IS A DIGITAL CAMERA THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR YOU?
This seminar is designed to
help you determine if a digital camera is the right choice for you and
hopefully will help you determine which features you might wish to have.
Decisions… Decisions
Is a digital camera a good choice for you?
Do you take lots of rolls of film?
Do you leave a partially developed roll in your camera for a long while?
Do you want a quick, easy way to print or e-mail your pictures?
If you answered yes to any of the above, a digital
camera may be in your future.
Decisions…Decisions
If you are intimidated by a computer or reading an instruction manual,
If you only take a few rolls of film each year,
If you are not interested in the ease of e-mailing photos to friends and
relatives, then
A digital camera might not be the right choice for you.
Digital Advantage
Shoot a whole bunch of pictures.
See what you have shot immediately.
Keep what you like, discard the rest.
Retake the ones you didn’t like.
Take a better shot of the same scene.
No need to wait to have film developed and see if you missed the shot you
wanted.
Making Copies
No need to go to a store.
Just a few clicks of your mouse and you have copies.
Use your own printer if you wish to make prints.
E-mail them immediately to friends or family.
Pixels
Pixels – picture elements
These do the actual recording of the information. The more the better the
image.
One megapixel is 1,000,000 pixels
A camera with a maximum resolution capability of 1600x1200 has 1,900,000
pixels (It is a 2 megapixel camera.)
More About Pixels
If you are going to print a picture, the more pixels, the better quality.
If all you plan to do is e-mail, the resolution of the computer screen
cannot tell the difference between a 2 megapixel image and a 5 megapixel image.
Do not become a casualty in the megapixel war.
Choosing a Camera
3 Types to Consider
Entry Level
Few “Bells and Whistles”
3-4 Megapixels
May have 2X-3X optical zoom
Weak flash output
Prints up to 4”x 6”
Small LCD display
Small view finder
Fairly small memory card
Cost $150 -$200
May find on sale for about $100
Mid Range
4-5 Megapixels
Optical zoom 3X-5X
Higher flash output
Larger LCD
Better viewfinder
Many user controlled settings or scenic menus
Print up to 5”x 7” or 8”x 10” pictures
Cost $250-$350
Prosumer
5-7 million pixels
High quality 6X-8X zoom lens
Telephoto and Wide angle capabilities
Manual control over a myriad of settings or scenic menus
Can print up to 11”x14” prints
Costs $400 - $600
Digital Camera Choices
More Decisions
Determine how you plan to use your camera before you make a decision to
purchase. Just because a camera has all the latest bells and whistles, it may
not be the best choice for you.
Write down the make and model numbers of cameras in which you are
interested.
Do some basic homework on the web sites listed at the end of this
seminar. See actual reviews and expert opinions before you buy.
Even More Decisions
Before you buy a camera, determine how you are going to use it.
For family and typical vacation pictures, almost any quality entry level
or mid-range level camera will perform well.
If you have special uses, then the following considerations may help you
make the correct decision.
Special Considerations
Sports/Action –needs a way adjust the shutter speed or a specific scenic
menu selection.
Landscape – needs a way to adjust the aperture for depth of field or
specific menu selection.
Portrait Photography - same as above.
Indoor/Museum – needs white balance adjustments or specific menu
selection.
Other Considerations
Many newer cameras have special menu selections for :
Beach/Snow scenes,
Sunsets,
Night scenes/Fireworks,
Foliage, and
Close up photography.
Are these important to you?
Zoom Lenses
An optical zoom lens enables you to get close up photographs without loss
of quality.
Digital zoom decreases the quality of the photograph since it
electronically decreases the number of pixels used to capture the image.
Look for a camera with an optical zoom of at least 3X.
Features To Consider
Shutter lag – How great is the time delay between when you snap the
shutter and the image is recorded.
Auto Exposure Bracketing – Enables you to take 3 different exposures of
the same shot.
Movie Mode – the ability of the camera to take brief movies. Depends
upon size of memory card.
More Features
Lens Quality – Expect a lens with an f stop of f/2.8 in a good quality
camera.
Image Stabilization – In a camera with an 8X to 10X zoom lens, this is
important.
Shutter Speed – Should have speed of at least 1/2000 of a second if you
wish to shoot sports or action.
Spot Metering – Enables you to choose the area the light meter will read.
Memory Cards
Various manufacturers use various types of memory cards. Most digital
cameras come with 16 or 32mb of memory. A 256mb or 512 mb card allows you to
take several hundred pictures. You can reuse the card over and over again.
Memory cards have gotten much cheaper.
Purchase a large sized memory card.
Types of Memory Cards
Compact Flash I & II
Smart Media
Sony Memory Stick
XD
Secure Digital SD/MMC
Viewfinders
LCDs (liquid crystal displays) are like miniature computer screens. They
allow you to see and review the pictures you have taken. In bright sunlight
the LCD images may be difficult to see.
Optical viewfinders are better in bright sunlight but may not show you
the entire frame.
Types of Batteries
Alkaline
NiCad
NiMH
Li-Ion
Battery
Chargers
For rechargeable AA or AAA batteries get batteries with highest rating. (expressed
in milli amp hours - mAh)
Use a “smart” charger that will not overcharge the batteries.
Li-Ion batteries need replacements and chargers specified by the
manufacturer.
Resolution – Image Size and Quality
A measure of how much information a digital camera can record. Expressed
in megapixels.
Quality of the image depends on the number of pixels, file compression,
and accuracy of focus.
Compression – File Size
A means of storing information and making files smaller and more
manageable.
Two forms of compression – lossless and lossy.
Lossless stores the image with no loss of quality.
Lossy degrades the images. The more images are compressed the greater the
loss of quality.
Compression
During compression, data that is duplicated is eliminated or saved in a
shorter form, reducing a file size.
Two formats are commonly used JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) and
TIFF (Tag Image File Format).
White Balance
When the white balance mode is set to match the light source, the camera
reproduces colors more accurately.
The automatic (default) setting works in a wide variety of lighting
conditions.
Macro Lenses
n When
photographing small objects your lens’ minimum focusing distance determines how
close you can get.
Macro mode allows you to get very close making the object much larger in
the final image.
May be able to get as close as 2”-3” in the macro mode.
File Management
Photos are like any other file.
Windows will store them in My Documents, in My Pictures.
Photos can be stored, copied, moved, renamed, erased, printed, or
e-mailed the same as any other files.
Before You Buy
Determine your needs (and wants).
Go to Best Buy, Circuit City,
Office Depot.
Handle the cameras.
Ask questions.
Make comparisons.
Ask to see the manuals. Can you understand them?
Web Sites to Visit
These web sites will enable you to compare the features of various
cameras and read expert evaluations and opinions
Buying A Camera On Line
Web sites to visit for prices
Cautions
If you choose to buy on-line, avoid the grey market. Check the
reputation of the camera store. Be very cautious.
Check for U.S.A. warranty.
Be careful of E-Bay and other deals that seem too good to be true.
Finally
Thank you for coming to this seminar. I appreciate your being here and
your interest in digital cameras. I am not an expert, but hope I was able to
help you determine whether or not a digital camera is the right choice for you
and what features you might find important to you and worth considering prior
to making a purchase.
The reason for this seminar is based on the basic digital camera class
that I teach. Some of my students have come to class with brand new digital
cameras still in the boxes. When some of the features of digital cameras were
discussed, they found their newly purchased cameras did not have these
features.
These folks bought a new camera without doing any preliminary research.
They had a good salesperson and bad advice. Hopefully, this seminar and
questions that might arise will help you determine if a digital camera is right
for you and which features you might wish to consider in your selection
process.
Are you planning to use the camera for sports action shots, nature
landscapes, vacation photos, to display as prints, or just to e-mail to family
and friends? Some of these needs and/or wants may require certain special
features in a camera. Talk to your friends. Ask what cameras they are using
and their opinions. Go to the listed web sites and look at the reviews of the
camera models you might be interested in purchasing. The most important thing
in choosing the right camera is determining how you will use your camera and
then doing some basic research before your purchase.
Questions ?????
There are no dumb questions. Actually there are, but for our purposes
the only dumb questions are those you don’t ask.
Thank you for taking the time to attend this seminar.
If you have questions after you get home, contact me at
I’ll try to help.
Gary S. Resnick