The prevalence of the term 'DSLR' – combined with a shocking lack of product understanding among retailers looking to get devices out for type holidays – has the potential to lead to some serious disappointment. I've seen it with my own eyes as I look for the best camera deals this Black Friday, so I thought I'd pass on what I've learned.
If it looks like a DSLR, and quacks like a DSLR... er, wait. That's not it. But some of the cameras actually listed by retailers as DSLRs are as close to being reflex cameras as a rubber duck is to a bird sitting on a pond before migrating to warmer climes.
How can this be happening? Because most people don't actually know what a DSLR is. For a lot of people 'Digital Single Lens Reflex' means nothing. They (understandably) just know them as the 'big cameras that look proper and take nicer pictures'. That was a distinction that emerged around the same time as digital tech was finding its way into pockets (the best camera phones) and the broader concept of the compact camera was finding new purposes in life, even as GoPros-like devices were also emerging. The digital revolution changed a lot.
In fact, in case you don't know, DSLR tech is now a step behind the latest development in camera tech, which is now 'mirrorless.' If serious photographers had a 'three ages of camera' there was the 'twin lens', which had one lens to look through and the other for the photo to be taken through. Then came the the SLR – which used a mirror so you look through the same lens – with obvious advantages – and, finally mirrorless.
The SLR used a complicated arrangement of a mirror and prisms so that the light travelled to a viewfinder at the back (except the moment of image capture when a mirror blocked that path so the light went to the film). All that internal movement makes for the exaggerated 'click' customary to these cameras.
Digital imaging doesn't actually need the sensor to be protected from light when it's not being used in the same way as film, so a digital SLR was always a bit of a throwback – pointing the sensor straight at the lens made more sense, hence (after a period of overcoming tradition) the mirrorless. Now a tiny screen is placed facing the viewfinder.
But that is all quite technical for many, and mirrorless might be a bit smaller and lighter by the look similar (and, hey, all tech gets smaller and lighter, right? Well, except the iPhone Pro Max series!!) So – sorry fellow photo fans – not everyone knows all this.
Search engines and AI understand that plenty of people are still looking for 'DSLR' and – especially when deals are being hunted for – jump for those tems. Lesser known brands might also put the term DSLR in their product information – either dishonestly or because they've used AI-based translation tools.
I saw this with a camera deal on Walmart as I was looking for deals for Black Friday – in the 'Camera Type' box for this Marview it said "Camera Type' DSLR Cameras' and the only reason I could detect was that its plastic housing looked like one. Other examples I quickly found were:
• MARVUE Digital Camera for Youtube – $69.99
• NBD Digital Camera 4K (was $499 now $116.96 apparently)
I can't tell you if they're good or bad cameras because these companies have not submitted their devices for our thorough reviews (admittedly I have my suspicions) but I can tell you that they're definitely NOT DSLRs...
For one thing, the shipping weight of the NBD is a clue. I checked on Amazon to find it was 227g (Amazon's shipping weight usually includes packaging and everything). That is a lot less than the weight of the camera alone – without the lens – of my old Canon Digital Rebel – at 567g (about 8oz).
Moreover, looking at the pictures, there seems to be a 'detachable' lens, but what is actually being removed is some kind of adapter (perhaps like that of the GoPro Hero 13 Black, but probably more like a cheap filter). The giveaway? You can still see glass, not an image sensor, underneath. What you definitely can't see is the tell-tale angle of the DSLR imaging sensor.
So, looking closely at the NBD, this is a cheap digital camera with a specification similar to an average – not a premium – phone, put into a box that looks camera-like; at best a traditional 'compact camera', but with a fixed, not zoom lens (the only zoom is 'digital'). The user experience from the more believable customer reviews seems to bear this out ("not very great... I feel my phone takes better-quality pictures honestly...Camera does not do well in low light at all" seems to sum it up.)
I could go on. The point is that retailers take a lot of their information directly from the brands, and everyone is keen to sell. This kind of misleading information is why we take a pride in only sharing deals we like in our Black Friday camera deals pages. There are good deals to be had, but there are limits!
(Incidentally, if you do want a real DSLR, check the Canon Rebel T7, but it isn't the only way; consider looking for the best bridge camera and you won't ever need to change lenses.)
