Camera Specification

11:55 AM | Labels: camera, lens

Before getting to deep into the hows and whys of photography I thought it might be a good idea to get a better idea of what all those camera specification the salesman was spurting off when you bought your camera. (Or all the numbers and letters listed on the websites)

Where should we start? And what numbers can we ignore?

Zoom Zoom

Well. The first one I’d like to talk about is ZOOM and difference between optical zoom and digital zoom. I’m talking about this one first so I can get it out of the way. Simple put, if you are interested in ‘point and shoot’ type of camera you want a much optical zoom as possible and as little digital zoom as possible. Why? Digital zoom is basically an other name for cropping. I can’t think of any photo editing software that doesn’t crop pictures. Why pay for something that is just going to lower your picture quality? With optical zoom on a ‘point and shoot’ the lens elements are adjusted which in turn the adjusts the focal length of the lens (and thus the angle of view). This is the same process used in not only ‘point and shoot camera’, but in some binoculars, microscopes, telescopes, telescopic sights and other optical instruments. Stick with the optical zoom and try not to use digital zoom if the camera you already have has it.

As all zoom lens on DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) are optical type zoom lenses i doubt this will be something that will get much discussion in the future. That being said, if someone down the road does have a question regarding this I will be more then happy to go over it again.

Magapixels

When it comes to zoom lens for DSLR cameras and DSLR lens in general there are so many options that I think I’ll do DSLR lens as a separate post in the near future.

Usually the first thing one looks at when buying a new camera is the number of mega-pixels. Well, I’ve already done a post on mega-pixels and when they mean so I don’t want to do all that typing over again. So instead I’ll just link to the older post.

Shutter Speed

In my mind the next thing you want to look at is shutter speed, or more correctly fastest shutter speed. If a camera doesn’t have a fast enough shutter you might miss out of on things like fast movement. Things like moving cars, sports action, your pet dog and even children can come out as nothing more then colourful blurs on the screen or paper. Also slow shutter speed can produce over exposure in bright light or on a sunny day. If the shutter isn’t slow enough you can miss out on a lot of low light shots as well. A slow shutter can also allows for some very interesting effects that we will talk about more in future blog posts. Another fun shutter speed is called ‘bulb’ or on some cameras simply ‘B’. This allows the user to manually open and close the shutter allowing for very long exposures, lasting minutes or even hours. Great for very low light photos. Most, if not all, DSLRs include bulb mode. A good range of shutter speeds to look for in a DSLR is from about 30 seconds up to about 1/8000 of a second.

Lens

Kit lens? Yes it would be great if that new camera you are thinking about buying came with a lens, but not all do. If you are buying your first DSLR camera don’t worry, MOST entry level cameras do come with a kit lens of some sort. Most kit lens come in the 18mm to 55mm range. (We’ll talk more about lens and what there numbers mean in a future post). If your upgrading your camera say from an entry level camera to to something a little further up the food chain you most likely already a selection of lens, so why pay extra for a lower quality lens. One thing to remember about lens when upgrading, make sure that your old lens will work with your new camera body. Case in point, Nikon lens only work with Nikon Cameras, Pentax lens only work with Pentax cameras. Also remember that some older film camera era lens might not work with newer digital cameras. If your not sure take some of your lens with you to try with the new camera body you are thinking of buying.

As kit lens are sort of a ‘gift with purchase’ type thing they tend not to be of the greatest quality. Even if you are considering an entry level camera body you might want to consider buying a better general purpose lens to go with it, if your budget allows for it. If not don’t worry the kit lens is still going to let you make better pictures then you would with a point and shoot camera or the camera in your smart phone. I know when I bought my second DSLR body I didn’t bother with a kit lens as it was a similar lens that came with my first DSLR and I already had several lens that not only worked well with the first DSLR but the newer one as well.

Feel

To me an other very important thing to think about when buying an new DSLR is how it feels. Yes this is not really a specification and there is know way of measuring this, but do keep it in mind when deciding on a camera.

The camera has to feel ‘right’ in YOUR hands. We all have different size hands, some people of big meaty hands well other have smaller hands. Some of long fingers and some of short ones. You need to hold the camera in your own hands. You also need to check where all the important buttons are, the ones you might want to use with out taking your eye from the view finder. If buttons and controls are in places that are hard to reach or out of the way they might be more difficult to use.

Also, check out the menus on the camera. I’m not suggesting that you try to memorize them or anything like that. But it is a good idea to make sure you can get to anything you might want to adjust in the field, so to speak, can be found quickly.

Here it comes again. I will be doing a post in the future talking more about camera buttons and menus. Well maybe two posts.

Hope this was helpful in understanding your camera and/or your next camera a little better.