TIPS-For Buying a Digital Camera
Digital Cameras are one of the must haves in this new age of - blogs, travels, spice n fun.
Goodbye to good ol reels of 35mm celluloid, negatives n positives and degrading picture quality over multiple reproductions. The birth of the digital announced the time of same quality in every reproduction of the original - copy is as good as the original, child is the exact clone of the parent. But on the negative side piracy grew grew n grew coz copies r as good as the master.
But coming to digital camera there are 4 main components to consider and compromise depending on our priorities
1. Aperture - decides how much light your camerea can gather and how good it is at picturing in low light conditions/or avoiding too much light on bright sunny days. Aperture is normally in terms of F number i.e. a multiplier of the focal length of lens. The normal range of aperture is expressesd as F2.8-F8.0. F2.8 is the largest aperture and F8.0 is the smallest aperture opening.
A “fast” lens is one that has a large maximum aperture (F2.4, F2.0 for current digital cameras; F1.4, F1.2 for 35mm film cameras). For the more interested pls refer
http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_aperture.html. So decide on the camera with good Aperture range because this is what will give goodshot in low light conditions
2. Optical Zoom - How close we van get to the target is determined by the optical zoom of the camera. Normal quick shot type slim digital cameras has optical zoomx between3x to 5x. For the larger zooming the cameras get bulkier with larger lens assemblies. But again its a compromise between the bulk of the camera and how close you want to get to the tiger in the zoo. Larger bulkier cameras may have optical zoom upto 15x or 20x. for further closing up on the tiger’s tooth you will need to add conversion lenses. These are large telescopes you add to your Digital cameras and are mostly used by pro photographers. For a home user 3 to 5x ia good enough given the slim pocket size of the camera.
3. Shutter speed - The good news is that most pocket type digital cameras dont have shutters. Shutter is the machanical opening closing mechanism that allows the film (in old cameras, sensor in modern digital cams) to be exposed to light for a set period depending on the light condition and the subject to be shot. Coz digital cameras have sensor which is constantly being exposed to light as the image is being displayed on the LCD screen at the back of the camera. So shutter is just simulated electronically capturing the image for thetime period sensor is being exposed to light. Normal shutter speed range from 1/1000 to 4 secs. High end cameras mat have shutter speeds ranging from 1/2000 to 16secs. But for low shutter speeds in excess on 1sec the camera has to be extremely stable so prefrably using Tripods for very low shutter speed shooting. Low shutter speed shooting is used for low light conditions.
4. ISO Rating - This is a term from conventional film type camera where ISO rating was used for film speed. This means that film with higher ISO rating can be used for shooting moving objects or on overly low light conditions lights. While shooting in very bright light the shutter speed is kept very low 1/1000 , 1/100typesand ISO rating around 80, 100. ISO rating ranges form 80, 100, 200, 400, 800…. to 1600 or 3200 in more advanced models. In films ISO is the sensitivity of the film. This means that film with higher ISO rating can be used in very low light conditions without increasing the shutter speed thus preventing blur images which are common in high shutter speed shooting if tripod or stable stands are not used.This nromally happens due to camera shake which is common if shooting is done by holding the camera in hand and shutter speed is very high i.e. in excess of 0.5 sec. In digital this is achieved by varying the sensor sensitivity, but higher ISO ratings adds the element of noise in the images.
Most quick shot type digital cameras work on automatic settings where camera automatically decides the above factors for optimal image quality. But to add an element of creativity some high end models allows users to fully control - shutter speed, aperture and ISO ratings.
Another major factor which determines the picture quality of the shots taken by the digital camera is the Sensor size.
Sensor Size is one major factor which differentiates SLRs from low end pocket type digitals. Sensor is the film of the camera. In conventional film type cameras the film size was 35mm by 35mm approx. So thats a pretty large sensor size. Thats why the images shot by film type cameras has more pixels that most high end cameras available as on date. But having such a large sensor in digital cameras will sky rocket the price to barely approachable. There is another USP of digital cameras i.e. Megapixels the numberof pixels packed in the sensor. Each pixel captures a part of the scene. The larger the megapixel more clarity the image will have but but but the light variation or color carrying capacity of the pixel is determined by the physical size of the pixel. This means that a 10MP camera with sensor size of 1/2.5 inch and a 10MP SLR with sensor size of 25×18mm will have much smaller pixel and hence limited color representing capacity than the latter.
But this factor comes in play while shooting very high quality pro images. Normal user will not notice much difference. But there is extremely high price to pay for this larger sensor size so most digital cameras contend with 1/2.5 inch sensor packing more megapixels per sensor.
The ultimate decision depends on the combination of these factors.
Digital Cameras are one of the must haves in this new age of - blogs, travels, spice n fun.
Goodbye to good ol reels of 35mm celluloid, negatives n positives and degrading picture quality over multiple reproductions. The birth of the digital announced the time of same quality in every reproduction of the original - copy is as good as the original, child is the exact clone of the parent. But on the negative side piracy grew grew n grew coz copies r as good as the master.
But coming to digital camera there are 4 main components to consider and compromise depending on our priorities
1. Aperture - decides how much light your camerea can gather and how good it is at picturing in low light conditions/or avoiding too much light on bright sunny days. Aperture is normally in terms of F number i.e. a multiplier of the focal length of lens. The normal range of aperture is expressesd as F2.8-F8.0. F2.8 is the largest aperture and F8.0 is the smallest aperture opening.
A “fast” lens is one that has a large maximum aperture (F2.4, F2.0 for current digital cameras; F1.4, F1.2 for 35mm film cameras). For the more interested pls refer
http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_aperture.html. So decide on the camera with good Aperture range because this is what will give goodshot in low light conditions
2. Optical Zoom - How close we van get to the target is determined by the optical zoom of the camera. Normal quick shot type slim digital cameras has optical zoomx between3x to 5x. For the larger zooming the cameras get bulkier with larger lens assemblies. But again its a compromise between the bulk of the camera and how close you want to get to the tiger in the zoo. Larger bulkier cameras may have optical zoom upto 15x or 20x. for further closing up on the tiger’s tooth you will need to add conversion lenses. These are large telescopes you add to your Digital cameras and are mostly used by pro photographers. For a home user 3 to 5x ia good enough given the slim pocket size of the camera.
3. Shutter speed - The good news is that most pocket type digital cameras dont have shutters. Shutter is the machanical opening closing mechanism that allows the film (in old cameras, sensor in modern digital cams) to be exposed to light for a set period depending on the light condition and the subject to be shot. Coz digital cameras have sensor which is constantly being exposed to light as the image is being displayed on the LCD screen at the back of the camera. So shutter is just simulated electronically capturing the image for thetime period sensor is being exposed to light. Normal shutter speed range from 1/1000 to 4 secs. High end cameras mat have shutter speeds ranging from 1/2000 to 16secs. But for low shutter speeds in excess on 1sec the camera has to be extremely stable so prefrably using Tripods for very low shutter speed shooting. Low shutter speed shooting is used for low light conditions.
4. ISO Rating - This is a term from conventional film type camera where ISO rating was used for film speed. This means that film with higher ISO rating can be used for shooting moving objects or on overly low light conditions lights. While shooting in very bright light the shutter speed is kept very low 1/1000 , 1/100typesand ISO rating around 80, 100. ISO rating ranges form 80, 100, 200, 400, 800…. to 1600 or 3200 in more advanced models. In films ISO is the sensitivity of the film. This means that film with higher ISO rating can be used in very low light conditions without increasing the shutter speed thus preventing blur images which are common in high shutter speed shooting if tripod or stable stands are not used.This nromally happens due to camera shake which is common if shooting is done by holding the camera in hand and shutter speed is very high i.e. in excess of 0.5 sec. In digital this is achieved by varying the sensor sensitivity, but higher ISO ratings adds the element of noise in the images.
Most quick shot type digital cameras work on automatic settings where camera automatically decides the above factors for optimal image quality. But to add an element of creativity some high end models allows users to fully control - shutter speed, aperture and ISO ratings.
Another major factor which determines the picture quality of the shots taken by the digital camera is the Sensor size.
Sensor Size is one major factor which differentiates SLRs from low end pocket type digitals. Sensor is the film of the camera. In conventional film type cameras the film size was 35mm by 35mm approx. So thats a pretty large sensor size. Thats why the images shot by film type cameras has more pixels that most high end cameras available as on date. But having such a large sensor in digital cameras will sky rocket the price to barely approachable. There is another USP of digital cameras i.e. Megapixels the numberof pixels packed in the sensor. Each pixel captures a part of the scene. The larger the megapixel more clarity the image will have but but but the light variation or color carrying capacity of the pixel is determined by the physical size of the pixel. This means that a 10MP camera with sensor size of 1/2.5 inch and a 10MP SLR with sensor size of 25×18mm will have much smaller pixel and hence limited color representing capacity than the latter.
But this factor comes in play while shooting very high quality pro images. Normal user will not notice much difference. But there is extremely high price to pay for this larger sensor size so most digital cameras contend with 1/2.5 inch sensor packing more megapixels per sensor.
The ultimate decision depends on the combination of these factors.
No comments:
Post a Comment