Know Your Digital Camera With Matt Guarnera Sponsored by
Topics To Be Covered Understanding the language of cameras. Technical terms used to describe digital camera features will be clarified. Using special modes. Digital cameras have many special features and modes that remain a mystery to the average consumer. Learn how to manipulate these features to expand your creative wishes. Camera limitations. Be aware of when and where your camera may fail you and how to be prepared for it.
Megapixels Mega is Greek prefix from the SI system of measurements. You remember the SI units from Chemistry don t you? Mega means a million. Pixel is short for Picture Element, a pixel is a single point in a graphic image. Computer screens display pictures by dividing the screen into thousands (or millions) of pixels, arranged in rows and columns. The pixels are so close together that they appear connected.
Megapixels The Megapixels are calculated by multiplying the the number of photosites, or pixels, along the bottom and side of the light sensor. This Canon has 4,000,000 pixels or 4 Megapixels. This determines Resolution.
Resolution The amount of detail that the camera can capture is called the resolution, measured in pixels. The more pixels your camera has, the more detail it can capture. The more detail you have, the more you can blow up a picture before it becomes "grainy" and starts to look out-of-focus.
More is Better, Right? Well that all depends on what your planning on doing with your pictures. If your placing your pictures on the web, then 2 MP ought to do it. If your printing 4x6 s then 3 to 4 MP is good. If your making enlargements or cropping and zooming in on segments of your photos then 5 MP and above is better. Download time, RAM, and memory cards.
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom! Optical Zoom Light magnification through the manipulation of glass or plastic lenses to change the focal length. Good for distant and close subjects. Many cameras have 3x optical zoom, which means it brings an object 3 times closer than normal. Digital Zoom A computer trick that magnifies a portion of the information that hits the sensor. Good for distant objects, bad for close subjects. Many cameras have 4x digital zoom, which means it will fake an additional 4 times magnification above the 3x optical zoom.
Manual Modes A small camera with a M, or the letter M, or the word Manual gives you access to the special modes of the camera. We will first look at color effects, which can be found with the function button. Color effects are great for those people who aren t savvy with photo editing. Color Effects may include Black and White, Sepia, Neutral, Vivid, and Low Sharpening.
Black and White
Sepia
Vivid
Low Sharpening (Softens the Edges)
ISO Speed (ASA) The ISO speed changes the CCD s sensitivity to light. Higher ISO numbers increase the sensors sensitive to light needed during dimly lit situations. Higher ISO numbers also increases picture noise. Lower ISO numbers are used in bright light ISO Speeds usually include the following choices: Auto, 50, 100, 200, and 400 ISO. ISO means International Organization of Standardization
Recommended ISO Settings AUTO ISO - digital camera automatically sets the ISO speed according the the brightness of the scene, increasing or decreasing the sensitivity. User has no control over which ISO number is used. ISO 50-80 - for taking photos in bright light; excellent for close-ups, landscape, and portraits. Produces fine detail and image quality. ISO 100 - for extra sensitivity with little, if any, reduced image quality. ISO 200 - cloudy and overcast days. Acceptable image quality, with some visible noise. ISO 400 and above - suitable for indoor photography whether or not a flash is used. Useful for "stop-action" and sports photographs. High to very high noise.
ISO The fog decreased the sunlight in both scenes, so I opted for 200 ISO to compensate.
ISO ISO was set at 100 on this sunny day.
Shutter Speed Some cameras allow you to set the shutter speed manually for more options. Most point and shoot cameras only allow you to manually extend the shutter speed while special modes, like sports mode, speed up the shutter speed.
Tone or White Balance The camera can reproduce colors more accurately when it is told what the lighting situations is. Under the function button, White Balance, AWB, or Lighting can be found as a mode choice. Most cameras have the following mode choices for lighting: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Custom.
Tone or White Balance A digital camera can find it difficult to create the proper contrast within the picture if it can t sense a variety of light and dark objects. Manually setting the White Balance corrects for this handicap. You can use a plain white card to reflect light into the camera for proper metering.
Tone or White Balance Too Blue Too Yellow Corrected Using a white surface to set the White Balance
Scene Select Newer cameras may allow you to select a scene to improve the photo. Scenes such as sporting event, portrait, landscape, and party are some common choices.
Timer Modes The timer can be used for more than just the family reunion. Other uses for the timer Low light photos Moon-lit shots Close-up shots Distant objects The timer usually has options for different time durations in the function menu.
Flash Modes These special modes help to improve lighting. They may include the following: Red Eye Reduction Auto Flash On Flash Off Back Fill or Slow Synchro
Red Eye Reduction Red Eye Reduction is usually found as one of the flash functions and is symbolized with an eye, like the CBS logo. The rapid flash sequence causes the pupil to constrict, there by reducing the amount of light reflect off of the capillaries that line the back of your eye. Animals are notorious for red eye.
Auto Flash Automatically measures and provides appropriate flash to light the subject in focus. Usually symbolized as a lightning bolt with a capital A.
Flash On/Flash Off You turn the flash on because your camera cannot properly meter the light on the subject or you are creating an intended effect. A flash with a close subject can often over expose the subject or change the colors observed. Turning the flash off often gives a more natural appearance to low light subjects. Auto Off On
Back Fill or Slow Synchro Used to prevent the background from being black compared to the foreground subject. The camera slows the shutter and adjusts the flash to fill light into the background. The symbol changes for each brand of camera. My Canon has a person with a star behind them.
Continuous Shooting Mode Continuous Shooting mode allows you to take ten or more photos in rapid succession while the shutter is depressed. Camera have different speeds on continuous mode. Symbolized by multiple frames in a row. Used with fast moving objects or an anticipated moment.
Macro and Infinity Features Macro is for extreme close up, subjects as close as 2 inches away. Infinity is used to take a scene composed of near an far subjects that both need to be in focus.
Knowing Your Limits Depending on the age, brand, and style of digital camera you own, the performance and features of your camera will be limited. Here are some common limitations you might run into while using your camera.
Start Up Speed The time between switching the camera on and being able to take a photo is start up speed. Some cameras are terribly slow at starting up. Be prepared when an event happens to turn on your camera ahead on time.
Recovery Speed The time it takes for your camera to process a picture and be ready for the next picture is recovery time. Newer cameras have shorter recovery time.
Camera Speed Older cameras cannot take pictures that involve any motion without blurring. Even newer cameras do this in automatic mode. Manual settings help to prevent this.
Zoom Limits Unless you have a high end camera like this one you won t always be able to get the zoom shot you want.
Flash Limitations Your owners manual can tell you the distance ratings for your flash. Large parties and night time photos test the limits of your camera flash.
Thank you! A division of www.expressly-yours.net 585-235-8775