They were a revolution in their size, features and cost.
Being able to auto-focus as well as take your own pictures using your own film SLR camera had been a dream come true to young photographers of the past.
Now, it is something a young photographer would refer to as history.
Presently a SLR camera would be something that would be used to take random pictures akin to the point and shoot film cameras of the past.
But as LCD technology gave way to the LCD viewfinder, even someone who can't take a decent picture before with a film SLR camera can now take a respectable and balanced photograph.
But as the years of SLR domination comes down as compact digital cameras rise from the supposed disadvantages of the previous kinds of camera such as the need of sufficient amount of money to have lenses that would be able to provide the settings that would make pictures look like they are professionally done.
Now you don't have to tinker with lenses and lights in order to find a setting that you need to take a great picture at night, in the beach or while the subject is moving.
You also don't need to buy a special film for a special purpose.
Whatever the occasion, one camera that can fit in your palm can do the job for you.
That is the reason why there are a flood of personal pictures taken by regular people on their random vacation in even the most remote parts of the world.
From the mundane to the professional prints, digital cameras are swatting SLRs when it comes to their supposed versatility.
But why are so many other still loyal to their SLR cameras? Most are doing this because this is what they are used to using.
Others are held back by their love for the process itself that the actual output.
Haste for them often makes waste.
So they let the less patient photographers use the new system that is often too pixelized for their crisp taste.
The bulky cameras are a lot harder to tug around especially for shooting events such as sports events but often the best way to get the best shots is by staking a claim to a spot and letting the light come in contact with the moment right in front of you.
SLR cameras have been used instead of the film cameras that were so popular years ago because of their ability to show the photographer exactly what would be caught on film.
But it was only when digital SLR cameras came with a viewfinder that the job became easier than before.
Nowadays people would rather send emails than letters so there is an avenue to tell a story by means of pictures that are caught on a digital camera.
What words can not capture can be captured on a picture.
And without the hassle of scanning every picture printed out, the number of pictures that can be sent increases.
History can be captured in the light and shadows, they say.
And a digital camera might just be the next best thing to a historians' tool as a book once was.