Digital FAQ's
We've got the answers to all of your questions about digital photography including quality, resolution and printing questions.
| Quality Issues | |
| 1. I have $____ to spend on a digital camera. Which one should I get? | |
| 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? | |
| 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? | |
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. |
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| 4. How much quality and resolution are enough? | |
| 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? | |
| 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? | |
| 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 | |
| 7. What are some common memory issues? | |
| 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: |
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| 8. Which removable storage is better -- CompactFlash, SmartMedia or Memory Stick? | |
| 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? | |
| 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? | |
| 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 | |
| 11. What's the difference between optical zoom and digital zoom? | |
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. |
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| Transfer Issues | |
| 12. What are my options for transferring images to my computer? | |
| 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 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. |
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| Printing Issues | |
| 13. What is a PHOTO-QUALITY inkjet printer? | |
| 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? | |
| 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? | |
| 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 | |
| 16. Why do my batteries die so quickly in my camera? | |
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? | |
| 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? | |
| 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 | |
| 19. What are some common flash issues? | |
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: |
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| Camera Operation Issues | |
| 20. Why is there a delay after I push the shutter release button before I can take another picture? | |
| 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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