Gadgets & Gear: September 2007

Photography. All of us fancy ourselves as a photographer at some time or another. There is something about photography that calls out to just about everyone. People much smarter than me have debated what it is about photographs that draw us in so much. Some say that it is our way of freezing time in our inescapable march towards death (that depressed me just typing it). Some say that it ties into our human need to document what we have done in our lives (cave paintings were just early versions of photo albums). Either way you look at it, virtually everyone loves photos, except maybe when sitting through Aunt Millie’s slideshow of her 15 cats… “Here they are licking themselves, here they are sleeping, here they are coughing up a hairball, isn’t that just the cutest thing?”

This is the first in a two-part series on photography, digital imaging to be specific since hardly anyone uses film anymore. This article is on how to buy a digital camera and next month’s will be about the software to use with your digital images. You might have noticed that I said HOW to buy a digital camera and not WHICH digital cameras to buy. Normally, I would give recommendations on products but I am going to refrain this time. Photography is a very subjective field, and people are very picky about what they like and some people are VERY territorial about their cameras. On some of the online photography forums you can get away with disparaging their mother, but never their camera. (Insult: “Your mother was a witch and you shoot with a Nikon!” Response: “How dare you, I have NEVER used a Nikon!”).

All cameras take photographs differently, even different models from the same manufacturer. Some take photos with super-saturated colors, some take very softly focused shots, some take very sharp, almost 3D photos. The thing about it is, some people will love the effect, others would think their camera is broken. My very first digital camera was from Sony, and it took very good pictures, but it was one of those that produced super-saturated colors, which I thought looked quite nice. Other people hated it because it wasn’t true to life. You are going to have to decide on your own personal tastes. What follows are the two questions I ask everyone who asks me for advice on which digital camera to buy (which is second only to which MP3 player to buy).

How big are you going to make the prints?

A camera that has a ten megapixel sensor has got to be better than one with a measly six megapixels right? Wrong! The camera companies have trained everyone to think this way so that you will run right out and sell your old camera on eBay as soon as the new model comes out with one more megapixel and not much else different.

The truth is, some very high megapixel cameras turn out far worse photos in a very objective sense than those with far less megapixels. Granted, some of these problems are due to other factors such as the quality of the lens and the software in the camera and not the sensor. The problem is, as you pack more and more sensors onto a chip, you have to make them smaller and smaller to fit or you have to increase the size of the chip, which is expensive and can change the form factor of the camera.

As you pack more and more of those sensors closer together, they can create all kinds of problems, not the least of which is “noise”. This is the thing that can make a digital image look “grainy,” like you would get with the old high-speed film. Now graininess may be something you like in an artistic way, but digital noise oftentimes doesn’t just introduce graininess. It can also produce other image problems that can destroy a picture. That just proves my point, that it’s not the size of your sensor, it’s how you use it. Actually, it is the whole package that really matters.

So how many megapixels do you need? That depends on how big of a picture you are going to produce. Ninety-five percent of the people on the planet would never need a camera over three megapixels, let alone six. Who are those 10 and 12 megapixel monsters made for? Pros typically (at least in the digital SLR arena). And, suckers (for those getting a point-and-shoot camera).

If you are never going to print a picture bigger than the typical 4 x 6” print, you don’t need any more than three megapixels! If I take a picture with a ten megapixel camera and you shoot the same picture with a three, and we both print a 4 x 6” at the same photo lab, they will both be really nice pictures and any difference between the two is probably going to be more due to the lens or the software than the sensor.

In truth, your picture may look better than mine; there is that whole subjective thing again. So here is a little guide on how big of a sensor you need according to what size of print you are going to make:

• 3 megapixel = 5 x 7” (you could even blow that 4 x 6 up to the next size and it would look great)

• 4 megapixel = 8 x 10”

• 5 megapixel = 11 x 14”

• 6 megapixel = 13 x 19”

• 8 megapixel = 16 x 20”

• 10-12 megapixel = 24 x 36”

So, unless you are planning on printing out a poster that is 2 x 3 feet, you really don’t need that super megapixel camera. You would be much better off buying a higher quality camera with a smaller sensor.

How do you plan on using the camera?

This is the easiest question to ask yourself; “Am I just using this camera to take quick shots of people/events, or do I really want to get creative with my photos?” If you are just planning on taking basic pictures of your kids, your spouse, and the trip to Hawaii, all you really need or probably want is a point and shoot (P&S) camera. What I mean by a P&S is a camera that is typically very compact and does not allow you to switch out the lenses. These are what 90% of the cameras at Best Buy or any major retailer would be classified under. That’s not to say that you can’t do a lot with these cameras – some of them have special modes in them that are pretty advanced and you can get somewhat creative with your pictures (adjusting shutter speed, maybe adjusting the aperture for less depth of field) – but mostly they were intended to be used in “Full Auto” mode most of the time.

Most of these cameras are great and will take pictures that you will most likely be very happy with. Also, they are typically very easy to put in a small case and put into a pocket or a purse. If you are a casual photographer, find one here that feels the easiest for you to use, has a screen you like and has any special features that you like (i.e. Kodak and several other brands have cameras that have little printer docks that can print out your 4 x 6” prints all in one package).

If you fancy yourself as the next Ansel Adams or Annie Leibovitz, you might want to consider a Digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera. It will be very hard to get sweeping panoramas or portraits that almost jump out at you with a P&S camera. With power comes complexity, and while almost all DSLRs have a basic mode (you can get a DSLR and keep it in its basic mode all the time but you will basically have a very powerful and expensive P&S), they really shine when you put them into their “creative” modes. This is where you can play with the shutter speed to make a waterfall or a stream turn into a white “otherworldly” substance or freeze them to where you can see every drop. You can play with the aperture and get tack sharp focus from the camera all the way out to infinity, or open it up to take a portrait with everything but the person’s face beautifully out of focus to really draw attention to them.

Like I said above, some P&S cameras can do this to some degree or another, but none of them excel at it the way a DSLR was designed to do. Also, with a DSLR you have the ability to swap out lenses to suit the type of photography you are doing. Shooting sports? You can get yourself one of those wicked cool white Canon telephoto lenses. Want to take in a wide cityscape or interior of a beautiful cathedral? Go out and get a super wide angle lens. Want to take close-ups of a bee perched on a flower? Go grab yourself a nice macro lens (though I have to admit a lot of P&S cameras have some pretty impressive macro modes, though none will match the quality of a dedicated macro lens).

One thing about DSLRs that throws a lot of digital P&S owners is that you don’t compose the picture on the LCD on the back (that is only for reviewing the picture and menu functions), with a DSLR you go back to sticking the camera to your face and taking the picture through the viewfinder. This is due to the design of all SLRs, digital or not, and while some new DSLRs offer what they call a “live view” on the LCD screen, it’s not the best, and you should just use the viewfinder.

Quick note here on a class of cameras called “Megazoom” cameras. These are cameras that typically look like a hybrid of a P&S and a DSLR. They are more compact than a DSLR but have a bigger lens than a P&S. If you aren’t quite ready to make the jump from a P&S to a DSLR you might want to consider one of these cameras because even though they are still P&S cameras, they tend to have a little more options in the creative arena. Some of these cameras function almost identically to their DSLR big brothers with the exception of swapping out lenses (you really don’t need to though because the lens on many of these cameras cover the entire gamut of lenses you can buy with a DSLR).

That’s it?

Yep, those are the two questions I ask people when they ask me for advice on what digital camera to buy. There are just too many different features from each maker, and even within each product line, to go in-depth about all of them. Once you know how big of a sensor you need and which type of camera you are looking for, then you need to go out and find the one that fits your hands the best, has a big enough screen for you, and is easy enough for you to take around with you.

If you are looking for some specific camera reviews from some good sources, here are a few sites to look up. My favorite site is www.dpreview.com. This is a camera site for photographers by photographers. These guys give you multi-page reviews with comparisons to other cameras in the class and sample photos. Another good site is the one for the magazine Popular Photography at www.popphoto.com. You can also go to www.cnet.com and look under their reviews section. They are usually pretty good on all tech reviews though I think their camera reviews are their weakest section (I don’t think any of them are a real photographer nor do they use the real lab equipment to test the camera like DPReview and PopPhoto).

Have fun and see you next month when I’ll be writing about all the little software programs to play with all those photos from your new camera. As always, if you have any questions feel free to write me at jeff@healthandleisureonline.com.