Buying Advice This section of the Photo Plus website has been designed to help answer the most commonly asked questions. Pick the appropriate product category first, then select from the list of questions provided. If you still can't work out what the best is for you, then e-mail me with your requirements and see if I can work it out. |
 |
| Still Cameras
Which cameras are easy to use for the beginner? If you are looking for great results, right from the beginning, a camera that does everything for you, automatically, should fit the bill. Autofocus will set the distance so your pictures are sharp, Auto exposure adjusts the time that the shutter is open (shutter speed) and the size of the lens opening (aperture), so that the correct amount of light reaches the film. Auto film loading and winding will ensure that your camera is always ready for use. Auto flash will provide adequate illumination, when the light is dim or for indoor shots - but don't fall into the trap of believing that the flash will light a Spanish night club stage from 50 feet - it's designed for fairly close up shots, usually to about 15 feet. Which cameras are best for enthusiasts? If you're looking at photography as a hobby, you should give serious consideration to a single lens reflex camera (SLR), which allows you to fit many different focal length or zoom lenses. These allow you to shoot from many different distances and still fill the picture with your subject, or to adjust perspective effects. You can fit filters for special effects and accessory flashguns for increased range in dim lighting. Should I choose a compact camera or an SLR? If you don't think you are likely to want the versatility of interchangeable lenses or flash, there's no reason why you should not consider a compact camera. Many compacts have a good zoom range, but the interchangeable zoom lenses for SLRs are generally of better optical quality than those on compacts. There are however, 'luxury' compact cameras with optics and exposure systems that are equal to and even better than some SLRs. Ask us for specific advice. Should I choose a camera with a fixed length or zoom lens? If you are content to move forwards or backwards so that your subject will fill your picture, by all means chose a fixed focal length lens - but bear in mind that you could get your feet wet when there's a lake in the way! There is a school of thought that fixed focal length lenses are better quality than zooms, but this is a rather old fashioned viewpoint and is often not true. |
|
|
What do megapixels mean and how many do I need? A digital picture is made up of a number of dots (pixels), which may be referred to as the number of pixels in the image length x height. For example, 1600 x 1200 pixels equals (near enough) 2 megapixels (actually 1,920,000). On a good inkjet printer, a 2 megapixels image can give an excellent 6 inch x 4.5 inch print, virtually indistinguishable (some might say even better than) a photographic print. Even an A4 print is very acceptable to most users. If the same image is used for publishing in to printed media, such as a leaflet, it would be excellent up to about 6.5 inches x 4.8 inches. How do I store digital pictures? You can keep them on the SmartMedia or CompactFlash card that comes with the camera, but it will soon become full, so it's best to download to your computer (which is usually the way to print your pictures) then store on the hard disk or removable media, such as floppy disks, Zips or writeable CDs. It's a good idea to have some spare SmartMedia or CompactFlash storage cards if you are traveling, just as you would carry spare film for a traditional film camera. And don't forget spare batteries or rechargeable cells. Digital cameras are heavy on batteries, so rechargeables and a charger or a sound investment at very low cost. What can I do with digital pictures? Print them. Use them on web sites, Store them on a database. E-mail them to friends, family and business associates. Make special effects pictures - the list is endless. How do I transfer pictures from the camera to my computer? At the most basic level, via the lead and software supplied with the camera, but it's more satisfactory to use a card reader of some kind, which is much quicker. These are inexpensive and include a Flashpath Adaptor, which allows you to put a SmartMedia card into your floppy drive, a PCMCIA card adaptor or a small adaptor device on a cable that plugs into your computer. |
|
|
What's the difference between digital and optical zoom lenses? A digital zoom takes a section of the recorded image and 'electronically' enlarges it to fill the frame, so there is a variable loss of image quality. Optical zoom lenses change the size of the image before it is recorded, so there is no quality loss. So if you often need a powerful zoom , a more powerful optical zoom will be better than switching to digital zoom. |
|