Bluestrike's Guide to Digital Photography
NOTE: This is a work in progress. I am just too darn lazy to sit down for a few hours and type all this. So, I will chip away at it over 2-3 days.
If anyone wants anything added, or clarified, please PM me or post a reply. Thank you! Update lists are available at the bottom Right now I am chipping away at this in a weird Greek kind of way. (Not a racist statement. Look at Athens for the games. They look like they're in trouble, but they're not. It's just their way of organizing.) it will become clerer, and in the proper order..Another note: This is not a guide on how to take a good photograph. Buy a book for that!
No, really, you should just get out there and read that book!! Oh yeah, experiment. Every week or so the same question pops up. I want to buy a digital camera. So, what should I buy. This is on ALL forums. AO, too. A lot of these posts, on other forums, are by people too lazy to research the cameras. Now, here on AO, these posters already have done research, and come up with a choice with which they want some advice on. Now, this advice can sometimes be overwhelming, and sometimes not very easy to understand. So, let's get started on this long and intensive guide on digital photography, one which will no doubt help you make an informed decision. Or so I hope.
Contents
Later.....
Time to learn about that camera
Film Speeds (Digital cameras have equivalents)(Digital cameras have settings to change this)
The speed of film, or it's digital equivalent, indicates it's sensitivity to light. The more sensitive(faster) it is, the higher it's ISO number. [ ISO = International Standards Organization] A basic rundown:
Slow Film (ISO 25-100)
ideal for any image where light levels are likely to be high. For example, brightly illuminated subjects, portraiture, and landscapes that are rather sunny. For film, it is extremely low-grain.
Middle - Speed Film (ISO 200 & 400)
This speed of film is suitable for the types of images mentioned in the slow category, but also dusk and dawnt shots, where light levels are lower, and action shots.
Fast Film (ISO 800-3200)
I cannot think of any compact cameras, both film and digital, that have setting for this type of film, or DE[digital equivalent]. Some may have 800, but I only see 1600 in D-SLR's. Low-light photography and for high speed action shots where you MUST use a very short shutter speed even when set to maximum aperture. This is an extremely sensitive film. To quote John Hedgecoe
This film is so sensitive that it is possible to take good pictures by, for example, the light of a bonfire at night.
Bear in mind, however, that fast lenses(those with large max. apertures)allow more light to reach the film, and so can record a successful exposure on less sensitive film than can slow lenses.
Lenses
Ok, I promise this is my last scan.
In order, the sections are.
FISHEYE (Ultra-Wide Angle)
WIDE-ANGLE
STANDARD
LONG-FOCUS (telephoto)
EXTREME LONG-FOCUS (telephoto)
Let it be known that it is not easy to assign lenses to the different groups because they are dictated by each format. 35mm, medium format, large format, digital. Digital is even more broad with "lens magnification factor(or whatever mumbo jumbo you wish to call it. Us nature photographer's just call it god's gift
).Some digital lenses have 1.5x LMF, while others have 1.8x. Some even have 2x LMF. So with a 1.5x LMF a 80mm lens performs life a 120mm equivalent in 35mm. Although that raises another question. Why do we compare digital to 35mm like this. They are, after all, different formats. Ok, enough babbling.
What all of this truly applies to are the film SLR's and D-SLR's.
Lens Magnification Factor aka Crop Factor aka Field of View Multiplier etc. etc.
A 50mm lens on a digital SLR camera will still be a 50mm lens. The size of the objects will be identical to the size they would be if it were a normal full-frame 35mm film camera.
The difference is in the Field-of-View (FOV) ONLY. The FOV with a 50mm lens on a digital SLR will be as if it were shot through an 80mm lens.
So the objects within the image will be the correct size, but the amount of objects in the frame will be as if someone cropped the edges of the photo away. The factor is typically 1.6 for all but professional end digital SLR's and is known as the "crop factor".
It occurs because the digital sensor in the SLR is about x0.6 the size of a 35mm frame. Thus a 35mm frame size is effectively divided by 1.6 (the crop factor) to get the digital SLR frame size.
Many mistakenly believe that using their lenses on a D-SLR will effectively increase the focal length of that lens and "bring objects closer" than normal with that lens. It just isn't so. Only the FOV changes.
Let it be known that Canon and Kodak have introducted camera's with full frame sensors. This then corrects the FOV change. Everything thus behaves the same as on a 35mm camera.
Below is an example of sensor sizes. The circle is what the lens sees. Then 35mm, then a Nikon D100,
INSERT SENSOR TAG HERE
Below is an example of what was above, but with an image in it.
INSeRT ANIMAL TAGE HERE
Below is a photo of a bird. Suppose I have an AF-S 80-200mm lens, and I put that lens on a 35mm Nikon. I take a shot at 200mm. What you see below is the 35mm size. Now, I take the same lens (keeping at the 200mm setting), put it on my D100, and take a shot of the exact same position. The D100 will only capture the image highlighted below in the photo--it will not cover the same area of the 35mm camera, at the same 200mm focal length. Now here is where the magnification factor comes in, and this is also where many photographers are benefiting from the magnification factor.
The D100's sensor creates an effect that looks as if I magnified the photo. Technically, I haven't really magnified the photo, because it's just a "crop" of part of the 35mm area. However it appears as if I have, so for purposes of this , I am going to say there is a magnification. If it looks like the photo was magnified, then it is.
Now, we start to make some heads explode....
Field of View Equivalency Factor
Since Olympus(4/3 system) and Nikon(DX lenses) have introduced lenses which are matched to their camera sensor sizes, we now have another complication when discussing FOV Crops. Since the lenses are matched to the sensor, there is no FOV Crop. A FOV crop only occurs when a lens is larger than the sensor it was designed for. Now that we have Nikon DX lenses and Olympus 4/3 lenses, there is no crop, but there is a Field Of View Equivalency Factor (FOVEF). You're probably scratching your head asking, Soooo, if there's no physical crop and no crop factor, then how do you come up with the 2x factor? Good question indeed, and let's take a look at degrees and Angles of View. Sorry for the exploding heads at this point
All 300mm lenses are not necessarily the same. The physical focal length is still the same (this is why a 300mm is still branded a 300mm on all lenses, no matter what brand or size), but the Angle Of View, can change. And it does change when you see the following examples.
Not all 300m lenses are the same. The physical length is the same(that's why manufacturers brand these lenses as 300mm on ALL formats.), but the angle of view changes. See below for an example:
Olympus 4/3 300mm w/ AOV @ 4 degrees
35mm 300mm AOV @ 8 degrees
See the difference? What you see is FOVEF. The physical length does not change, Angle Of View does. You can get AOV specs from manufacturer websites.
Now, Olympus touts their 300mm as the equivalent of 600m 35mm format. So, how?
Below: Nikon 600mm
Why, the Nikon 600mm has an AOV of 4 degrees. Hmm, what else does? Oh yeah, the Olympus! See? Hey! it looks the SAME as that Olympus 4/3 300mm lens does!
Digital Compact's Fixed Lenses
With Digital compacts, you have your fixed lenses. Usually the manufacturer touts "optical and/or "digital zoom." Always go with OPTICAL ZOOM! Digital zoom is an unnecessary evil. Why? Because digital is basically cropping the imaging, and blowing it up. If the camera has both, great!!! You can use both together, just don't go too far with digital, if any.
Quality
Now for the most important point. Quality.
Low quality glass()lenses) means low quality images. Stick with established companies. No, not Sony.....(I will explain if wanted)
Nikon, Canon, Konica Minolta, Mamiya, Rollei, Hasselblad, Horsemen, etc. etc.
Woa, getting into med. format and large format country there...
Fuji is also a good camera brand. Their D-SLR's use Nikon F-mount, so I am not sure about their compacts...
Ok, just wanted to get this project started. Hopefully it will be a group project. Tomorrow I will update, and make any corrections, along with better the organization. Suggestions, comments, corrects, requests? Post 'em below!
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Coming Soon:
-Black and White: Various procedures.
-The Compact or the new, affordable D-SLR's?
-Megapixels: The Myth, and The Truth
-......
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Guide Updates:
- fixed a typo, little organization work
- Field of View Crop facotr ; Heads can now explode
- First upload. None yet.
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Resource List(Reccomended Reading, etc)
John Hedgecoe's Photography Basics
John Hedgecoe's New Book of Photography
David Stoecklein's The Spur(any other of his books) to see a very cool set of photographs, and a cool digital workflow.
websites:
http://www.digitaldingus.com <- Very informative articles
http://www.nyip.com <- New York Institue of Photography
http://www.dpreview.com < - Looks like a dungeon, but actually very informative reviews etc.
http://www.nanpa.org <- North American Nature Photographer's Association Download a copy of their newsletter. Pretty informative.
Magazines:
Outdoor Photographer
American Photo
Shutterbug
Digital Photo Pro
Many, many others....
Just going to add this little logo...
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