Digital Cameras

Digital Camera Basics

When everybody was using film cameras, the most popular format was 35 mm. They used a roll of film that usually produced 24 or 36 prints. The more pictures you wanted to take, the more film you had to take with you. The more film you used, the more developing and printing was involved. You didn’t know for sure what you had until you got the prints back. They may or may not be useful photos. If you wanted to change your pictures in any way, you either needed to prepare your camera ahead of time (if that was possible) or take your photos to an expensive processor.

When digital cameras first came on the scene, they were low resolution devices with low quality optics. As time went by, the resolution and sensors improved. Along with that came better optics and zoom lenses.

When you are ready to download your photos, their are several ways this can be accomplished. Virtually all cameras have a download cable, either USB or Firewire that you can connect to your computer (make sure your computer has the required connection if you choose this method). You can also buy a memory card reader, either specific to the card or a multi-card reader. If you have a laptop computer, this would be a good way to store pictures while you are away from home.

Maximize Your Megapixels

“With More Megapixels, You Can Be More Creative”

Digital Cameras are rated in megapixels. Entry and basic cameras have a low megapixel rating (usually up to about 2 megapixels). This will produce acceptable results for small prints. For people on a budget, low megapixel cameras would be an excellent choice for producing smaller size (for example, 3 x 5) prints. Since one megapixel is one million points of information (evenly spread out over the picture), the larger the print, the more these points are spread out (that’s why larger, low megapixel prints look grainy).

Newer digital cameras are being sold with four (4) and higher megapixels. These digital cameras are the ones you want, and will produce excellent results for 8 x 10 and larger photos. Another advantage of higher megapixel digital cameras is the picture can be cropped and still produce amazing results; pictures you can be proud to show off. Professional (high end) digital cameras are even being made with nine (9) and higher megapixels.

As a point of reference, a 2 megapixel camera has a picture of about 1600 x 1200 pixels. If you do the math and you have a basic 360 dots per inch (dpi) printer, your optimum picture size would be about 5” x 3”. Anything larger and the pixels would start to spread out. However, you could still get a pretty decent 7” x 5” (5” x 7”) picture. If you got a higher megapixel digital camera and a photo printer, you could get much higher quality and a larger photo.

Look To The Lens

“A Good Quality Lens Will Let You Take Error Free Photos”

The lens of the digital camera is much like the lens of a film camera – you get what you pay for. With basic lenses, you will get washed out pictures with blurred areas. The better digital cameras use a good glass lens. This will eliminate a lot of the problems you get with cheaper lenses. I imagine you are used to the lens ratings of standard 35mm lenses (“normal” being 50-55mm). The lens ratings for digital cameras can be a little intimidating for newcomers. Digital cameras use a different rating that is standard throughout the point-and-shoot digital cameras. Their “normal” lens translates to roughly 11mm.

Basic and entry level digital cameras have a fixed lens which is fine for basic photos. But how often did you wish you could zoom in on a subject? Many digital cameras have a 3x optical zoom. This allows you to shoot a range from slightly wide-angle to about 2.5x telephoto. This compares to about 35mm – 105mm in a 35mm film camera equivalent. Digital cameras with 3x (or more) zoom will allow you to vary your photo size without having to move closer. Look closely at the lens numbers to make sure your camera can get everybody in the family portrait.

Another feature in most digital cameras that sounds too good to be true is the digital zoom. Be aware that this is similar to cropping with software. This feature is fine for those who print the pictures they take without editing (they lose detail). For those of you who want to edit your pictures, or who want more detail, my recommendation is to turn off this feature. Your photos will be captured in the full megapixel you selected and then you can edit them to your liking.

Choosing a Digital Camera

Now that you have seen some of the main features of digital cameras, its time to decide what kind of digital camera you would like for your first purchase. If you have a low megapixel camera and would like to improve the quality of your photos, I would highly recomend you upgrade your digital camera.

The first thing to decide is how many megapixels would you like? With the price of 5 megapixel digital cameras coming down, I would say that would be a good place to start. If you want high quality photos, you shouldn’t go below 4 megapixels. Most digital cameras give you a choice of resolution you want to shoot. When you know you will only be downloading to the internet, you could set the resolution to about .5 megapixel. That way, you can get a lot more pictures on your memory card.

The next thing to think about is the lens. You want a good glass lens; most good quality digital cameras by the major manufacturers have good quality lenses. Although, even with good quality lenses, you sometimes get distortion around the edges.

The lens can be fixed or zoom. Typical digital cameras these days have a 3 x optical zoom with an additional digital zoom. If you are happy with this range, you will have many more choices. If you want more wide angle or more telephoto, you will have to be more selective and pay a little more.

Many digital cameras come standard with an LCD screen on the back to preview your intended shots or to view your taken shots. This is handy for viewing or showing off the photos you have already taken. If the day is really sunny, you may not be able to see the picture; this is a problem particularly when you want to preview a picture you are ready to take. A separate viewfinder is real handy for those sunny days.

There are other features most digital cameras have, some of which are handy, some of which you can live without. One of the handy features is the ability to preselect the type of picture you are about to take (for example, portrait, scenery, night shot); this will preset the focus range and depth of field (how much of the picture depth is in focus). A feature that may not be as handy is the ability to add effects, such as sepia tone. Features like this are good if you want to spend more time composing and print directly from the memory card. Most all imaging software will let you make these changes later.

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