Consider Before Buying Digital SLR Camera Part 2

Consider Before Buying Digital SLR Camera Part 2 - After you read non-technical considerations before buying a DSLR camera on previous post, now I try to discuss technical considerations. Considerations in choosing a DSLR camera can be very different from the pick pocket camera. This difference is caused among others by:

1. DSLR is a system that can be customized according the specific needs of the owner, is very different from a pocket camera that is all in.

2. The difference in lens technology, sensors, image processors and operating the buttons on each camera, which in turn distinguishing character results.

3. Almost all compact cameras use CCD sensor size 1/2.5" Sony products, while the DSLR has plenty of options other than CCD technology, such as:

• Canon-developed CMOS (and later also used by Nikon)
• NMOS used by Olympus

It also has sensors with different physical sizes, namely:

• Full-frame, used for high-end camera Pro
• APS-C, used in camera entry level and semi-pro
• 4/3, used by Olympus and Panasonic.

4. Availability accessories & supplies in addition to body & lens.

The availability of equipment and accessories can be an important consideration. Buying a DSLR is basically buying a system. Once you buy it, the system will 'lock' you always use supplies and accessories that are compatible with.

In this case, I think Canon and Nikon have the advantage because - as an old player who leads the market - is a lot of 3rd party accessories available on the market, for example:

• Lens: Sigma, Tamron, Tokina
• Flash: Nissin, Metz
• Battery grip: different types of brands.

Certainly in terms of accessories, the lens becomes a major consideration (learn before buying lens here and here). And it does not mean other brand cameras, in addition to Canon and Nikon, have no excess. Some of the advantages to be noted are:

• Sony can use the Carl-Zeiss and Minolta lens.
• Olympus has an advantage in dynamic range and color saturation in addition to innovative technologies.
• Pentax can use the many old lenses that have been proven sharpness & quality.

However, if you want to pursue photography, you should pay attention to the system, buy a DSLR camera is to buy a system. Especially if you are experienced and have the equipment to one brand. The benchmarks that you should consider are:

• Technology will continue to evolve. Today's sophisticated body, in a few years will be out of date.

• The lens has a longer lifespan than the body.

• Ability to operate a photographer, sensitivity of capturing moments and technical ability are more important than the pursuit of technological development.

DSLR Lens Buying Guide - Part 1

DSLR lens buying guide part 1 - is the answer the question "Which lens should I buy?" after we know the types of DSLR lenses. This post will discuss some of the factors into consideration when buying a DSLR Lenses. Each of the features below will be different in each lens.
 

Lens Speed

Lens Speed or how fast a lens is actually closely related to the maximum aperture is owned by the lens. Aperture is the size of the lens opening when the shutter button is pressed (or how much light enters the camera). Aperture is denoted by F (f-stop).

The smaller number makes wider aperture, and there will be more light coming in at one time. This means the shutter speed becomes faster. Lens speed should you know due to:

• Lens "fast" with a maximum aperture of f/1.4 allows you to shoot in relatively dark place better than the lens has a maximum aperture of f / 4 or f/5.6, but that does not mean a slower lens is not good.

• The "fast" lens allows you to retrieve the moving object without getting motion blur.

• Lens "fast" allows you to get the depth of field of thinner / narrower. This means that when you focus on a subject in the foreground the background will be blurry or out of focus. Having a lens 'fast' of course means it is possible to get focusing a little more 'tricky', given the depth of field is used very thin / narrow. For example, when photographing portrait of a face with f/1.4 aperture and focus on the eyes, then most likely you will find the nose a little out of focus.

• The 'fast' lens is usually more expensive than a slower lens.

• The faster lenses would be helpful in terms of flash photography in recording or taking ambient light.

As a reference:

• Lens speed aperture lens with f / 4 is usually good for general purpose photography with good lighting conditions
• f/5.6 requires good lighting or features image stabilization (IS / VR)
• If you shoot indoor without flash, then at least use a lens with f/2.8, and
• If you are shooting indoor sports then at least use f/2.0 or 'faster'.

Focal Length

Focal length is length of the lens. This measurement is the distance between the middle of the optical lens to the focal point on the camera sensor. What you should know is that the focal length of a lens inform you when photographing subjects how much will be enlarged. Focal Length also inform the angle of view.

Focus Distance
This is the measurement between the end of the lens with the closest point of object. This is useful when shooting in macro or close-up photography, because this type of photography requires a very close distance of the object to end of the lens.

Image Stabilization

This feature is useful for minimizing vibration or shaking the camera (Camera Shake). Most DSLR lenses is now equipped with image stabilization (the Canon lens known as IS, and the Nikon lens is known as VR).

Camera Shake is a movement that occurs when the shutter is opened. This incident had a greater impact on the photos when we use slow speed, no tripod, and when use a lens with a longer focal length.

Image Stabilization helps photographers reduce camera shake at low light levels, but it does not freeze the moving subject. Basically IS allows us to take photos at lower shutter speed which the camera aperture open a little longer.

IS features mean additional cost on a lens, so you need a consideration of whether the activity of shooting with lenses that require this feature or not. Example: Do you frequently shoot in low light conditions using a long focal length without a tripod?

Budget

Considerations in buying lenses when going to upgrade is the cost. Most people agree that "we get what we pay", and we prefer to upgrade the lens than replace the camera body (depending on conditions). A little wary of the 'kit lens', in many circumstances these lenses are good, but we think it would be better if we buy only the camera body and then choose a better lens than the kit.

Brand

There are so many opinions say that to produce great photos should use a lens with the same brand with the camera compared to using cheaper third party lenses. In our opinion, for the first time try to find the same brand lens with the camera body, if you can not find try to find the lens of a third party. The fact is that every lens manufacturer has produced good and less good lenses that have been circulating in the market. Do your research before buying a lens through websites and forums that provide a review and comparison.

To be continued...here

Pocket or DSLR?

Pocket or DSLR - There are two major groups of different types of digital cameras: Pocket and DSLR.

1. Compact camera (commonly called pocket camera), is a compact system and has integrated, has a whole section full of a digital camera.
2. DSLR camera, is a camera system that consists of two major subsystems, namely:

• mechanical-electronic subsystems (body), and
• mechanical-optical subsystem (lens)

Main Difference

The most obvious difference between the two categories is the ability of DSLR camera to replace the lens that will be used in accordance with the needs of photographers. In addition the issue of this lens, there are significant differences, but not visible, the difference in sensor size:

• Compact digital cameras usually have a smaller sensor size 1/2.5 inch to 1/1.6 inches.

• DSLR cameras have the larger sensor size, which is 22.2 x 14.8 mm (APS-C) or 35x24 mm (full frame).

• The development of sensor technology enables Olympus to develop smaller size (4/3 inch) than the APS-C DSLR cameras for her which was followed by Panasonic cameras with micro-4/3.

The difference in sensor size has an impact on the ability of a camera captures the light. The most obvious differences in results due to the influence of the size of the sensor can be seen from the level of noise in the photos using a high ISO (> ISO 200). The camera with a small sensor size would produce more noise at high ISO.

Though somehow, there are still advantages of pocket camera with small sensor, namely:

• Its compact size
• Light weight
• ease of use
• A more affordable price

What about picture quality and sharpness?

Apparently, the shooting conditions in the outdoor and sunny weather, it is almost impossible to distinguish the results from a compact camera or DSLR. More surprising yet, the images that we see on camera affected barely used. Ken Rockwell article below can serve as a reference:Your Camera Doesn't Matter and A $25 vs. a $5,000 Camera

In fact, production and market demand for compact camera / pocket remains larger than a DSLR camera.

White Balance in Photography

White balance in Photography - is a crucial aspect in the world of photography and the effect on the final image. The camera is actually not really recognize colors. Displayed by the camera is how different frequencies of light reflected from an object to a different frequency of light that becomes the standard of comparison. An understanding of the process of color reproduction is very important in photography that require a high level of color accuracy, for example in product photos, fabric color, light graphics, etc..

Auto White Balance

Color 'white' was chosen as the standard comparator because it is a neutral color. In the full-frequency lighting conditions, the white color will reflect all light frequencies, so the white object is an object that reflects light with the highest intensity. But because it is a neutral, white would be red when illuminated by a red light, it looks blue in the light blue, and so on. Under these conditions, the Auto White Balance on the camera set up to recognize 'the reflection of the object with the highest intensity' and use it as a standard color 'white' to do color correction.

As a result, in certain conditions, the camera can reproduce wrong colors because there is no white object on the object captured. In this condition the required precision of the photographer to help the camera do color correction, but not in sunset/sunrise photography for example.

(Photo source: www.hootphotography.com)

White Balance Setting

Each camera has a different way of setting, so you should refer to the manual if it has not so far found a way. If you are still confused, use the auto white balance mode. The camera may not always be right, but at least more true.

Here are presets that are normally available on any compact cameras:

• Auto - the camera will guess the color temperature based program planted by the camera manufacturer. You can use it in most situations, but not in every situation. So try to explore to the more tricky lights.
• Daylight / Sunny - usually with the symbol of the sun, use while in the sun. Not all cameras have this white balance preset, because it is almost the same as the normal White Balance.
• Cloudy - symbolized by the cloud, use when shooting in cloudy weather. Usually this presets will generally give a touch more 'warm' than Daylight preset.
• Shade - usually a house or a tree symbol, use when shooting indoors (during the day) or you are in the shadows - not direct sunlight. The light is in shadow (shade) is generally cooler (blue) compared to shooting under direct sunlight, so the settings are a little warm.
• Tungsten/Incadescent - symbolized by the icon of the bulb. Because it is suitable for use when you are shooting indoors with tungsten light sources / incadescent like bulb. In general, these presets will cool color photos.
• Fluorescent - symbolized by the iconic neon lights, use when shooting indoors with fluorescent lighting. In general, these presets will warm color photos.
• Flash - symbols flash, if you use the flash (strobe), use this preset. The light generated by a camera flash can be quite 'cool', so this arrangement will warm colors on the photo.
• Custom - This will be discussed in the next post.

A summary of the description you can see above table.

Kelvin White Balance

Kelvin White Balance usually found on professional DSLR cameras. Basically, preset white balance are based on a temperature difference of each color of light. At Kelvin White Balance presets determined from an understanding of physics that objects with a certain temperature will emit light with a certain frequency as well. Solar light emitted by an object with a temperature of 5500K. Fluorescent light has a temperature of 4000K, 3000K incandescent lamp.
 

(Photo source: www.berkelphoto.com)

Error in degrees Kelvin settings will produce the wrong color. The benchmarks are:

• If the images produced bluer mean temperature setting is too low.
• If the images produced yellowish, then setting the temperature too high.

Tips for Beginner Photographer

Tips for Beginner Photographer - This post is suitable for novices in the world of photography
 

1. Do not be hurried buy expensive photography equipments
My experience says, it's very possible you can make good photographs by pocket camera. More and more you make photographs, you increasingly understand photography technique. So not always during learning photography, you must apply expensive camera and its accessories.

2. Consider buy tripod
Cheap tripod but competent steady should you consider, especially if your hands have tremor habit. Your photographs would more glorious if you apply timer feature or shutter release when you use tripod.

3. Bring your camera every where you go
Good moments could suddenly come every where you are, if you always bring your camera and hurry up taking the moment, nothing to loose, more than anything else when you volunteer bring tripod. If you have a camera-phone, you can take some photographs as notes of the moment you recorded by your camera.

4. Make a list moments would you record
If you can not bring your camera, at least you are carrying notebook or cellular phone to record the place you want to take the photographs. Do not forget to record important thing of photography, such as lighting etc., so you can come back there at the good time.

5. Do not overlook "normal" object in photography
You may not see anything interesting and worth photographed in the living room or backyard, but at least try to look around with a new perspective. You might be able to find the  light spectrum or some wildflowers in your backyard, it is often a simple object can create a good photograph.

6. Enjoy the process of learning photography
The most interesting thing to learn a hobby like photography, there is not enough words to learn it. A lot of inspiration could be found around you. Look at all of this using the eye of a photographer and you will find photo opportunities that you did not realize before.

7. Take advantage of a free online resource to learn photography
Learn photographs produced by professional photographers through sites such as flickr, or websites that share information on photographic techniques, where can you find inspiration and tips on photography. If you are interested in learning about post-processing and still no budget to buy software like Adobe Photoshop, try using free software like GIMP.

8. Continue to test the camera settings
Your pocket camera has a feature that can be far more flexible than you know now. Read the user guide or manual to help interpret the symbols contained in the camera settings. Try photographing a subject using different settings, see and learn, and choose which one best results you like. When to re-review the photos on the computer, look at EXIF data of each photo to see the back camera settings do you use when shooting.

9. Learn the basic rules
As we know, a lot of information about the world of photography spread over the Internet. Start reading a couple articles about the photographic composition. Be open to opinions from more experienced photographers about photography techniques they use. You certainly need to know and understand the basic rules before breaking them, don't you?

10. Take photographs routinely
Try to photograph something every day, if you can not do that, then make sure you practice on a regular basis so you do not forget what you have learned before. The best way to do this is to give yourself a photographic challenge each week.

11. Do not be afraid to experiment
If you use a digital camera, perform continuous testing and most likely you'll find something you like, and of course you will learn a lot through this learning process.

Good luck!

About Digital Camera: Pocket, Super Zoom, and SLR

About Digital Camera - Until today there have been too many digital cameras sold in market. They are divided into three type of digital camera:

1. Pocket digital camera
2. Super zoom digital camera (prosumer digital camera)
3. Single Lens Reflex (SLR) digital camera.

Pocket Camera

90% digital camera owners have pocket camera. Pocket camera is small, simple and easy to operate it.

Pocket camera can record video, a favorite feature. And sometimes it can make amazing photos, however there are some limitation those are making pocket camera to be weak:

• Shutter lag, defined as time lag between pressing shutter release and picture recording. Time lag may be half a second only, but in the photography half a second can be fulfilled with important moments to recorded.

• Weak in low lighting condition, due to pocket camera only equipped with mini sensor. In low light condition, such as indoor or twilight condition, the photos frequently blur and tend to be noised.

• Limited zoom, pocket camera has two type zooming, optical zoom and digital zoom. Optical zoom is much better than digital zoom, digital zoom is only extrapolated pixel program.

Benefits of having pocket camera are:

• Small is beautiful, easy to carry and no need to learn how to use anymore.

• Low price, this is the economic way to have moment pitures in your life.

• Sometimes people don't be looked like photographic press or may be a paparazzi.

Super-Zoom Camera

A Super-Zoom camera is bigger than a pocket camera, and it has optical zooming much better.

Viewfinder of the Super-Zoom camera help photographer from daylight dazzling. Super-zoom camera usually has fold-able LCD, help photographer taking photos in complicated situation.

Unfortunately, super-zoom camera still equipped with small sensor, so it's one step much better than pocket camera. It's good in outdoor photography, however it has the same quality with pocket camera for indoor photography. It is not equipped with interchangeable lens, you have to use the only lens for many kind of photography. And the super-zoom camera size is not small again, you have to bring it in shoulder as an SLR camera.

SLR Camera

SLR (Single Lens Reflex) Camera is the camera that yield the best photos among all the camera types. Because of its product quality always good, SLR camera type always used by professional photographers and the amateurs always dream to have it. It's equipped with interchangeable lens, such as macro lens, zoom lens, telephoto lens or fixed lens according to your requirement.
However, as according to quality and satisfaction you can get, it's price is relatively expensive.

All types of digital cameras give us an advantage in freedom we take the pictures, because we are no longer subject to availability celluloid film. That's one of the reasons that makes digital cameras and photographic techniques to grow very rapidly.