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

Camera Selection - part III

This week, we’ll talk briefly about the basic controls of a camera so we can move into features of camera.

Overall, a camera has one major function. To capture light in a means so that it is recordable on some type of media to recreate the image on paper or digitally. The short version – to take pictures. Now you may be saying “duh” at the moment, but when looking at all the possible choices of cameras, sometimes people get caught up with all the bells and whistles that are available. Regardless of the type of camera you select (point & shoot, advanced, or SLR), the camera needs to have the ability to take good pictures. Granted, how you define “good” is based on your perspective and personal taste.

There are three basic “controls” for capturing light on almost every camera: F-Stop (Aperture), Shutter Speed (Shutter), and ISO setting (Film). Bottom line - when looking for a camera, you want the biggest range possible for these three controls (for SLRs, you can ignore the F-Stop until you get ready to purchase a lens). So, if you don’t want to read further, there’s the answer.

If you do want to read more on these controls, there is a good article written on how to use your camera in the manual mode. This article describes the controls, and how they relate to your ability to control light, focus, and noise. http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/287

To summarize the article in terms of our discussion, when selecting a non-SLR camera, one should try to find several models that have F-Stops with a low range of F1.4 – 1.8 and an upper range of F22 – F32. Shutter Speed should range on the low end from B(bulb) – 30s to 1/2000 – 1/8000 on the upper end. The ISO should range from 50-200 on the low end to 800-1600 on the upper end. Again, the greater the range of these, the more flexible the camera will be in different lighting conditions.

For SLRs, we’ll discuss lenses at a later date. If you can’t wait until then, go with the lowest F-Stop with the best glass rating (lowest distortion) that you can afford. Just remember to keep in mind the “magnification factor” of the camera you are looking at. For example, a full frame camera, such as the Canon 5D has a magnification of 1. So a 18-200 mm lens on this camera will appear as a 18-200mm lens. A Nikon D70s has a magnification factor of 1.5. In the case of the 18-200 mm lens, this lens would give you the same perspective as a 27 – 200mm lens on the Nikon D70s. Please note that this does not increase the magnification of the lens, only the perspective. When we discuss lenses in more detail, we include a link that discusses this in more detail.

Camera Selection Part II

Now that we’ve briefly talked about film and digital media, and the pros/cons of each, we need to focus on the different types of cameras within each group.

Film:
Point and shoot
-35mm
- APS format
Advanced 35mm
SLR 35mm (Consumer and Pro Body)
Medium Format
Twin Reflex
Stereo
Rangefinder
Bellows

Digital:
Point and Shoot
Advanced Digital
D-SLR (Consumer and Pro Body)
Medium Format w/digital backs
Rangefinder (in development)
Bellows with Digital back

We’ll focus this discussion on what the average person would consider when wanting to purchase a new camera; the Point and Shoot, Advanced, and SLR types. We’ll cover the others at a later date.

The next step in narrowing down you selection should involve these four questions:
1: What do I want to take pictures of ?
2: Do I want the camera to be fully automated, or do I want to control all of the settings manually ? Somewhere in between ?
3: Am I concerned about size, weight ?
4: Do I want the ability to change lenses ?

I. Point and shoot:
If your answer to #1 was anything except wildlife or something involving taking a photograph from a long distance, the point and shoot camera may be for you. These cameras typically have a 1 – 3x or 4x zoom lens. They are not suitable for taking pictures of something that’s in the distance. Some may have a “Macro” function that will allow extremely close up photographs.

Also, if you answered #2 as fully automated or somewhere in between, this camera could be a good choice for you. Most point and shoots are fully automatic, and some manufacturers allow partial or full control of your camera. Some also come with special exposure modes or even tell you how to compose your image.

If you answered #3 as yes, then this is might be the right camera for you. If you are looking for something small that can fit in your pocket or purse, and the first two questions indicated the point and shoot camera would be a good selection, then go no further. Now it’s time to settle on features/functions and quality. Now, if you’ve gotten this far, and want a pocket size, fully automatic to fully manual camera with the ability to take a picture of the eagle soaring 100 ft above you and get images like those in Outdoor Photography Magazine, I’m sorry to say that camera doesn’t exist. The same thing is true of you are expecting to get a close up of a son or daughter receiving their diploma at a graduation ceremony and you are setting on the top balcony row, ¼ of mile away. You need to either compromise on the size, buy a different camera for the long distance shots, or simply realize the amount of times you will need that capability is rather small and you just need to get yourself closer if you want a good picture. Someone may try to tell you that you can buy a magnification lens that snaps on to the end of your existing point and shoot camera that will magnify the zoom by a factor or 2x or maybe even 4x. Our experience with these has not been very good and we simply don’t recommend them. We’ve seen poor image quality.

Two last points and we’ll leave the point and shoot. First, the point and shoot does not require lens changes (unless you bought the sales person’s pitch and bought the magnification lens). Lastly, many point and shoot digital cameras, as well as the advanced digital cameras experience a “shutter lag”. We’ll discuss this more later, but basically shutter lag comes down to not getting the picture you expected when you pushed the shutter button when your subject is moving. For example, you press the shutter at the exact moment when your child or friend throws a water balloon at unsuspecting person (balloon has not left the person’s hand). When you review the image on the LCD, you find you have a picture of the balloon mid-way in flight. This delay is caused by the processing time of the camera to focus, determine the exposure, adjust the camera to meet the exposure, and capture the image. This time difference is called shutter lag, and it can be very frustrating at times….it’s not a problem for still images like when you have everyone is posing around Christmas tree.


II. Advanced
If you are still reading, then we’ll assume the point and shoot camera wasn’t for you or your not sure if want to compromise on size or zoom capability. It’s that, or you’re a glutton for punishment….

The primary advantage of the advanced camera over the point and shoot is that you often get larger zoom capability (12x-20x) without the need to change lenses. Most of the cameras in this type (group) allow fully automatic to fully manually operation, and some have the special exposure modes seen on the point and shoot cameras. The primary disadvantages are the size and price. Depending on the amount of zoom and manufacturer, some of the cameras in this group are as large as cameras in the SLR category. One benefit the advanced camera and point and shoot camera groups have over the SLR group is that they are sealed, and you don’t need to worry about dust getting on the sensor.

Another disadvantage, again depending on the features of the camera, could be blurry images when using the zoom at the higher range of the zoom. The blurry images are most likely coming from the camera shaking (from your hands shaking) and a slower shutter speed (to let in more light for the exposure). At this point in time, you either need a tripod, or an advanced camera with anti-shake feature. The last I knew, this feature was only available for the advanced digital cameras, and not the advanced film cameras. The advanced digital cameras also suffer from shutter lag.

The other consideration for cameras in this group is price. They can cost 2 to 4x as much as a point and shoot camera, although the prices have come down over the last year. Speaking from the digital perspective, an advanced camera could cost as much as a D-SLR (including a lens). If you want to compare the true cost of these two groups, you must determine the cost of the D-SLR body and the equivalent lens (say an 18 – 200mm). For example, the Sony Cybershot lists for about $1060. A Canon Digital Rebel with a Non-Canon 18-200mm lens is about $1100 (note: it will be 1.5 x the physical size and weight of the Sony with this lens). However, Fuji and Panasonic have advanced digital cameras for about $600. The bottom line on price is the advanced digital camera can be less expensive than a D-SLR, but it will most likely be more expensive than a point and shoot.

III. SLR

This is the last, and probably fastest growing group in the last year. As people start taking photos with their $200 point and shoot cameras, they quickly learn the limitations of cameras from that group. They want more control and zoom. They look at the price of the advanced cameras and often incorrectly determine that the SLR group is the more cost effective way to go. Often times, they purchase the camera body and lens in a kit, for less than the cost of advanced camera, but forget (or simply don’t know) the lens they get in the kit doesn’t have the same optical zoom as the advanced camera they passed over. They often end up spending more money for a 2nd lens to get the same focal length if they had purchased the advanced camera.

Folks, if you haven’t figured this out by now this how the salesperson gets you to trade up into a more expensive camera. They sell you the kit, knowing you’ll be back in 6-12 months for another lens. With the additional lens, you’ll need a new camera bag, lens filter, etc.. . If you don’t want to deal with changing lenses or cleaning dust off you sensor, don’t consider a SLR camera. (By the way, film SLRs also have a problem with dust…so it’s not just a digital problem !!) SLRs require maintenance. They require much more than the other two categories. They also require more care in handling and keeping dust of the body and lenses. For the average person, this camera is not a good fit.

Now, for the advanced amateur and professional photographer, this camera offers complete flexibility via lenses through focal lengths, F-Stops (size of the aperture (opening) which determines how much light enters the camera), and lens filters. The issue of shutter lag also disappears. There are some cool features that manufacturers add to make using the camera easier for the advanced amateur and professional. But when it comes down to the two basic controls of shutter speed and f-stop that control exposure, this camera is not really that different than a point and shoot or advanced camera that allow partial or full control of these settings. This is not totally true when it comes to auto-focus and metering and some of the mechanics on how the shutter and aperture function. Some of the higher end SLRs offer more focus points and better continuous focusing and metering algorithms/programs than low end SLRs, point and shoots, and advanced cameras. And the mechanics for which the aperture and shutter control light are different. However, the cost for these enhanced features are typically 2 – 4x more than a entry level SLR, which is 4-8x of that of a point and shoot, or 2-4x of that of a advanced camera. F2.8 at1/250 sec is still F2.8 at 1/250 s. I know there are advanced amateurs and professionals out there that will argue with me on this, but the basic function is the same. Unless you need these enhanced features for competition or a source of income or are shooting images where shutter lag will be a problem, there’s really no need to spend the extra money on a SLR if you can get what you need from a point and shoot or advanced camera. However, if you want to take the risk of dropping that cheap $350 lens (by the way . . . same price as a good point and shoot camera), and worry about dust, then feel free to spend more money than what you need to.

As a point of reference, we started in digital photography with an advanced digital camera (Nikon 5700). About 1 year later we bought our first D-SLR. We still use the Nikon 5700 quite a bit today for family parties, school events, and so on. Its size and flexibility are almost perfect (although it’s not pocket size), and the images we get are stunning. My only two complaints about it are the shutter lag and no ability to add a lens filters. When we were still considered amateurs a few years ago, we had a picture published using the Nikon 5700 in the Iowa 24/7 book (from the America 24/7 book series).

Next time, we’ll begin talking more about the basic functions of a camera (exposure, shutter speed). After that, some of the features that can be found on point and shoot cameras that relate to these primary functions (i.e. landscape exposure mode, night exposure mode, etc..).

When we wrap us this discussion in a few weeks, we are planning on presenting you our selections of cameras within each camera type, based on cost, features, and quality.

Camera Selection

Choosing a camera can be a difficult decision. There are so many makes, and models. To add to the confusion, many have the same functions, but call those functions by a different name in an attempt to try to persuade the buyer to purchase thier brand.

Today, we're going to start discussing the basic difference between film and digital cameras. In our next entry, we'll review the principle functions/features that you should be concerned with when purchasing a camera.

Lets start simple and build from there.

There are film and there's digital cameras, and within these two groups there are similiar models. The main difference between these is the media used to capture the image.

For film, many of the options have gone away over the last several years. There used to be 110 format, APS format, and 35mm format (to name the more popular formats). Let's not forget about the polaroids either. Today, 35 mm is the most common film platform for the amateur photographer. For Professionals, there are still some medium format films and plate films, but those too are starting to vanish. Nikon, Canon, Fuji, and Minolta used to be the predominant 35mm camera makers. About 6 months ago, Nikon announced they would stop production of all their film cameras, except for the high end pro camera (F6). The others, with the exception of Canon, are starting to follow. In the next few years, it may be increasingly difficult to find lower end amateur 35 mm cameras and purchase/process film cost effectively. However, today you can pick up a good film camera on e-bay for about half of what it cost just 5 years ago. The same is true with darkroom equipment. A buddy of mine picked up a $600 enlarger (in new condition) on e-bay for less than $60 + shipping. If you want to go with film, nows the time.

For digital, the good news is that over the last 5 years, prices have become more affordable, and the technology has improved significantly. While digital does have the benefit of allowing you to see your image almost immediately, since the boom of the digital camera the number of prints being made has gone done drastically. There was recently a story written about how the 1-5 year age group is one of the least documented generations since the early 1900's. With digital, comes more time (yours) is required to process and print images. What was once down at the film processor is now being done by at home on the PC using a image processing program, such as Photoshop. In today's world, many folks have busy schedules (working 46-50 hours weeks and rushing their kids to evening activities). As a result, many of these images are being stuffed onto hard drives or flash cards and are never printed.

While one may think that digital is cheaper, the initial investment is typically alot more. This is due to the additional cost of media cards, PC upgrades (or purchases), and image processing programs. Don't forget the cost of your time behind the PC trying to make your shots perfect.

Personally, we love the digital era. It has opened up so many creative outlets and opportunites that we could never do with film.

If you live in the Cedar Rapids IA area, shoot digital, and want quick, easy prints without the fuss of image processing program. Check out Photo Pro on Collins Rd. They are a little more expensive than Walmart/Walgreens/HyVee, but they do the work that you don't want to...the color balancing, exposure tweeks, etc.. You can also send your images to them online.
www.photoproonline.com

Have a great week.

Welcome to our Blog

Welcome to our blog.

Our intent is to post educational information to help you improve your photography. Our goal is to add a new topic every week to two weeks, and discuss beginner to advanced topics. As we shoot digital only, our reference point will be from the digital perspective. However, the perspective often is the same for film camera. Sometimes we'll discuss the topic here in the blog. Other times, we'll point you to a web site that has already developed a wonderful discussion on the topic. If there is topic you would like to know more about, please feel free to e-mail us.

Our first topic will be photographing fireworks. For this week, we'll be sending you to the New York Institute of Photography's web site. http://www.nyip.com/tips/current/firewksintro.php

To photograph fireworks, the only pieces of equipment you really need are your camera and a tripod. Speaking from personal experience, you can leave your camera on Auto and get great photos. The article from NYIP does a great job in discussing how to photograph fireworks.

We wish you a happy and safe 4th of July Holiday and Weekend.