Many point and shoot photographers are feeling like they are outgrowing their current camera and ready to move up to a digital SLR camera. In fact, this is perhaps the golden age of dSLR cameras because their quality is so high, the prices are so low, and they are so easy to use.

Many even have fully automatic settings that will be no more difficult to use than a point and shoot. On the other hand, it's important to realize that not all dSLR photos will necessarily be any better than the photos from your point and shoot. In many cases, the photos would be indistinguishable. For many people, having both a compact camera and a dSLR is the best combination: the chief downside of a dSLR is that you can't easily tuck it in your pocket, and it's very difficult to take pictures of an event or object when you don't have a camera with you.

The main benefits of a dSLR (aside from looking more like a "real photographer") is that you will have more control over your images. Interchangeable lenses let you use different lens that might be very long and telephoto, or very short and wide-angle. You can control the aperture of the lens and the shutter speed in order to produce stylistic effects long lots of depth of field, or almost no depth of field.

A very fast shutter speed can capture and freeze fast action, while a longer shutter speed can result in pleasantly blurred movement. In the days of film cameras, these effects were hard to experiment with because film and processing were expensive. In these modern times, the cost per shot is essentially zero and you can see the results right away. This will dramatically speed up the learning curve for dedicated photographers.