Digital cameras
J.E. Shields (Mon, 02 Feb 2004 06:24:21 PST)

Hi all,

When choosing a digital camera, you need to be aware that the top of the
line digitals are just as complicated and just as powerful as top of the
line film cameras.

If you don't know what an f-stop is, if you don't understand the
relationship between f-stop, shutter speed, and depth of field, you will
have trouble with a high-end digital.

My favorite camera (film) is a Nikon FM2 single-lens reflex (SLR) shooting
35-mm film. It can be operated in fully manual mode.

My digital camera is an older Olympus D-620L single-lens reflex,
through-the-lens viewfinder. It does not have adjustable f-stops/shutter
speed, so I cannot control depth of field. It has automatic focus, so it
sometimes focuses on the wrong part of the picture. Still, I can get by
with it's 1.4-Megapixel image and some of the shortcomings.

If I want a top quality picture, I use the Nikon FM2. I have a slide/film
scanner, also from Nikon, that can generate a digital image of 1800 X 1200
pixels (2.1 megapixels) from a 35-mm slide or film image. This image is
larger than the usual PC monitor screen at 1260 X 1024 pixels
resolution. As a TIFF file, it takes up over 3 MB of disk space. Do you
really want a 5-megapixel digital camera?

If you are a point-and-shoot film camera photographer, you should probably
start off with a point-and-shoot digital camera. For purposes of web pages
and e-mail sharing, my 1.4 megapixel images have to be trimmed down
drastically.

Still, digital photography is the wave of the future. Traditional film is
an endangered species. Whether you use a film camera or a digital camera,
you need to match your needs and your skills with the camera's features and
capabilties. A mis-match at either end will result in an unhappy
photographer and unsatisfactory pictures.

Best wishes,
Jim Shields
in central Indiana (USA)

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Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA