Friday, November 14, 2008

How to Choose a Camera

Choosing a camera is a tricky undertaking. Digital Cameras today cost significantly more than the 35mm or APS film cameras of yesteryear. A good digital camera will cost at least $100 and can cost as much as a new car. Nobody can afford to throw that much money at something without getting something great in return.

The first step in finding a great camera is to decide what you want to use the camera for. Some of the usual reasons are:

  • Social picture taking. You want to take pictures of friends and family at social events such as parties or Holidays.
  • Preserving and Sharing Memories. The first steps of a baby, a prom date, ...
  • Landscapes: You want to capture things you find beautiful such as: sunsets, scenery, landscapes, flowers, ...
  • Portrait. You want to take great pictures of people, great enough to blow up and show others.
  • Product Photograph. You want to take pictures of things to sell them, such as on Ebay.


Memories and Social event cameras.

If you are taking pictures for social events, or to preserve memories, you can easily use a compact Digital Camera such as the Pentax Optio series or the Fuji FinePix series. These cameras are “Point and Shoot” which means that you don’t need to understand much to take a great picture.
If you need to conserve money, pick the camera that just enough Mega Pixels to meet your current and future needs. A 3 Mega Pixel Camera will produce very good 5x7 pictures. If you want an 8x10 to give to family, you should hold out for a 5 to 6 Mega Pixel Camera. If you want to make bigger pictures, you’ll need to move up to a 9 Mega Pixel camera.

Landscapes.
If you are out to capture the beauty found in nature, you’ll need more than a point and shoot camera. You’ll need:

  • A good zoom lens. The zoom lens should be at least a “optical” 5X lens. This means that the telephoto setting of the lens should put you 5 times closer to the subject than the wide angle setting. This makes it much easier to “compose” your picture without moving about or hiking great distances. If you are willing to invest in the future, you should consider a SLR or DSLR which has interchangeable lenses. Interchangeable lenses have much better optics and are more flexible. A DSLR “system” (camera and a few lenses) will cost two to five times more than a camera with a fixed lens.
  • 5 or more Mega Pixels. If you just want a 8x10 print, you can get by with a 5 Mega Pixel camera. If you want a 16x20 inch print or bigger, you’ll need a minimum of 9 Mega Pixels.
  • Creative controls: These controls on a camera tell the camera what type of picture you are taking: Outside daylight, portrait, snow scape, beach picture, etc.. This helps the camera adjust it’s calculation of the exposure needed to get a great picture. The most powerful mode of all is the “Manual” mode, which forces you to set the parameters of the camera to get a great shot. The Manual mode should only be used by advanced amateurs.
  • Macro lens capability. If you want to take close up pictures of flowers or insects, this is a must. If small things don’t interest you, skip this feature.
  • A “Hot Shoe”. A Hot Shoe is a place to attach an external flash on a camera, usually on the top of the camera. If you are going to be very serious about macro type pictures, you may need a “macro flash” which will require a camera with a Hot Shoe. A Hot Shoe is also very useful if you need to take portraits.


Portraits.
A good portrait is one that shows the soul of the subjects. To see the soul accurately, you need to get close to your subjects. A camera with a lens that allows you to fill the viewfinder with a face at 4 feet is perfect. In addition, the camera should have:

  • Close up zoom lens (35mm to 135mm in 35mm camera equivalent). The zoom lens allows you to compose the picture without moving around.
  • Great Auto focus capability. The camera must be able to focus in both bright light and low light. The camera should also have the ability to allow you to specify the focus point. Most cameras allow you to pick one of 6 possible focus points.
  • A Spot Exposure mode. A spot exposure mode calculates the exposure based on the light hitting a small “spot” in the center of the viewfinder. Most exposures are calculated based on the overall light hitting the viewfinder. This can cause problems when the background of a picture has more light hitting it or coming from it than the person you are taking a picture of.
  • Built in flash, used only for emergencies.
  • Hot Shoe for external flash. An external flash unit can reduce or even eliminate “Red Eye”
  • Fully Manual mode for exposure. If you work with big external flash units, there is no “automatic flash”, you have to use a flash meter to measure the light, and set your camera accordingly.
  • 6 Mega Pixels or more in resolution. If you want magazine quality, you’ll need 10 Mega Pixels or more.
  • Lens filters. Your lens should allow you to attach lens filters to it. A lens filter can give you a great deal of control over the colors in a picture, the softness of the focus, as well as many other things.
  • PC flash connector. This isn’t actually required, but can certainly is handy when connecting to external flash units (i.e. big umbrella flash units)
  • Image Stabilization if possible. This is not a real requirement, but ...

Product Photography
Product photography can cover a very broad range, from web based displays to Fashion Magazine spreads. This sections be limited to Web based displays (i.e. Ebay, pictures on this site, ...).
A good camera for web based product pictures would have:

  • 2 or more Mega Pixels
  • Zoom lens. 3 X optical at a minimum.
  • Macro lens capability. You’ll need this to get close to the small products you photograph.
  • Small built in flash.

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