|
|
| Home | Article Search | Subscribe & Shop | |
| Ditch The Film |
 Print This |
| Featured Articles | |
|
December 1, 2003
• Vol.1 Issue 1 Page(s) 79-82 in print issue | |
Ditch The Film A Wide Assortment Of Cameras To Help You Go Digital | |
|
If you're still stuck in the film age, consider this: digital cameras that are disposable (well, recyclable anyway) are available right now from companies such as Dakota Digital and cost about $10. Of course, you can spend thousands of dollars to buy a professional-level camera equipped with a lot of accessories, but that doesn't change the fact that prices overall have tumbled to a point where anyone with a reasonable budget can get an excellent digital camera. To appreciate them, you have to experience many of the things that make digital cameras so pleasurable. LCD (liquid-crystal display) viewfinders let users frame shots exactly as they will appear in the final picture, eliminating the guesswork inherent with a standard optical viewfinder. The LCD also lets you preview pictures immediately after taking them, so you can delete bad shots to free up more room on the camera's memory card. In some consumer electronics categories (such as DVD players), spending more gets you better components, but not necessarily more features. With digital cameras you get both. More money buys better optics, larger CCDs (charge-coupled devices), more shooting modes, and more professional-level features. Small cameras with low resolutions, available in the $100 to $200 range, are suitable for taking pictures you can email to friends and family. Midrange digital cameras cost anywhere from $200 to $800 and have higher optical zoom capabilities, more file storage options, better editing software, and higher megapixel ratings than the cheapie cameras. Spend more than $800 and you should expect a camera with superior optics, interchangeable lenses, very high optical zoom ratings, and 6-megapixel and higher resolution.  High-End Cameras The best digital cameras cost several thousand dollars, but regardless of the price you pay for a good high-end model, it's the accessories that will break your budget. Expensive cameras that range in price from $800 to $8,000 generally accept a range of lenses and other accessories that can singly or collectively cost more than the cameras themselves. These are not the types of products a user wants to buy to introduce himself to digital photography, but for enthusiasts who already have a slew of compatible accessories, these cameras represent terrific long-term bargains. This price range also includes SLR (Single Lens Reflex) cameras that are extremely expandable and flexible, with many lenses and other accessories readily available. Their other big advantage is that you see exactly what you are going to shoot when you look into the optical viewfinder. This doesn't seem to be such a big deal considering you can do the same thing using the LCD display built into the back of most digital cameras, but for professional photographers who take a lot of pictures outdoors where sunlight can wash out LCDs, having a what-you-see-is-what-you-get viewfinder is invaluable.
$899 ($999 with EF 18mm-55mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens) (800) 385-2155 www.usa.canon.com If you're ready for the big leagues of digital photography, Canon's technologically advanced EOS Digital Rebel is ready to help you take any kind of photograph. As the first digital entry in Canon's popular Rebel line, this SLR camera sports a 6.5-megapixel sensor that can snap detailed pictures at a native resolution of 3,072 x 2,048 pixels. You can frame shots using the viewfinder or the 1.9-inch color LCD on the back of the camera. File sizes range from an average 7MB in uncompressed RAW format to less than a megabyte when you set the camera to its lowest resolution of 1,536 x 1,024 and enable aggressive JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) compression. Canon's internal DIGIC (DIGital Imaging Core) image processing system handles auto-focus, auto exposure, auto white balance, and other chores; and a seven-point auto-focus sensor helps keep subjects focused, regardless of the lighting conditions. The camera puts a full range of shutter speeds on tap, from 1/4,000 of a second for snapping fast action shots to 30 seconds for those long nighttime exposures. Even with all that technology onboard, this is the lightest EOS Digital SLR camera Canon sells, weighing less than 20 ounces.
$1,200 (877) 865-7669 www.sonystyle.com The DSC-F828 is the latest in Sony's popular F-series line of high-end digital cameras, and it improves on its predecessors in practically every way. Its biggest advantage over similarly priced cameras is its massive 8-megapixel CCD, which can take pictures at an enormous native resolution of 3,360 x 2,460. The CCD also incorporates new technology that adds emerald-colored sensors to the standard grid of red, green, and blue sensors. Because the human eye contains more cones that are sensitive to green wavelengths than to red or blue wavelengths, Sony claims that adding color sensors that can pick up a wider array of green colors makes photographs look more vibrant and realistic. The DSC-F828's Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar lens can zoom up to 7X, allowing for shots that few out-of-the-box digital cameras can match. Sony's digital camcorders are famous for their infrared NightShot modes, and the DSC-F828 comes with that technology, as well. An infrared light built into the device lets the camera "see" in complete darkness, and many other NightShot modes also are available for taking more traditional low-light shots. Midrange Cameras The digital camera market is much like the 35mm film camera market in that most people want products that are extremely easy to use. Midrange cameras that cost between $200 and $800 all have enough automatic settings to satisfy that requirement, and many also have several manual settings that allow for a lot of experimentation.
$299.99 (800) 369-1409 www.gateway.com Computer manufacturers are known for selling digital cameras as add-on accessories for their systems, but generally they offer products from other companies. Gateway has decided to slap its own brand on its new line of digital cameras, and the most interesting of its new offerings is the 5-megapixel DC-M50. That megapixel rating represents a real sweet spot in today's digital cameras, providing enough detail to produce stunning 11 x 14 prints without costing nearly as much as most cameras with 6-megapixel-plus CCDs. The DC-M50 is an even more outstanding bargain than usual, with a retail price just shy of $300. Gateway, unfortunately, had to axe most user-adjustable settings to achieve a low price point, so the DC-M50 should serve well as an entry-level digital camera, but pros and amateur enthusiasts should steer clear. The DC-M50 has a 3X optical zoom and adjustable shutter speeds that range from the fastest 1/2,600-second setting to the slowest 8-second setting that should work well in low-light situations. You can frame and preview your pictures on the 1.8-inch LCD and capture them at a maximum native resolution of 2,560 x 1,920. You can also make Short Motion JPEG clips at 320 x 240 resolution, complete with sound. Many digital cameras use rechargeable batteries, but the DC-M50 is a bit of a throwback, requiring four AA batteries. It also is never going to win any beauty contests, but if you are looking for an affordable way to go digital without having to settle for a 2- or 3-megapixel camera, the DC-M50 is a compelling alternative.
$499 (888) 553-4448 www.olympusamerica.com The C-5000 Zoom from Olympus is a slightly hobbled and cheaper version of the company's C-5050 Zoom, but that just makes it more affordable for the legions of amateur photographers that will find its feature set meets their needs nicely. It has the same 3X optical zoom, 5-megapixel CCD, and 1.8-inch LCD that help make the C-5050 such an outstanding camera but costs $200 less. By holding onto that money, you only sacrifice access to a few manual modes that many users would never adjust anyway. The C-5000 still allows for plenty of control. You can choose from seven user-selectable flash modes, manually adjust shutter speeds from 1/1,000 of a second to 16 seconds (8 seconds longer than the C-5050 can achieve), and adjust the white balance, among other settings. The camera uses Li-Ion (lithium-ion) rechargeable batteries and comes with a charger, and thanks to its hot shoe, you can use a variety of accessories, in addition to standard lenses. The package also includes a wireless remote control so that nobody will ever get left out of family photos again; the remote also should prove useful for initiating long-exposure shots without having to touch the camera. The C-5000 is about as feature-packed as cameras in this price range get.
$399.99 (800) 316-0920 www.toshiba.com There are so many 3-plus-megapixel cameras on the market right now that it's nearly impossible for a company to really make its entry really stand out, but Toshiba has managed to do so with its 3.2-megapixel PDR-T30. The difference here is the 1.5-inch color LCD on the back of the camera, which pulls double-duty as a touch screen interface. If you've used a PDA, you already know how convenient it can be to tap on a screen instead of wading through menus using control sticks or disks, and the PDR-T30 has plenty of user-selectable options so you're going to need all the help you can get. You can select from many different resolutions, adjust the white balance, change the flash modes, tweak the shutter speed, and more. You can also switch all of these settings to full automatic mode if you prefer to point and shoot. When not in use, the camera looks like a little silver ingot. Slide the integrated lens cover back and the lens assembly springs to life while the flash pops up, and within seconds you're snapping away. The PDR-T30 records images onto SD (Secure Digital) card media, and the included 16MB card stores only 12 images at the camera's maximum native resolution of 2,048 x 1,536, so budget for an immediate memory upgrade. The camera also records AVI (Audio-Video Interleaved) movie clips at a resolution of 320 x 240. It comes with a stylus for using the touch screen, and Toshiba even throws a camera bag into the package, which is something you don't see very often. Budget Cameras You can get plenty of truly excellent digital cameras in the $300 to $800 range these days, but there still are options if you don't have that much to spend. Cameras in the $50 to $100 price range usually are portable models with no zoom capabilities and limited controls, and many lack color LCDs for framing and previewing shots. Between $150 and $250 the cameras get much more capable, having many of the same features found in more expensive models, but with smaller megapixel ratings and less-than-stellar optics. Minolta DiMAGE X20 $249 (800) 528-4767 www.minoltausa.com The DiMAGE X20 from Minolta has only a 2-megapixel CCD, but one look at the size of the camera tells you why. Measuring only 2.64 inches high x 3.39 inches wide x less than 1 inch thick, there isn't much space available inside the compact frame to store electronic components. The camera has a 3X optical zoom that uses internal folding techniques so the lens on the front of the camera doesn't have to move at all, and you can take pictures at up to 1,600 x 1,200 resolution or shoot movies at 320 x 240 or 160 x 120 resolutions. Even if you take pictures using the highest possible resolution, the camera comes with an email feature that automatically resizes any image to 640 x 480 resolution for easy emailing. Despite the camera's small size, there is a 1.6-inch color LCD on the back for framing shots and accessing the different exposure times and shooting modes.
229 Euro Phone Number N/A www.minox.com Minox takes digital camera miniaturization to newer and more stylish levels with the 2.1-megapixel DD1. The company is known mainly for spy cameras and cute subminiature versions of famous Leica designs, but the DD1 is very different. The entire camera is built around a circular five-element lens assembly, with a stubby battery compartment sticking out of the side, and the resulting shape looks more like a tiny hip flask than a miniature camera. The device measures only 3.27 inches in diameter and 1.26 inches thick so it will easily fit in a pocket or purse, and the rugged metal shell ensures that the camera's innards will remain intact as you go from place to place. Despite its small size, the DD1 houses a 3-megapixel CCD that provides an effective resolution of 2.1 megapixels, or 1,600 x 1,200. The 32MB of internal memory is unfortunately not expandable, but lets you store 40 to 60 pictures depending on the settings you use. There also is no color LCD display for framing shots, but considering the camera's miniscule size and the purpose it serves as a fun device for taking snapshots, those are acceptable tradeoffs.
$99 (800) 531-0039 www.consumer.philips.com Most of the best photo opportunities happen when you're nowhere near a camera, and by the time you grab your gear and set it up, the moment is lost. The KEY007 from Philips isn't going to let you take award-winning or archival-quality shots, but put it on your key ring or use the included strap to wear it around your neck and you'll never miss another snapshot. The KEY007 only has a 1.3-megapixel CCD and a paltry 64MB of integrated RAM, but because it captures images at a low resolution of 640 x 480 (which happens to be perfect for creating pictures that are easy to email) it is possible to store hundreds of shots in that space. A small plastic cover snaps off of the end of the camera to reveal a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface that plugs directly into a PC's USB port for quick file transfers. The computer's USB port also supplies power to the camera's rechargeable batteries, which take about two and a half hours to fill up from an empty tank.
$249.95 (877) 865-7669 www.sonystyle.com If life's a beach, you don't want to be without Sony's waterproof DSC-U60. The rugged two-tone case uses a vertical design, but the 1-inch color LCD display is slanted so you don't have to twist your hand uncomfortably to frame shots. The DSC-U60 is only waterproof to 5 feet, so you can't take it scuba diving or snorkeling. You'll also need to get up close and personal with your subjects because the camera only has a "1X Optical Zoom," which is fancy marketing speak for "no zoom at all." The 2-megapixel CCD records pictures to Sony Memory Stick or Memory Stick PRO media at a maximum resolution of 1,632 x 1,224. You can also use it to record 15-second MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) movie clips at a resolution of 160 x 112, albeit without sound, as the unit has no microphone. Manual controls are limited to a few flash settings, some special effects such as a sepia mode, and some basic scene modes for shooting in special lighting conditions (underwater, for example). This is more a toy for people who play outdoors than it is a tool for professionals, and it is destined to find a place next to the sunscreen on your next vacation. Snap Away If you want to learn more about photography, you can purchase 35mm or other film cameras for far less money than a digital camera with equivalent features costs, but don't forget the advantages a digital darkroom affords. Not having to pay to process film will let you be much more adventurous when it comes to experimenting with your camera's manual controls, and the ability to take and process more shots in a shorter amount of time will help you rack up valuable experience much faster than would be possible with a film camera. In the long run you save enough time, money, and trouble to justify the initial cost disparity.  by Tracy Baker
|
Home Copyright & Legal Information Privacy Policy Site Map Contact Us
