Certainly not me. Did I ever tell you the story, about the guy that taught his dog how to take pictures using his brand new digital SLR camera? No, well we'll save that story for another day. My point being, that taking great pictures with an SLR camera is not nearly as tough as it used to be. In fact with a little patience and persistence, you could be taking great SLR pictures within a day. That's not to suggest that an expensive camera will automatically take great pictures, it's just a comment on the advanced state of the usability of digital cameras these days.
That is, digital SLR cameras have come a long way in the last few years to make themselves more accessible to the average photographer. No longer do you have to be a photographer for National Geographic, or one of those guys on the NFL sidelines with lenses longer than my arm to take great pictures. Anyone can really do it. SLRs have terrific auto settings controlled by the latest digital camera software, that allow you to take pictures on day one, while getting used to your new camera. Down the road, you will have the option to do more sophisticated things with the camera.
Just using an SLR does give you the opportunity to take better pictures than you ever taken before. For instance, let me ask you the following. How many times have you missed a great shot, because your camera fired late, or refused to fire at all as you pressed down the shutter button? I know it's happened to me plenty of times. The reason is, that the electronics that allowing your cameras image sensor to capture your picture are just too slow. It's not your camera in particular, all compact digital cameras have that problem. SLR cameras however, use a mechanical shutter that responds instantly. And and can even take rapid fire pictures over the course of a few seconds.
This is just one of the advantages, that makes digital SLR cameras a better value for your dollar today.
