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| Digital F.A.Q.'s |
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| Quality
Issues |
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1. I have $____
to spend on a digital camera. Which one should I get? |
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Cheap: If
you have around $200-400 to spend. Well? Your best choice
is probably the Fuji FinePix A205. It's got a 3X zoom,
2.1 Megapixel resolution and it's easy to use. If you
want an easier-to use camera spend a bit more money and
get the Kodak DX6340 camera AND matching camera dock.
The Olympus D-390 is also a good choice for VERY little
money, though it only has digital zoom and the Canon
A-60 offers extra lenses and a waterproof housing as
options ... not bad for a camera under $400!
Kind of cheap: If you have
around $400-700 to spend. What can I get?
This is a really crowded space right now.
We have to give it up for the Nikon Coolpix
3100, Fuji Finepix s5000, Canon PowerShot
s400, or the Olympus Stylus 300/400 cameras.
Of these, the Nikon and Fuji are probably
the best value, while the Olympus and Canon
cameras have the best image quality. Nikon's
new Coolpix SQ is the sexiest camera in this
price range and it boasts a cool swivel lens
... if you're into that kind of thing!
If you've got a bit more money
to spend ... $700 and up? This
is where deciding gets a bit more difficult.
On the lower end of the scale, we recommend
the Nikon Coolpix 4300 or Canon PowerShot
S50 since they are small and cute ...
a real status symbol! At just under the
$1000 mark, we like the Fuji FinePix
s 602 or s7000 as well as the Minolta
Dimage 7hi. Finally, at the high end,
the Nikon Coolpix 5400, Canon Powershot
G5 and Olympus C-5050 are all great cameras.
You really can't go wrong with any of
these. Finally, at the higher megapixel
price range, consider the Sony Cybershot
S717 or V1, Canon G5 or Olympus C-50
since they all exhibit great image quality.
If you've got an $1000+ budget,
try the Sony CD Mavica line as they
all write to CDs instead of memory
cards! If you're using a digital
camera to make you money, the Fujifilm
S-2 Pro, Nikon D100 and Canon EOS
10D are top notch SLR-type cameras
that take a wide variety of lenses
and flashes. |
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2. What
are the advantages of Digital Photography? |
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Digital cameras
are similar to their point-and-shoot film counterparts.
Both are easy to use, come loaded with impressive features,
and require little photographic expertise. The digital
camera's LCD viewfinder, however, gives it a distinct
edge. Once you've taken a
picture, use the LCD screen to review it. If you're not happy with
a particular photo, simply delete it and try again. Other typical
features include auto focus and built-in flash. Some cameras have
built-in memory, though most save images on removable memory cards
that store 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 up to 512 megabytes of photos. These
cards
come in handy when shooting lots of pictures. Simply replace a full
card with a new one and keep on taking pictures.
One way to transfer photos from your camera to a computer is by
using the cable (sold with the camera) that connects to your computer's
serial or USB port. For a faster download of images, a card reader
is great gadget that can transfers photos up to 30 times faster
than a serial port cable. Card readers run $30 and up.
Here are some categorized advantages of Digital Photography.
Affordability. With digital photography, there are no film
costs or processing expenses (paper, chemicals or development costs).
If you make a mistake or just don't like the image that you took,
the reusable memory card (sometimes referred to as digital "film")
allows you to erase the picture and simply reshoot it.
Communication. Digital photography makes communication
a simple process. A photo can easily be saved to a digital
format, put into an Internet Web site, sent as e-mail,
or even included as part of an electronic postcard sent
to friends far away.
Control. Digital cameras, combined with
image manipulation software, let users resize,
rotate, cut and paste, recolor, and otherwise manipulate
their photos.
Deletion. Digital camera
memory cards come standard
with digital cameras. These
cards allow you to immediately
determine if a picture is appropriate
and simply delete it to make
room for another picture.
Duplication. The image
can be duplicated over and
over without any degradation
of picture quality.
Ease of use. With digital
photography, there's no fuss,
no muss. If a photographer
doesn't have time or space
or interest in mixing chemicals,
the same effects can be achieved
using a computer as a digital
darkroom.
Image storage. PCMCIA
cards, or digital film, allow
users to store anywhere from
18 to 3,000 images at one time
depending on the resolution
of the image and the compression
used.
Immediacy. A user
can snap a photo, immediately
see it on the digital camera's
LCD screen, then instantly
transfer it into a computer
using a serial or parallel
cable or removable PCMCIA
cards. Digital images can
be produced immediately,
either printed or electronically
distributed over the Internet. |
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3. What are
some good tips for buying a digital camera? |
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If you've
been analyzing the merits of film versus digital cameras,
there really is no difference anymore!. The price of
3 megapixel cameras is plummeting and cheap 4 megapixel
models are hitting the stores now. It's a great time
to buy and enjoy the ease and convenience of digital
photography. You can get exceptionally high-quality
images from a camera costing as little as $500.
One of the first decisions you'll need to make when
buying a digital camera is how many megapixels do
you want? Pixels are the tiny elements that comprise
a digital image. If you want to print pictures larger
than standard snapshot size, then the old adage applies
- bigger is better. Single megapixel digital cameras
were the first to hit the market and still make excellent
prints at an affordable price. With 2 megapixels
models coming down in price, we suggest opting for
one of these cameras that will deliver sharp images
and superb detail for up to 8 x 10" prints.
Here are some features to look for in choosing
a digital camera.
A. Color Depth. Most cameras offer 24-bit color depths. Professional
applications often require 36-bit color depth, which requires a
professional-level digital camera.
B. Compatibility. Is the camera both PC and Mac compatible?
C. Control. Entry level cameras typically have fixed settings for
aperture, shutter speed, focus, and white balance. Higher-level
cameras give users more control over these settings.
D. Interchangeable Lenses. Can you switch lens with the camera?
How many and what kind are available?
E. LCD Preview. Is there a built-in LCD to allow users to compose
and shoot images as well as play them back?
F. Light Requirements. A lower F-stop means the camera needs less
light to take pictures. A camera with an aperture of f/1.8 is better
in low light than one with an f/3.2 rating. Most cameras are automatic,
but consumers should look for the range the camera features
G. Resolution. What is the resolution in terms of pixels? Most
entry level cameras offer 640 x 480 pixels of resolution. A higher
number is better for printing pictures.
H. Shutter Speed. Does the camera offer a fast shutter speed, like
1/500 or 1/1000 of a second, for capturing action? Does it have
a slow speed, like 1/2 second, for low light photography?
I. Software. What software is provided with the camera? Does the
camera ship with enough software, for tasks like image manipulation
or creating Internet postcards, to make it useful?
J. Storage. Is the storage fixed or removable? Users have more
flexibility and can take more pictures using removable storage.
How many images the camera can store is determined by the flexibility
and choice of resolution and compression. Most cameras can vary
resolution to store more images. Users can store even more images
by compressing the files using the industry-standard JPEG file
format.
K. Transferring Images. How is data transferred from the camera
to the PC - via a serial or parallel cable or removable PCMCIA
compact flash card?
L. Voice Annotation. Do you need to save comments with the pictures
you take for insurance or other purposes? Most Pentax, Kodak, Sony
and Olympus can record several seconds of sound per picture. Sony,
Fuji and Olympus have the ability of recording Mpeg video also.
M. Zoom Lens. This lens offers various focal lengths and replaces
the need for several different interchangeable lenses. How many
degrees of magnification are included? The typical still camera
offers a maximum magnification of 3X.
TIP: The lesson of pixel resolution is to always take digital photos
at the highest resolution possible. It gives you the greatest number
of options and flexibility. You can always reduce your images in
size later if you wish.
TIP: When digital cameras or scanners capture an image, their saved
file size can be quite large. This may make it difficult to work
with the photograph or transfer it over the Internet. Always re-sample
files before they are sent via e-mail or over the internet.
TIP: If you are saving a file for the first time, you may want
to save it at the highest quality settings, since the lower the
quality setting you choose, the more information from the original
image you will lose. |
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4. How much
quality and resolution are enough? |
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The
simple answer is ... "it depends" ... It depends
of the application, it depends on the price range, it
depends on the zoom requirements and it depends on the
support. If you are just entering into the digital world
and want a camera that is easy-to-use, inexpensive and
offers you the ability to take pictures that are suitable
for printing snapshot-sized 4 X 6 inch prints to put
on e-mail or post to a Website, then you can look for
models with a 1-1.5 MP resolution. The price range is
generally from $250 to $600.
If you want to use the camera for more than e-mail and the Internet
then a resolution of 2MP or higher would be useful. The 3 to 5 Megapixel
cameras now available are good for making photo-quality prints and
enlargements. If you use a 3-4MP digital camera, you can print a
photo-quality image as large as 9 inches by 13 inches without observing
loss of detail! (You would require a large-format printer like the
new Epson Stylus Photo 1290.) The only downside to larger megapixel
cameras is storage. At some time you will require additional storage
in the form of larger hard-drives, removable hard drives or CD recordables. |
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5. Resolution
- how much to I really need? |
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If
you have are interested in a digital camera but uncertain
about the quality of the picture produced, you are not
alone. What you need to look for when buying a digital
camera is the PHYSICAL RESOLUTION of the camera.
PHYSICAL RESOLUTION- The physical resolution is stated by two numbers
which can be described as being like a grid with 1,600 pixels on
a single line of 1,200 lines which forms the shape of a rectangle.
The total number of pixels contained within such a grid is found
by multiplying the two numbers ie. 1600 x 1200 which is 1,920,000
or 1.92 megapixels or 1.92 MP. A megapixel refers to 1 million pixels.
Some manufacturers round the figures off, so they say a camera has
2 megapixels, when in fact it actually has 1.92 megapixels.
When buying a camera, what choices do you have? There are low resolution
choices of 640x480 (307,200 pixels, or 0.3 mega pixels) medium 1280x1024
(1.3 MP) high 1600x1200 (1.92 MP) higher 2048 x1536 (3.1 MP) and
higher 2400x1800 (4.3MP). Digital cameras offer different variations
of resolution and not all resolutions are available on one camera.
Remember that you can always decrease the resolution without much
loss in quality but you cannot increase resolution without running
into quality issues. |
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6. What is
the QUALITY setting on my camera? |
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In
order to store a number of images within a fixed amount
of memory, digital camera manufacturers use a technology
known as JPEG image compression. Uncompressed photos
(in TIF "Tagged Image File" format) take up
a lot of space on the removable memory disk.
Cameras offer either JPEG only or JPEG and TIF quality options. JPEG
compression is a mathematical process, where a digital image is scanned
for areas of similarity in color and brightness. Where the JPEG compression
process finds areas of color and brightness that are similar to a
target pixel, it replaces them with a single pixel.
The degree to which process does this compression is related to a
digital camera's Quality setting. Cameras set on "High Quality
JPEG" deliver images just about the way it was captured with
very little JPEG compression applied. "Standard Quality" applies
increasing levels of JPEG compression, while "Low Quality" compresses
the data that much more. This reduces the file size of the image
to a manageable amount for use on personal computers and the Internet.
Some cameras call the three JPEG compression levels "FINE", "BASIC" and "NORMAL".
Larger JPEG compression results in more loss of image detail and
color. Some digital cameras offer an Uncompressed setting, and images
are usually stored in a TIF format. The file size is so large (typically
1-2 MB and higher) that only a few images can possibly by stored
on normal memory cards. Cameras with a TIF option capture all of
the image data in the original scene and transfer it to the memory
card. The TIF setting should really be used when you know you will
be making large prints. If not, you should use the JPEG compressed
format. |
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| Memory
Issues |
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7. What are
some common memory issues? |
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Digital
pictures require memory cards for storage just like regular
cameras require film. You could think of the memory card
as "Digital Film". If you run out of space
to store your pictures, you need to replace the full
memory card with an empty one (just like you'd do if
you ran out of film!).
We have some tips to help you manage
your memory devices better:
1. Carry a spare memory card -
It seems obvious that you would
carry some additional memory cards if you felt you were going
to take a lot of pictures! However, many digital camera owners
forget to bring an extra card leaving them without the option of
taking more pictures.
2. Choose a lower resolution - High resolution pictures
take up
more room than low resolution ones. If you change the setting
on the camera from "Best" quality to "Good" quality,
you will be
able to take more pictures.
3. Buy a bigger memory card - Memory cards come in sizes
ranging from 8Mb to 192Mb. Choose the size that suits your
picture-taking needs so you do not have to change cards.
4. Download / Upload your photos - If you have your notebook
computer handy, you can transfer your pictures to your
computer and free up space on the memory card. If you have
access to the Internet, then you may find it easier to upload or
e-mail certain pictures to yourself.
5. Delete some bad pictures - Obviously, if you are needing
space on your memory card, you could edit your pictures
on-the-fly to see if there are any poor quality ones and delete
them.
6. Re-Size Your Pictures - Some digital cameras (like SONY's
Cybershot line) allow you to take existing pictures on the memory
card and re-size them making them smaller and freeing up space.
Remember that this degrades the quality of these pictures. |
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8. Which removable
storage is better -- CompactFlash, SmartMedia or Memory
Stick? |
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This is really
a tough question to answer. I think you should look at
the camera rather than the storage method, but consider
this: CompactFlash cards come in larger sizes than SmartMedia
cards. CompactFlash cards currently come in sizes up
to 4 Gb per card, while SmartMedia tops out at 128MB.
On the other hand, SmartMedia cards are a bit smaller
(thus making them easier to lose) than the CF cards.
I can't really tell that the manufacturers are going
to choose one type of memory to use, though they seem
to be leaning towards CompactFlash for right now. SD
and Memory Stick cards are becoming fairly popular too
with capacities of 512Mb. It really is difficult to say
that one memory card type is better ... so we say, don't
worry about it! |
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9. What does "memory
effect" mean when referring to my battery? |
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If
nickel-cadmium batteries are recharged before they have
been fully discharged, cadmium crystals can form at their
negative electrodes. This results in an unwanted second
discharge stage. The battery stores this stage as a discharge
stage for the next cycle in its memory, even though capacity
is still available 'below' this. During the next discharge
process, the battery only remembers this reduced capacity.
Any further incomplete discharge cycles which follow
will aggravate this situation still further and the performance
of the battery will continue to fall. Nickel-cadmium
cells should therefore be discharged fully at occasional
intervals. This prevents the 'memory effect' from occurring
and prolongs the service life of the cell or battery.
This effect does not
occur with nickel-metal-hydride batteries. Consequently, these batteries
can be discharged and recharged without problem. |
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10. What does
Megapixel mean, anyway? |
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A
pixel is a little square that makes up the image on your
computer screen. I set my computer's 17" monitor
resolution to 1280 pixels wide by 1024 pixels tall. A
digital camera's CCD can only capture so many of these
pixels, which are then stored in memory, and later transferred
to your computer. Cameras boast a certain resolution,
such as 1280x1024 (just like the monitor's), which is
a little over 1,300,000 pixels. To get the total number
of pixels in a CCD chip, think of the image as a rectangle
and multiply the width by the height. The word "mega" is
taken from the Greek word meaning "great",
and means "one million." Hence, a camera with
1,000,000 pixels is a 1 Megapixel camera. |
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| Lens
Issues |
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11. What's the
difference between optical zoom and digital zoom? |
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It's
important to understand this difference, as you could
end up mighty disappointed with the results if you
get one rather than the other. Optical zoom is similar
to what you'll find in a regular 35mm camera: When
you push the button to zoom in or out, physical lens
elements move inside the camera, to achieve the desired
effect.
Digital zoom, on the other hand, has no moving parts. Using the "electronic
brain" within the camera instead, the camera takes a look
at what it's "looking at", and digitally zooms in, usually
two or three times closer.
The problem with digital zoom is that you lose quality when you
do this -- your images will tend to be more "pixelated" than
the same image taken with an optical zoom camera. This is due to
the "Interpolation" the camera uses, which is a nice
way of saying that it makes a guess about how the picture should
look while zoomed in. Having optical AND digital zoom on a camera
isn't bad, but I'd try to avoid cameras with only digital zoom. |
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| Transfer
Issues |
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12. What are
my options for transferring images to my computer? |
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There
are a few options to choose from, depending on your
platform:
Direct Connection: Use the Serial or USB cable provided by the camera
manufacturer. Serial is pretty slow, while USB is very fast (a good
substitute for a card reader!).
Infrared - a few cameras support this method of file transfer.
It's new and will probably take off! The Pentax EI-200 camera (and
some others) use this technology to transfer images from the camera
to an "IRDA" equipped printer. This method is not too
popular and I haven't
heard of too many people using it though..
PCMCIA adapters - PCMCIA adapters are available for Compact Flash,
Memory Stick and Smartmedia media. When connected to a Windows
98/Millenium/2000 computer, the PCMCIA adapter acts as a new drive
and you simply access files as if it were a hard drive.
Floppy disk: Sony Mavica cameras use the standard floppy disk which
can hold 1.44Mb of memory. For SmartMedia and Memory Stick cameras,
a "FlashPath" Floppy Disk adapter essentially turns your
memory card into a 3.5" Floppy Disk! This cool little device
holds one SmartMedia or Memory Stick card and uses the floppy drive
of your computer! It's a little faster than the serial cable method,
and more elegant (on PC's more than Macs, though). The biggest
feature of a Floppy adapter is its transportability, namely, that
it can be used to transfer files from computer to computer through
the floppy drive (assuming that both computers have the appropriate
driver software loaded).
Card readers: These are probably the quickest way to get photos
into your camera. They come in USB, parallel, firewire (IEEE1394)
and SCSI types. They work with PCMCIA, SmartMedia, and CompactFlash
cards (be sure to make sure the model you're looking at supports
your media format first!). You just pop in the card, and it imports
the photos into your computer! Users of the Apple iMac should check
out the USB card readers, as that's really the only way to get
your photos as of now. |
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| Printing
Issues |
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13. What
is a PHOTO-QUALITY inkjet printer? |
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Today's
photo-quality ink-jet printers have special five-color
ink tanks (two more than normal) for extra color definition.
Also included are ultra-miniature ink nozzles for spraying
the tiniest of ink droplets to achieve finer image definition.
There are special photo-quality papers that can produce
prints that are close to true photographs. The Epson
Stylus Photo line (820, 890, 1280 & 2200) and Canon's
S830 and i950/i9100 are examples of the best photo-quality
printers on the consumer market, and they are relatively
affordable. |
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14. What kind
of printer do I need to print out my photos? |
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Depending
on what kind of printing you do, there are 3 main printer
choices:
Regular inkjet printer: E.g. HP
DeskJet, Epson Stylus, Canon BubbleJet.
These can doa pretty good job of printing
out your photos, especially on special
paper. But their main job is text and simple
graphics, at which they excel. Usually,
printers in this class cost $100-200.
Photo inkjet printer: The Epson
Stylus Photo and the Canon Photo Series
of printers are examples of printers
especially designed for photographs.
They use regular or oversized paper
(depending on the model), and produce
fantastic prints on glossy or coated
paper. Many people cannot tell the
difference between photos printed on
4x6
glossy photo paper and actual 35mm film photos.
Small Dye-Sublimation: Olympus P330, Sony S77 and Canon CD-300
are examples of this kind of printer. These have very good output,
but are expensive to buy and maintain. These only print on small
(4x6) sheets on paper, although the new Olympus P-400 Dye Sublimation
printer prints 8x10 size. |
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15. What is
interpolation and does it effect the quality of my photos? |
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Interpolation
is a fancy word for a computer "guessing".
The only type of interpolation that anyone should be
worried about is when an image is printed large. Basically,
when an image is enlarged, you end up with more pixels.
But where did these pixels come from? If, for example,
a 320x240 image was enlarged to 640x480, the program
would just double-up each pixel resulting in a "jaggedy" image.
With more advanced programs like Photoshop, interpolation (some even
using advanced calculus) can be done on the photo while enlarging.
The interpolation calculations allow the computer to pick better
pixels to add to the image rather than just using the pixel next
to it. This way, when you enlarge an image, the image looks a lot
smoother and cleaner. Note that the amount of photo information hasn't
changed. If you look at an enlarged interpolated picture, you will
see that if a person was a white dot because they were too far away,
then they will still be a white dot only bigger. If you had an optical
zoom then they would have looked more of like a person. But if you
don't optical zoom, and then instead interpolate to get a closer
view, it isn't going to change much.
So, it seems you can't substitute a 320x240 camera for a megapixel
camera by using Photoshop to enlarge all your stuff to 1280x960.
It just doesn't work like that. You still only have 320x240 worth
of photo information.
Now, as for cameras with interpolation. From my point of view, a
camera doesn't need interpolation. If the lens only brings in X amount
of pixels, then so be it. If I want it bigger, I'll use Photoshop.
There are three reasons I'd do it this way:
1) Photoshop probably has a better interpolation routine considering
it's a multimegabyte program running on a pentium (or mac or what
have you).
2) By not having the camera interpolate to a larger size, the photo
doesn't take as much space as it would have, yet you still have the
same amount of digital information. Doesn't waste space.
3) Your camera will operate faster because it won't have to spend
time
interpolating a large image.
So basically, interpolation is not that great. Your image software
will use it before printing to your photo printer (since most of
the time, your image is not EXACTLY the size that you're printing)
which is fine. However having it in a camera really doesn't help
you at all unless you don't own adequate software for resizing your
images yourself. |
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| Battery
Issues |
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16. Why do my
batteries die so quickly in my camera? |
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It's
a fact: digital cameras drink alkaline batteries.
But there are several options that you should look
into:
Alkaline batteries: These may do a little better,
but it's not the cheapest option in the long run. It
is useful to pack a set of "super" alkaline
batteries is case of an emergency.
Lithium batteries: check your camera's
manual before using these! Some cameras,
including the old Olympus D-600L, do not
support these! Lithium batteries have a
very long shelf life and often are the
best choice for "emergency" batteries.
Nickel-Cadmium rechargeables (NICAD
): These are what I've been using
lately, and they are great as long as
you remember to fully discharge them!
I have one set charged at all times,
and never run out. You should be able
to take at least 100 photos at the high
quality mode with my camera on ONE set
of NICAD's. Of course, you'll have to
buy a charger, but it's better in the
long run (for many reasons) than throw
away alkaline batteries.
Nickel Metal Hydride rechargeables
(NiMH): This is pretty
much the best you can find.
These seem to last a bit longer
than NICAD batteries, though
I haven't compared them yet.
Another good thing about the
NiMH batteries is that they
don't have as much of a "memory
effect" as the NICAD batteries.
In layman's terms, with NICAD
batteries, you are supposed
to fully drain them every time
you use them, before recharging.
Otherwise, they won't be able
to hold as much the next time,
due to crystal growth inside
the battery. NiMH batteries
don't have this problem, or
at least not as much. |
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17. What are
some common battery issues? |
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Many
problems with digital cameras are as a result of batteries.
Unfortunately, digital cameras require a high amperage power supply
to run the LCD display, the zoom lens, the flash and the memory access
functions. Normal alkaline batteries simply do not have enough power
to be worthwhile.
We have amassed a list of tips related to battery usage that mayhelp:
1. Carry a spare battery - We recommend that you ALWAYS
carry at least a second set of alkaline batteries with you at all
times. Ideally, you should upgrade the spare alkaline set to a
spare lithium set of batteries. The best alternative for your
spare battery is a fully charged Nickel Metal Hydride or
Lithium-Ion set.
2. Use High-Amperage Rechargeable batteries - Rechargeable
batteries come with different mAh ratings (1200, 1350, 1450, 1500
and so on). Higher mAh batteries take less time to recharge and offer
longer life. They are also slightly more money to purchase.
3. Use the Proper Charger - Make sure that the batteries and
the charger are compatible with each other. It is always
recommended that batteries from one manufacturer be used in
that manufacturer's charging device. |
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18. What is
the best way to store batteries? |
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A
general rule is: The higher the storage temperature,
the
worse the capacity retention and vice versa. A refrigerator, with
a temperature range from 0°C to 10°C, is a good place for
storing batteries, especially primary batteries. The refrigerator
may, of course, also be used to store secondary batteries, but
since they are rechargeable, their loss of capacity during
storage may be better compensated by recharging, particularly
as they can take up substantial space in the refrigerator (e.g.
automotive batteries). |
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| Flash
Issues |
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19. What are
some common flash issues? |
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Most
digital cameras have a built-in electronic flash. Most
flashes have an automatic sensor that decides when
the flash is needed. Sometimes the flash does not fire
and sometimes the flash fires when not needed. These
two situations can pose significant problems with your
camera.
We have some tips to help you use your flash
more effectively:
1. Select Auto Flash - We
recommend that the camera be set
on the "Auto-flash" mode to ensure that most of your
pictures
will look good.
2. Understand Red-Eye Reduction mode - Most flashes have
a
pre-flash option to help reduce the redness in people's eyes.
Most of the time this function does not work. We recommend
NOT using the red-eye reduction feature of your flash in favour
of using the redeye reduction feature that is built-in to most
image editing software packages. Since the picture is already
digital, removing the red eye colour is a snap!
3. Advanced Flash - If you plan to use external flashes
with
your digital camera, you should be aware of the risks associated
with connecting your camera directly to the flash via a cord.
Several manufacturers state in their publications that there is
a
significant risk to the camera's circuitry by connecting a flash
cord to it … some even void the warranty! What to do? We
recommend either using a flash slave attachment with your
external flash OR using an "Authorized" flash attachment
directly
with your camera. Authorized attachments are usually
brand-specific flashes and cords that the manufacturer knows
will work … often at an increased price! |
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Operation Issues |
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20. Why is there
a delay after I push the shutter release button before
I can take another picture? |
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During
the split second after the shutter button is pushed,
the camera must set the focus, exposure time, and white
balance before charging up the CCD (apparently it can't
hold the charge for long, so it does it right before
you shoot). It must also copy the image from the CCD
into RAM. Compress the image after it's been taken and
write the image to the memory card.
Newer cameras are getting faster and faster but
there will still be a delay in taking pictures so
get used to it! |
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I just purchased a new Nikon D70S from you and I am thrilled with the product. I found your service to be excellent, the price competitive and the product delivered in record time. I will definitely buy from your company again and will recommend that anyone considering camera products check out your site first..
John |
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