Camera Selection - Final

Well, it’s been very hot weekend. We wanted to get out into the prairie this weekend to get picture of the wildflowers, but at 6:30 AM it was 77 degrees with a heat index of 85. Given the high temperatures and little rain, we’re expecting any flowers that had been blooming have withered and there’s little left other than dried up stems.

Today, we’ll continue in our discussion on cameras and talk about features. We won’t hit on every feature, but we will talk about the basic features you should consider and some that make using the camera a little easier. Again, these features are tailored more towards the digital camera, but there are some features that common between the digital and film camera. So, let’s get started.

LCD – Liquid Crystal Display. There are three things to consider in regards to the LCD: 1) size, 2) pixel size, 3) viewing in sunlight. In terms of size, go with the biggest you can so you can review you images easily. We can tell you from personal experience, it’s very difficult to tell if you’ve gotten good focus or exposure on any LCD, but it’s much more difficult on a smaller screen. In terms of LCD pixel size, you want smaller pixels. This will provide more resolution on the LCD. Finally, you’ve got to be able to see the screen in full sunlight or you’ll either have to invest in a Hoodman® or be constantly looking for a shady area to review your images (or risk lower back injury from turning constantly to make shade to review the display).

There’s another feather that’s handy and related to the LCD. It’s the zoom and pan (scroll) feature. By pressing a button or combination of buttons you can zoom in on your image that’s being displayed in the LCD and look closer to see if your picture is in focus, or if someone in making rabbit ears behind their younger sibling. Many digital cameras have this feature, but very few people use them to their own dismay when they see their captured image on their PC’s monitor screen.

Another handy feature is the histogram. It used to be that only the Pro cameras and D-SLRs had this feature, but as time has progressed many of the point and shoots now have this feature available to help people correctly expose their image. We’ll talk about histograms later, but we recommend having a camera with this feature.

If you’re shooting digital, critical features are sensor size (measured in pixels) and ISO. To figure the sensor size you need, you first need to figure out what is the largest image that you will want to have prints made. For example, let’s say 8” x 10”. Let’s also assume that you want to print at 300 dots per inch (most labs print between 240 – 300 dpi). To calculate the sensor size we multiply the length and width by the dpi. For our example, we have 8” * 300 and 10” * 300, or 2400 x 3000. This is smallest sensor size that we want to have if we plan on printing at 300 dpi. In terms of mega pixels, simply multiply the two sides together (2400*3000 = 7.2 mega pixel camera).

At this point, you maybe a little confused. You may know someone that has a 6 mega pixel camera and is printing 8 x 10’s that look great. Well, chances are they are making great 8x10’s. Remember, we took the upper end of the dpi range. If you use the lower end, you come up with 4.6 mega pixels. Many digital formats are closer to a 4x6 (8x12). We don’t like to have software programs add pixels to our images to create the larger size prints. This practice, often called interpolation, can add unwanted noise to the image. The larger the print, the more noticeable it becomes. The bottom line, buy the largest sensor you can afford.

Along the same lines, you will want the largest ISO range you can find. We’ve talked about this in a previous posting. An ISO of 100 – 1600 will allow you to shoot in most conditions. Be aware, that once you increase the ISO to about ISO 400, many cameras will start showing noise in the image. Several manufactures have built in noise reduction features to help reduce this noise. Also, many manufacturers have recognized the need to improve their sensors for lower level lighting conditions. Just keep in mind that if you were using 1600 ISO film, you’d be worrying about grain. Same holds true with digital, but it’s called “noise”.

The next feature we’ll discuss is flash. It’s probably one of the most mistakenly used features on a camera. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve shaken my head when I see parents taking photos of their kids from the back row of the auditorium with a point and shoot camera using the flash. I shake my head because I know what kind of picture they are going to see when they get home. The picture they wanted (of their kids on stage) will have the kids hidden in a shroud of darkness, but have perfectly exposed or overexposed will be the back of people’s heads. Why, because as light travels it is dispersed by the atmosphere. The little on-camera flash simply doesn’t have the power to light up the stage from 75ft+ away. All camera manufactures have a specification sheet that comes with their cameras. The specification sheet tells you how far (in feet) the flash will work effectively. The simple answer is to buy a camera whose flash will get you the furthest distance. The con in doing this is that it will use your battery power up faster. The best choice is to buy a camera that will allow you to use flash at normal distances (20-25 feet roughly) and either turn the flash off for the long distance shots, buy a camera with a hot shoe to which allows you to add a larger flash unit (remember, that’s more money you need to invest), or simply arrive 15 minutes earlier so you can sit closer. In a lot of cases, simply sitting closer will allow you to turn off the flash, adjust the ISO to 400 - 800, and you can get decent images. One last thing on flash. Look for the red-eye reduction feature, and the ability to turn this feature on and off as needed.

Another handy feature is the dioptic adjustment. For folks that wear eye glasses and want to look through the view finder (or need to in the case of a D-SLR), this little feature allows the user to adjust the image in the viewfinder so that the user doesn’t need to wear his/her glasses when viewing images through the viewfinder. However, keep in mind there is no dioptic adjustment for the LCD, so the user will find that he/she is taking their glasses on and off quite frequently.

AE and AF lock are great features as they allow the user to focus and expose the image one way and re-compose the shot. This is a cool feature when you are trying to shoot pictures of people with an interesting background or scenic view behind them.

Some cameras offer different exposure modes (portrait, scenic (or landscape), night mode, night mode w/portrait, and macro) and a movie mode. This is a nice feature to have if you don’t want to have to remember how to set your camera to take a picture. There are a few manufacturers that have expanded on these and added modes for fireworks, parties, and so on. They also show the user how to compose the image by showing an outline of where people/objects should be placed in the view finder. The most common exposure modes on more advanced cameras and D-SLRs are aperture priority, shutter priority, and manual. If you can get them on a point and shoot and have quick and easy access to use them as you increase you skill, you will be happier with your camera.

Another feature you may wish to have is a tripod mount. This will allow you to mount your camera to a variety of tripod (depending on the size of you camera) to help reduce camera shake (say for shooting fireworks).

Here’s a list of other features that you may want to consider: timer (for self portraits or group portraits), continuous focus mode (found on more advanced cameras for focusing on moving objects), continuous shooting mode (found on more advanced cameras for shooting multiple frames per second), programmable buttons, extra shutter release button (for when the camera is turned 90 degrees), sync cable ports (for using multiple flashed), IR or Wireless Flash Commander (for multiple flashes), Wireless (for sending images to a PC directly or over the internet via wireless access point to a e-mail account), threads or adaptors for mounting filters (non-SLR cameras), different color modes w/built in digital filters (i.e. black and white w/red filter found on the Canon 5D), and buffer size (number of pictures that can be taken before time is needed to write an image to the media card).

These are just a few features. Depending on your needs, some of these may be more important than others. Remember, your looking for a camera, which it’s prime purpose in life is to capture light onto a medium to allow you to create a print (either physical or electronic).

If you plan on capturing your images using a digital camera, today there are two popular cards that seem to have evolved into the standard. There the compact flash card, and the SD card. Some of you may know about Sony’s card, but we would recommend staying away from proprietary products as they allow the manufacturer to control the pricing and storage size of the media. Today many of these proprietary media devices are being driven by the market of the other cards, but that could change. Our recommendation is to stay with the SD or compact flash cards. Sony may come around eventually. Apple did.

Here’s a list of our favorite cameras. Some we’ve owned and used. If there’s a camera that’s not here, it doesn’t mean we didn’t like it. It just means that we liked these better.

New:

Point and Shoot Digital
Canon Powershot A620
Nikon Coolpix P3

Advanced Digital
Canon Powershot S3
FujiFilm FinePix S9000


D-SLR
Nikon D-70/70S
Nikon D-200
Canon 20D/30D
Canon 5D

Obsolete (may find on E-bay)
Advanced: Canon Powershot Pro
D-SLR: Nikon D100

We didn’t include the pro body D-SLRs in the list for three reasons: price, weight and sensor size. The Canon 5D and Nikon D200 will perform nearly as well as their heavier, more costly, more complex pro-body cousins. They also will make prints that the average person is more likely to use. If you need prints larger than 11/14, than you may want to look at the 12 mega pixel Nikon D2Xs (list at ~ $5000) or the 16 mega pixel Canon EOS Mark II (list price is ~ $7500 – body only).

Next post: Image Processing programs