Just like many of you I am also a believer of “Prevention is better that cure”. If you can prevent your camera’s sensor from getting dusty, you will never have to look for a cure. Here are a couple of important steps you can avoid getting dust into your camera:
Keep you camera clean. If you can; avoid working in dusty areas.
After shooting store your camera in a clean bag i.e. free from dust.
Keep your replacement lens ready before changing the lens. This will at least reduce the time of exposure of your camera’s optics to dust. I have seen people first removing the lens, keeping it aside, grabbing another lens from deep inside of their bag while keeping the camera optics exposed to dust. I personally call it “abusing”.
Before replacing make sure you dust off the rear of the lens mount of the replacement lens.
While detaching the lens, face the camera downwards so that any dust particles present in the mirror chamber fall away from the sensor not on the sensor.
After you have attached replacement lens, put back the end cap quickly on the last lens so as to reduce the dust that might fall on it.
User blower bulb to dust off your optics. Never ever user compressed air or vacuum.
Blow off dust before every session else you will have to curse yourself for returning home with those tons of photos containing dust spots that were present on you sensor before you even started.
If available use your camera’s dust reduction feature. You can specify when to run this feature automatically i.e. at the startup or at the time you shut off your camera. I prefer to run the mechanism at startup as well as at the time of shutting off. The dust reduction mechanism basically produces vibrations on or around the image sensor making dust particles fall off.
In Understanding Shooting Modes (Part-I, II and III) I explained some of the auto and advanced modes. I’ll explain other available modes like Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Macro, and Night in this part.
Other Modes
In today’s cameras many other modes exist which I will be briefing out below. Availability and indication of these modes depends upon brand to brand. These modes are basically preprogrammed modes provided by your camera manufacturer.
Portrait Mode
This mode is mostly represented by a head-and-shoulders icon. It creates a shallow depth-of-field thus throws out the distracting background. Turn the dial to use this mode and your camera will take care of everything else.
Landscape Mode
This mode is mostly represented by a mountain icon. It produces a maximum depth-of-field allowing lens to capture everything including background. This also produces an overall sharp image. Turn the dial to select this mode and your camera will pick the best settings to capture the scene.
Macro Mode
This mode is mostly represented by a flower icon. It activates the camera’s closest focus along with a greatest possible depth-of-field.
Sports Mode
This mode is mostly represented by an icon of a person running. Once the shutter release button is pressed, camera automatically chooses a combination of higher shutter speed and aperture to freeze the motion of the object in motion.
Night Mode
This mode is mostly represented by an icon containing a star, a moon and human image. It uses a slow shutter speed to get maximum amount and length of light.
Please leave a comment so as to let me know that this post is at least helping some one
In Understanding Shooting Modes (Part-I and Part-II) I explained Auto, Programmed and Aperture Priority Mode, I’ll explain and illustrate one of the other advanced modes called Shutter Priority Mode in this part.
Shutter Priority Mode
This mode lets you choose the shutter speed and the camera chooses the appropriate aperture (lens opening) for proper exposure.
Why to use Shutter Priority Mode?
Shutter priority will allow you to control how you capture your subject in motion. This mode is used when you want to increase or decrease the amount of blurring in the picture, the blurring is due to the motion of either the subject or the camera shake.
Try It
Visit some waterfall and experiment the following:
Slow Shutter Speed
Mount the camera on a stable tripod.
Turn your camera’s exposure mode dial to Shutter Priority.
Lower down the shutter speed to 1 Sec (or any thing above 1 Sec).
Focus the waterfall and press shutter release button.
ResultCameras shutter will allow light to fall on the sensor for 2 Sec, this will blur out the falling water giving it a smooth touch as shown below:
Fast Shutter Speed
Mount the camera on a stable tripod.
Turn your camera’s exposure mode dial to Shutter Priority.
Lower down the shutter speed to 1/1000th Sec.
Focus the waterfall and press shutter release button.
ResultCameras shutter will allow light to fall on the sensor for 1/1000th Sec, this will capture the falling water with a great speed thus freezing the motion:
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In continuation to Understanding Shooting Modes (Part-I) where I described the Auto and Programmed Modes, I’ll explain and illustrate one of the advanced modes called Aperture Priority Mode in this part.
Aperture Priority Mode
This mode lets you choose the aperture (lens opening) and the camera chooses the appropriate shutter speed for proper exposure.
Just like human’s eyes, lens of a camera has an opening called iris that opens and closes according to automatic or manual settings. This in optical terms also referred as “Aperture”. Changing the aperture settings changes the size of the opening which controls the amount of light the lens passes through to the image sensor.
Why to use Aperture Priority Mode?
This mode is used when you want to have control over depth-of-field. This is measured in f-stops i.e. f/1.4, f/1.8, etc. Higher f-stop numbers indicate smaller aperture and vice-versa.
The “f-number” is the ratio of distance from the sensor/ film to the optical center of the lens in your camera. When you buy a lens for your camera, it will have a number on it, something like 18mm, 55mm, 105mm, etc. These numbers are called as focal length.
To put all of this simple, when the aperture of a 200mm lens (focal length) is 50 mm (aperture opening) wide, your f-stop will be f/4, because the ratio of 200/50 equals four. If you “stop down” your aperture to half that size – 25 mm wide – your f-stop will be f/8. (200 divided by 25.) So the “f-number” gets larger as you let in less light.
What is Depth-of-Field?
Depth-of-Field is the distance between the closest sharply focused object to the lens and the farthest sharply focused object from the lens. Large apertures (lower f-stop) create shallow depth-of-field and the smaller apertures (higher f-stop) create greater depth of field.
This is a bit confusing. But I learned it using an example of 10 trees standing in a row. Lower f-stops will capture lower number of trees and higher f-stop will capture more numbers of trees.
More Light <<
f/2
f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
>> Less Light
Try it
Visit some nearby garden where you can locate a flower and experiment the following:
Shallow Depth-of-Field
Turn your camera’s exposure mode dial to Aperture Priority.
Lower down the aperture to f2.
Focus the flower and press shutter release button.
ResultThe lower f number will generate a shallow depth of field, thus focusing only the flower, not the background.
Greater Depth-of-Field
Turn your camera’s exposure mode dial to Aperture Priority.
Lower down the aperture to f22.
Focus the flower and press shutter release button.
ResultThe higher f number will generate a larger depth of field, thus focusing everything along with the background.
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Today’s advance digital cameras basically perform automatically many of the tasks necessary for capturing a photo. The Auto mode or the Programmed mode is always a good option for beginners to shoot any scene. However, these modes don’t always produce up to the mark results. If you really want to utilize the power of your DSLR, you must learn and practice all the available modes.
Before discussing any of the available modes, we should understand exposure. Exposure is basically amount of light allowed to fall on photographic film (in case of a film SLR) or on image sensor (in case of a DSLR). The amount of light in a camera is controlled by setting the combination of Aperture and Shutter.
Auto (Point-and-Shoot) Mode
In Auto mode, it’s the camera that makes decision on what amount of light is allowed to fall on the sensor. Today’s digital cameras are intelligent enough to run their own algorithms to attain a best calculated aperture and shutter speed combination based on the projected scene. You don’t have to do anything more than to press the shutter release button. This method is also referred to as the “Point-and-shoot mode”.
Programmed Mode
Some cameras let you preprogram a number of settings like ISO, quality, white balance, aperture or shutter. These settings can be saved in a programmed folder which can be used later. Today’s cameras have prebuilt programmed modes based on the situation, you just have to turn the mode dial to the programmed settings and that is it.
Why to use Auto or Programmed Mode?
Using these modes cut shorts the time it takes for you to set the camera’s settings. Based on the ideal situation and available auto/programmed modes, you just turn the dial and press the shutter release button.
I used these modes when I was a beginner because after shooting l could compare the EXIF data and learned what settings did camera chose based on the projected scene. So, go ahead with these modes only if you are a beginner and study each and every setting that camera opted for the scene. In my public gallery at www.tweakdynamix.com, you can view EXIF data for each of the photos that I took.
How to Use the Camera in Auto/ Programmed Mode?
Well; these are the quickest mode to shoot. Just turn the mode dial to Auto/ Programmed mode based on the scene and press the shutter release button. The camera will use its sensors to make its best guess at most suited f-stop and shutter speed required for a good exposure.
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Red-eye is caused when light rays coming from camera flash reflect off from a subject’s retina. The reflection takes the color of surrounding blood vessels making the reflection red in color. In animals the reflected color may not be red always; it could be green, white, or yellow depending upon the color of membrane located behind their retina. Since the color of membrane overpowers the color of the blood vessels around animals’ retina, the reflections color is not red always. Remember those ghetto wolves in horror movies or your pets in dark with white light reflecting from their eyes? That is not a special effect but red-eye.
When can you expect red-eye?
Pupils of human eyes expand or contract based on the intensity of light. Remember when you enter a room from bright sunlight, you hardly see anything for a while and after a couple of minutes you are able to see everything. Under this scenario when you were in bright sunlight your pupils were contracted so as to let the just enough light to attain proper exposure but when you entered the room your pupils were still contracted and they take a couple of minutes to expand.
So, let’s come back to the red-eye track. In dark conditions our pupils are expanded to absorb more light making the blood vessels expand resulting in the reflection of red color.
Red-eye can also be caused when the camera lens and flash are positioned close. This is the reason why point-and-shoot cameras produce red-eye more often.
Preventing red-eye
Don’t use that damn freaking flash!! Just joking J
1. Most of the cameras these days have an option called “Red-eye reduction”. If available use this setting whenever you are shooting in low light with flash. Before the main flash fires off, a small light (also called as “PreFlash”) will light, making subject’s pupil to contract a bit and then the main flash gets fired.
2. If you don’t have “Red-eye reduction” setting in your camera, ask your subject to not look straight into the lens or flash but to look slightly up or down. This will change the angle of light rays being reflected and hence reducing the red-eye.
3. Moving farther from your subject also helps in red-eye reduction.
F-Stop is a unit to express how much light is entering a camera lens. Example f/2, f/4, f/8, etc.
Explanation
Assuming this post is for beginners I am briefing out the dependent terminologies: Aperture: Just like our eyes, camera lens has an opening that allows light to enter into the camera. This opening is termed as aperture. Focal Length: Distance between the image sensor and optical center of camera lens. When you buy a lens for your camera, it will have a number on it, something like 18mm, 55mm, 105mm, etc. These numbers are called as focal length. Letter “F” in F-Stop is called as focal length. Focal length divided by aperture determines the F-Stop.
Calculating F-Stop
For a 200mm lens with an aperture 50mm: F Number = Focal Length/ Aperture = 200/50 = 4 Finally denoted as F/4 For a 200mm lens with an aperture 25mm (decreasing the opening): F Number = Focal Length/ Aperture = 200/25 = 8 Finally denoted as F/8
Focal Length
Aperture
F-Stop
Conclusion
200 mm
50 mm
F/4
Bigger lens opening results in smaller F-Stops More light enters when F-Stop is small
200 mm
25 mm
F/8
Smaller lens opening results in bigger F-Stops Less light enters when F-Stop is large
How does this affect your photography?
Change in f number has a very high impact on the image captured. You can actually blur out the unwanted object from your scene and still be able to get a sharp focus of your subject. This impact of changing f number is basically termed as “Depth of Field”. Pictures captured with a low f-number will tend to have your subject in sharp focus while leaving rest of the scene out of focus. This is often used in portrait photography or macro photography where the subject is given importance than the background. Following is a range of pictures of same object with different f-Numbers; see how a change in f-number has an impact over the projected scene:
f-Number
Image
Observation
Lens opening is wide, allowing more light to travel to the image sensor resulting in a well exposed scene.
Bright colors.
Blurred background with sharp subject. (Shallow Depth of Field)
Lens opening is less than the above due to which less light is allowed to travel in resulting in slightly less exposed scene than above.
Color intensity is getting decreased due to less light.
Background is less blurred than above.
Lens opening is less than the above due to which less light is allowed to travel in resulting in slightly less exposed scene than above.
Color intensity is getting decreased due to less light.
Background is less blurred than above.
Lens opening is less than the above due to which less light is allowed to travel in resulting in slightly less exposed scene than above.
Color intensity is getting decreased due to less light.
Background is less blurred than above.
Lens opening is less than the above due to which less light is allowed to travel in resulting in slightly less exposed scene than above.
Color intensity is getting decreased due to less light.
Background is less blurred than above.
Lens opening is less than the above due to which less light is allowed to travel in resulting in slightly less exposed scene than above.
Color intensity is has decreased due to less light traveling to the sensor.
Background is getting sharp now. (Narrow Depth of Field)
Conclusion
With an increase in f-Number the lens opening decreases; allowing less light to travel to the image sensor. Also with an increase in f-Number narrow depth of field is achieved.
Please leave a comment so as to let me know that this post is at least helping some one
In my last post “Choosing a DSLR (Part-I)” I explained one of the 5 steps that I would recommend to choose a DSLR. In this post I’ll emphasize on the remaining steps.
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2. Getting familiar with the important features.
In the previous step I only stated the feature that you will be looking in your new DSLR. Let me brief out the features along with some common specifications.
1.1. Image Stability- One of the most important features you will like to have in your DSLR. This feature is required in almost all the available scenarios and comes in two ways these days; one integrated with in the camera body and other in the lenses. When activated minor tremble to the camera will be eliminated resulting in sharper, crispier images even in the darker conditions. Some manufacturers term it as “Vibration Reduction” and some call it “Image Stabilization” but both means the same.
1.2. Sensor Size- Basically larger sensors capture even a finest detail of your subject. Digital cameras use an array of sensors containing millions of tiny pixels which constitute to your final image. Each pixel contains a bucket like structure called “photosites”. When you press the shutter release button the light rays coming from camera’s lens is poured in to these photosites and once your camera completes the exposure, these photosites are sealed. These photosites are then internally processed to apply true colors using filters.
Although understanding these sensors is a big chapter and might occupy two three posts of mine but I tried my best to brief out in a layman’s terms.
A camera that has large sensor will try to grab more of these light particles and thus fill in more of those photosites resulting in attaining a great detail of the subject. Following are some common sensor sizes available:
Sensor Type
Width (mm)
Height
(mm)
Aspect Ratio
1/3.6″
4.000
3.000
4:03
1/2.3″
6.160
4.620
4:03
1/2″
6.400
4.800
4:03
1/1.8″
7.176
5.319
4:03
2/3″
8.800
6.600
4:03
1″
12.800
9.600
4:03
4/3″
18.000
13.500
4:03
1.8″
23.700
15.700
3:02
35 mm (film)
36.000
24.000
3:02
Sensor size Examples:
Camera
Model
Width (mm)
Height (mm)
Aspect Ratio
Nikon
D90, D80
23.700
15.700
3:02
Canon
EOS 450D / Digital Rebel Xsi
22.200
14.800
3:02
1.1. Burst Or Continuous Shooting Mode- As the name suggests, this feature will allow you to take a burst of images while pressing down the shutter release button. This helps in capturing sports actions or a fast moving subject like a racing car, your quick pet and of course kids. This is generally indicated as “Frames per Second”. Most of the DSLR these days are capable of capturing full resolution images at a rate of 3.5 Frames per Second. You can look for more if your budget allows you to do.
1.2. Larger Buffer- When you shoot images in burst/ continuous mode, your camera process the images and store them temporarily in its buffer memory. You must see if the buffer memory is enough to store the images captured in a burst/continuous mode. If at all your cameras buffer in not large enough to hold the images, it will automatically decrease the rate of frames per second at which the picture is expected to be taken.
1.3. Built in dust reduction- Since a DSLR has a capability to change lenses; you will more often mount/ unmount lenses based on the shooting requirements. This will expose your camera’s expensive optics to expose the risk of getting dust particles. Once dust particles stick on the image sensor or on any inner optics, it is very difficult and risky to clean. It will require professional of a good experience to clean the same.
Basically there is a vibration mechanism which removes the dust particles from camera’s optics and most of the DSLRs these days have an inbuilt dust removal/ reduction system installed. You get an option to choose it to activate or deactivate. My camera gives me an option to dust removal during startup and or shutting down the camera.
3. What’s your budget?
Ok, now that you know what category or categories you are going to be in, you are ready to set your budget. Buying DSLR doesn’t only mean buying one product it means you are going to buy a list of items to make up your photo gear. If you are upgrading from a point-n-shoot then you are not going to end up buying camera alone instead you may have to buy a variety of lenses based on the shooting requirements, filters, tripod, monopod, external flash unit, remote shutter release, reflectors, additional battery, memory cards, etc. So split your total budget into two parts, one for buying the camera body and another for buying its initial accessories.
Suppose you are an entry level to a mid level photographer and your goal is not to out reach your limits beyond 1500 USD. Divide it into two parts; let’s say you keep 800 USD for Camera body and remaining 700 USD for its accessories. Generally you will get a good deal when you buy camera body along with an initial lens this will act as a bonus for you and you might save a couple hundred dollars. Here your budget for buying a camera body will be 800 USD.
Write down your first budget part and proceed to next step.
4. Compare and Shortlist.
You are now ready to do a research on what models are available in market that suits your requirements and budget. For this you don’t have to step out yet, just visit some good consumer websites like:
You can prepare a comparison chart based on your feature requirements you gathered in above steps. I am going to give you an example below and you can also download a template which you can fill in to make your final decision:
Wow! You are now at the very last step of finalizing your DSLR. Until now you have a shortlist of DSLRs that fit into your requirements and budget. Not you have all the arms and ammunitions to fight with all those greedy dealers who just want to sell their product no matters how worst it is.
Visit your nearest store where you can locate the shortlisted DSLRs, hold the models, look and ask any type of questions from the sales man. I am sure he/ she will get frustrated with the amount of questions and counter question you ask but it is their duty and they are being paid for this job.
Don’t buy from the very first store, just bargain the price and get out of the store without making any deal. Visit a couple of other stores and gather the best prices offered. This way you will have a chance to feel the camera and each time you hold, you will see a new point that will raise a question.
Finally sit under a tree or grab a coffee at Starbucks and compare the deals you are getting from an online dealer and that from your local dealer. In countries like US and Canada you can easily do online shopping without any risk of losing your money in fact 80-90% shopping is done online in these countries. Anyways, it all depends upon ones discretion.
What next??
Well; I don’t think you need me anymore J Go and do your homework before doing DSLR shopping. I am sure if you follow these guidelines you will surely gain something.
I my further posts I’ll try to come up with top 10 DSLRs based on the reviews and study I do.
Please leave a comment so as to let me know that this post is at least helping some one
What DSLR should I buy? Is there an effective way to choose between different available DSLRs? Which one is the best DSLR in market these days? these are very common questions that I often get from my friends and readers, I thought why not scripting it for all my dear ones- It’s a good idea I guess
If you are in one of your initial phases of research and you still have doubts whether or not to upgrade your gears to DSLR then I would like to recommend you to read my post “Is it worth upgrading to DSLR?” Believe me you will not lose anything by reading it.
OK, now that you have made up your mind to buy a DSLR; let me take you through a range of steps that I usually recommend to make decision in choosing a good DSLR.
According to me a good DSLR is not the one which is expensive or has all the advanced features or has a live view or light weight but it is a camera that serves you with what you expect after paying thousands of dollars.
Just grab a pen and a paper and write down your own conclusions as against the 5 steps that I am presenting below:
1. What type of photography are you going to do?
2. Getting familiar with important features.
3. What’s your budget?
4. Compare and shortlist.
5. Step out to analyze.
Walla!! You are done. That sounds easy right??
Now let me dig into each of the steps which will make your life easier.
1. What type of photography are you going to do?
In brief, photography can be distinguished in a number of categories:
1.1. Indoor Photography
When you are planning to do a lot of indoor photography like shooting events mostly arranged indoors. Under this category you will mostly be shooting photos inside your premises, wedding halls, party halls, etc.
- You will be using external flash units a lot.
- You might have to shoot in no flash zones for which you will have to switch to high ISO settings.
- Due to dark conditions you will have to switch to lower shutter speed thus making an impact on the image quality due to hand shake i.e. Image stabilization.
- For image stabilization you will also have to have a tripod.
1.2. Night Photography
This is almost close to an indoor photography category and you will be mostly shooting stars, moon, city lights, fireworks, etc. under dark conditions.
- Again you will be using external flash units with longer range a lot.
- You will be looking to shoot images with the lowest possible noise/ grains with highest possibleISO settings.
- Due to dark conditions you will have to switch to lower shutter speed thus making an impact on the image quality due to hand shake i.e. Image stabilization.
- For fireworks you cannot afford even a little bit of shake which can be caused due to shutter release button. Under this scenario a remote shutter release will do a great job.
- Adding to image stabilization you will also have to have a tripod or at least a monopod.
1.3. Portrait Photography
Under this category you will mostly be capturing peoples’ faces. You will be interacting with the people surrounding you noticing and finally capturing their facial expressions on your camera.
- Since the importance here will be the facial expressions, you will be shooting with a shallow depth of field, capturing only and only the face and partial body. You will be ignoring out the surroundings or any other objects which distracts the viewer. Here comes the aperture or the f-stops. This is basically considered when you are buying a lens but DSLR body is nothing without a lens I guess J
- Even a little shake in your camera can blur out sharp little expressions on you subject’s face. You will have to activate Image Stabilization to overcome this.
- If you are a person who doesn’t like to do post production stuff then you will probably like the inbuilt feature to apply different filters to your capture picture like Monochrome, Fisheye, Glow, etc. In fact these days DSLRs have an option to enhance color, contrast or even reflection from bright objects. In my case I love doing post production stuff using Adobe Photo Elements or even Google’s Picasa tool.
- Some times after taking a shot you also want to review the captures image and believe me a big 3.5 incheslive view (LCD) will make a great positive difference.
1.4. Sports Photography
If you are a sport lover I am sure you will love to capture those moments when a soccer player is jumping while giving cheers after winning a game. You will surely want to freeze that moment when the player is in air with a great winning expression and body language.
- Sports here depict the speed of events, you will curse yourself on missing even a single act, and you would take a burst of shots with highest number of frames per second.
- You will be capturing each and every action of the player by lowering down the shutter speed to its limits.
- Since you will be shooting a burst of images, your camera should have a huge buffer to hold and process the image before saving it to the media.
- Players during a sport often change their position and it would be great if your camera could allow you to focus manually to a multi focusing points.
1.5. Macro Photography
I am a person who believes in the power of little ones. I love to shoot insects, wild flower, rain droplets on ivy, and many other small subjects. If you are the kind of person who wants to capture that little beauty then you are a macro photographer.
- You will be reaching out to that honey bee resting on a sun flower to capture its smile J for this you will either be buying expensive macro lenses or adapters to convert your regular lenses to a macro one. Your camera should adapt to not only the previous generation lenses but also the adapters and lenses available by the third party like Sigma. This is called Camera adaptability.
- Shooting at extremely close distance can make your hands to shake and thus resulting to a blurry image. Activating the Image stabilization feature will surely make a big impact.
- Your body might have to go against ergonomic rules but it would be better for your body and of course camera to be equipped with a big LCD Screen to have live view action without leaning yourself below the ground level J
- At such an extreme closeness your external flash unit mounted on hot shoe might not work. It would be great if you could set it on remote flash mode and place it aside pointing in the direction of the subject.
1.6. Outdoor/ Landscape Photography
If you love those huge green mountains with human less spots, or you travel a lot with fully equipped photo gears then you are in right section.
- Based on the scenes you will often change your lenses thus risking your cameras optics to expose dust. Now-a-days most of the DSLRs are coming equipped with dust removal feature. You have an option to set the dust removal at startup or at the time of shutting down or even both.
- Working outside in extreme weather might harm your lenses, it would be better to buy precautionary filters beforehand.
- Carrying a lot of weight in the form of camera, lens kit, tripod makes huge impact while you are travelling. A light weight camera and its adaptable accessories will work like a blessing.
- As I said earlier to eliminate hand shake blurs and avoiding image ruins your camera must have an Image Stabilization feature.
- You will be shooting far off distances to capture that little log wood hut at the top of uphill. To shoot these subjects it would better equipped with an extended dynamic range.
- Again to avoid post production processing it would be better to have inbuilt feature to apply filters and enhance true colors.
1.7. Studio Photography
So you are fully equipped with a studio and a variety of lights. You must be having a huge collection of fixed lights and remote flashes, reflectors, etc. Along with Image Stabilization, live view, inbuilt color enhancing features your camera must support all those bunch of lighting accessories.
Step 1 Summary
Category
Features
1.1
Indoor Photography
External flash units with longer range.- Highest possible ISO settings.
Image stabilization.
Tripod or at least a monopod.
1.2
Night Photography
External flash units with longer range.- Highest possible ISO settings.
Image stabilization.
Remote shutter release.
Tripod or at least a monopod.
1.3
Portrait Photography
Aperture or the f-stops.- Image Stabilization.
Inbuilt feature to apply different filters
Big live view (LCD)
1.4
Sports Photography
Highest number of frames per second.- Shutter speed.
Huge or acceptable buffer.
Multi focusing points.
1.5
Macro Photography
Camera adaptability- Image stabilization
Live view with big LCD
Remote Flash Option
1.6
Outdoor/ Landscape Photography
Auto Dust Removal Feature- Filter Adaptability to Lenses
Light Weight
Image Stabilization
Extended Dynamic Range
Enhance True/ Vivid Colors
1.7
Studio Photography
Image Stabilization- Live View
Enhance True/ Vivid Colors
Adaptability to Lighting Accessories
Continued in “Choosing a DSLR (Part-II)”
Please leave a comment so as to let me know that this post is at least helping some one
In my previous post “Is it worth upgrading to DSLR? (Part-I)” I wrote about understanding the characteristics, anatomy, Pros and Cons of point-n-shoot camera. In this concluding part I would like to brief out characteristics, anatomy, Pros and Cons of a DSLR. This will help you make a decision to whether or not to upgrade your gear to DSLR.
DSLR Characteristics
DSLR stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex. These cameras can be mounted with a variety of lenses like fish eye, wide angle, telephoto, etc. Such a variety of interchangeable lenses provides you with a greater creative control over ability to select lenses based on virtually any photographic situation.
The other major design difference between DSLR and point-and-shoot cameras is that most DSLRs only provide a “through-the-lens” optical viewfinder, although some models such as select Sony α (alpha) DSLRs feature the ability to compose and see a live preview of your shots on the camera’s LCD monitor. For DSLRs that don’t include this feature, you frame the shot by holding the viewfinder up to your eye.
Point-n-Shoot Anatomy
Light rays pass through the lens and strike a mirror.
The mirror reflects the light up to a focusing screen
Light rays then enter a block of glass called a pentaprism where they are reflected to produce an image which can be seen in the viewfinder.
When you press the shutter release button, the mirror flips up and shutter opens up which exposes the image to image sensor.
DSLR Pros
Image Quality- These cameras usually have bigger image sensors as compared to compact point-n-shoot cameras. For a 8-10 Megapixel point-n-shoot the size of image sensor is approximately 8.5 x 6.5 mm and a startup DSLR with same Megapixels will have an image sensor approximately 23 x 15 mm. As I said larger image sensor translates directly to better image quality in terms of fineness, color depth, detail and dynamic range.
Full Control- Unlike point-n-shoot cameras, DSLRs offers a huge list of customizable options. You can manually set your own fully or partial combination of shutter speed and aperture, white balance, contrast, metering, auto/manual focus, depth of field, ISO, etc. Along with these manual setting today’s DSLRS also offer dial mode feature where you can handle your camera just like a point-n-shoot. Just turn the dial to available shooting modes and click the shutter release button.
No Shutter Lag- DSLRs have virtually no delay between the time that you click the shutter and the image is taken due to the fact that they focus at a very great speed. You can continuously press shutter release button to get a burst of images without waiting in-between. I guarantee, you will never miss an important shot due to shutter lag.
Instant Startup- Now-a-days DSLRs have instant startup times. This makes a lot sense when you see a fast flying UFO and your camera is in OFF mode, you quickly grab your camera start it and capture the unbelievable moments. With a point-n-shoot camera this seems to be a dream because it will take a couple of seconds to warm up and then focus for another second making your UFO invisible into the skies
Minimal Noise- Due to large image sensors in these cameras the setting of 100 ISO will produce less noisy image as compared with same setting in a point-n-shoot.
You get what you see- Unlike point-n-shoot cameras, you get the same image in the viewfinder what your image sensor see.
Higher ISO Range- DSLRs normally beat the ISO range in point-n-shoot. They may rage from 100-3200+ ISO these days. I’ve explained ISO in detail with an illustration in one of my posts during the month of May 2009.
Depth-of-Field- I love this concept. Just blur out the objects you don’t want in your scene. Using a combination of Shutter and aperture setting you can set your own depth of field. Stay on for my post on this concept soon.
A Lens for every occasion- Once bought a DSLR you don’t get stuck with single fixed lens because you can upgrade your lenses with shooting conditions like capturing close up of that little honey bee on a sunflower or capturing your baby’s naughty little acts or looking directly into the eyes of a ferocious lion or capturing that beautiful eagle taking its flight. These cameras can be mounted with a great variety of lenses ranging from super wide angle to Telephoto lenses. Wait for my post that I am planning to write soon on lenses.
Adaptability- Onceboughta DSLR let me assure you won’t have to upgrade to a new camera that often because DSLRmodels do not get updated quite as often as point and shoot models. You will only upgrade your lenses that to depends upon your shooting requirements.
External Flash- With DSLRs you get an option to have an external flash unit which gives you a bigger are to cover with illumination. You even have an option to have multiple remote slave flash units with your camera which gives you more illumination. Wait for my post on understanding flash, where I am planning to cover all kinds of basic to advance flash operation to attain pro like quality of pictures.
DSLR Cons
Weight- DSLRs are basically lot heavier and bulkier than point-n-shoot. Planning for an outing with your DSLR will add up another piece of a backpack to your luggage. My own DSLR with 18-105 mm lens kit build up a load of 5 Lbs. I can easily slide my point-n-shoot in my jeans pocket.
Price- Even though DSLRs are becoming more and more affordable, you can still get a low-end point-n-shoot camera for much less money. Once bought a DSLR body you will surely have to have a lens kit, a couple of filters, tripod, monopod, external flash unit, reflectors, macro lenses, etc. We are actually talking about a collection of four figures USD.
Sheer learning curve- Buying a DSLR simply can’t make you a good photographer, you will have to learn and practice a lot. Before and after buying a DSLR you will have to do a lot of study and practice to attain a professional ‘WOW’ picture. If you plan to own a DSLR study and practice the concepts like ISO, Exposure, White Balance, Metering, Aperture, Shutter Speed, and a lot more. If you don’t want to go deeper into the technical aspects and planning only using full time auto mode, my suggestion to you is stick with your point-n-shoot.
Maintenance- For my point-n-shoot I never ever have to care about the dust going into the camera body. Although I often clean the front fixed lens with a soft cloth but that is not a geek’s business. In case of DSLR you have a variety of lenses that you mount and un mount based on shooting conditions. Every time you mount-un mount you expose your DSLRs’ expensive image sensor and reflex optics to dust. Dust on an image sensor can result in blemished mages and cleaning out the dust is no layman’s job. A small mistake can cost you a loss of your camera optics.
That creepy motor noise- Since DSLRs are bigger in size they have bigger optics and to control those optics they have motors inbuilt. Every time you auto focus you will hear a noise from lens’s motor. For some this might be a point of consideration.
Live View- In many DSLRs the only way to frame your scene is with an optical viewfinder. Although now-a-days you can see a couple of manufacturers that provide Live View LCD but taking pictures using a live view is never a perfect idea.
Now that I’ve brief out the pros and cons of DSLRs and Point-n-Shoot Cameras, I leave you to make your best decision to upgrade or not. In my next post I’ll post a very important entry, which will help you choosing a good DSLR Camera.
Hope you enjoyed this post of mine.
Please leave a comment so as to let me know that this post is at least helping some one
With the advancement of technology and slashing prices of DSLRs these days many of you guys ask or at least have this question before upgrading from Point-n-Shoot camera to a DSLR. I get a lot of such queries from my friends and relatives, in fact I had this same question when I upgraded my gears to DSLR.
In this post I’ll try to cover all the aspects of ones needs to upgrade from Point-n-Shoot Camera to DSLR. I’ll compare the two and leave upon you to make the final decision. I’ll also provide links to various websites where you can gather more resources for your research.
In the first part I would like to brief out the strengths and weaknesses of a Point-n-Shoot Cameras and in the similar manner I’ll write about the DSLRs in concluding part.
Point-n-Shoot Characteristics
Point-and-shoot digital camera is defined by its in built lens which never separates from its body. The LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) always gets a continuous electronic version of the image. The image that the photographer sees through the viewfinder of a point-n-shoot camera is not the same image that passes through the primary lens of the camera. Rather, the image in the viewfinder passes through a separate lens. These cameras have focus-free lenses, with fixed apertures. These cameras also have a mode dial which enables you to easily select preprogrammed settings based on the scene (indoor, outdoor, day, night, portrait, landscape, macro, sports, etc.) without knowing the technical photography terms.
Point-n-Shoot Anatomy
Light passes through the lens and strikes a micro processing chip called Optics board which drives the lens motors for auto focusing and zooming.
Then it passes through another micro processing chip called Signal processing board which carries out the analog to digital conversion, auto focus, contrast, and data compression.
The final processed image is then passed over to the image sensor.
Image sensor passes it to the LCD.
Viewfinder sees altogether different image from a separate fixed lens.
Point-n-Shoot Pros
Size- These cameras are typically smaller in size. With the advancement of technology today’s point-n-shoot camera can easily be slithered into your tight jean’s back pockets.
Weight- These are very light in weight and as said these don’t require any separate carrying case or backpack. These cameras have fixed lenses thus eliminating the factor of carrying separate lenses.
Auto- These cameras have capability to make decisions based on the scene and the mode you selected. You don’t have to learn the technical aspect of photography. The quality of the captured images from these cameras varies greatly. Now-a-days DSLRs are also equipped with same feature along with their primary controls and functionality.
Maintenance- These require a minimal maintenance attention. Just dust out the front lens and LCD with a soft cloth and that is it.
Compatibility- Most of these cameras are built in with USB port to bridge them directly to photo printers or computers thus making them more compatible with the advancing technologies.
Live View- The provided LCD screen at the back of your point-n-shoot camera is very useful. In fact you will use it 100% to frame a scene. I don’t remember if I have used the viewfinder of my point-n-shoot ever.
Price- Generally point-n-shoot cameras are cheaper but you may want to go up to a range where you can even buy a startup DSLR.
Point-n-Shoot Cons
Quality- These cameras have a very small sensor. The photosites (or simply color pixels) falling on a bigger sensor makes a great positive impact on the quality of a picture. The smaller body of these cameras can accommodate smaller sensors.
Metering- These cameras may or may not have light meter. A light meter is a device used to measure the amount of light. In photography, a light meter is often used to determine the proper exposure for a photograph.
ISO Range- ISO in photography terms is camera sensor’s sensitivity to light. Generally point-n-shoot cameras have only up to 1600 ISO which limits us shooting in different conditions. The ranges are changing these days, many manufacturers are providing up to 3200 ISO which is coming close to DSLRs.
Fixed Apertures- Mostly these cameras have fixed apertures making them less effective in terms of exposure. Due to fixed apertures the models with flash have no way of controlling exposure from flash. One has to be very close to the subject to get a flash picture.
Longer Shutter lag- Point-n-shoot cameras have a one to two second shutter lag time between the time you press shutter release button and the time when photo is actually captured. The longer shutter lag time makes it difficult to take photos quickly and you can miss an important act of sports or babies or any other event.
Startup time- These cameras take at least a second or two to start up. This can also result in missing an important act. You can’t keep them on due to the fact that you don’t have option to shut down the electronic viewer which drains out the battery with in a couple of hours. Now-a-days we can see improvements in this aspect, we can keep the camera on and if it is not used for couple of minutes it goes into sleep mode but again it takes a longer startup time.
Limited Manual Controls- Due to the size priority given to these cameras, they have all their controls hidden into their menus. No manual or instant reachable controls are provided to customize the shooting mode.
LCD Framing: These cameras have LCD screen to frame a scene which never gives proper exposure. Photographer is not at all able to capture what he/she is viewing on the screen. If you are standing in a bright day light you will hardly see anything on the screen. Increasing brightness of the display only makes it easier to see the display but will never set proper exposure.
Fixed Lens- Once bought you will never ever have an option to change lens. You will get stuck with only one lens.
In concluding part I’ll brief out all about DSLR Cameras. So stay on and give your feedback or questions on this. I’ll love to answer your queries.
Please leave a comment so as to let me know that this post is at least helping some one
Portrait Mode
Landscape Mode
Macro Mode
Sports Mode
Night Mode
Letter “F” in F-Stop is called as focal length. Focal length divided by aperture determines the F-Stop.
