Digital Photography: Picking a Camera
The first thing you will need is the digital camera itself. You can find a digital camera for every type of user and for every need. Most digital cameras perform well in a variety of situations, and for the average user, I would recommend really taking your time and finding the right camera for you. Do you need something compact? Inexpensive? Easy to use? Or what about something with a little more features. If you are looking for something with a fuller size, more features, a better optical zoom, then you will be looking at a whole different grouping of cameras.
Brand Preference and Friendly Advice
Most people also seem to have brand preference, as they have had experience with other products from the same company, or have heard great things from friends and colleagues. I really recommend listening to the advice that other people are willing to give, but remember that their needs could be different than your own, and if they are showing off, they may not highlight the downsides to their camera, leaving you in the same boat.
Megapixel Madness
One of the questions I get asked most often is how many megapixels is enough. Most more experienced photographers will look at you and wince in pain at the question because it really comes down to what you want to do with the image you capture, more than anything else. For most consumers I would recommend something in the five and six megapixel range, as it should be good enough to print images from, and also relatively inexpensive as digital cameras start entering the ten megapixel and above arena.
Baseline Average and Recommendations
A good baseline camera is currently around five or six megapixels, with a three times optical zoom, a few capture modes, a viewfinder and a LCD display. I recommend getting a higher optical zoom around four times or higher, as the digital zoom will quickly reduce the quality of your images when it comes to printing them, as it basically just uses the little computer inside the camera to crop the image and blow it up in size.
You will notice that I mentioned a viewfinder. This is the area where you can look to see what image you are going to take, and many really compact digital cameras are doing away with them, leaving you only the LCD to frame your pictures. While this does seem like an interesting idea, it can become difficult to see anything on LCD’s in bright outdoor conditions, and it also uses much more battery life than a viewfinder, and so I recommend that your first or primary digital camera have a viewfinder.
Other than that, it is really up to you as the day to day user of the camera to go into stores and hold different cameras in your hand, play with their buttons, feel the quality or lack of quality, and figure out if it has the features you want for the price you are looking for.
Photography Tip: Using Fill Flash
Digital Photography School has some great tips, and recently they highlighted on what I consider to be the most important tip yet: use fill flash.
The problem with the shots was that there was so much light coming in the windows that the super little camera that my friend was using in Auto mode thought that the scene had enough light. As a result the window and what you can see through it is reasonably well exposed - but the main subject matter of the picture (the happy couple) are well under exposed. Some of the other shots taken this day were much worse and had the bride and groom as silhouettes.
Obviously the issue with this shot is that there is just not enough light from the front of the subjects to light up the subject with the shutter speed being used.
He then goes over some fixes that would have brightened up the happy couple in the picture. A very good read.
How To: Buy A Digital Camera
Askmen has an article up entitled: how to buy a digital camera, where they of course give some information on what you should look for. Thankfully, they start with some basic terminology, which is really nice of them.
Not only do they kindly provide some terminology, but the writer seemed to know his stuff, making sure to point out that Digital Zoom is not all its cracked up to be, and that the megapixel craze is not worth anything.
How many megapixels should I get?
So while the camera’s looks aren’t everything, the imaging capabilities are. Let’s talk picture quality. Megapixel count is a specification you’ll see touted frequently. And as we suggested earlier, more is generally better. Novices and casual hobbyists will have no trouble finding units packing four megapixels. Five- and six-megapixel capability is becoming more common in this price range, too.If you’re content with keeping your low- to medium-detail shots online or on disc to view, four-megapixel cams will serve you quite well. If you’re editing, enlarging and printing — especially detail-rich shots — four or five (maybe more) should be your target range. Just don’t blow megabucks for the sake of megapixels.
I am impressed with the article, and I think it is a good read for anyone looking at buying a camera, but needs a very basic article to start them out.
Storing Your Digital Images
Over at Digital Photography Review they have a nice article up on what digital photographers might want to do to make sure their images stand the test of time.
If you value your digital images, you should have a proper backup system in place. In this article, we will look at two storage methods and some backup tips so that you can enjoy your images not only in the short term, but also much further into the future.
They go over hard drive technology and optical media as well as give some great tips to those first starting out, or those that have massive collections they are worried about. One thing they don’t seem to mention in the article that I think could also be very helpful is getting some online space with a web hosting company or a one of the many photograph storage sites, as it is easy to use, and just one more way to protect, and store your images.
Digital Camera Predictions for 2006
Over the next year, I think you are going to see digital cameras everywhere, and so I wanted to take a second to give my thoughts and predictions on what may happen, and what you might notice already happening.
This year, digital cameras will continue to be integrated with just about everything. Don’t be shocked if Apple eventually releases an iPod with a built-in digital camera, or even just a stand-alone digital camera.
You might begin to notice more and more companies stopping production on film based cameras, and specialize on a few types of digital cameras. This will also open up a niche market for disposable digital cameras to replace the disposable film cameras that are currently on the market. As everyone moves to digital, the cost for printing out actual printed pictures might go up a little more, and then back down as competition in printing digital prints heat up.
An average consumer camera might have upwards of twenty megapixels before the year is done, though most photographers will not see the need for the average consumer to have pictures of that high of a rating, you will also see a trend from companies trying to keep megapixels at around 6-10 and concentrate on features, and quality of the image. You will also see a trend continue where digital camcorders and digital cameras continue to merge into one technology which will make people even more confused on what to buy.
I am hoping thought that as companies change their focus, some will begin to specialize in the average consumer based digital cameras, some companies will stick to the prosumer, and some will look at marketing digital SLR’s. This shift has already started as companies are looking to highlight their SLR market as their are higher margins, and thus is more profitable than trying to come up with the consumer camera of the week which we saw a lot of in 2005.
I am sure some of you are probably wondering, “so when should I buy a digital camera?”. Well the answer really depends on what you want. Like most technology, they are going to continue to try and improve it, and as more and more things move digital, you find yourself in constant buyer shock, waiting for the next best thing and never buying. You really have to come to the conclusion what features you will need now, add a few more to the list, and grab that camera. It will probably do you well, atleast until two or three more generations of digital cameras come out over the next two or three years.
Consider Your Digital Camera Use
USAToday.com has an article that I thought everyone would be interested in. It is an article going over the different types of cameras different people may need based on what they expect to do with their camera.
Point and shoot
Do you just want to turn on your camera, point it at your subject and click the button? Take a look at the compact camera category. These easy-to-use cameras do just about everything but say “cheese.”
You will have some control over how the camera takes the picture. Most have flash options (off, on, fill, red-eye reduction). They also have pre-programmed exposure modes. The modes will automatically change the camera’s exposure to accommodate different conditions, such as bright or low-lit areas or action shots.
Digital Camera Resource Page Christmas Favorites
Digital Camera Resource Page has updated its Jeff’s Favorite Digital Cameras list for the holidays. Some of the cameras included are the Canon PowerShot A520, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S90, and my personal favourite the Canon PowerShot S2 IS.
All of the cameras are sorted by price, and include a quick blurb as well as links to product information, reviews, and price listings. A really nice guide to reference if you are going to buy a Camera for christmas, especially since I have not written my own yet.
Safesnaps.com Makes Safe Photo Storage a Snap
So many people ask where a good place to store images online are, and really there are thousands. You just have to make sure it has the features you want, at a price you can afford. Here is one press release that talks about Safe Snaps.
London, England (Nov. 22, 2005) – Unix kernel veterans recently launched a new digital photo archive service for individuals who need to know their snapshots are secure. Safe Snaps (www.safesnaps.com) stores pictures, allows for easy retrieval by subscribers and can backup work on demand.
Off-site photo backup is the gold standard in today’s computer industry. Safe Snaps’ founders want to ensure all photo users the same level of protection without breaking the bank.
“We started the business to fill what we perceived to be a hole in the market for safe, off-site and secure digital photo archival,” said Rod Harrison, Safe Snaps CEO. “None of the other companies around offer the same level of service for a remotely similar price.”
Founders Rod Harrison and Phil Kaye, bring a combined 35 years of experience and expertise in the technology sector to the new venture. The company formally incorporated in January 2005, with the service making its debut in August.
Safe Snaps differentiates itself from other photo storage services in several ways. First, the company charges a flat fee of $7.50 for an unlimited amount of storage. Next, they store, and allow retrieval of, the full-resolution image.
Safe Snaps’ custom-designed PhotoElephant software will automatically save your digital images over the Internet whenever you upload from your camera. No more burning CDs or choosing select files to copy.
“You can forget because PhotoElephant never will,” Harrison said. “We store every version of the file you make, so changes get saved as well as the original,” Harrison explained. “The backup is automatic, it can run hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, as well as on demand. That means you can’t forget to back up, which is a very common cause of lost files.”
Safesnaps will never delete a customer’s pictures. There are no limits on the number of photos and the price is always the same.
Kiosks Or Minilabs?
WRAL.com has an article up going over the decision for digital camera users to print their photos either in a do it yourself kiosk, or at the same minilabs we have used for our regular film processing time and time again.
Consumer Reports tested to find out where you can get the best prints. Testers put images onto memory cards and sent them to 15 people around the country.
“They sent them out to different labs and kiosks, and then we collected the images and evaluated them for print quality here,” said Kerry Allen of Consumer Reports.
Testers found the stand-alone kiosks that use Fujifilm processing were disappointing. The best results were from Fujifilm minilabs. They consistently returned very good prints. Plus, they cost the least with as little as 17 cents for a 4×6 photo.
If you’re looking for good-quality digital prints from a store, Consumer Reports said try a minilab that uses Fujifilm processing. You can find them at many stores, including Costco and Wal-Mart.
Picasa 2.1
I live Google’s Picasa software, as it helps me organize all my digital images much easier and faster than I ever could without it. A new version, 2.1 has finally come out and brings with it some improvements and changes.
What’s new in Picasa 2.1?
We have internationalized the software as well as made several improvements. Here’s what’s new:
Multiple interface languages
Picasa is now available in Chinese (simplified and traditional), Dutch, English (U.S. and UK) , French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. When you start Picasa, the software will automatically match your system’s native language. To change the language in Picasa, go to Tools > Options. Change the language using the pulldown menu on the “General” tab. You will need to close and re-open Picasa to see your changes take effect.
BlogThis!
Post a photo to your blog in one click. Picasa’s new “BlogThis!” button replaces the “Blogger” button and allows you to upload your photos directly to the Blogger web editor, without the need for a Hello account. To use, select a photo in Picasa and click the “BlogThis!” button. (If you do not have a Blogger.com account, follow the steps on-screen to create one.) When you are signed in to Blogger, the web editor will open. Click “Publish” to post your photo to your blog.
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