There are certain topics I wish I could just sit down with you and say "so ... what is it you want to know?" and Digital Photography definitely falls into that category.
The subject has breadth.
I started with an HP 1 MegaPixel camera back in 1998. I still have that camera, and I even use it occasionally. I have a Canon Rebel, which I bought an embarrassing amount of lenses for. Film is expensive, and even if you are developing your own, it is still expensive. Hence my interest in digital. The HP was limiting however.
Then Canon came out with a Digital Rebel, and all my lenses fit. That's when I started seriously looking into digital photography.
One of the first questions I hear is "what the heck is a megapixel and why do I care?" Which is a good question, since that seems to be the "selling point" for most of these cameras. I don't take photos for "printing", in fact I never have. However, many people do, and Megapixels mean something in the print world. What it means is how large you are going to be able to print a photo before you start loosing resolution.
A "megapixel" is simply a unit of a million pixels. When printing you are looking for a resolution detail (PPI) which is a boundary for how large the print can be correlated to the megapixel amount. The following chart gives the maximum 200 and 300 PPI print sizes for several common camera megapixels.
# of Megapixels Maximum 3:2 Print Size at 300 PPI:at 200 PPI: 2 5.8" x 3.8" 8.7" x 5.8" 3 7.1" x 4.7" 10.6" x 7.1" 4 8.2" x 5.4" 12.2" x 8.2" 5 9.1" x 6.1" 13.7" x 9.1" 6 10.0" x 6.7" 15.0" x 10.0" 8 11.5" x 7.7" 17.3" x 11.5" 12 14.1" x 9.4" 21.2" x 14.1" 16 16.3" x 10.9" 24.5" x 16.3" 22 19.1" x 12.8" 28.7" x 19.1" Note how a 2 megapixel camera cannot even make a standard 4x6 inch print at 300 PPI, while it requires a whopping 16 megapixels to make a 16x10 inch photo. This may be discouraging, but do not despair! You will probably be very happy with the sharpness provided by 200 PPI, and even a lower PPI may suffice if the viewing distance is far enough away. Many wall posters assume that you will not be inspecting them from 6 inches away, and so these are often less than 200 PPI.If you are not looking to print your photos, then Megapixels start loosing their value factor rapidly. Like I said, I still use that old HP 1 Megapixel camera I have, and the images it takes are much better than any computer monitor can show. There is a huge difference between viewing an image on a computer screen, or in a video file, and seeing it printed on paper. There is an article on here this month about digital printers, so seek that out for more information into that aspect. I try to cover most of the questions about digital printing. What I find is a huge factor with digital cameras, is speed. How fast can you take a picture? Digital cameras are notoriously slow. Take my Rebel, it is advertised (like this is a real selling factor) to have --"Continuous shooting speed increased (3.0 fps vs. 2.5 fps)" ... That is Frame Per Second ... So it takes 3 Frames (Pictures) Per second. Next to my film Rebel that is crawling. But that is a factor with digital photography. The Canon is actually pretty fast. In the Digital world, it's a contender. Another Speed factor is "Shutter Lag". When you press "the button," there is a delay before a photograph is actually recorded. Shutter Lag is a common problem in the photography of fast-moving objects, like Uncle Joe falling in the pool... again.In film cameras, the delay is caused by the mechanism inside the camera that opens the shutter, exposing the film. Because the process is mechanical, however, and relatively brief, shutter lag in film cameras isn't really noticeable to most people. Professionals will notice mechanical lag, but only if they are sport shooting, or trying to catch brief moments (like fast moving ducks). I certainly never thought about it. Shutter lag is much more of a problem with digital cameras. In digital cameras, the delay results from the charging of the CCD and relatively slow transmission of its capture data to the circuitry of the camera for processing and storage. In the cheaper models, you are going to notice this, and it is a factor in how you setup and prepare for shots. These factors are getting better. For the Rebel -- "The XT’s shutter lag has also been reduced to just 100 milliseconds (equivalent to the lag on the EOS-10D), along with providing a near instantaneous boot-up. The 0.2 second start-up speed can be a real asset if an opportunity suddenly presents itself. A necessary response to the original Rebel’s ascribed “point-and-shoot-like speeds,” the XT’s faster configuration will provide a big improvement over the near 3 second turn-on time of the original Rebel."The variety of digital cameras also is difficult to get a grip on. There are digital cameras which also take short movies, some even include sound. Storage space and battery life are an issue here. My HP has a view screen in the back, so that you "can see what the camera sees", which is just like looking through the eye piece really (never did figure out the benefit of that 'feature'). Turning on that feature sucks the batteries dry in minutes. Find out what batteries are going to cost, does the camera charge, or are you putting batteries in? How long does it take to charge, what is the cost of extra batteries? Storage space is like RAM on a computer, you just can't have enough. Large cards are good, but look for cameras that have standard size memory cards. Many computers on the market now are coming out with memory card readers. Several printers will allow you to take the card out of your camera, and put it directly into the printer.
This article may not be copied or distributed in part or in full from this site and is copyright D24 Media Limited.
Note how a 2 megapixel camera cannot even make a standard 4x6 inch print at 300 PPI, while it requires a whopping 16 megapixels to make a 16x10 inch photo. This may be discouraging, but do not despair! You will probably be very happy with the sharpness provided by 200 PPI, and even a lower PPI may suffice if the viewing distance is far enough away. Many wall posters assume that you will not be inspecting them from 6 inches away, and so these are often less than 200 PPI.If you are not looking to print your photos, then Megapixels start loosing their value factor rapidly. Like I said, I still use that old HP 1 Megapixel camera I have, and the images it takes are much better than any computer monitor can show. There is a huge difference between viewing an image on a computer screen, or in a video file, and seeing it printed on paper. There is an article on here this month about digital printers, so seek that out for more information into that aspect. I try to cover most of the questions about digital printing. What I find is a huge factor with digital cameras, is speed. How fast can you take a picture? Digital cameras are notoriously slow. Take my Rebel, it is advertised (like this is a real selling factor) to have --"Continuous shooting speed increased (3.0 fps vs. 2.5 fps)" ... That is Frame Per Second ... So it takes 3 Frames (Pictures) Per second. Next to my film Rebel that is crawling. But that is a factor with digital photography. The Canon is actually pretty fast. In the Digital world, it's a contender. Another Speed factor is "Shutter Lag". When you press "the button," there is a delay before a photograph is actually recorded. Shutter Lag is a common problem in the photography of fast-moving objects, like Uncle Joe falling in the pool... again.
In film cameras, the delay is caused by the mechanism inside the camera that opens the shutter, exposing the film. Because the process is mechanical, however, and relatively brief, shutter lag in film cameras isn't really noticeable to most people. Professionals will notice mechanical lag, but only if they are sport shooting, or trying to catch brief moments (like fast moving ducks). I certainly never thought about it. Shutter lag is much more of a problem with digital cameras. In digital cameras, the delay results from the charging of the CCD and relatively slow transmission of its capture data to the circuitry of the camera for processing and storage. In the cheaper models, you are going to notice this, and it is a factor in how you setup and prepare for shots. These factors are getting better. For the Rebel -- "The XT’s shutter lag has also been reduced to just 100 milliseconds (equivalent to the lag on the EOS-10D), along with providing a near instantaneous boot-up. The 0.2 second start-up speed can be a real asset if an opportunity suddenly presents itself. A necessary response to the original Rebel’s ascribed “point-and-shoot-like speeds,” the XT’s faster configuration will provide a big improvement over the near 3 second turn-on time of the original Rebel."The variety of digital cameras also is difficult to get a grip on. There are digital cameras which also take short movies, some even include sound. Storage space and battery life are an issue here. My HP has a view screen in the back, so that you "can see what the camera sees", which is just like looking through the eye piece really (never did figure out the benefit of that 'feature'). Turning on that feature sucks the batteries dry in minutes. Find out what batteries are going to cost, does the camera charge, or are you putting batteries in? How long does it take to charge, what is the cost of extra batteries? Storage space is like RAM on a computer, you just can't have enough. Large cards are good, but look for cameras that have standard size memory cards. Many computers on the market now are coming out with memory card readers. Several printers will allow you to take the card out of your camera, and put it directly into the printer.
