality since the sensor in the average DSLR like a Sony A300 or Canon XSi or Nikon D60 is as much as 15 times larger than the sensor in a digicam. A 6 megapixel DSLR will simply blow away a 10 megapixel digicam in terms of image quality.

Another benefit is interchangeable lenses. Its nice to be able to replace a slow (f4.5) zoom with a fast 50mm or 85mm f1.4 lens in low-light conditions when you don't want to use flash.

So, IMO, the benefits of a DSLR are well worth the added weight if you really care about image quality and flexibility.