Digital Camera-Part.1

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<u>Digital Camera</u>

Selecting camera

Select a digital camera keeping in mind the output medium that you will be typically using it for. For instance, if the snaps from your digital camera will mainly be for the Web, then a camera with a 640 x 480 resolution is sufficient. For smaller-size printouts, you will need one that supports at least 1,024 x 768 and for bigger size photographs you will need minimum 1,600 x 1200 pixel support camera.

Using digital zoom

One of the most important features of the digital camera is its lens. Most digital cameras come with a zoom lens with specifications such as an optical zoom and digital zoom, of which optical zoom is more important.
Optical zoom means the actual change in the focal length; it is a property of the camera: the quality of image you get is magnified along, giving better detail and clarity. This is unlike the digital zoom, a software approach that also magnifies or crops the image. Digital zoom is similar to the interpolation in a scanner, being a software function, the image quality suffers and it can appear fuzzy.

Manual or auto zoom

In digital cameras, the zoom can either be kept on auto, where the camera decides the focal length depending on the metering you have selected, or on manual mode using which you can change the focal length manually.

Selecting metering mode

Here metering, which refers to the different ways in which the camera detects light conditioning, is very important because if you keep the metering as matrix, the lens will zoom into the most prominent part in the image. Matrix mode is what most of the camera is set to by default, because it considers every entity falling in the frame as important. Use this metering mode while taking photos of the room filled with many people.

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Spot metering best used

Spot metering should be used when using the camera in the macro mode where a particular subject is more important rather than the surrounding. The best example is taking a photograph of the flower or a showpiece. With the spot metering, the camera will accept maximum light coming from the subject and give lower priority to the light coming from the surrounding.

Switching to Macro mode

While taking a close-up photograph, always turn on the Macro mode. This is the minimum range from which the camera can take photographs of the target. If Macro mode is enabled, then it is possible to take the photograph from as near as one metre and less, else it is most likely that at such close a distance, the image will get blurred.

Manual focus-a must

If your interest lies more in shooting specific subjects rather than landscape photography then investing in a camera that has a manual focus will be a good decision. This will help you capture sharp images with focus specifically on the subject to be captured. Manual focus gives greater control to the user over auto focusing.

Deciding on shutter speed

Shutter speed is the time for which the shutter will stay open to allow light to pass and hit the Charged-Couple Device (CCD). The shutter speed is denoted in fractions. Higher the denominator number, the faster the shutter speed. The shutter speed is directly proportional to the depth of the field, the subject and the area behind.
Fast shutter speed is used to capture moving images: shooting sports or pictures of an object taken from a moving car. Slow shutter speed on the other hand is used in the studio where lots of artificial lighting is done to get the best depth of the field. It is mostly used to shoot stationary objects with the camera fitted on a tripod, as the shutter will be on for a long time, it will require excellent hand stability that is very difficult to achieve without a tripod.