We will learn the basic functions of point and shoot digital cameras (also known as fixed lens
cameras). This will cover terms and functions of cameras, basic care, media, shooting modes, manual
exposure (meter, white balance, ISO, zoom), mega pixel and image quality, flash and red eye, file
transfer, file organization and backing up files, basic editing tools, printing and a ‘how to’s’ on buying a
camera.
Today’s point and shoot digital cameras range in physical size from sub compact which are close to the
size of a credit card that will fit in your pocket to close to the size and weight of a professional SLR
camera. The price range is that wide as well. Although the size and price vary largely, menu screens
differ, some cameras have more shooting modes, more mega pixels and image processors are different;
the basic fundamentals are the same.
Some of the largest are Canon, Sony, Kodak, Nikon, Panasonic, HP, Samsung, Olympus and Pentax.
Basic Care
For the most part this is out lined in the cameras user manual. Rule number one…READ IT! Basics
are easy. Do not over heat, submerge in water or liquid, drop or abuse ECT.
Purchase a camera bag if the camera does not come with one. Use the camera strap at all times to
prevent sudden stop when camera falls to the ground. Store camera accessories in their cases. When
leaving the country keep purchase receipt or stop at Canada Customs to declare the device, it may save
problems coming back.
Humidity, sand and salt can damage a camera. When using your camera at the beach caution should
be taken. Sand and/or water on your hands can transfer to the camera. Try to limit use in these areas.
Just like pets and babies, cameras should not be stored in cars in hot weather, and should never be
stored on your dashboard near the window (especially babies). A thermal lunch bag with a freezer pack
is a good idea if the camera is stored temporarily in hot places. Your camera should not be exposed to
freezing temperature for too long. Batteries that are exposed to cold will have reduced stamina and
performance.
To clean your lens, pick up a lens cleaning kit with either a lint free cloth, soft paper or a cleaning
solution. Be careful if you blow on your lens to get dust off as saliva can damage the coating on the
lens. Never wipe a lens with your shirt.
Batteries
Digital cameras are generally battery hogs. Most will use Nickel Metal Hydrate (Ni-MH) rechargeable
batteries. These will self-discharge over time when not in use. If you know you are going to be using
your camera ensure batteries are charged. If you know you will not be using the camera for some time,
avoid storing batteries in camera. Always drain Ni-MH batteries before charging. They have
“memory” and charging them before they are drained may result in significant reduction of battery
stamina and life. Cameras will function on regular batteries (unless owners manual states other wise),
but expect reduced performance from the camera and limited battery life.
Basics of your camera
Digital cameras are set up using the same principals. You have a light proof box with a lens on the
front, sensor and electronics inside, a power button, battery compartment, memory slot, a connection
compartment, an LCD screen on the back, an optical view finder, zoom control, common function
buttons and one or two menu/settings buttons or knob.
What will differ is that some lens are retractable and the set up of your menus to control the camera.
Some cameras may have a few more shooting modes and options or give more exposure control. Some
cameras have a main menu and every thing is accessible from there. Others may more or less
categorize the menus. For example you could have a menu for setting time, date, choose if the camera
beeps and choose how the images are numbered. Another menu for setting exposure auto exposure,
flash, white balance, ect. Another for memory card functions. It will vary from camera to camera.
Common Function Buttons
These are buttons usually found on the back of the camera, which take you directly to common
controls. The ones included vary by manufacturer or model. Some of the common buttons include:
– Switch the camera to macro. This is used for close up photography.
– Red-eye reduction. This will burst the flash before the exposure to close the subjects’ pupil.
– Self-timer. This will count down and automatically make the exposure.
– AE (Auto Exposure) lock. When you press the shutter release half way the camera takes a meter
reading and sets the exposure. If you press this button it locks the exposure settings.
– Delete an image
– Exposure compensation. Quickly over or under expose the auto exposure
– This will turn the flash on or take you to your flash control options on the LCD screen. The lightning
bolt with line through it turns the flash off. Usually the button is marked only with the lightning bolt.
WB – This takes you to the white balance menu.
ISO – This will take you to the menu to set the ISO.
Other common options in your menus that you may use:
Burst – Note that you may be limited as to how many images can be taken successively and flash may
not be available.
Resolution (may give options to reduce mega pixel, quality or an email option)
Shooting Modes
Modes are pre set exposure settings. This will open up functions on the camera. These could be
included in the menus or be a knob at the top of the camera. This is where cameras differ greatly. For
example on some cameras you can turn the camera to full auto, macro or to some sort of special effect.
You can tell the camera of a special shooting environment, these are referred to as Automatic modes.
Your owner’s manual will have a list of the settings. Here are some common ones.
Portrait Mode – When you switch to portrait mode your camera will automatically select a large
aperture, which helps to keep your background out of focus (i.e. it sets a narrow depth of field –
ensuring your subject is the only thing in focus and is therefore the centre of attention in the shot).
Portrait mode works best when you’re photographing a single subject so get in close enough to your
subject. Also if you’re shooting into the sun you might want to trigger your flash to add a little light
onto their face.
Macro Mode – Macro mode lets you move closer into your subject to take a close up picture. It’s great
for shooting flowers, insects or other small objects. Different digital cameras will have macro modes
with different capabilities including different focusing distances (usually between 2-10cm for point and
shoot cameras). When you use macro mode you’ll notice that focusing is more difficult, as at short
distances the depth of field is very narrow. Keep your camera and the object you’re photographing
parallel if possible or you’ll find a lot of it will be out of focus. You’ll probably also find that you won’t
want to use your camera’s built in flash when photographing objects close up or they’ll be over
exposed. Use a tripod for macro shots, as the depth of field is so small that even moving towards or
away from your subject slightly can make your subject out of focus.
Landscape Mode – This mode is almost the exact opposite of portrait mode in that it sets the camera
up with a small aperture to make sure as much of the scene will be in focus as possible (i.e. it gives you
a large depth of field). It’s therefore ideal for capturing shots of wide scenes; particularly those with
points of interest at different distances from the camera. At times your camera might also select a
slower shutter speed in this mode (to compensate for the small aperture) so you might want to consider
a tripod or other method of ensuring your camera is still. Your LCD screen is usually too small to
notice slight blur from camera shake.
Sports Mode – Photographing moving objects is what sports mode (also called ‘action mode’ in some
cameras) is designed. It is ideal for photographing any moving objects including people playing sports,
pets, cars, wildlife etc. Sports mode attempts to freeze the action by increasing the shutter speed. When
photographing fast moving subjects you can also increase your chances of capturing them with panning
of your camera along with the subject and/or by attempting to pre focus your camera on a spot where
the subject will be when you want to photograph it (this takes practice). Point and shoot cameras do
have a lot more difficulty with moving objects. SLR cameras are much better at stopping movement.
In addition, your flash can assist in keeping your moving subject in focus, if your close enough.
Night Mode – This is a really fun mode to play around with and can create some wonderfully colorful
and interesting shots. Night mode (a technique also called ’slow shutter sync’) is for shooting in low
light situations and sets your camera to use a longer shutter speed to help capture details of the
background but it also fires off a flash to illuminate the foreground (and subject). If you use this mode
for a ’serious’ or well balanced shot you should use a tripod or your background will be blurred –
however it’s also fun to take shots with this handheld to purposely blur your backgrounds – especially
when there is a situation with lights behind your subject as it can give a fun and experimental look.
Note that longer exposures will be subject to more “noise.”
Movie Mode – This mode extends your digital camera from just capturing still images to capturing
moving ones. Most new digital cameras come with a movie mode that records both video but also
sound. The quality is generally not up to video camera standards (usually mono with limited distance)
but it’s a handy mode to have when you come across that perfect subject that just can’t be captured
with a still image. Keep in mind that moving images take up significantly more space on your memory
storage than still images.
Other less common modes include:
Panoramic/Stitch Mode – for taking shots of a panoramic scene to be joined together later as one
image.
Snow Mode – to help with tricky bright lighting from the snow
Fireworks Mode – for shooting firework displays
Kids and Pets Mode – fast moving objects can be tricky – this mode seems to speed up shutter speed
and help reduce shutter lag with some pre focusing
Underwater Mode – underwater photography has it’s own unique set of exposure requirements
Beach Mode – another bright scene mode
Indoor Mode – helps with setting shutter speed and white balance
Foliage Mode – boosts saturation to give nice bold colors
Note that some cameras have a black and white option. Shooting in black and white will save room on
your memory card, however black and white photos come out better if you convert a colour photo to
black and white in the computer with photo editing software.
The best way to see what these settings do and when you should use them is to practice with them in
various lighting situations.
Semi Automatic Modes
Aperture Priority Mode (A or AV) – This mode is where you choose the aperture and your camera
chooses the shutter speed to ensure you have a well-balanced exposure. Aperture priority mode is
useful when you’re looking to control the depth of field in a shot, usually a stationary object where you
don’t need to control shutter speed. Choosing a larger number aperture means the aperture is smaller
and lets less light in. This means you’ll have a larger depth of field (more of the scene will be in focus)
but your camera will choose a faster shutter speed. Small numbers means the opposite (i.e. your
aperture is large, depth of field will be small and your camera will choose a slower shutter speed).
Shutter Priority or Time Value Mode (S or TV) – Shutter priority is very similar to aperture priority
mode but is the mode where you select a shutter speed and the camera then chooses aperture. You
would use this mode where you want to control over shutter speed. For example when photographing
moving subjects you might want to choose a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion. The opposite of
this you might want to capture the movement as a blur of a subject like a waterfall and choose a slow
shutter speed. You might also choose a slow shutter speed in lower light situations. When using a
shutter speed slower then 1/60 consider using a tripod. If you do not have a tripod try leaning on some
thing such as a wall. You can also drop down to a knee and rest your elbow on the knee that is off the
ground. Human tripod!
Program Mode (P) – Some digital cameras have this priority mode in addition to auto mode. In a few
cameras Program mode is full Auto mode. In those cameras that have both, Program mode is similar to
Auto but gives you a little more control over some other features including flash, white balance, ISO
etc. Check your digital camera’s manual for how the Program mode differs from Automatic in your
particular model.
Manual Mode – In this mode you have full control over your camera and need to think about all
settings including shutter speed, aperture. It gives you the flexibility to set your shots up as you wish.
Some cameras will have an option to bracket an exposure. This will take 3 or more shots. It will shoot
at the original exposure settings. Then it will under and over expose.
If you are unsure which mode to use, use program or auto mode. Practice with your camera in a variety
of situations and get to know what results you get from the settings, that way you will know which
setting you want.
Manual Exposure
If you can go to full manual control, the theory of exposure is much easier then actually doing it, but
your not wasting film if you practice and you can get better results once you know it. The three things
you will control are shutter speed, aperture size and ISO. For the most part you’ll likely keep your
camera on an auto setting. If the technology will do most of the work, way not let it most of the time.
An experienced photographer will take control of the manual settings to get a specific result or if they
are in a specific situation that might fool the auto settings or where an overall average meter reading
will not do.
Light coming through the lens and hitting the censor is what gives you your image. The amount of
light that hits it depends on the shutter speed and aperture size. When you press the shutter release to
take your picture the shutter opens or in most cameras the censor is activated and simulates a physical
shutter. The speed in which it opens and closes or how long it is activated will be one control of how
much light is recorded.
Aperture refers to the size of the opening in the lens. The smaller the opening the less light that
reaches the censor. Aperture size is measured in f/ (f stops). The smaller the number the larger the
opening. Those are two of three things you control that will determine if you over expose, under
expose or properly expose your image.
The third is the ISO. When you buy film you may have noticed an ISO number, most common would
be 400. Well it’s the same thing. The censor takes the place of film. The ISO number tells you how
sensitive to light the film, now censor, is to light. The higher the number the more sensitive it is to
light. In other words the higher the ISO the less light that needs to hit the censor, and the lower the ISO
the more light that needs to hit the censor. Lower ISO have better colour rendition and less digital
noise. The higher the ISO the flatter the colours and more digital noise. Digital noise is a graininess
that appears in the shadows and highlights of an image. In the film days it was referred to as “grain” or
“a graininess that appears in the shadows and highlights.”
So what ISO should you use? The most common ISO are 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600. Some cameras
will go to 3200, but it is not common. In terms of exposure, each step up where the number doubles
makes the sensor double sensitive to light, and can be referred to as one f/ stop. The following are
general guidelines. Exceptions may apply when you consider what you are shooting and the shutter
speed.
100 – 200 ISO – Places with lots of ambient light, such as a sunny day out side.
400 ISO – Medium ambient light, such as a cloudy day. This one is also good for well light indoors.
This maybe the ISO you use the most.
800 ISO – Low light situations. This also may need to be used for stop action (sport event).
1600 ISO and up – Extremely low light situations, such as a hall attending a social. Expect lots of
grain in 800 and 1600 ISO and higher.
White Balance
White balance will not affect how much light reaches the sensor. So adjusting this will not under or
over expose your image. The white balance compensates for light temperature. Light temperature
refers to a red/yellow or blue tinge in the light when it hits the censor or film, measured in degrees
Kelvin. Your eye does a remarkable job compensating for this so you don’t notice the changes in light
temperature. It has nothing to do with the physical temperature of anything. Your camera will usually
have settings for outside sunny, outside cloudy, florescent, tungsten lighting and an auto setting. It may
even have more options. The auto white balance setting on the cameras are very, very good. You
probably will never need to change it from auto. The odd time the meter is fooled, it is a quick fix in
any editing program. You may want to change the WB if an in camera special effect. This can be done
with allot more control in editing software. Some cameras will allow you to manually set the white
balance with a white card. This will differ between makes and models.
Flash and Redeye
Flash on a point and shoot camera can be maddening. The problem is that they are not defused and sit
almost at the same height as the lens, which contribute redeye. Red-eye is light reflecting off the blood
red retina. The flash is a single, small, poorly positioned, bright light that even has a hard time
justifying its self as a fill flash. Unfortunately you will probably need use it some times. Just try to
keep it to a minimum. Your camera will have several options to control the flash. First you will be
able to turn it off, on and auto. This will likely be a well-positioned button for easy access. Then you
will be able to control the level. This could be as easy as low, medium and high or it could give you
options such as fill flash, redeye reduction which will strobe the flash be for the picture is taken to close
the subjects pupil. It’s pretty bright and all your subject will see is pain. It may have a few more
settings and the names will be descriptive enough to tell what they do. Try to keep the flash on the
lowest setting possible that will get the job done. Pictures look better if you can do it without the flash,
the flash eats battery power and can take from 3 – 10 seconds to cycle.
You will want to use your flash in low light situations, to stop motion or if there is a strong light behind
your subject also called back light.
Media
Flash memory is one of the most reliable storage media and it is portable! They have no moving parts
and are also know as “solid state” memory.
Digital cameras store your images on flash memory. This includes Memory Stick (Sony), CF
(Compact Flash), SD (Secure Digital), Mini SD, Micro SD, XD, MMC (MultiMedia) and Smart Media
Cards. These are removable cards. They are different sizes and shapes. Some cameras will have slots
for more then one type of memory. The type of memory your camera accepts is found in your owner’s
manual and usually marked on the camera at the slot for the card.
Card sizes range from 32MB to 2GB. Some camera manufacturers such as Sony and Olympus make
memory cards, however there are a lot of brands on the market. In addition, brands and specific
formats will often have more then one level of a memory card format. The speed of the transfer is the
biggest difference. For example the manufacturer ScanDisk has several types of CF cards. They have
their normal card, Ultra, Ultra II, Extreme, Extreme II, III and IV and they have several lower end ones
too. Memory Stick has their Pro and Pro Duo.
Most consumer point and shoot cameras can get by on the lower level cards, which are also lowest in
cost. The faster cards are geared to the SLR cameras. With better quality cameras hitting the market
the file sizes are becoming large enough that you may see a small lag between exposures if your
camera can transfer faster then the card. Some of the largest and most trusted manufacturers are Sony,
Olympus, ScanDisk and Lexar.
The amount of memory you need depends on how you use the camera and the camera it’s self. The
larger the files the fewer images you can fit on a card. On a 5 MP camera at full resolution your images
most likely will be 2 – 3 MB. At that rate a 1 Gigabyte card will hold between 300-500 images. File
size will vary depending what is captured in the image and the resolution. You lose some capacity on
the card for file management, EXIF and Meta data, but the loss is minimal. In addition if you use your
camera only on special occasions and you are usually near your computer, you can get away with less
memory because you can load the images onto your computer to free up your flash memory. If you go
on a lot of trips and take lots of pictures you may consider more memory.
Note that the cards can store any type of file, not just image files. You can purchase a card reader that
will hook up to your computer and you can store any type of files to it. This is not meant for long-term
storage, but you can transfer information to other computers much easier then burning to disk.
You may consider using smaller capacity cards such as 1 or 2G. There is a small chance a card might
fail or it may get lost or damaged and you will limit how many images you lose if you are using smaller
cards.
A small number of cameras have internal hard drives.
Files and File Transfer
Digital cameras will usually save your images in several different file formats that you can choose
from. Most common is JPEG, TIFF and RAW.
JPEG is a form of compression. Your camera makes the file smaller by taking out redundant
information. This is by far the most common picture file.
TIFF is a format that keeps more information in the image file and is referred to as “loss-less”. These
are several times larger then the JPEG files.
RAW is a completely unprocessed image. It has all of the original information from the camera. This
is as close to a negative that you get with digital photography. RAW files are several times larger then
How do you get those pictures off your memory card? You can either hook up
your camera to your computer with a USB or Firewire (IEEE) connection or what I prefer to do is use a
card reader. If you go the route of connecting your camera to your computer your instruction manual
will have proper instructions as it varies from camera to camera. Some cameras come with software
that has to be loaded on to your computer. Some you have to manually start the transfer from
commands on the camera and others you need the duct tape (just kidding). What ever you do, ensure
that you have enough battery power to complete the transfer and properly disconnect from the
computer. You can corrupt files on your computer or memory card by improper disconnection.
Once I have my images loaded onto my computer and backed up, I do not delete the pictures from the
card. I format the card IN THE CAMERA. This ensures that all the info on the card is gone. Always
back up your images before formatting your card.
Some memory cards come with software to recover lost data from your card. You know, you didn’t
back up the files and then formatted the card or deleted the images from the card. Maybe you didn’t
even down load the images when you formatted the card then 5 minutes later realized you deleted some
ones engagement photos! No worry, you pop your card into your card reader, fire up your recovery
software and hope and pray it works.
If you are printing your pictures at a photo finisher, such as Dons Photo or Black’s, you can take your
memory card right to the kiosk and load up the images you want printed right from your card.
Quality brand names for card readers include Scandisk, Optex, Transcend, Lexar and Microtech.
Computer
We will not go into a whole lot of computer things here. How powerful of a computer you need
depends on what you are going to do. If you are buying a new computer the same rule applies as with
purchasing your camera. Buy the best you can afford or are willing to spend. When purchasing
software, check the minimum system requirements and ensure your computer has them.
One of the big myth’s I have found is that if you are doing a lot of photo editing and creative work you
need to be on the Apple platform. This is not necessarily so. Though Apple platform can out perform
PC you do not need that platform and PC will do.
Let’s assume you are on the PC platform and want to do a lot of photo editing and sharing. A
computer with dual core and at least 2GHz processor with 1G of RAM and a 100G + hard drive would
be preferable. A CD/DVD burner comes standard with most new computers.
Again depending on what you are doing with your computer your monitor choice is important. If your
primary use for your computer is photo editing a CRT monitor would be a good choice. The colours
are better then LCD flat panels. However they are large and take up a lot of desk space. They are also
harder on the eyes then LCD screens. 17” and up monitors are great.
When you install a photo-editing software program and open an image, it will likely ask you if you
would like to make this the default program for that file type. If you click yes then every time you
double click that file type (I.E jpeg) your photo-editing program will launch and the image file you
clicked will open in it. If that is what you want then allow it to do it. This is referred to as file
association. You can also open an image file by right clicking on it and choosing “open with” and then
what ever you would like to open it with.
File Organization and Backing Up Files
Whenever you have anything on your computer you would like to keep you should always back up
your files. Backing up your files means that you save them to disk. Either CD, DVD, back up hard
drive or you can even upload to an off sight server. You can find websites in the back of this booklet.
The point is you have a copy in a safe place. Safe from viruses, software instability, and crashes and
hard drive failure.
If you take a lot of pictures and store them on your computer things can get cluttered quickly. If you
do not take a lot of pictures you may forget where you put your pictures. You may burn your images to
CD or DVD and then delete them from your computer. You may back them up and then keep them on
your computer. If you keep them on your computer, keep your images in one place. Have a folder for
your pictures and then organize in sub folders from there. To organize your images both Adobe and
Google have software that can help you organize and view your images. Adobe sells Adobe Bridge. It
has an easy to use interface and will allow you to preview your images. If you go to www.google.ca
you can Google Picasa for free. This program has an easy to use interface and will allow you to upload
images online, sort, preview and organize your images. It will find every image on your computer and
only the images, pictures and video. It even has a small editing function. Your camera may have a
viewing application bundled in the included software.
Sharing Pictures
One of the biggest advantages of digital photography is how easy it is to share pictures. You can put
them online on your own personal website, email or spin them to disk.
One of the first things you need to know is what the person receiving them is going to do with them. If
it is a friend or family member you need to know if they are going to print them or just view them. You
also need to know their capabilities too.
If you are saving to the web, unless otherwise stated by the host, an image with a length of 400 – 500
pixels at 72-100 dpi saved as a jpeg should do fine. The file will be between 18 – 100KB in size. This
is not really a printable file. Most editing programs will have a “save” setting for “save for web” to
make it easy. You might also want to add a copyright warning on the bottom if more then trusted
people could access it.
If you are emailing it I would advise emailing non printable versions. If the file size is too large your
outgoing email server or your recipients incoming email server may reject it. To play it safe when you
email photos ensure that the width of the picture is no larger then 8”. The picture should appear in
there email viewer. If it is larger, then they have to down load the attachment and some people do not
know how. If you send someone a picture that they want to print then you can burn it to CD or DVD
and mail it.
Printing
This is a subject in which I go against the grain. I do not do my own printing. It’s simply cheaper and
easier to send it to Dons Photo or London Drugs. Once you consider the cost of the paper, ink and printer
wear it is cheaper to send it out. I say I’m going against the grain because photo printers are affordable
and camera manufacturers are making cameras that can hook directly to your printer and skip the
computer all together. Note that printer manufacturers make more money from the ink sales then the
printer sales. Some of the biggest camera manufacturers also manufacture printers, such as Canon and
HP.
Photo printers come with their own software or drivers. The drivers essentially control the printer and
allow it to communicate with your computer. Usually your options are pretty basic. You can control
the quality (this will affect the lines of resolution), your paper size and type. Some printer software
will allow you to setup the page so you can put multiple images on one sheet of paper. Some software
will allow you to add some simple effects such as grained paper.
Note that if your image editing software is malfunctioning (lag or missing functions) you may just need
to reinstall the program. Insert the disk and follow the wizard. If that does not work, uninstall the
program the install it again.
Mega Pixel and Image Resolution
Your censor is made up of tiny little photo cells called pixels (picture element). One-mega pixel is one
million pixels. Your mega pixel count is ONE factor that determines image quality. Noticed that I not
only wrote the word “one” all in upper case, but I bolded it, underlined it and italic it! Mega pixel is
not every thing. The quality of censor, processor and lens will affect the image. Using the mega pixel
count is a good guideline and a good place to start when evaluating a camera. Generally the larger the
mega pixel the larger you will be able to print and the larger the file as there is more information in the
image. Images from a 5-mega-pixel camera can print easily to 8 x 10 without distortion and 11X14
with very little (11 x 14 are not usually viewed up close so any visible distortion will not be noticed).
Purchasing your camera
When purchasing a new camera there are a lot of things to consider. Your budget, what your going to
use it for, your level of understanding and what you want it to be able to do, and don’t forget the
accessories.
Know how much you can spend. Consider the camera cost, accessories and some stores offer
extended product protection, which act sort of like warranties but they’re not allowed to use the word
“warranty” and then taxes. I would recommend that when purchasing any technology that you buy the
best that you can afford or are willing to spend. Understand that technology is always moving forward
and after you make that purchase within months something new and improved will hit the market or
fall into your price range.
There are many specifications and features listed with the camera. I’ll run through some of the more
important ones.
Optical Zoom – Optical zoom is the power of the zoom optically by the lens. You can zoom in with
out loss of image quality. The amount of zoom is determined by the lens system. The longer the focal
length of the lens, the more powerful the zoom. If you shop for a camera in stores, they usually have
cameras on display and you can easily see how far it will zoom.
Zoom can be measured by how many factor it zooms (ex 3x). If it says 3x it will zoom into the size of
1/3 the frame from its widest focal length.
Digital zoom – is different and causes image quality loss. Digital zoom basically crops out some of the
frame and expands it to the same size. This is the same as cropping in the editing process. If you edit
picture on your computer, then don’t use the digital zoom, keep the image quality and possibly crop it
on the computer.
Smart Zoom – This is a different sort of digital zoom from Sony. If you buy a Sony with this feature
you might consider using it. Here’s how it works. When you use the Smart Zoom it crops the image
size when you zoom in, but it does not expand the image. Instead you save the image at a lower mega
pixel quality. This limits how large you can blow the image up, but you retain a lot more image
quality. For example, the Sony Cyber-shot DSCH9B is an 8.1 Mega pixel camera. It has an optical
zoom of 15x, digital zoom of 30x and a Smart Zoom of 5Mega Pixel (M): Approx. 18x, 3M: Approx.
23x, VGA: Approx. 76x, 16:9: Approx. 25x. So in smart zoom the if the image saves at 5 mega pixel
you have approximately 18x digital zoom, at 3 mega pixel approximately 23x and so on.
Burst mode – Allows continuous shooting while you hold the shutter release. The number of
exposures, number of exposures per second will very, and are limited by the internal buffering memory
and the transfer rate to the memory card. Note that the camera does not re-focus after each shot. It
holds the focus and exposure settings through the burst.
Aperture Range – Tells you the largest and smallest aperture size measured in f/stops. Larger
numbers signify smaller aperture, smaller numbers signify larger aperture. This is not all that important
for point and shoots and can basically be ignored. You may want to notice this on lens for SLR
cameras.
Digital or Actual censor size/Effective censor size – Digital or actual censor refers to the number of
total pixels a censor has. Censors never use 100% of their pixels. Effective pixel size refers to how
many pixels function to produce an image. Manufacturers use effective pixel size to describe their
cameras. Example, a camera with 5,200,000 actual pixels with 5,100,000 effective pixels will be a 5.1
mega pixel camera.
Media type – The format of memory whether it is a type of flash memory or internal. This will
describe the type of flash memory. Example CF card, SD.
LCD Size – Refers to the physical size of the view screen on the camera.
Image Stabilizer – This lens technology helps reduce blur from camera shake. It is well worth the
money to get a model with this function. The most common cause of unwanted blur is camera shake.
Most LCD screens do not have the size or resolution to notice small amounts of blur.
Exposure Compensation – This function allows you to increase or decrease the exposure there by
making the image lighter or darker, while continuing to use the auto modes. This spec will tell you
how many stops you can adjust the exposure and in what increments (1/3, ¼ steps ect).
Interface – This refers to how the camera connects to the computer.
Compact and sub-compact – Most point and shoot cameras are compact cameras. They do not have
the size and weight of an SLR. They are easy to handle and the buttons are conveniently placed. Subcompact
are very skinny and small. They do not have very many buttons and they too are small. These
can take some getting use to, as they are harder to keep steady and more of your images may be subject
to blur from camera shake.
Recommendations on cameras
Buying a camera can seem overwhelming but fun. There is a lot to choose from and with leaders such
as Canon, Sony, Kodak and Panasonic coming up with new innovations people have different takes on
what’s out there. My personal favorite is Canon,
Canon is well known for superior lens systems and has been a leader in the DSLR market against
Nikon. They loose nothing to other cameras when it comes image quality or functionality.
Hope this helps, if you have any question email me at c@carolsphotography.bet