What to look for in a digital camera

I have received a lot of questions from people about what to look for when purchasing a digital camera. There are 3 things that really concern me.
First is batteries. One of the major problems I have with electronic devices is that they all run on batteries. The batteries only go dead when you are using the device. But not just when you are using it but when you really want to get a picture! When the batteries go dead you cannot use the camera until you get new /charged batteries. There are a lot of different batteries available but you need to find that one kind/size that works in your camera. A; when it comes to a pocket digital point and shoot camera I look for one that uses replaceable AA batteries. I can get them anywhere. They are cheap and I can carry spares in my pocket. B; check how many pictures you can get from a set of batteries. I bought a pocket Olympus that needed the E2 AA batteries. The alkaline batteries lasted for only about 4-6 pictures.
Second is “lag time”. “Lag Time” is a term that refers to the time between when you push the button and the camera actually takes the picture. This can be 1-2 seconds. It doesn’t sound like much until you try to take a picture of something that is moving – your children for example. When you look at the picture you find they are gone because you pushed the button when you wanted the camera to take a picture but it did not until 1-2 seconds later. OOPS! My feeling is don’t buy a camera that has noticeable lag time. My Canons are very fast but there is technically still a little “Lag Time”. Try it out in the store before you buy it. When you push the button you should immediately hear a click.
Third is something you will be told not to be concerned with, a viewfinder. All the digital cameras come with a view screen on the back. So you can see what you are shooting and how it looks when you are done. The problem is in bright situations outside – you cannot see anything in the viewer. The sun is too bright. When this happens your camera again is useless. I know it won’t happen to you. I gave my wife a nice little Olympus pocket digital I purchased on the internet. I loved my first one except for the batteries I needed. The new one does not have a viewfinder. The first time she went to use it I heard that she could not see what was in the view screen. I then gave her the older Olympus and went out and bought the E2 batteries for her.
A few minor things to finish, pixels only matter when you want to make a photo very large, over 8x10inches. Most cameras today are over 6 megapixels so they can easily give you photos 11x14 and larger. If you don’t crop or you have some good software you can even make them even life size. Don’t count on or use “Digital Zoom” Use only the optical zoom in your camera. Digital zoom just makes the pixels larger, then you get a nasty looking picture. Remember the old computers and how the letters of the fonts had square corners in the straight lines that went any direction other than horizontal or vertical? That is what “Digital Zoom” looks like. The flash that comes on the camera is only good for about 3-6 feet distance in the dark, maybe 10 feet. As fill flash they can work pretty good. Buy a tripod. There are some that will fit in your pocket. Learn to use it when it is dark out. Learn to use the settings on your camera. Last, buy lots of memory cards, move around try different angles and shoot, shoot, shoot.

Check out these photos. The difference in size is caused by zooming in.

This 8x10 inch photo was shot with a 3.2 megapixel pocket digital Olympus camera.

This 8x10 inch photo was shot with an 8 megapixel Canon 20D with a 24-70mm F2.8 lens.

Have fun, learn to use your camera and enjoy!

Bernie

Quote: No such thing as problems...

"There are no such things as problems, only opportunities"
I wish I could remember who said it but I agree whole heartedly

shoot from a wide angle first then move in and around shoot, shoot, shoot from different angles!

Hello Everyone,
When I was growing up I hated rules. I got into a lot of trouble every time someone said “You can’t do that!” Sound familiar? To a lot of you it does.

I just came in after working outside on my pickup truck in a snow storm for the past 45 minutes replacing the Throttle Position Sensor. I just replaced it 2 months ago. So you ask “Why replace it again?” I violated one of the rules I had when I repaired cars. I used an inferior and cheaper part because it was convenient and cheaper. So I paid the price tonight in a snow storm. I bought the good part from Ford today. I still had to pay the price but I wasted the time and money on the first part.

OK, so what does this have to do with photography? Same principle, different application. A second good rule for photography is: shoot from a wide angle first then move in and around shoot, shoot, shoot from different angles!

When I used film the cost of a roll of 24 exposure print film and processing was about $10. This made it very expensive to shoot, shoot, shoot. But, today we have digital cameras that use memory cards. Memory cards are cheap. 20 some yeara ago I added 1 MB of memory to my first computer. The cost was $350. Today you can buy a 1GB memory card for around $20. Have several cards on hand and shoot, shoot, shoot.

Typically the first rule of photogrpahy is to move in. And when you think you are close enough move in some more. And when you think you are close enough again move in some more. With film that was necessary because when you enlarged the picture the quality of the picture degraded with what was called "grain". Small dots became very visible in the photo. Today’s camera resolutions are very good. The “grain” which we call “noise“and “pixilation” today is far less than what it was even 2 years ago. You can crop away a lot. This varies from one camera to another and is something you will need to check out for yourself on your camera. Look at these two photos. The photo on the right was cropped from the outlined area of the photo on the left. Even printed at 8x10 there is virtually no diferrence in quality.

You cannot put in what is not there, except in Photoshop(sometimes) but that can be a

tremendous amount of work. By shooting farther away and moving in you get everything you want in the picture without cutting it off. I find this most important when I need to shoot fast. Look at he photo on the left. I would really like to have Emily's foot back. A second after this shot she was gone. We could not get her to pose again.

Ever notice how fast children move? Then try to get their picture. I like candids but children do not stay in one place long even when you try to pose them. They don’t like to pose.

Action pictures, remember rule #1 I posted last time? If you zoom in and the action moves it will often be gone before you get the shot.
If you move in too close you cannot crop for the different formats (aspect ratio) you may want to print, 4x6, 5x7, 8x10. I will talk about aspect ratios at another time.

There are also new kinds of photo displays one of which is the “wrap around”. You need 1-2 inches around your photo if you want to do a “wrap around”. If you shoot to close you loose the effect because there is nothing to “wrap around”.

The important thing is to get the picture. Then we can crop and do some awesome things with it in Photoshop.

When you shoot lots of frames move around and get different perspectives. Zooming in from one location does not change the perspective, it simply magnifies the photo. You will be surprised at the wonderful things you will see when you change your perspective. Try tilting the camera. I have a friend named Dave that is an awesome photographer. You can tell his photos because he likes to tilt the camera to put the image at an angle. It creates interest in the subject. I don’t do it enough and need to follow his example more.

The bottom line is: start wide then move in, move around to different angles and shoot, shoot, shoot. I was able to repair my truck the second time but when you are shooting a picture if you miss it, the picture is gone. It will never come back, no matter how many you take you cannot get back the one you lost. Be prepared to get it the first time.

Have fun and shoot, shoot, shoot!

Bernie

http://www.berniem.com/

A good question: are there a lot of rules for taking pictures. Yes and no. Good answer right? Not. Rules can help us get started and guide us through to get what we want. They can make us better because the rules make us think about how our picture looks and what it could look like. But sometimes you throw out the rules. The rule that I believe is number ONE the Biggy the first most important gotta do! Get the picture. If you don’t get the picture nothing else matters. I have lost a gaxillion shots because I was trying to compose it right or get the best depth of field etc. When things happen quickly set your camera to automatic and as high an ISO as you need (can) and shoot, shoot, shoot. Shoot lots of frames and don’t get in too close. You can always crop. It sure is work to put in something that is not there – lots of Photoshop and that may not work.
I went out to a park in our neighborhood to get photos of the snow that had just fallen it was great! As I was walking down the hill with my arms full of camera gear 1 Doe and 2 fawns came trotting up the valley. They saw me and I saw them. One of the fawns stopped about 30 feet from me. We all just stood there looking at one another. We stood looking at each other, not moving for what seemed like an eternity but actually was probably 5 seconds. I very slowly removed my camera from the bag and raised it to get a shot of the fawn nearest me. Then the mother jumped and left. The fawns went after her. The shot I got is attached along with one of the good shots of the area. I would rather have had the photo of a fawn. If my camera had been set for fast moving objects I may have got the shot.
Here’s a personal thought. Keep your camera for something that moves fast and you can always reset it for your slow shots. Slow shots you have a lot of time to do things. But when things happen fast it is over before you realize what was going on.

The missed fawn

and the nice landscape.

I had 1/2 of a second to get the fawn and all day to get the landscape.

Have fun and enjoy,

bernie

Posts are coming soon. Does anyone have a question about photography that you would like answered? In the meantime check out http://www.berniem.com/. Enjoy. I'll be back.