Taking Photos 1 – Digital cameras

Simple Compacts  

                                   These are non-optical zoom point and shoot cameras, often

                                   small or very small, working on ordinary alkaline batteries.

Compacts

                                   These are low range (usually 3x) optical zoom small cameras.

                                   They may work with alkaline batteries or use a Lithium

                                    battery for extended battery life. They may have more

                                    sophisticated controls and control options.

Ultra Zoom

                                   These are high range (6x – 18x) optical zoom cameras. They

                                    normally have Lithium batteries and very sophisticated

                                    control systems. Many have image stabilisation,  and face-

                                    reading auto-focussing.

DSLR

                                   These are high-end professional cameras that are usually

                                    very expensive. They use through the lens metering and

                                    viewing and have interchangeable lenses. They also have

                                    much larger image sensors to produce very high quality

                                    and very high detail pictures.

Megapixel Guide

1Mp    A5 (half A4 size prints) possible.

2Mp    Good A4 prints with reasonably good ½ crop pictures to A4.

3Mp    Excellent A4 prints with quite good 1/3 crop pictures to A4.

5Mp + Allow cropping to smaller/ much smaller crop pictures to A4 size.

For A4 (non-cropped) prints, above 3Mp only the camera image quality will make any noticeable difference!

This guide is for prints taken in bright sunlight or high contrast lighting. Resulting satisfactory print size will be smaller/ much smaller for pictures taken in poorer or poor lighting conditions.

Camera Image Quality

Read/ see sample images on internet reviews….

Image Stabilisers

Compensate for camera shake – not subject movement. Recommended for all optical zoom cameras, especially ultra-zooms. Usually work extremely well and apart from at very low shutter speeds, mostly eliminate the need for tripod or supports.

Viewfinder

May use LCD screen - but may be difficult to see in sunshine - some have enhanced

screen brightness to compensate. Look through finders avoid this problem, as do DSLRs which view through the lens. Some ‘look through’ viewfinders use a mini LCD

screen instead of optics.