photo-lifestyle.com

How to Choose a Compact Camera 3

We’ll finish up with how to choose a compact camera today. Read this post to brush up on digital zoom, action photos and image stabilization among other things. You’ll be ready to do some serious shopping after you read all three segments of this series.

Do you need to zoom up on things?

Your new compact camera will have either no zoom, standard (2-4X), high (4-8X) or ultrazoom (8-10X+). The higher number tells you how much you can multiply your photo by. Don’t forget that having more zoom is not a replacement for getting closer to your subjectZooming tends to flatten the perspective of your camera lens. Try to use the zoom feature for situations where you cannot get close to the subject, or if you want flattened perspective. Also, camera lenses with greater zoom ranges will almost always produce lower image quality even when you’re not using the zoom. Get an ultrazoom lens only for bird photos and other specialty shots.

As you zoom in, it will become harder to achieve a sharp photo because zooming increases the impact of camera shake. This is made worse by the fact that the maximum aperture available will also decrease for greater zoom amounts. A high zoom lens on a compact camera is never a good idea in low-light. If you think you will need lots of zoom, be very sure you have image stabilization.

It will make a big different whether your lens has optical or digital zoom. Digital zoom simply crops out the exterior part of your photograph – something you could easily do later anyway. This makes the images larger and lowers its quality. You want to get an optical zoom and ignore digital zoom numbers. They are meaningless.

Will you be usisng your new camera for sports or other action photos?

If you will need to achieve a sharp focus on moving objects you’ll want to get a camera with “AI servo”, “continuous” or “sports mode” autofocus. These autofocus modes are especially important with compact cameras because these tend to have a longer delay between when you press the shutter button and when the camera actually takes the shot. If will be taking a lot of action photos, try to find a camera that has the lowest shutter lag time as possible.

As with low-light photos, your camera’s range of ISO settings and maximum aperture are also important because they improve your camera’s ability to freeze action with fast-moving subjects. Don’t worry about image stabilization with action photos, though, as it won’t be any help at high speeds.

Sumary

The trend with compact cameras is tradeoffs. Having one feature almost always comes at the cost of something else. It’s best to choose a camera with the least amount of megapixels you will need, the least amount of zoom, and the largest size you can live with, especially as it relates to aperture size. Pay attention to which settings are available, whether it has image stabilization, which is basically a must, and whether you want your new camera to support the RAW file format.

And the most important thing – once you’ve chosen your new compact camera, have a great time with it!

How to Choose a Compact Camera 2

How to choose a compact camera is something most of us struggle with at one time or another. We covered megapixels and photo print size last time, but what about all those buttons? Which settings and features are important, and which are just gimmicks?

Here are the next two considerations. It’s not a long read, but by the time you finish, words like manual exposure, aperture setting, shutter speed, histograms and RAW file format will make a whole lot more sense.

Are you a photographic newbie? Or do you require manual settings and lots of features?

The settings you use the most will be manual exposure, aperture priority and shutter priority modes, for more control in composition. You may not know what these are all about now, but you’ll want them later if you plan to increse you skill. If you have manual options, your compact camera can serve as a stepping stone for a more advanced model in the future.

One other feature you may want is the ability to save files in the RAW file format, which is the digital equivalent of a film negative. RAW files are more flexible if you later have to change the white balance or exposure, and can help you maximize image quality for a given number of megapixels. A camera that can take pictures in RAW is a step closer to a pro setup.

Try to make sure your compact camera can display image histograms. Histograms are a digital type of light-meter, and can instantly show how well your photo has been exposed. This is a great tool for learning about photography. Newer cameras may also have a live histogram and will show changes in the image histogram in real-time as you compose the shot.

Will you be taking pictures in low light conditions?

Features for low light conditions are directly related to the cameras size. Smaller cameras will almost always do poorly in low light conditions as the small sensor will result in lower light sensitivity. If you must get camera with a very small lens be sure to get IS or image stabilization. This is also called vibration reduction, and lets you achieve longer exposure times and sharper images by compensating for camera shake. This only works for camera movement, though, not subject movement.

If you want help with both camera and subject movement chose a camera with a large lens aperture. This will increases its light-gathering ability. The max aperture setting is listed in terms of its f-stop number, For some reason, smaller numbers mean a wider lens opening, and consequently more light gathering ability.  For compact cameras a max aperture setting of f/2.0 or more (smaller number) is excellent. Your average compact camer wil have f/2.8 to f/3.5. Small changes in the aperture setting correspond to huge changes in light-gathering ability. For example, a lens with f/2.0 gathers twice as much light as a lens with f/2.8.

Also make sure the compact camera you are considering has a flash. You’ll use a flash in low light conditions when your subject is close to the camera, but be aware that a flash will do you no good with distant subjects at night, such as buildings or monuments, and can actually make things much worse by tricking your compact camera into thinking your subject is better lit than it really is and result in settings that lower the light sensitivity.

Also, make sure that your compact camera can take photos with high ISO settings. Higher numbered ISO settings mean better light sensitivity. An ISO setting of 400 provides twice the light sensitivity of ISO 200. This means that in the same light conditions you will be able to get away with a shorter exposure than would otherwise be possible. Be aware, though that the higher the ISO settings, the grainier your photo will be. Be sure to look at pictures taken with the camera you are considering and check if the quality of photos taken at high ISO settings are acceptable. Compact cameras generally have lower image quality at the same ISO setting as a larger camera.

How to Choose a Compact Camera 1

Thinking about purchasing a new compact camera? Issues like megapixels, camera size and photo print size may have your head spinning so here’s a checklist of questions to ask yourself before you make a choice. These are mostly technical issues, so you’ll have to actually try the camera to asses usability, looks and feel as well, but these six questions should give you some direction. We’ll deal with two questions a day, so stay tuned for the other considerations!

What Camera Size are you looking for?

How do you plan to use your new compact camera? Does it need to be light-weight or fit in your pocket? It’s best to try to buy the largest camera that you are comfortable using, whether this is an ultra slim, mini or near SLR-sized camera. Smaller cameras tend to have fewer features or lower image quality for the same price range or generation. Camera size – especially lens width really does change the quality of your pictures. Choosing a smaller camera size may limit your low-light ability or zoom range along with other features.

What size prints will you need to make?

You’ll need to take photo print size into account because that will determing how many megapixels you’ll need. Megapixels are the main thing compact camera companies advertise, so your first reaction might be “well, as big as I can get!” but having more megapixels often comes with trade-offs such as decreased dynamic range (more blown highlights), larger file sizes, problems with purple fringing and, of course, a higher cost. More megapixels are not always better! In fact, it is often the camera’s lens and your technique that are the limiting factors for determining image quality—not the number of megapixels.

If you plan on producing no larger than an 8×10 inch photo print size, a 6MP camera will be plenty. Something else to consider is that having more megapixels will also give you more freedom to crop your image for a given photo print size.

If megapixels aren’t so important, what is? Today we covered camera size and print size. Tomorrow we’ll talk about how experienced you are, and what lighting conditions you plan to use your compact camera in.