Digital Cameras & Digital Photography

Brooke Hayles asked:


There are thousand of different models of the best digital cameras in the market today. It is important that you purchase one that will meet your needs.

Although the most expensive top of the line cameras deliver the highest quality picture, they also have instructions that could confuse a rocket scientist. It is recommended that when you purchase the best digital camera; choose one that is relatively easy to operate.

In years gone by, all you had to do to purchase the best digital camera was to look at a few models. Today, it is necessary to know the language of the digital world.

Resolution and mega pixels are two terms that you need to know. Resolution is the quality of the picture. When you are shopping, make sure to ask what the resolution is. The higher the number the better the picture.

Mega pixels are the millions of tiny dots that make up a picture. Again, it is recommended that you purchase a digital camera that has a high level of mega pixels because you will get a clearer and more detailed photo. If you do not have a high enough level of pixels, then your photos will be hazy and fuzzy.

Another term you should know before you purchase the best digital camera is zoom.

There are two types of zoom that you will find on the best digital camera. The first is optical. The optical zoom depicts photo magnification. The second type of zoom is called digital zoom. This means that the inner mechanisms of the camera define the size of an image. More people choose the optical zoom because the results are better.

You need to take into consideration how you will get your pictures from the camera to your computer. There are several methods available.

Smart media, CompactFlash are forms of memory sticks that are available. Each one comes in different sizes and can hold a specific number of pictures.

When you are shopping for the best digicam, there are many options available to you. It is recommended that you do a little research before making a purchase.

An automated camera is called a point and shoot. It is called this because you do not need to focus, turn on a flash or anything else; just point and shoot the picture.

Before shopping for the best digital camera, you should find a model that better fits your needs. There are six main types of digicams to consider. The Cannon Company makes the widest variety of point and shoot cameras. If you want a camera that has a large LCD screen, then the Sony company offers the largest model with that feature.

If you are new to photography, it is recommended that you seek out the digital cameras with easy to use options. Research the brands that you are considering by visiting their websites. This will not only inform you of the options you have, but you will also get a chance to see the cameras that are available.

If you are an amateur photographer, and know basically what a digicam can do, then a digital camera with options such as freezing, stop and depth control may be right for you. These options allow you to explore different techniques of photography.

If you have advanced skills in photography and are comfortable with a digicam and its basic features, then consider a camera that has more advanced features that will allow to be more creative and assist you in developing your own style.

A DSLR is basically a digital camera that is a point and shoot. This type of camera comes with a full array of features that are easy to use. It has advance speed, and flexibility and also the best image quality.

The most expensive camera on the market today is the professional digital camera. It allows the user free range of motion and the features cannot be found in any other camera. If this is the type of camera that you are looking for, it is highly recommended that you research the different types of professional cameras on the market today.

Summary:

With all the choices there are in cameras today, it is important that you know the basic differences amongst the best digital cameras. It is not just the price you need to know, it is the details of the camera that your decision should be based on.

Bruce Walls asked:


It is all to easy these days to comparison shop on the internet for almost everything that you need to buy. You can easily check out the best features list and compare the prices for the best buy. But for camcorders will it be the best buy and will you be making the wrong choice.

There is nothing better than a hands on approach to buying your digital camcorder. Doing your initial research online to weed out the poor camcorders is fine but at some stage you need to visit a store and actually handle the camcorders to see how they feel in your hand and see if they are easy to operate. Maybe you have long slender fingers or short fat ones and find using the controls difficult. Will you be able to find all the features and will you need to be a ‘techie’ just to use the basic menu commands.

If you find your propective new HDD camcorder difficult to operate then you can bet your life that other people will be in the same boat. We are not buying a $3000 pro-camcorder here but just a basic camcorder good enough to make videos for your website. If you find it difficult then look elsewhere and let the manufacturers worry about producing what customers really want.

Despite the fact that there is an industry that specialices in ‘Usability Research’ or ‘User Centered Design’ manufacturers still produce camcorders that get low marks in reviews. Maybe they don’t listen to the afore mentioned people or are confident that their camcorders will sell anyway. Here are a few things to look out for when handling a camcorder.

Tiny Buttons: Can be difficult to press the right button without touching another one. Best avoided unless you have tiny hands.

Confusing Icons: Check to see if the icons are industry standard and easily understood or are there strange looking ones that will not prompt you at all.

Menu Labyrinth: This can be a real problem for most people but do look to see that the main camcorder menu functions are easily found and accessible.

Speed: When you choose a menu item does it react quickly or is there a built in lag which can become tedious as you grow more confident and use different settings.

Idiot Proof: How easy is it to mess up and do something catastrophic like wiping out the memory card.

Do try out the camcorders but remember the more help you get from an assistant then the more obligated you should feel to purchase. Don’t assume that the camcorder will be easier to use after you have purchased it. If you can’t figure out how to operate it now then you might be in the same position in a months time.

Finally, don’t be seduced by the latest technology. Give it time and read reviews and let any improvements be made before committing to the technology. After all miniDV has been around over ten years and is still great technology for website video producers.

Tywford Lamai asked:


What is most outstanding in the ongoing progress in digital photographic technology is that it enables everybody capture special moments of his or her lives with extra detail and precision more so now than ever. Enhancements in picture resolution and shutter velocity makes it uncomplicated for proficient photographers and novices to equally capture splendid pictures. And though a picture may not be perfect at the time it was shot, highly sophisticated photo-editing application packages (i.e. software) is capable of transforming the picture into a masterpiece of art in no time flat!

Guess What? One of the enormous rewards of digital photography is that it allows you to rapidly and without difficulty distribute your pictures and snapshots with acquaintances and relatives wherever they may be on earth via electronic mail (e-mail). Do you care to remember the hassle that you would have gone through if you tried using your old your film camera to do that?

Veteran digital or film photographers affirm that timing is, for the most part, a major important issue for shooting a first-class picture. There is only a small, fraction of time available to capture a grand shot. Be it a shot of a splendid sunset or a snapshot of athletes as they cross the finish line, your timing must be razor-sharp, this is the intuition that lets you know precisely when to depress that shutter knob. This is the reason why digital photography is an art form.

To a large extent, majority of photographers never really actualize their dream of shooting that “perfect” shot. For instance, their picture may be framed well, but the lighting is not exactly right. Or maybe they’ve got the lighting accurately, but they forget to use the flash or red-eye decreasing option. Instances like these give digital photography an obvious edge because it offers a brilliant method to getting the precise look you intended to capture in a picture.

Guess what? A second tremendous advantage of digital photography is its capability to print out your snapshots almost instantly. Whereas with film cameras you would have had to take the film to be processed before going back to pick them up, digital photography gives you an instant alternative!

All shots taken via a digital camera can be altered digitally via photo-enhancing software to attain its full potential - color improvement, zoomed or cropped to their finest size, red-eye reduction etc., etc. All of these editing options occur within minutes, giving you the opportunity and advantage of having the most outstanding photos ever shot.

The tag-team of a high-quality digital camera and a good photo-editing software package can achieve great things. Your camera has built-in capabilities that represent only the start of the editing potential expected of the digital photographic era.

Guess what? Another gigantic advantage of digital photography is the ability for you to tweak and change your pictures and images in any way that you please. Due to the fact that your photos are in digital files, they can be worked on in photo-editing software packages that enables you adjust the images in a variety of ways thereby enhancing its final output.

Editing software can be utilized to tweak images in any way you wish. Retailers locally and online can furnish you with the gear, photo-enhancing software, and information you require to capture splendid digital photographs. Before settling on a choice of digital camera, you ought to verify that it has all the features and options that you require for your work. Go for models having not only the capability to deliver those great pictures you so require but that also boasts simple docking methods for transferring these pictures from the camera to your printer or PC. High-quality photo-enhancing software that enables you modify your digital images include: Adobe Photoshop, Corel Photo Album and Kodak Picture.

So, now you know all about the advantages that digital photography has over your basic film camera technology. Bottom line? Your choice of camera/technology, should ultimately be informed by what you intend to achieve at the end of the day! Have fun.

Bruce Walls asked:


MiniDV: Since its launch in 1966 miniDV has become the standard format for consumer and semi-professional camcorder users and is still the standard that other formats are judged by. The tape format produces the best picture quality and PCM stereo sound of CD quality and can record 60 minutes at the best quality.

MiniDV camcorders use tapes roughly the same size as a box of matches. This has enabled camcorder manufacturers, over the years, to reduce the size of the camcorders to their present ‘pocket size’.

Recorded footage can be transferred from the miniDV camcorders by one of three different ways. Firstly as an composite analogue signal using composite AV leads, secondly as an S-video analogue signal and finally as a DV signal.

The DV signal is transferred using the DV-out port also known as a Firewire port, or IEEE1394 and also as i.Link and connected to your computer by a Firewire cable. When transferring your footage by this method there is no loss of quality in the picture and audio and this is what makes this format so popular.

Almost all miniDV camcorders have a DV-out port and better quality ones will have a DV-in port for transferring edited footage back to your camcorder. Although other formats are gaining in popularity miniDV still has plenty of life ahead of it yet and the camcorders are good value for money.

DVD: DVD is increasing in popularity and claiming a bigger slice of the market since its introduction in mid 2001. The main advantage of DVD camcorders is convenience. Record your footage to the disc, remove it and play it in your DVD player without the need for cables or connections.

DVD camcorders use 8cm discs in a variety of recordable formats. DVD-R is a single use disc, compatible with all DVD players and used by all camcorder manufacturers. DVD-RAM is a rewritable disc that offers in camera editing and supported by Hitachi and Panasonic. DVD-/+RW is another rewriteable format and is supported by Sony.

Originally there were disc compatibility issues with DVD players but most DVD players will now play a variety of discs and some camcorders offer multi format capability making them more flexible.

DVD camcorder performance has improved tremendously since its introduction but still has disadvantages. Discs can only record 18 minutes of best quality video and editing is not as easy as miniDV but for easy of use DVD format is a fine choice.

HDD: Hard disk drive is the latest format to be used in camcorders. Originally introduced by JVC but now promoted by other manufacturers. Hard drives are currently as large as 30GB and can store 35 hours in standard recording mode and up to seven hours in best quality mode.

HDD camcorders are yet to match the quality of miniDV camcorders but their performance is still impressive and no doubt will get better still. With virtually no moving parts HDD camcorders are very compact and could well replace miniDV as the main format.

One obvious failing with HDD camcorders is once the hard disk is full the footage must be downloaded or over written. This may not be a big problem unless you are on vacation for some time and away from your computer.

Memory Card: Camcorder manufacturers have been providing a digital stills function with their camcorders for some time now. The stills are recorded on a memory card of one sort or another which fit into a card slot in the camcorder. Cameras are now being offered that record video footage to memory cards

Memory cards are normally only 1GB so quickly fill up even though the video is stored in highly compressed MPEG4 format. A good supply of cards are required for any long recording. However this format is convenient for posting to the internet or sending via email. Due to the compression the picture quality is inferior to other formats.

As the video is stored to card or memory stick the memory card camcorders are generally the smallest type on the market and are suitable as a pocket camcorder. Ongoing developement has already lead to MPEG2 video format as used by DVD and HDD camcorders. The SDHC card has recently been developed offering sizes up to 32MB.